Herald Et Ali

Just Missed Me:

Chapter 2

Not phased in the Slightest

The ambassador walked to the entrance of the roofless, abandoned and partially demolished, adobe-like residence, and made as if to leave it. But just as he was about to set his first foot outside the entrance, he instead paused at the last possible moment, and froze his motion, as though he were a statue.

And, at that very instance, a huge stone slab, weighing more than two hundred kilos, and that had been an integral part of the entrance's upper arch, fell to the ground on the exact spot where the ambassador's next forward motion would have placed him.

"Just Missed Me," the ambassador said, smiling to himself, as he then proceeded to step over the huge stone and continue on with his inspection of what appeared to be a long abandoned village, now crumbling apart in decay.

Ambassador Alguno Faux had been inspecting villages, and moderately larger towns and cities all over the planet, with more or less the same preliminary conclusion. It appeared that the planet's intelligent inhabitants had long since left it, by a means as yet undetermined, for a purpose as yet unknown, and to a destination as yet unforeseen.

As the ambassador headed away from the small village, and back along the trail, through the forest, leading to his star ship, with the intention to go on to the next town or city for additional inspection, he uncharacteristically leaped far up and well over a patch of branches and leaves that had recently fallen over the trail, at some point after the last time that the ambassador had used the trail to enter the village, and which now covered a three foot area of ground, where his next step would have taken him.

Now, having landed on the other side of the area that was covered with branches and leaves, Ambassador Faux picked up a small branch and used it to push into the covered area. As a result of his poking into the pile of branches and leaves, they suddenly gave way, and fell more than sixty meters into a gapping crevice that had opened along the path, since the last time that the ambassador had used it.

"Just Missed Me," the ambassador said, again, as he smiled to himself.