50 Million Years from Now

Act 14

As the morning sun beat down on the dry landscape, Moramma stared at the skull, its empty eye sockets staring back at her. She cocked her head to the right then to the left. She paused, bent down toward it, and gave it a quick peck. She was perplexed. She had never seen a creature with a skull like this. It was completely rounded with only two large holes for where the eyes once were and a tiny shape right in the middle that looked like an upside-down V. It had both carnivorous and herbivorous teeth. Moramma thought and thought but she could recall nothing from her memory which looked remotely like this.

Finally, she gave up on trying to solve this mystery and went back to the job at hand. She walked back to the cluster of trees and kept helping with breaking off branches. The group of Black beaks was gathering wood for the trap. This would not be an easy task with so much material needed and so few trees.

Moramma took hold of an older branch that was not as strong and would be easier to tear off. She pulled, pushed, and wiggled the tree limb like a preschooler would do with a loose tooth. Finally, with one last tug, she tore the branch off and away from the trunk. The sudden change in weight caused her to lose her balance, but she quickly recovered and put said branch in the pile where it would be left for now until it and its companions were brought back to the cave later.

As the day came and went, the Black beaks continued working hard to prepare for the herds. They found wood, sharpened their tips and stuck them into the ground. Everyone was doing their part, but some were having a harder time. For Zgall this extra work had caused nothing but more negativity to radiate off him. He constantly complained and argued with other Black beaks. And when he wasn't doing either, he seemed to just disappear off the face of the earth. For others like Roc, this extra work was very exhausting and sometimes to the point where the poor bird would fall asleep in the middle of what he was doing. This would sometimes cause problems as it was counterproductive, or it would lead to some comedic moments that were sure to release some of the tension caused by the extra work.

During her break, Moramma flew over to Vall and asked, "Vall, is this a good time for us to speak?"

"Well, I don't really have anything else to do right now, so yes, it is a good time to speak."

"I need to ask you something. Is there any chance you might happen to know of an animal with a perfectly round head?"

Vall only looked at her for a quick second before digging into his archive of memories. Unfortunately, nothing fitting the description came up.

"I can't say I do. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that I found a skull of something that looked like what I just described to you."

"Well, I'm sorry I could not help."

"It's okay."

The two stood in silence for a bit, not knowing what to say to the other. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Vall finally said something, "You know that all this extra work is for a good reason, right?"

"Yes, I do know that."

Once again, it was quiet. This time it was Moramma who broke the silence, "Vall, there's something I must tell you."

Vall looked at Moramma, his heart beating fast in his chest. He hoped that she would tell him those words which meant it all. Moramma on the other hand, desperately wanted to tell Vall the same thing, but in a panic, she ended up saying something else.

"Do you think the traps will work?"

Vall kept a calm demeanour, but internally he was screaming. He answered in the only way that seemed appropriate, "I'm not sure, but let's hope it does work."