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I crawled into the crater like the missing link between fish and amphibian. I heaved one way, and dug my fingers into the ground, and rolled, and trudged, and flailed, and crawled.

I don’t know how long it took. I lost track of time. I saw smoke in the sky, heard commotion on the ground outside the crater. Could anybody see me? I hoped not. I hoped what came next would remain a secret, even if it meant death.

At the centre of the crater was a small pool of molten rock and metal. It’s gone, I thought. It’s destroyed. I managed to sit up and take a deep breath of ash and soot.

But then in the burning, viscous fluid, I saw it. A glimmer. Oh it was still there: the device.

The device!

If I waited, there was a chance the enemy might extract it after the extraterrestrial lava and slag cooled. It would be easy for any nation-state, even for several corporations. But I couldn’t let them have it!

After a moment of trepidation, I plunged my fingers into the glowing muck.

Notes

This was written in 15 minutes during a Joy of Writing meetup.