The Wasps

By skribe

He’d lost them.  Sometime during the trip to the surface, he’d dropped his father’s binoculars.  Now, Tailor would have to leave the safety of the water again to find them.   However, it was no longer night - dawn was approaching – and that would mean that the Swarms would be active.  If they saw him, they would hunt him down and sting him until he was dead.  So, he had to be clever.  And brave.  But most of all he needed to work out where he had dropped the binoculars.

• Language: English
• Publisher: skribe
• Release date: Sep 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781497763982

skribe

skribe was born in Fremantle, Western Australia. For fifteen years, he worked as a producer, director and screenwriter before switching to online marketing, acting and writing. When he is not being a dad to his two boys he likes to pretend that he is a capable PC gamer.

Book preview

The Wasps

skribe

Published by skribe, 2013.

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

THE WASPS

First edition. September 15, 2013.

Copyright © 2013 skribe.

ISBN: 978-1497763982

Written by skribe.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

The Wasps

Also By skribe

About the Author

To my boys

He’d definitely lost them.

He’d searched his pack, and along the route back through the tunnel.  He even combed the silt in case they washed away in the current.  However, there was no sign of the binoculars.  His father was going to kill him when he found out.

Brand new, with variable zoom and laser rangefinder, his father had to import the binoculars from the other end of the Shelf.  Tailor had begged to use them for days.  His father had relented once (probably just to stop his son from pestering him), but Tailor hadn’t been able to see much.  Outside light barely penetrated into their home now it was winter.  He did have fun watching the laser beam cut through the water though.

You’re wasting the battery, his father said as he took the binoculars from his son.

But I didn’t get to see anything, Tailor complained.

When you get to the surface, then you will see.

When will that be?

Too soon, his father sighed with resignation.

When?

If the weather holds.  Your Sanctionday.

The next two weeks passed with agonising slowness.  The thought of finally leaving the water occupied his waking moments.  He tried to imagine what it would look like, what sounds there would be, even what he would smell.  He’d seen videos, of course, but actually experiencing it himself offered so many new sensations.  Imagining them all dominated his thoughts.  Even his little sister noticed his distraction.

What are you doing?

Just checking the time.

You’ve checked it every minute for the last hour.

He glared at her implication, and then turned away