The Patriot and the Paradox

A blinding light filled the interior of the ship. The alarm of a dead man's switch screamed in my ears. I flicked the emergency shutoff button on the side of the device and the light went away.

"What was that?" My companion, Javier, asked as we continued our trek through this wreckage. He gripped his rifle as if he were going to use it to pin me against the wall with his arms alone.

"Something's wrong." I said, "We need to get out of here now."

With haste, we ran through the winding corridors to find our way back outside of this ship. As we scurried, we could hear a loud roar from outside, one that seemed to shake the very ground beneath us. The clouds above had parted and now a beam of light shone down onto what appeared to be a giant space lizard, roughly as large as an aircraft carrier. It roared again, its mouth full of sharp teeth closed tightly and it opened its maw allowing for a stream of fire to spew forth from its gaping maw engulfing everything in sight.

"What is that thing!?" Javier shouted over the roar, "I've never seen anything like that before."

"I don't know!" I replied "but we have to get out of here!"

The roar became so violent it began rocking our ship back and forth along with the ground below us. We raced down the hallways desperately trying to maintain our balance as we ran towards our exit. A few times, I lost my footing but each time Javier was right there to grab me by my collar and pull me back onto my feet.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of running and dodging debris that fell from above us during those violent tremors, we found our way out into the daylight once again. The lizard had ceased its roaring and was now staring directly at us in what seemed like curiosity rather than anger or hunger. Its eyes glinted red as if some sort of light was emanating from within them as it stared back at us with what seemed like purpose rather than instinctual curiosity.

"Do you think it's safe?" Javier asked "we can't stay here forever."

"Look." I said pointing up at the sky behind us where a strange portal had formed in the clouds directly above where we stood moments ago.

A ray of light shone down upon us almost as if by magic illuminating everything around us in a brilliant white glow. As this happened, it began raining up above us inside that portal where only moments ago there was no sign of rain clouds whatsoever. Suddenly a gust of wind blew across our faces as if someone had just opened up their window on a warm summer breeze blowing through their home. The lizard looked up at this strange phenomenon observing this strange display before settling its gaze back on us as if waiting for something to happen next before acting again.