Escape! A Toddler Adventure
The portal is open!
I scan the launch room for life and see only the usual inanimate: water and land transports, building materials, and deployment survival paraphernalia.
The regular exits I have mastered; those are always carefully watched, and my captors (what else can I call them?) know this. But opening the docking portal, as they also know, remains beyond my capabilities. Once they left the remote authorization device unattended; their realization that I had unlocked the mystery of its use resulted in its removal before I was able to benefit from the knowledge. Try though I might, I have failed to locate its new position. Now, the futility of that search is irrelevant.
The portal is open!
I am dressed for action, as always, and now I am free! Blissfully free!
I owe this to the wardens, I know. Though they are unfailingly kind, they are ever vigilant in their watch over me. But tonight, they have embarked on an unknown and possibly dangerous mission; and in their haste to fulfill their duty to a higher cause, they have left one of the delivery portals unsecured. No doubt, this good fortune is a result of the guards’ failure to correctly position and secure Transport 1 after a recent retrieval and delivery training run: as I daringly move forward, it is obvious that the wardens could not secure the portal without reignition and completion of a second docking sequence. Clearly, the time constraints of this evening’s mission did not allow for that; they decided to trust in the guards. Unwisely.
I have been watching, and my time is now.
The guards have attached themselves to their screens, as they regularly do when the wardens sally forth; they believe me to be similarly occupied and unaware of the leadership vacuum. Too soon, they will understand that they have underestimated my powers for the last time. I step cautiously beyond the portal, listening for sounds of alarm. I hear none. I smile, take a deep breath, and leave my captivity behind. I have escaped!
The sky that greets me is a glorious palette of colors, the sun having only just descended below the horizon. Its fiery glow fades from orange where it meets the mountains’ edge into countless arms of bright yellow embracing the blue above. The air is crisp and clear, and there is not another soul to be seen. I listen closely, but I can no longer hear the mighty engine of Transport 2 as it takes the wardens on their mission.
I am on my own.
I embrace my freedom and dash down the hill and past my prison boundaries. I nearly tumble in my haste on the steep slope, but I can hardly contain the joy I feel! Energy surges through my churning legs, and reckless abandon destroys any sense of caution. After more than two years, I am FREE!
Breathing heavily from my exertion and smiling broadly, I reach the first of many crossroads. Where will I go? What will I do? The thought of escape has so thoroughly consumed me that I have hardly thought beyond it. I will prevail, of that I am sure. For now, I content myself with searching the surrounding countryside for fuel; night comes quickly in the open.
I have only gathered a few scraps of wood when my bliss is interrupted by a nagging worry in my ears. Something approaches! Surely the wardens cannot be returning already!
An enormous white Transport prowls its way towards me. Symbols of evil power are etched on its side, but I am unable to decipher their meaning. I have made excellent progress with the spoken language of my captors; the written still eludes me. Immediately I freeze, hoping that inaction will render me invisible to its sensors. It turns at the crossroads, towards me.
I am petrified, both mind and body.
The Transport stops. Slowly, the pilot exits. He is five times my size, adorned to match his devilish Transport, and armed to kill. He approaches me as one would a wild animal, and that is just how I feel. If only I could move! Surely I can outrun this Colossus and disappear into the wild! Slowly, he nears me; and then, suddenly, my invisible bonds are broken. I sprint away, sheer panic fueling my steps. I can hear his great, monstrous boots pounding behind me: closer, closer! With dreadful finality, his massive claws grasp my coat.
NO!
“Hey, little buddy, take it easy. Where did you come from?”
He tries to sound harmless, but I know better. Escape from such a beast is impossible. Still, the fear forces me to answer.
“Up!” is all I can eke out, as I point, defeated, to the bounds of my prison. My only hope is cooperation and a return to my kind, if vigilant, captors. I know how these “peace-keepers” operate. I will comply, in hopes that he will not discharge his many weapons. I will live to see another day and, hopefully, another escape.
He strides confidently, carrying me—unwilling but uncomplaining—as though I am nothing more than a flea. Inane, supposedly comforting conversation pours from his evil mouth as he returns me, conquered, to the site of my incarceration. Straight to the main entrance, he announces our arrival with the push of a button on the outer wall that is twice as high as my head when standing. I’ve never been able to reach it without assistance.
The door opens. Guard Three answers.
Colossus: Hi, are your parents home?
Guard Three: Uh, no, but my big brother is…
Colossus: Can you get him please?
Guard Three: Uh, sure…
Me: Gun! No shoot. A me. No shoot a me. Gun!
Guard One: Uh, hi.
Colossus: Hey, uh, I found your brother at the end of the street playing in the gutter with some sticks.
Me: Gun!
Guard One:Yeah, uh, we were just looking for him…
Me: No shoot a me. Gun!
Colossus: Well, you guys need to keep a better eye on him. Okay?
Guard One: Yeah. Sorry! Okay....
Colossus: Here’s my card. Can you give it to your folks and have them call me when they get home?
Guard One: Uh, sure. Thanks. [He shuts the door.]
Without ceremony, I am transferred back to my captors. Attempting to simulate regret as they exhort me to mend my ways, I strive again to turn their attention to the evil lurking beyond their door.
“Gun! No shoot a me! Gun!”