Author: Michael

These things tend to be short pieces that may or may not be the beginning of something else. Originally they were 101 words only. I’m less strict about that now. They dont always finish, I just like to try and evoke a certain feeling or scene.

I’m going to tie them to M’s prompts this month.  The prompt was “The stars stood on standby”.  Mostly it gave me this horrible sense of foreboding so that is where I am letting it take the story which the prompts are dictating to a degree.

Part 1 can be found here.  

Part 2 can be found here.

Stella rolled the smooth white pebble between her fingers as she watched the sea lapping at her feet.   The sky seemed to melt into the grey of the water and it was hard to tell where one started and the other ended.

“So where to now Jess?” she asked not looking up.  “What are we meant to do?”  It would be dark soon and the nights were getting colder.

At 18 Jess was 5 few years older than she was, so her natural instinct was to let her make all the decisions.  Jess had found her scavenging for food in one of the empty houses in the neighbourhood and helped her to bury her parents and had looked after her ever since.

“I’m not really sure Stella” she answered looking up and down the pebbled beach “we probably need somewhere to settle in for a few days to rest up and then work out how we get off planet.”

“You think we need to leave?” Stella answered throwing the pebble into the sea.  “You really don’t think things are going to get better then?”

She really liked Stella, she was a good kid and had been through a lot but despite all the death and destruction things still seemed to surprise her.  Stella envied that about her.

“The Transporters are all shut down and we haven’t seen any sign of Fed forces for weeks now. They’ve abandoned us for sure.  There aren’t even any Fed instructions coming through on the short wave anymore.”

“But why would they leave us Jess” Stella asked looking confused.  “The government are meant to be making everything better.”

“Stella…” her voice trailed away as she looked up at the sky, the clouds parting and stars already visible in the inky black of night.  “Stars Stella” she said pointing.  Jess looked up and smiled.

“Dad knew all about the stars” she said.  “He used to take me up to the observatory in the summer and teach me all about them.”

“Do you know which they are then?” Jess asked.

Stella laughed, “No I just went because it meant I could stay up past bedtime and it was a chance to spend time with him.”

“I think it might be Sirius” Jess said smiling.  “I remember from school that it was the brightest.”

They both stood quietly for a while.  The idea of school and family and a normal life seemed such a distant memory now.

“Are stars supposed to move” Jess asked breaking the silence, the sky now rapidly turning dark.  “Because that really does look like it’s getting bigger”

“Do you think it could be someone coming to rescue us?” Jess asked, her voice filled with hope.

“Maybe sure, why not” said Stella.  “We’re not sick so why wouldn’t they want to help us.”

The light in the sky grew brighter still and was soon surrounded by others and a silhouette began to emerge high in the atmosphere.  The

“That’s no star Stella, that’s a ship of some sort.”  Jess said excited.  It’s pretty high up but it’s definitely a Fed ship.  No one else has anything that big.”  It had been weeks since they had seen anything up in the sky, or on land for that matter and Jess knew a Fed battle ship when she saw one.  They were always on the news a few years ago when they made first contact with the Genaris and everybody thought it was going to be the end of the world.

Jess walked forward as if to try get a better look, the waves lapping at her feet and covering her boots.  “Its huge Jess” she said smiling.  “They surely have room for us” and she began to wave her arms.

Stella laughed.  “Jess, Jess they can’t see us from up there. They’re miles and miles up.”

“Really?”

“Yes” Jess answered.  “But at least they’ve returned and that’s surely a good thing.  She stepped into the shallow surf and took Stella’s hand and squeezed it gently.  “Don’t worry Jess” she said, her voice calm.  “It will all be over soon.”

These things tend to be short pieces that may or may not be the beginning of something else. Originally they were 101 words only. I’m less strict about that now. They dont always finish, I just like to try and evoke a certain feeling or scene.

I’m going to tie them to M’s prompts this month.  The prompt was “Chewing Chewbacco” which had me thinking about Star Wars obviously but more the type of American you see in folms that so enjoys stuffing a wad of the stuff in his cheek and chewing and spitting the vile black filth back out.  This had me thinking about cowboys and then engineers and then suddenly the piece below emerged.

Part 1 can be found here.  

The Callista rounded the moon slowly, the shadow of her massive bulk creeping across it’s surface as her primary engines exploded into life and propelled her towards earth.  Henderson steadied himself against one of the huge fuel lines and stared out into space, wiping his hands on the rag he kept in his belt and spitting a mouth full of thick black tobacco onto the service deck.

“You boys ready for this?” he asked to anyone willing to listen.  “You know what this is right?”  No one looked up.  Henderson was always spouting off about one conspiracy theory or another.

“This is then end boys, I’m telling you” he continued.  “Rumour is that it’s now spread so far that they need to frag the whole damn planet to stop it.”

“Shut the hell up Henderson” Franks barked back looking out from under the Interceptor he was working on.  “Some of us still have people down there.  There is just no way the brass would do that.”

“I’m telling you” Henderson answered spitting again and wiping his mouth on his sleeve.  “Last few weeks have seen all Fed troops recalled.  You saw how many ships there were dark side.  The whole fleet has puled back.”

Something about his words rang true.  “You really think?” Franks asked sliding out and getting to his feet.  He walked across to where Henderson stood.

“Afraid so man” he answered.  “Seems pretty obvious to me, just look at what a mess it is down there.  They can’t stop the spread and now they’re worried about it getting off world.”  He paused waiting for his words to sink in, he did love an audience.

Franks rubbed his chin.  “Shit man, my cousin is still in Singapore working on the docks there.”

“They already had to shut down the dimensional transporters planet wide when the Washington site was over run, there’s no way they can risk it reaching the colonies.”

Turning to look out across the deck towards where the earth could be seen through the launch bay Franks felt Henderson stood next to him.  It was oddly reassuring. “You really think they’ll frag the whole thing?” he asked.

Henderson put a hand on his shoulder.  “We’ll know soon enough.”