Rocks Are Not Alive- Flash Fiction

Edward knelt, trying to console his crying son. Jacob held his knee and rocked back and forth, tears making streaks down his dusty cheeks.

 “Son, I told you not to run out here, there are too many rocks.” Edward said, carefully trying to hold his voice steady. 

A trail of blood ran down Jacob’s knee and pooled around the rock beside him.

 “Jacob, please let me see your knee. I can’t stop the bleeding until you let me see your knee!” Edward pulled his son’s bloody hands away from his knee.

 Pulling out a cloth from his pocket he wiped away the blood only to realize that his son’s knee wasn’t even cut. Sure, a little red maybe... but there was no injury to be seen.

 “Odd.” Edward looked at the pool of blood that had collected around the rock. “Jacob, can you tell me what happened?” 

“I... tripped, on that rock, coming up the hill.” Jacob said between sniffles.

 Edward picked up Jacob’s foot and inspected every inch of his leg.

 “Nope no injury.” He commented matter of factually, tousling his son’s dusty hair. “Slow down, next time ok.”

 “But dad, where did the blood come from then if it wasn’t mine?”

 “Did you notice it on the ground on your way up here?” Edward asked. Jacob shook his head. 

“Hmm... maybe we should take some of the blood back to your mom, there’s some on this rock here.” Edward passed the rock to Jacob who held it gingerly with disgust. “Mom can put it through the scanner and figure out where the blood came from.”

---

 Back at the campsite Edward’s wife had set up a laboratory in one of the big orange tents. Recon had sent them to catalog the species indigenous to the planet to see if it was a candidate for terraforming. Edward placed the blood drizzled rock on a plate and slid it across the table to his wife who was intently peering into a microscope.

 “Take a look at this honey. This is the oddest thing I have seen in a long time.” Edward said, waving his hand under the microscope to get his wife’s attention.

 Marrisa eyed the rock out of the corner of her eye and rolled her eyes in exasperation. “You and your rocks! Must you bring them in here? And what’s up with the bloody mess all over it anyhow?”

“Thats what I wanted you to see! I just ran a few tests on it. The bleed is coming from the rock!” Edward explained.

 “Rocks don’t bleed dear.” Marrisa said chuckling, “It’s probably Jacob playing a joke on you again.”
“Watch.” Edward insisted. He picked up the rock and gently wiped it clean with a soft cloth.

The rock clinked against the plate as he set it down once again. Marrisa eyed him suspiciously. Then suddenly she heard it!

Marrisa’s eyes widened in shock as she realized a delicate song was coming from the rock. Almost as if in gratitude.



photo credit: MB Balances Rocks via photopin (license) 


This post is part of the 52 week flash fiction challenge on facebook
Week 7 word prompt: Bleed
Word Limit: 20- 500
This one tops out right at 500 words.

This one is a bit late (was due last friday) but I took a bit of a break after the AtoZchallenge to catch my bearings again.
Readers: How do you think you would react if you were suddenly faced with real life aliens? Would you be shocked? Scared? Would you panic? What if the aliens were part of the very ground you were walking on?

AtoZ Challenge Reflections

Oy! This month has been a blast. I realize now though, that writing a new short story every day for a year (was my original goal- I just used AtoZ to get me started) is just not on the books for me. I've got so much going on that taking the time out to pull together an original story every day has had me going to bed at midnight most nights this past month.

