Showing posts with label desert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label desert. Show all posts

Monday, August 17, 2015

The Whisker Brings The Rain- Flash Fiction


tower
Henry craned his neck to stare out the window as Fred landed their ship on Unaris, the 2nd planet in orbit around a set of binary stars. Gloria had been here once before so instead of peering out the window with her crewmates she sat going over the scans of the ruins below.

 Henry threw off his harness and patted Gloria’s shoulder he passed her on his way to the airlock. 

“Well, if we are going to get this planet ready in time then we better get moving,” Henry said with a shrug.

Gloria sighed. ‘I am not looking forward to this.’ 

Due to the lighter gravity the three of them hopped lightly over the dry grassy field towards the ruins. Unaris had oxygen so they didn’t need their suits, but the air was dry and stale. Fred stopped a moment to take a drink from his water bottle.

 “You might want to conserve as much of that as you can,” Gloria said, pausing to watch him take in another big gulp of water. “The rain system could be on the other side of the planet, by the looks of things it hasn’t rained here in a while.”

 “Isn’t that your job, Whisker? To get the rain to come back?” Fred said with a chuckle.

 Gloria narrowed her eyes at him and sighed. “It’s not that simple,”

“What does the machine feel like when it turns on Gloria?” Henry asked curiously as they walked up the dusty metallic steps into a giant metal tower.

 Whoever had lived here had long since moved on. Buildings farther down from the tower were either caved in or over grown by thick dead plants.

 Gloria gulped, she really didn’t want to think about how it felt.

 “It’s a little creepy, the machine transmits impressions from the designers. It helps you feel what the planet needs and where it needs it.” Gloria answered. 

“Man that is creepy.” Henry said shuddering.

 At the top of the tower a giant machine stood in a roofless room. The machine held huge metal prongs pointed high into the sky above them. Taking a deep breath Gloria climbed into the odd control chair. At her touch the machine lit up, recognizing a living being’s electrical impulses again after so many years. A metal band lowered around her forehead and after one last thumbs up to Henry and Fred she closed her eyes.

 In her mind images of the world around her invaded her mind. Memories of the world as it once was, as well as its current state. She could see the rain system, stalled out over the western ocean. She could see the air currents, barely moving due to the lack of convection from the suns. Something inside her felt the designer’s intentions.

 ‘Bring life back.’ 

 Gloria waved her mental hand over her spot on the globe floating in her mind. Vibrations shook the machine gently as the metal prongs came to life, stirring the air into motion.



**Photo Credit: via photopin (license)


This post was part of the 52 week flash fiction challenge on facebook (somehow I never hit publish here on my blog so it is a bit late.)
Week 9 word prompt: Whisker
Word Limit: 20- 500
This one tops out right at 500 words.

Readers: Would you like to have the whisker's job of keeping the planet's weather system going? Do you think it would be stressful or peaceful? What do you think would be your favorite weather system to control?

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

W: Everyone Needs Water- Flash Fiction


When nothing will do“You are weak and worse yet, you do not even realize you are weak!” The Aruk named 12 hissed at a group of children as he marched them along a grueling sandy terrain.

 Back inside the station the Aruk leader, called 1, glared through the window as he watched the children’s progress. 

“Why haven’t they given up by now?” 1 asked his 2nd in command beside him.

 “They’ve only been here for just a short time sir, but we do need to figure out how to break the human species’ spirit soon if we are going to have a chance at winning the war in the future.” 2 replied, his body flickering and never gaining solid form.

 1 huffed. 1 knew, being a temporal histographer, 2 could see how much longer they had if they had any hopes of changing their future.

 “This species gaining our powers is NOT in our best interest. If they fight this hard now to keep going, they would have been an unstoppable foe if they had been allowed to develop to their full potential on their home planet.” 1 said, his voice dark and brooding.

 Outside, the children were growing tired and thirsty. The sun high in the sky burned on their exposed skin. Still the Aruk guards shoved them on.

 A young boy by the name of Nathan stumbled a little in the sand. His guard shoved him and ordered him to keep up. His mind felt like jello, his stomach churned in the heat, his muscled weak from dehydration and yet he continued on.

 I won’t be the one to cause my friends pain because I failed the test, Nathan thought about the rest of his friends still back in the cells.

 If only I had some water!

 Spreading his arms out beside him, being careful not to disturb his fellow runners, he wished for a breeze to take away the heat.

 Or maybe even some rain! 

There was no rain or even the slightest breeze on this desolate planet the Aruk lived on though. Nathan’s eye was suddenly drawn to the forehead of the Aruk guard running beside them where sweat beaded on his purple skin. The guard wiped his three fingered hand across the red and black tattoo’s and flicked the sweat to the ground.

 Water! Nathan’s mind reeled.

He stopped running and held his hands out toward the guard in desperation.

 1 leaned closer to the window and watched in horror as the purple skin of one of his guards faded with almost instant dehydration. The guard stumbled back horrified. 1 waved his hand over the window to open it and called out to his guards.

 “Dispose of him quickly!” He ordered, The children mustn't be allowed to develop those powers!

The guards circled around the children and two guards pulled the kicking and screaming boy from their midst.

 “How, in the midst of all this, did he manage to develop the ability of a healer?” 1 demanded of 2 after he closed the window once more.

 2 didn’t answer. His form flickered even more feverishly now as he scanned the timeline.

 “Don’t dispose of him just yet,” 2 told the guards as they dragged the terrified boy past them. “Sir, the timeline has changed. If we can develop these humans’ abilities we can use them to fight FOR us in the coming war!”

This flash fiction piece takes place before the events of The Alien Mind. Just something I am working on to help me analyze my antagonists motivations and frame of mind. Bear in mind that none of this is edited or finalized- just me doing some free range writing ;)



photo credit: When nothing will do via photopin (license)


Today's post was also inspired by the letter W. W is for:   as part of the Blogging from A to Z April 2015 challenge! Click on the letter to join on in the fun!

Every day (excluding sundays) I will be writing a post about something that begins with the letter for that day. Most of the time you will find a sci-fi flash fiction piece here.


For Readers: I leave you with this quote: The best weapon is your mind. Without it you are defenseless. Without it you are weak and worse yet you do not even realize you are weak.

Tell us about a time that some fast thinking got you out of trouble...