Loss of Control

“What are they?” Zalnar said, peering down into the glass dome on Athleen’s side table.

“A cute little race called, ‘humans. They think the terrarium is their planet.”

“That’s rich,” Zalnar’s booming laugh shook the glass dome.

“I’ve sent the Meeps in to learn more about them.”

“I knew those tiny minions of yours would come in handy. But do you not fear retaliation?”

“From humans?” Athleen laughed now. “They don’t bite.”

“Yet we were warned it unwise to attempt to control another race,” Zalnar said.

Suddenly small explosions emitted from the glass. The small world seemed to be on fire. Sirens screamed from within as the glass shattered.
“What… what is that?” Zalnar choked.

“It must… it’s oxygen!” Now warning sirens were going off in Athleen’s lab “Their atmosphere must have contained oxygen!” His lungs burned from the element known to kill his kind.

“You fool!” Zalnar Clutched hist throat.

Athleen’s breath was ragged. He felt himself slipping away, as if the room was disappearing. He saw small ships escaping from the glass dome, hundreds of small ships. They buzzed around his head like the insects he had heard lived on the human’s planet. He saw humans pointing at him, jostling each other for a view out the tiny windows of their ships.

Zalnar’s body lay quiet on the floor of the lab. Athleen, too, felt his existence slipping away. How was he to know that small amount of the human atmosphere could be deadly? What had he done?

Word Count: 250