• So- My first reflection is that I will probably scale it back down to writing one MAYBE two original short sci-fi posts a week. I also blog along with the twice yearly 52 week short story challengers on facebook so I will have at least one sci-fi story to show you a week!
• I've found some really interesting bloggers- and found that I am certainly not alone among bloggers who have chosen blogger.com as their blog host over wordpress. For a while there I was starting to feel lonely. Wordpress has always given me problems, whether it was posing comments or munching my posts. -.- I have been SO much happier with blogger. It's free, and I can use my own url for free too! No regrets!
• My next observation is that my visitors doubled, dare I say almost tripled during the challenge! Where I would typically see 30 views, I was reaching almost a hundred on most days! Thank you, EVERY SINGLE one of you for coming to check out my blog! I hope I have entertained you a little. That's what I'm here for ;)
• Google also really rather enjoyed my posting every day. When googling my name, my website now shows up third rather than 7th on the list! (under both of my book's goodreads links)
• I gained some new followers- and I completely appreciate every single one of you! I hope to get to know you more!
• I realized about two or three posts in that writing short stories won't get you many comments because the readers don't have anything much to say except for "good job" or "interesting". So I started trying to make my posts more interactive by asking a reflection question at the end of every story. So far, everyone seems to be enjoying commenting on those!
• For all those who commented on my posts, every single one of you are angels! You guys are the ones who kept me going when I was fresh out of ideas, when it was pushing 11pm and I still didn't have my post up. THANK YOU!

 It was awesome getting to meet you and hanging out with you on my blog!

I also wanted to come back and add some reflections on the challenge itself... real quick I promise:

A) Wordpress users- it can be sorta difficult to comment on your blogs unless you allow guest comments - otherwise the guest MUST make a wordpress account. Not everyone wants to do that (I already have one from when I used to use wordpress, so it was no biggie)

B) The lack of ways to subscribe was also apparent on many blogs. I don't always want subscriptions filling up my e-mail box... its filled with too much spam I can't find anything I want anyhow lol. Networked Blogs is a great app to add to any website so you can always keep your followers with you. For readers- Digg.com is really easy to add rss feeds to. Unfortunately that is just another site to have to log into just to follow your blogs.

C) I LOVED visiting everyone's blogs lol ;)

XYZ: Dietary Needs During Intergalactic Travel- Flash Fiction

 Pam spotted her friend as soon as she walked through the mess hall doors.

 “When did you come aboard!” Pam asked.

 “Just a few hours ago. I had to get some things set up in my quarters first.” Gail replied.

 “Oh no worries! Where are you headed this time?”

 “Mmm, I’m thinking I’d like to be let off someplace warm and unindustrialized.”

 “Eros perhaps?” Pam suggested.

 “Yeah, Eros might do the trick. I dunno, I’ll know the planet when I see it.” Gail answered while signaling the ship’s concierge.

 “Yes, ma’am, what would you care for this evening?” The concierge asked politely.

 Gail shook her head, taken aback.

 “Evening?” She said with a sigh, “Great now I’ll have to readjust my sleep cycles again.”

 “Water please,” she added, remembering the concierge who promptly headed off to fetch her water. 

“Aren’t you the least bit hungry? Here try one of these apples, we just got in a shipment of them from the colonies!” Pam suggested as she grabbed a yellow apple from the basket on the table behind her. “Just smell the zestfulness of it!”

 Gail took the apple, and sniffed it hesitantly. Pam eyed her curiously.

 “What are you doing?” She asked.

 “Does this apple have xylitol in it? I’m highly allergic to xylitol.” Gail said.

 “What? What’s that?” Pam asked confused.

 “From the colonies huh; I’m assuming its host plant was genetically modified to survive in different environments. Ugh, nope, that means it does have xylitol in it.” Gail answered.

Pam laughed.

“Gail, almost all of the food we eat nowadays has been genetically modified! How do you survive if you can’t eat it?”

 “Your water ma’am,” The concierge said, offering Gail the glass of water which she promptly drank.

 “I am sorta hungry though, come on Pam, I’ll show you how I eat!”

 Pam followed Gail out of the mess hall and down to her quarters.

 “The captain was a little reluctant to allow me to bring my entourage but I told her that I would set it all up myself so the crew wouldn’t have to.”

Gail explained to Pam before opening the door into her quarters. The door swished open to reveal the fact that half of Gails room had been taken over by a plastic sheet room of some sort. Pam looked at her friend as though she was considering referring her to the ship’s doctor for a mental examination.

 Gail walked into the room and unzipped the door into the plastic tent and Pam followed her. Out of habit Pam fluffed her hair as the humidity rose once she stepped through the second doorway. She gasped once she saw what was on the other side!

