2nd PRIME: NUMBER 3

The Sorx

​

The creature was facing the garden wall behind the Clock Tree and didn’t know that Holly and Jack were watching.
       It appeared to be in a very agitated state, tapping the toes on all 3 of its feet on the ground. Over its shoulder was a satchel and, just above its head, a beautiful rainbow soared into the sky. But there was something very peculiar about the rainbow - the colours were the wrong way round - they went Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red from the top of the arc to the bottom. 
       The creature was shouting at the wall, ‘2-7-3!’, ‘2-7-3!’,

       It kept repeating in a high pitched voice, each time thumping the wall with the end of a short twisted stick it was holding in its right hand. Its voice got higher and more panic stricken as nothing happening.
       In desperation, it screamed ‘2-7-3!’ at the top of its voice and hurled the stick at the wall. One end crashed into it. There was an almighty ‘crack’ and the stick fell to the ground.
       Suddenly, a stone in the wall began to move, then another and another. Holly gasped as the stone courses in the wall slid apart like opening interlocked fingers to reveal what seemed to be a long dark tunnel.
       The sound of Holly’s gasp made the creature quite literally jump. When it landed it spun round on one of its feet and stared at them. Jack and Holly stared back while slowly lowering their arms.
       'What? What are you?’ stuttered Jack. 
       With its left hand, the creature grabbed its twisted stick from the ground and pointed it straight at Jack as if it was about to fire it at him.
       Raising itself to its full height, it proudly answered ‘I’m a Sorx, and I know what you are. You’re a Hubee!’
       Jack and Holly were bewildered. They turned towards each other at exactly the same time.
       ‘Is this a dream?’ asked Holly.
       Jack was just about to say ‘No’ when the creature squeaked at the top of its voice ‘I hate Hubees, Hubees are bad news, bad news!’
       The Sorx was small, not tiny, but small.  It was covered in a thick mixture of brown, black, white and yellow hair. It was about a metre tall. It had great big feet, 3 of them, one at the bottom of each of its 3 legs, which were spread out like a tripod. Each foot had a different number of toes. One had 2, one had 7 and one had 3.
       It had extremely knobbly knees and a well-rounded bottom. Above this a slim waist opened out into a broad chest and wide shoulders with an arm at each end. These both hung down as far as the knobbly knees, or would have done if one of them was not been being used to raise the twisted stick towards Jack and Holly.
       At the end of each arm was a big hand with 7 long fingers and a thumb. Those on the hand holding the stick were wrapped around it so much that it appeared to be joined to the arm by a mass of plump hairy caterpillars. Half way along each arm was a knobbly elbow.
       It had a long nose, which curved towards the ground. This had a pointed end and 2 very hairy nostrils. Below this was a wide mouth with a pair of squidgy lips surrounding 2 rows of flat and pointed teeth. Under the mouth was a chin, or rather 2 chins, with the lower one jutting out further than the upper one.
       The Sorx had 2 very large round eyes, one purple and one yellow, with long eyelashes that touched when it blinked. Over each eye were 2 very hairy eye-brows. Above these was a surprisingly smooth forehead given the amount of hair that it had all over its body.
       Finally, on top of its head was a ‘shock mop’. This stuck out from underneath a large green floppy hat with a big silver F on it and cascaded wildly down its back as far as its marshmallow bottom. Sticking up through slits in its hat were 2 narrow cone-shaped ears. These moved independently like horses ears and at the moment they were swirling round in a panic.
       The Sorx was now extremely agitated and was getting madder by the minute. She had committed the worst sin imaginable, she had been seen by 2 Hubees and all because the tunnel wall was faulty and had not opened quickly enough.
       She looked at the 2 young Hubees. They only had 2 legs; no hair apart from a few pathetic strands on their heads and both their eyes were the same colour. She felt sick just looking at them.
       But she had no time to be sick. She had to face the facts. The Hubees had seen her and she had to do something. Unfortunately, her minds (for she had 2) were racing against each other. The aggressive one that told her to confront them and the peaceful one that told her to make a run for it through the tunnel.
