3
Aug
A science fiction piece for you today, involving a rather interesting little critter, one that makes me chuckle.
I stepped down from the shuttle ramp, and looked about me. All the eye could see was swamp. Foetid, hideous, swamp. Vines curled about one another, making mazes of impenetrable layers. The murk bubbled with released gasses, and the smell was exquisite in a way that rotting corpses can never achieve. I had been sent to this godforsaken sore of a planet because it might, might, contain precious minerals. Yeah, and I might be the virgin goddess herself. One look around told me that unless this planet had a core of molten beryllium and uranium, trying to land, build a base, and dig through the layers of swamp mess was not cost effective. The company knew it too, but had to go through the motions, so they send me, a junior prospector with cheap tools in a broken down shuttle on my own in the ass end of the galaxy. Sometimes, I hate my life.
And how the hell was I supposed to prospect when there wasn’t even enough space for me to land the shuttle properly? It’s sitting on a tilt, one wingtip dragging in the water because there isn’t enough solid ground. So where does the equipment go again? I’m tempted to just through a few samples from around here into the machine, call it good, and bugger off. There’s nothing here.
Oh bloody hell, what is that? This planet bred the world’s largest mosquito! Bugger this place, I’m going home. I climbed back into the shuttle and shut the door, my heart pounding. The mozzie that had tried to stab me with it’s feeder was over two feet in wingspan. Damn thing would have killed me, but veered away at the last minute. Guess I didn’t smell right. Ugh. Sod this planet. I’m taking a nap then piloting out of here.
You know, something occurred to me while napping. That damn insect was glowing. That sickly green glow that was used in old 2D entertainment to show radiation. I wonder… Ok, I’ll check it out. Might give me something to talk about. I grabbed a Personal Defence Kit™ (yes, even in my own brain it’s got that little trademark), turned it on, and walked outside. Now all I had to do was wait. Zap, zap. Two glowing mosquitoes came too close to me for the PDK™ to be happy. Now to bundle them upstairs and into the analyser.
These creatures are heavy, I’m struggling to lift them, and they aren’t that big. And they’re glowing, even when dead. I wonder how they fly. Short, stubby wings, big feeding tube, and holes over a lot of their lower bodies. Hmm. Strange is what they are, very strange. Oh well. I’ve tossed one in the analyser, the other’s locked up in a storage bin. I’ll find out what they are after a night’s sleep.
All right, that wasn’t a night’s sleep. And something is banging away in the lab. What the hell is going on? I’m getting my PDK™ before going in there. Oookay, the storage bin is on the floor and bouncing around. How in the goddess’s name did that stupid mosquito survive the shock? It’s supposed to kill anything up to one tonne, and this stupid gnat is still alive. What a bloody mess of a planet. Well, at least the bug can’t dent the bin, so it can stay there. Now, the results on the dead one. Trace minerals, primary construction, yes, yes. Wait, WHAT?! The computer is telling me I just fed it a fusion plant. A small one, but a fusion plant. Umm… no. I fed you a mosquito that tried to stab me. It’s a bug, not a high tech device. Right, I’m turning on the PDK™ and feeding you in the bin into this stupid machine. Zap, zap. Idiot. In you go.
Waiting, waiting. I hate waiting. Well, I’ll go catch a few more of your friends and lock them into storage bins. Maybe this planet is more interesting than I thought. It’s still a smelly, foetid, goddess-forsaken hell of a planet, but a mildly interesting one. Zap, zap, zap. Three more insects, three storage bins filled up. And… yup, the machine still thinks you little guys are fusion plants. And I’m beginning to think it just might be right. Your wings can’t lift your weight, and you have venting holes on your torso. So, I’ve found the galaxy’s first nuclear-powered jet propelled mosquitoes. Oh boy am I going to be a laughingstock at base when I report this. And rich, once they believe me. My first prospecting alone, and it’s a perfect find!
My, my, what wonderful little insects you are. I could almost kiss you. Of course, then you’d try and eat me. So, you guys have a nice trip in those storage bins, and I’m going to file a report, because I want to see my colleagues faces when I step off the shuttle carrying you lot. This is going to be fun.
2
Aug
My first new piece of writing in two months. Hopefully, I haven’t completely lost the touch.
I fell from a cloud. It was a long way down, and I had some time to think, to reflect. Life had been pretty good to me on that cloud, full of joy and happiness and friendship. But then the cloud soured, and turned grey, and I knew that it would soon be time to leave. And when the cloud turned black and begat a thunderstorm, well, then I walked to the edge, looked over, and walked off.
I’d been on a high cloud, way up in the sky, riding near the sun, and so I’d thought to hit another cloud on the way down, find a new place of friendship. Of course, the damn rain had cleared the sky out, and the only thing beneath me was the ground. I tried steering for the clouds I could see, but they shifted and moved and dodged away, and so I was left falling towards the earth, wondering what would happen when I got there.
The ground hurt when I hit it. I’m not sure if the ground hurt more or I did. The impact made a crater, and left me at the bottom of it. Then I had to deal with the horrible realities of the earth. Crushing pain, fear, anguish, pestilence, hate. They swarmed over me, dragging me further down into the ground, digging a pit from which there was no escape. I became a hollowed out shell of my former self, a ruin hidden away in the ground.
Eventually the earth-bound creatures became bored of me. They had had their torture and their fun. The foul beings filled the pit in over my head, and left me there to rot in the dank earth. And so I stayed there for some time, biding, recovering, until I was strong enough to climb out of the dirt. When they came for me again, I ran, and such was my recovery that I out-distanced pestilence and hate and anguish. Only fear could keep pace with me, but my endurance outlived its, and so it fell behind in the end.
Now I was left looking upwards, wondering how I might once more climb onto a cloud. They had strange movements, and might dip to the earth, but it was easier to go climb to their heights, and so I headed for the mountains, seeking a way to the peaks. The realities had gone there before me, hoping to catch me, and once more I had to run. This time I ran at them, and their moment of amazement let me burst through their filthy hands and climb high into the mountains.
There, I climbed onto a cloud and let it drift away. I made mocking faces at the realities of the earth as they hooted and howled and called out from their lowly location. I smiled and relaxed as the cloud drifted onwards, knowing I would soon be back in the lap of friendship and joy and happiness. Many a blissful day passed on that cloud, and I made friends and lovers under the night sky, as the stars twinkled above. It was a heavenly time, full of dancing and song.
No good time may last, and the cloud began to turn grey and ill, and thence to black, and the revelling stopped, and the friends became enemies and the lovers quarrelled. Seeing this, I fell from the cloud.