 Trees and plants of all kinds! Carefully grown and manicured to produce just enough food for one person.

 “Now THAT’s zest!” Gail said, tossing a fragrant yellow apple from a nearby mini tree over to Pam. “No additives, no genetic tampering, and no xylitol!”

 photo credit: Greenhouse via photopin (license)

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I am terribly sorry, I got behind on two days of stories this week and JUST realized that today is the last day for the Blogging From AtoZ challenge!

So, today's post was inspired by X Y and  Z!  X is for: Zylitol, Y is for Yellow Apple, and Z is for zipper   all part of the Blogging from A to Z April 2015 challenge! Click on the letters to join on in the fun!

Every day this past month (excluding Sundays- and the past two days I also missed) I wrote a post about something that begins with the letter for that day. Most of the time it was a sci-fi flash fiction piece and the occasional 5 sentence fiction.
* I've really enjoyed this challenge- but I've discovered that blogging every day may not be for me. I will certainly continue to bring you new flash fiction but I think I may be scaling it back to 2-3 times a week tops. WHEW!


For Readers: What is your favorite fruit? If you could bring its plant along with you on a space ship, would you?

W: Everyone Needs Water- Flash Fiction

“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...

V: The Vision Of A Futurity Histographer- Flash Fiction

It starts with a vision. A youngling thrashes in his bed. A nightmare encroaching on his sleep. His nightmares usually involved getting lost, falling down a hole, or being stuck in a burning building. Things every normal youngling would be afraid of. This nightmare is different.

 A species he didn’t recognize, Two legs, two arms, and pale skin, stood with other members of his kind. They had defaced their head tattoo’s, committing sacrilege, to mark themselves as outcasts. Here they stood with this pale faced boy encouraging him to burn their world. The pale faced boy raises his hands and the air around the youngling tingles. Death spreads out from the pale faced boy like a plague. Trees and plants all wither and crumble. Friends fall and turn to dust. The youngling runs. The pale one advances towards him.

 The youngling trips and falls, cringing as he knows that this faulty step may have just cost him his life. A pale skinned hand reaches down to help him up. He looks up at the young girl and is shocked to find her dressed just like his sister would. Her brown hair flutters in the breeze and her eyes glisten with sadness as she grabs his hand. She thrusts him behind her skirt and holds up her hands to push back the death the young boy is spreading.

 She’s winning! He’s backing off! She’s winning!

 In his excitement, the youngling jolted himself awake. It was all just a dream.

 Young Ankh got up from his bead and headed toward his family’s common room. He found his family sitting in chairs around a small fire floating in the center of the room.

 “Good morning my youngling,” Ruet said with a warm smile. “Sleep well?”

 Ankh shook his head no and Ruet put down the screen she was holding and opened her arms to welcome him into her lap. Ankh headed over to her and curled up in her lap, finding comfort in her embrace. Drolin peered at him over the floating fire.

 “Little one, did you have another dream?” Drolin watched his youngling carefully.

 “Yes sir, it was awful.” Ankh answered. “There were beings in it that I didn’t know. The Aruk were telling them to destroy our world.” 

“Can you tell me more about these beings you saw?” Drolin prodded.

 Young Ankh recounted the dream to his family. He described the pale skinned strangers to them, including the one dressed like his sister.

 Ruet looked up at Drolin. Drolin nodded.

 “Youngling, go get your shoes. It’s high time we take you to start your training.” Drolin said.

 “What? But I don’t haven’t taken the test yet.” Ankh argued.

 “Only a futurity histographer could dream about people they’ve never met little one,” Ruet said, pushing him from her lap and giving him a quick hug. “Now run along and do as Drolin asks. The elder futurity histographers will want to meet you right away!”

(This flash fiction is actually a precursor to The Alien Mind- me exploring some of the characters' back stories as I plan for the second book. Enjoy!)   photo credit: Brown Fern via photopin (license)

Today's post was also inspired by the letter V. V is for: Vision   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: Have you ever had a dream that seemed real? Have you ever had a dream that came true (I have these all the time! It's really rather freaky)

Tell us about your most disturbing dream.

***

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