       She was a Forager, a very prestigious job, and up to this moment she had prided herself on being a very good one. She had even been commended by the Forager-in-Chief (a rare honour).
       ‘You’ve done well 2:7:3,’ the chief had said. ‘You’ll be after my job one day!’
       ‘Not much chance of that now!’ she muttered under her breath.
       Foragers were the elite, it was they who kept the Sorx supplied with vital ‘stuff’ that they didn’t have in their own world. They wore splendid green floppy hats, each with a silver F-shaped badge on, to show other Sorx how important they were.
       Now that she had finally managed to open the tunnel she knew that it would soon close. Because of the shock of meeting the Hubees she had no idea how long it had been open. Her peaceful mind told her to get into the tunnel now.
       But her aggressive mind won. She couldn’t go back empty handed – that was the second worst sin imaginable. A Forager must come back with something useful to hand in at the Treasure Store.
       ‘But what?’ she thought.
       There was no treasure in this garden. She’d already had a good look around. She remembered her little sister One:2:One. She’d promised to bring her something from her next forage but that now seemed impossible. Then she saw Podge.
       ‘Of course, that’s it!’ she thought. ‘That will be ideal for One:2:One. I can hand it in at the Treasure Store and then buy it back. And I’ll get a discount for finding it!’
       She was a very greedy Sorx.
       But there was no time to lose. Even as she was thinking, the tunnel wall was beginning to vibrate gently as if it was about to close. This made her panic even more but finally her training kicked in.
       ‘What did it say in the Panic section of the training manual? Oh yes, when in doubt show your smile’, she remembered.
       Opening her mouth she revealed 2 rows of brilliant white flat and pointy teeth that shone like stars. These lit up Holly and Jack like searchlights and had a very odd effect on them.
       Without thinking, they began to smile back and their teeth began to glow a lovely white light. Just like a yawn, the Sorx smile was infectious and soon they were smiling as broadly as she was.
       They were now both in a ‘Sorx Trance’.
       2:7:3 put her stick in her satchel and reached out to Holly with her left hand, smiling all the time. Holly began to raise her left hand and Podge towards her. Jack stood motionless, still locked by the Sorx’s smile. 
       The Sorx shuffled closer to Holly. Reaching forward she wrapped her plump hairy fingers around Holly’s hand and ticked her wrist. Holly shivered and released her grip on Podge.
       2:7:3 slipped Podge out of Holly’s hand. 
       Keeping her teeth firmly pointing towards Holly and Jack, she began to step quietly backwards towards the tunnel. She was only a few steps from the entrance when a very loud rumbling noise from behind her made her jump. She turned her head towards it. The entrance was closing.
       But now the beam was broken and Holly and Jack began to come out of their trances. Holly reacted quicker and, looking down, saw that her hand was empty.
       ‘Where’s Podge?’ she thought in a panic.
       The Sorx looked back and saw that Holly was awake. She dashed headlong towards the closing gap waving her arms to help her move. Holly saw that she was carrying Podge.
       ‘Podge!’ she screamed and ran after the Sorx.
       This sudden commotion awoke Jack from his trance. He’d seen what had happened but had not been able to move. All that changed in an instant. Quick as a flash he sprinted after Holly and the Sorx.
       The entrance was closing quickly. The Sorx got there first and let out a high pitched whistle. The odd rainbow flashed out of the sky and slithered into her satchel. She rammed Podge in beside it and dived into the tunnel. Holly was still a few steps away from the entrance.
       Seeing this, Jack shouted ‘Stop Holly! Don’t go in! Stop!  You can get another Podge! Stop!’ 
       ‘There’s only one Podge! I can’t leave her!’ shouted Holly. ‘She’s my best friend of all!’ and crashed in after the Sorx.
       ‘Don’t Holly! Stop! Come Back!’ shouted Jack as the layers of stones moved closer together.
       Jack reached the wall and knew he had to help Holly. Without thinking he forced himself through the narrowing gap. Almost through, he felt the walls tightening on his wellies making him fall to the ground just inside the tunnel. He grabbed the tops of his wellies and tugged hard.
       His wellies and feet came through with a loud ‘pop’ as the layers of stone crashed together like thunder. He was lying on the tunnel floor inside the tunnel. There was no light anywhere, but there was a faint sound, the sound of running water.