He looked at the valley below from a perch high in the observation tower on the mountain top and smiled grimly. What a bunch of fools he thought while nibbling on a still hot crunchy craterburger.
There are worse jobs than mine Jax reassured himself while sipping on a sonic soda through his second mouth. It was boring watching these stupid humans in a constant state of warfare since they emerged from caves and built cities to lay siege to. At first it was amusing watching humans chase and kill large animals that often killed their pursuers in the primordial landscapes seething with dangerous creatures. But as the centuries crawled by Jax’s amusement turned to disgust as so-called civilizations slaughtered each other in an eternal quest for absolute power.
“I could have ended up as a prison guard on Neptune or Saturn,” Jax said out loud, once again praising his decision to be an Observer for a planet – in this case Earth. A prison job would have been like living in an eternal hell.
If it wasn’t for his exceptionally high-test scores Jax would have been drafted into the Space Core Fleet and doomed to endless battles with other world’s war fleets. It was as bad as the stupid humans but intensified times ten with the deadly technology being used among the intergalactic adversaries. Not me he told himself when he applied for the relatively safe position of an Observer at the Royal Court in Mars’ capitol city of Helicum.
Jax’s brain ceased dredging up memories when his attention was drawn to a massive explosion and flash of light that turned the sky white. He quickly touched a button on the side of his helmet that shielded his eyes while automatically sealing his whole body in a protective bubble. The air shook with a thunderous roar that spiraled high into the sky knocking birds senseless and blinding any creatures below within eyesight of the explosion. The earth shuddered and wept poisonous gas into the atmosphere. Jax gulped. His craterburger hit like lead in his gut and he felt like he was going to throw it up. What had happened? What did those fool humans unleash now? Anger crawled up his scaly neck that turned a vivid red hue as he considered the implications. His suddenly safe job was suddenly looking shaky!
Back at the Royal Court in Mars.
“So,” the King asked his prime minister, “Did you know that earth was scheduled to be obliterated this week?”
The prime minister slyly smirked. He always hated and envied Jax and when the opportunity arose for revenge, he used his position of power to assign him to earth whose last day (he knew) was fast approaching. But he couldn’t tell the king that. Unbeknown to the sneaky prime minister however the king was aware of his hatred of Jax (his nephew) and strongly suspected he set him up. That was the reason the king had sent Jax the protective bubble helmet (normally only for combat personnel) when he heard about his new assignment. It was time the king decided, to teach the prime minister a lesson.
“No! No! Your majesty! By the time I discovered earth’s fate it was too late!
“Is that so?” the king asked. “Well then I’ll go ahead and give you a promotion that you well deserve.”
“Thank you sire!” the weasel-faced prime minister blurted out.
“Effective tomorrow you are going to have the privilege of securing an off-planet position as a rotating prison riot guard between Neptune and Saturn,” declared the king with a big open smile.
-30-
The Creative Chronicles of Dave Stancliff 