A Rollie's Decision (youngsters:science fiction, 1493 words)
Author: D. L. Morgan	Added: Feb 17 2004	Views/Reads: 4669/2581	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
‘A Rollie’s Decision’ is part of ‘Children of a Dark Sky.’ A deferent view of the same event. Comments, critique, and editing help are always welcome. Dale

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story


The rollies saw the child earlier in the day when an old woman left her
at the door step of the woman who gave them their freedom. They hid 
while the old human woman made sounds with the owner of the hut. Sounds 
that rollies could not hear, for they had no ears. Unexpectedly the old 
human just left the small female child at the door of the hut. The poor 
child made no effort to get inside out of the cold. Nor did she go back 
up to the village. 

"It's a shame that she has no fur, brother, she will die tonight," the
pink rollie thought. 

"Yes, sister, it is sad, she looks so much like the human child that was
so nice to us when we were being raised by them." 

"Raised to be eaten, brother." 

"I know. I know sister. But this human is only a child. I wish that we
could help her," he thought, as he went closer to the child. 

“We could try to keep her warm, brother." 

His sister rolled up near the child who was lying on the ground,
exhausted from standing, waiting, that the woman would let her in the 
hut and out of the cold. 

She took the pink rollie in her hands and rubbed them against the
rollie. Getting her hands warm wasn't enough. She knew that she needed 
a hut with a warm fire to live through the night. But she did not care. 
The death of her mother, the one person who she loved was gone and she 
saw no point of making an effort to live. Tears that ran down her 
cheeks were becoming cold. 

The pink rollie stayed and the other left. 

He knew that other rollies lived on the plateau, seeing them jump off
the cliff edge with absolutely no fear. He whish that he could do the 
same; being raised in a small cage all his life, his muscles were not 
in the same condition as the wild rollies. He rolled forward to the 
cliff, 'I mustn't fear, just jump.' 

There is a saying that it's not the fall that kills you, it's the
landing. He bounced and bounced again hitting a small bush with his 
round body. Then he finely came to a rest. 

In the valley, his mind filled with thoughts of all the dangerous
creatures that inhabit the valley, and the worst ones were nocturnal 
hunters. His small mind raced with fear, wondering if his decision was 
the right one. 

Rolling forward closing his eyes then opening them again; it was the way
that a rollie moved flexing their muscles than contracting them. They 
were related to the snake but instead of being long and thin, they were 
round. Traveling across the sandy soil looking for other rollies, he 
wonders where they could be. He heard them in his minds eye, long 
before he saw them. 

“Who are you?” one asked. 

“A creature like you,” he replied. 

“Are you not one of the two that live with a human?” another rollie
thought. 

“Yes, me and my sister live near a human, but right now I need your
help.” 

“What can we do for you? Human lover.” 

The disdain in the rollies thoughts was almost over powering. He wonder
what he could say to get them to help. 

“A human child was left outside tonight; I need help to keep her warm
until morning.” 

“Not a chance!” a different rollie thought in a replied. 

Now they had all rolled up to him and was looking at his slightly
smaller body. 

“Why would you help a human? Do you want to end up as their dinner?” 

He hissed a sigh, “I was born and grew up in a cage. Most humans are not
worth the effort. The human who raised me and my sister was mean and 
cruel. He also had a human child that would feed us. That child was 
very kind and also was the other children that came to stare at us. I 
think that something happens to a human when they grow up. They change. 
I remember once the adult human hitting its child. Would you do that?” 

“We don't have any things that stick out of our bodies except our tongs.
And no I have never seen one hurt another, less a child. You prove you 
own words. Humans are evil. Why should we help you or the human?” 

“Humans are not going away, maybe if we help a human child she will not
grow up with the evil spirit that is in the adult humans.” 

“How can we trust you or the human child?” 

“You can't” 

He left, feeling defeated deep in his hart. It was time to go back to
tell his sister that no help was coming. He jumped. It wasn't high 
enough. He jumped again. There was no way he could jump as high as the 
cliff. 

The other rollies watch and laugh. 

“No wonder you live with humans. You can't jump to save you life,” a
pink rollie thought to him. “Watch,” she thought. 

The pink one bounce once, then again. With each bounce she gained high.
In a few moments she was on top of the cliff looking down at him. 

“You try.” 

He started to time his contraction of his muscles and found that jumping
very high was easy for a rollie. The rest of the group met him at the 
cliff edge. They followed him to the child and covered her. 

“I thought that no one was going to help?” 

“We weren't, but if you think that this child might grow up and not
become an evil human, than we will help.” 

The pink on looked at him and smiled, 

“We stick together, unlike humans.” 


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