‘During that time we are vulnerable to being attacked by whatever thinks we are good for a meal, so if we could see a little better we would stand a better chance of surviving.
‘I had noticed that some of the strange flying creatures sometimes give out a light to attract one another and some fungi also glow in the dark when the lesser sun is absent. I have been collecting some of these things which glow in the dark, and extracting the juices from them. It has taken a long time, but I have now found that by mixing certain juices together, they too will glow in the dark, and at the time of the lesser sun not giving us light, I found that I could see quite well to walk around safely once my eyes got used to the low light level.’
Kel looked surprised at the idea of being able to make light, and asked to see it actually working.
‘Be patient, young man, and you shall see it, and one day may even use it to guide your way in dark places. I have reduced the juices to a dried powder, so all you have to do is add a little of each powder to some water, shake it up a little, and you have light!. Here, let me show you, I can see you are bursting with curiosity.’ Mec got up from his seat with an ill concealed chuckle and went into another of the little rooms which went around the wall of the main cave.
‘Here, you can do it yourself. Take a little of that powder and some of that one, and drop them into that insect body case. You can see that the case of the insect is transparent, so if we can make light inside it, the light will come through the casing. Good, now add a little water and shake it up.
‘There, you see, it glows. How well can you see in here if I stand in the opening blocking out the external light?’
Kel let his eyes get used to the gloom, and was surprised to be able to see details of the little room slowly getting better and better.
‘This is wonderful,’ said Kel, ‘I can see quite well. We shall be able to see to go about the walkways when the lesser sun fails to shine now.’
‘No you won’t,’ said Mec, ‘this is to be kept for special purposes, when we really need to use the light, and anyway it is very difficult and time consuming to make the powders in the first place.’
Kel looked a little disappointed at this rebuff, but saw the reasoning behind it, and then cheered up considerably when he was offered another of the sweet tasting shiny black spheres.
‘Oh, I meant to have told you earlier, on my way here I came across what I think might be one of the new creatures which has been proving troublesome to our neighbouring group. It was in the main branch and had made a hiding hole deep beneath the bark of the walkway.’
Kel then went on to tell how he had tempted the creature to take his bait, and the marking of the danger spot afterwards.
‘You did well Kel, but you must take very great care when approaching such creatures, as they are very quick to act, and so far we don’t know very much about them, except that they are new to this area of the forest.
‘I’ve heard from several of the other groups dotted about the forest that they have been experiencing an influx of these new creatures for some time now, and lost quite a few group members, but this is the first time that one of them has come into our area of the forest. I don’t know if this is a new breed of animal or one that has migrated into this area, but it is a serious threat none the less, and we must find a way of combating it.’ Mec looked pensive as he left the little room and went out into the main cave.
Kel followed, hoping that this wasn’t the end of the story telling as he had been looking forward to it for some time.
‘I have an idea, but it’s only an idea at this stage. You probably don’t know about it, but up in the higher layers of the forest there is a plant which produces a large round skin like bag of dust which is deadly to most creatures which inhale it. I have only been told about it as something to avoid at all costs. It would seem that the dust is something like the spores which come from some of the fungi we use, but of a totally different kind to ours, and for some reason it kills just about anything which it contacts.
‘We may be able to use it to our advantage if we can find a safe way to handle it and get the creature to take a bite. Anyway, I’ll let you know if I come up with some means of ridding us of the creature as I am sure you would want to be in on the kill, as it were.’
Kel sensed that was the end of that particular subject, at least until Mec had worked out how to tackle the creature in more detail.
Mec began to gather up the little pots which lay scattered about the floor of the main cave, and Kel joined him in the task, to delay his leaving by being useful.
‘Be careful not to get the contents on your hands.’ Mec called out as he arranged the pots he had collected on a shelf at the back of the cave.
‘They are not as deadly as the powder bag I was telling you about, but some could give you a nasty skin burn.’
When they had finished tidying
