The huge hill of sand covered with sticks and needles was located in a big sandy area. There were lots of groups moving in and out of the network of tunnels made in that sand. One of the groups went northwards in search of food, while the other groups in the other directions. To them the directions were all on the basis of food search and pattern recognition which complemented each other. Their patterns usually got destroyed by the death, injury, or vanishing of fellow workers or friends from the area. Then it was up to the ones lost to make new patterns to reach the food and guide the way for the rest of the group.
One of the group was trailing through a perilous road while in search of food. The group consisted of a hundred of them. All forming a line and following the one ahead. There were lots of ponds and sticky areas which they crossed either by going right through in a much slower pace or by going around them the long way. They had been traveling for hours and had reach a spot which was full of long greenish areas which usually made them lose their way as there were a lot of confusing paths which led the groups in circles. The leader took the team with speed and dexterity. They were trained for such tasks and had a good amount of experience.
They finally reached a sandy clearing which had a large cloth laid on it and there were lots of big food items kept. They had been waiting for this moment for a long time and at last food had arrived in plentiful. The leader first sent in a few fast members of the group to scurry through and scan the area for the types of food and the weak points of the area. This was done so fast that the food owners had become oblivious of the fact that this group of beings existed in the world.
The ten made it back successfully and gave a detailed statistical report on the food. The leader ordered each of the ten to take five more with them and go in for the food from the six major weak points of the region. The collectors went in and started doing their job and slowly the intake of food started. The rest forty of them hid in the green coverings in and around the six weak attack areas to take the food and scurry home.
One by one the food came in and one by one each took the heavy load on the back of its body and went and collected the victories of the steal in a nearby place. After sometime the food owners got notice of the stealing of the food and thrashed and destroyed most of the sixty who were doing the tedious job and only ten to fifteen were left out. The leader sensing danger called them back with whatever could be grabbed and they took all the prized steals and scurried home.
On reaching home, with quite a few more trampled to death, the group leader reported the food lifted and the deaths to the team. Lots of food but with lots of their valiant lifters gone was a success with a loss. They ate their food with contentment of their win and waited for their next perilous journey.
© Aditya Subramanian, 2020
No comments:
Post a Comment