Lofty Ambitions

Two rabbits climbed up a ladder in near-darkness.

"George" Said the lower one.

"Yes, Reg" The higher one said, so as to establish their names as early on as possible.

"Where are we going?"

George was silent for a minute, the only noise was the pad-pad, pad-pad of paws on the ladder.

"Reg,"

"Yes, George."

"We're allowed 'time off' yes?"

Reg nodded. George didn't actually hear this, but continued anyway.

"So. In my 'time off', I explore the warren. The closed bits. The dark bits. The bits dug out but which were never used. The bits dug out but which became unsafe. The lost bits. The forgotten bits." Pause. (Pad-pad)

"The interesting bits." His hands came to the top of the ladder and he crawled up. "The bits like this!" He turned round and helped Reg up into...

It was a large, well you'd have to call it a space rather than a room - the ceiling was rather low and the two rabbits had to stoop all the time. The floor was domed - and was criss-crossed by wooden rafters. I'd have said it looked like a loft. Rabbits, unfortunately, don't know the word - their living space goes down rather than up.

In myriad places, small tunnels led off the main loft space, too small for a rabbit to navigate. Light streamed up into the room through a dozen or so small holes in the flooring.

"It's safest to tread on the wood rather than the flooring." George said to his dumbstruck friend as he started off towards the nearest stream of light. Reg followed, tentatively padding from joist to joist.

"Look through here." George said, pointing at the hole in the floor.

Reg knelt and gently lowered his eye to the light.

He jerked up with panic on his face.

"We're above the Committee Chamber!" He whispered frantically. He started to nervously finger the wooden ring on his left hand. "We could get in trouble for this! No one's allowed in the Committee Chamber unless they are summoned. We could loose our privileges!" He held his left hand up, meaningfully.

"Don't be silly!" George hissed back at him, unconsciously fingering his ring "How will they ever know that we're here." He sat back a little. "Anyway. The rules are against being in the chamber. We're not in the chamber. There's no rule against looking. They think no one would dare.

"And, provided that we are quite quiet, they won't ever know we are here!" He leaned forward and patted Reg on the shoulder. "We're supervisors. We get the Privilege Ring. That means we get privileges that the mass don't." He sat back again. "Consider this one of them."

Reg still looked nervous.

"Anyway," George began, he was regretting bringing the younger rabbit up here and needed to calm him down. "Look again, see how high up we are. I bet you, you can't even hear a word that they are saying down there. And, if you can't hear them, they can't hear you!" Reg's excitement overcame his nervousness and he smiled.

"Well, what they don't know..."

"Won't hurt them." George laughed - this was how the Committee talked about the worker rabbits, and was how they explained their decision not to educate the majority of rabbits, indeed how they explained their decision to deal with all external matters, even keeping them from the supervisors. Using the phrase about the Committee was tantamount to treason. But it was quite amusing.

"Well," George said, encouragingly to Reg, "What's going on then?"

Reg smiled and leant forward and put his eye to the hole.

"Wow! The chamber looks bigger than it did the day I got my ring. The Committee rabbits are sat on the outside of a U-shaped table. There are, " He counted them as best as he could. "Three and three and three and more. I think. That makes lots!

"They have their grey robes on and have the hoods up fully. I can't even see one nose let alone a face.

"Hold on the doors are opening. Two guards are bringing a rabbit in.

"Strange, I don't recognise him. He's quite tall and carrying a large staff.

"Wow! That's staff is pretty impressive - its' got metal shod ends. And it looks like it's glowing. Just a little. But it stands out from the room or the rabbit.

"He doesn't look like a worker-rabbit - he's standing too confidently for that, but I don't recognise him and I don't think I can see a ring on his hand.

"That's strange - he's far too confident. If he's not wearing a ring he should be cowering in front of the committee, not standing like that. Defiant, that's the word I was looking for.

"I think it's that staff. I think it's magical." Reg sat up for a second. And looked at George. George was grinning at his friend.

"I think we've picked an interesting time to relax in 'the supervisors burrows'." He sniggered.

Reg lowered himself to the light again.

"He's talking to them - I can't hear a word he's saying, but he doesn't seem cowered by their power at all. Weird.

"He's stepped towards the table! They won't allow that.

"Hey, I don't think the Committee have said a word yet. I've not seen one of their heads moving.

"I can see the paws of a couple of the Committee members. Clenched fists! Their rings are faintly glowing too.

"The air above the committee looks strange, thicker almost. I think they are using magic on him!

"His staff is glowing, you can see it clearly now in the dark, and there are sparks on the wood! How can wood spark! Ouch!" Reg jerked his head up and rubbed his eyes.

"Spark! Lightning! That was bright!" He closed his eyes tight he couldn't see anything in the dark loft, not even George. He closed his eyes again and counted to three. Then opened them and dropped to the hole again.

"The rabbit is lying on the floor! His staff has dropped from his hand! One of the committee has left the table and has walked up to him with his hood down! Is he? No he's not going anywhere near the staff. Don't blame him. I wouldn't touch that staff with a long staff! He's helping the rabbit up.

"The rabbit doesn't seem the same as he was. He's cowering properly now. His head is bowed and he's shaking it slowly. They've got him! Another valuable member of our community! Doesn't it make you feel proud!

"They have a number-tag for him! The committee member is putting it on him. Why do the committee use those big numbers? They are the only ones who can read them?

"Oh I'd love a golden ring.

"They have called the guards and they are leading him out the chamber.

"They have called another guard to move the staff! I think they are scared to touch it." Reg started laughing. "The guard can't pick the staff up!

"How heavy can it be? The other rabbit carried it almost like a small twig." Reg lifted up for a second.

"It he's that strong I want him on my work party!" Then back down again.

"They've called another guard in! The two of them together can't move the staff!

"The committee member who got down is ushering them away. Are they going to leave it there? They can't do that!"

---*---

Reg was just leading his work team out into the afternoon sun.

"Reginald!" Called a voice. He turned, behind him was a cowled figure, followed by a tall rabbit.

"On Behalf Of The Committee," The cowled figure intoned,

"May the Committee be Praised." Reg replied.

"I have a new addition to your work team. He's quite strong. You should call him Buck Thirty-Seven."

Reg ran the unfamiliar syllables around his mouth a couple of time. Only supervisors had real names. The masses were given weird long 'Numbers' and the Committee member were just 'The Committee'.

The cowled figure turned and left.

Reg shivered. 'Buck Thirty Seven' was the rabbit from the chamber earlier.