Predator
Sai Kung Central Lee Siu Yam Memorial School, Roseanna Bevan Woodman, Fiction: Group 2
D
ominic Scholars was an archeologist, an archeologist in a bad mood. Why? Because he
had just been assigned a new partner for his latest project. Dominic did not like his new
partner, and in this case it was a young enthusiastic partner, Toby. But then Dominic
didn’t like any of his partners.
Dominic was taking a trip to the Gobi Desert to study its animal inhabitants, in particular to
the animal at the top of the food chain, the Boomslang snake. But at present, Dominic sat sulking
in his office trying to sort out the flight details. Just then the intercom crackled and came to life.
“Professor Scholars, Toby’s here to see you.”
“Show him in,” said Dominic into his microphone that he had hidden in his sleeve. Minutes
later, Toby entered the room.
“Have you got the flight data sorted out?” Toby asked.
“No, the blooming computer keeps crashing.”
“Let me help you,” said Toby.
And in less than two seconds, they had all the details stored and read. Dominic scowled, Toby
shrugged. They bade each other good night.
The next day the unlikely duo set off to Mongolia. They headed south from Ulan Bator on
horseback. They stopped overnight in a yurt tent, where they were introduced to fermented horse
milk. The next day they arrived in the desert. They pitched camp and took a nap – Boomslang
snakes are nocturnal so they prepared for a long night in their observation hideout. By the time
the sun rose, both were exhausted. This put Dominic in a bad mood for the rest of the day. They
both went to bed. Toby woke up at noontime and, seeing his partner was asleep, went to have
a look around. Toby found plenty of interest including a skeleton of something that looked like
someone’s backbone. But when he went closer he saw that it was a skeleton of a snake. He knelt
to examine it. And when he saw what it was, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief. A Boomslang snake!
But they are at the top of the food chain, he thought. Nothing eats Boomslang snakes because
their venom is known to be incredibly poisonous. Toby quickly grabbed the skeleton of the snake
and rushed towards his camp.
Halfway back to the camp, a sand storm began to blow up. Toby knew what to do: he fell
to the ground, holding his handkerchief to his face. A sudden wind whipped up and blew the
skeleton from his fingers.
The storm didn’t last long and in 15 minutes, Toby was blinking sand off his eyelids. But when
he looked around, the bony specimen was lost. When he got back, it was evening. Dominic didn’t
seem to have missed Toby.
“I’ve found something big, Dominic, I think there is another level to the food chain. Something
is eating our Boomslangs! ” exclaimed Toby. Dominic raised his eyebrows disbelievingly.
“Sounds like you’ve been on our fermented horse milk while I’ve been asleep! ”
“Hardly, I’ve been out in the field and I had a skeleton in my hands until it was blown away in
a sand storm,” said Toby crossly.
“Toby, you’re a scientist. You should understand that if there is no evidence, no one will listen
to you and that includes me!” Dominic replied briskly.
