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.

Alan awoke slowly.  It was not something he was used to given that most days started abruptly with a 5.00am alarm.  Being rudely awakened was usually immediately followed by contemplative wondering as to why he had not tried harder in school and a subsequent desire to be anywhere but where he was so this was a nice change.

So pleasant was the experience of waking naturally and finding himself greeted by a soft warm light filling the room that the unfamiliar surroundings did not seem to trouble him one bit.  As his eyes grew accustomed to the brightness he realised that he was not at home in his own bed.  He looked around and all he could make out were stark white walls on each side and an equally plain ceiling above.   Confused, but not alarmed, he tried to sit up but found himself unable to do so.  He was covered in what appeared to be a plain white sheet and despite feeling no restraints he lay quite motionless with the exception of the ability to move his neck and look about.

“Hello” he shouted.  There was no echo.  He waited.  No response.  “Hello, is anybody there?”

No reply came though the light did seem to brighten a little.  He strained again to sit up, this time even a little grunt but he remained exactly where he was and chose instead to lay his head back down and stare at the ceiling.

All the usual thoughts you would expect to think upon finding yourself in such a place went through his head and he realised that he had precisely no answer to any of them.  More curiously though he didn’t seem to care particularly.  He was warm and comfortable and he felt quite at peace.   After a while considering his surroundings the lights once again brightened, and there was a feint hiss as if someone had sneakily opened a bottle of soda.  He attempted to look about but now not even his head would move.

“Hello” he offered.

A rather gruff “Snarkgarblevar untervardel” came the response.

Alan paused.  “Er, hello” was the best he could muster.

The voice spoke again but this time seemed to transition from completely unintelligible to something that sounded very much like his second grade school teacher Mr Bloom.  “Snarkgarblevar unter…senses..and you should find this mostly painless.”

The lights brightened again and he suddenly felt rather less comfortable.  Lying quite still he caught movement in the corner of his eye and then without warning everything stopped making sense.  Assuming any of it already was.

Stood before him, around seven foot tall and in a most vivid hue of blue was a creature that was most definitely not from round his way.  Thick fur covered its body from head to foot and it had bright yellow eyes set deep in a face that had nothing that you could assume as a nose but had plenty of what you knew were teeth.  Long sharp white teeth arranged in a deep red mouth in such a way that left you in no doubt that they were something to be feared and were not just for smiling pleasantly or gently nibbling on fruits, nuts and berries.

The sight of the creature combined with the words “mostly painless” made his bowels instantly grumble.

“Oh now come on” the creature insisted “no need to be so concerned this will be over in no time at all.”

Alan began to breathe rather heavily as it drew near.

“I am Doctor Berlastio” it said quite matter of fact.  “And I will be taking charge of your probing today.”

“Oh good God” Alan exclaimed already attempting to clench his non responding bottom.  “Must you really?”  In no time at all he seemed to have accepted the fact of the being before him and was now more occupied with its desire to take a peek inside him.

“Oh absolutely I must” it insisted, the large rows of teeth still very much on show. “It’s all part of the programme you see, we simply must.”

“Programme?” Alan asked still attempting to find any part of his body – other than his head – that might respond to his orders to move.

“Oh Yes, yes.  All very important.  It’s the reason we’re here you see.” The Doctor answered.  He seemed surprisingly willing to share the reasons for what Alan assumed was going to be most unpleasant, and whilst he had no previous experience of aliens of any description he had most definitely not expected them to be so forthcoming and polite.

“Er…” Alan hesitated. Perhaps if he kept it talking he might find a way out of this.  “And why exactly are you here?” he asked.

The doctor paused and then his smile turned into something wholly more sinister looking.  His fur seemed to bristle and his eyes narrowed.

“I shall let you into a little secret I think” it answered, “You wont remember any of this when we pop you back down on Earth anyway.”

Alan wanted to answer, to protest, but now found himself now unable to speak.  Now no part of him responded.

Berlastio grinned.  “We need somewhere to incubate our larvae obviously.  Now lie back and relax, we will have you back in bed before your alarm goes off.”

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.

A thick fog rolled in across the Thames as Big Ben chimed nine times.

“That’s locking up time I reckon” Darla said to her husband getting up from behind the counter and heading over to the shop door.  It had been another quiet night, it always was when the pea-souper rolled in.  “People just don’t being out in it do they.” She added.

“Uh-huh” Bran responded not looking up from his newspaper.  He was very much looking forward to heading upstairs and putting his feet up.

Darla flipped over the sign on the door and reached for the top bolt, but before she could slide it closed the door burst open with such force that she was thrown backwards into the shelving at the end of the aisle and she collapsed to the floor with a scream.

“What the…” her husband exclaimed dropping his newspaper and standing from his chair as two men, dishevelled and dressed mostly in rags, burst through the door and headed straight for him.  “Now just you wait a minute” he shouted without any fear seeing his wife’s legs protruding into the aisle.

“Just shut it and empty the till into the bag” the larger of the two shouted pulling a long metal blade from his belt and waving it wildly.  The smaller squarer man reached across the counter and pushed a bag into his chest.

Darla rubbed her head and attempted to stand knocking cans to the floor, and both men turned to see her slip back down to the floor.

“Hurry up” the tall one shouted.  “In the bag. Now”

With the contents of the till emptied into the bag the short man reached over and grabbed  it and as he pulled back threw a wild square into the jaw of Bran dropping him to the floor.  For a while he lay there, his head spinning and attempted to regain his feet.  By the time he did the door of the shop stood open and Darla was steadying herself leaning against the aisle shelving.

“Are you okay” she asked walking slowly towards him as he leaned against the counter breathing heavily.  He nodded.

“You?”

She smiled and rubbed her head.

“Takes more than that to upset me” she answered  “Do you think we should call the police?”.

Bran reached out and placed a hand on her arm. “No, let them have it dear, there’s no wonder these humans are an endangered species the way they behave…”

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.

As the rain fell outside, walls of neon reflected in the gathering dark pools, Aldous watched her from the warmth of his car.  It was always so busy down here, a sea of umbrellas pushing through the main through way and hooded figures darting in the shadows as the distant thud of music mixed with the patter of rain and the hum of the vehicles buzzing along the street twenty feet from the ground.

He shifted excitedly in his seat, the sleek lines of his executive model car almost hidden from view as he parked up under the overhang of one of the old hab blocks that towered high into the night sky.  Each of the huge steel and concrete monoliths that were dotted across the city housed a mix of nearly four thousand humans and other species from across the galaxy in the most awful of conditions, yet here at ground level, where quite literally you would find the lowest of society there was only one that he cared about.

Every day Aldous watched her from the same place as he headed to work.  His mind raced when he saw her waiting on the corner, her blue skin bright against the dark of the permanent night of ground level.  His imagination fired as he watched her walk back and forth waiting for her next customer and he imagined, as he had done so many times, those long slender legs wrapped around his back and the talons on her fingers digging into his flesh as she moved against him and her rough tongue slowly tasting the sweat on his skin.

He loosened his tie as a young human male, probably in his thirties, walked across to her.  She stood a good two feet taller than him and as he reached into his pocket she placed an hand on his arm.  He knew what would happen next, he had seen it endless times before yet even now it still filled him with such anger and jealousy.

“Mine” he muttered to himself “get your damn hands off of her she’s m…” but he didn’t finish, unable to speak as she took her client by the hand and led him through a dimly lit open door only a few metres from where she had been just moments before.

Aldous sat for some time, heart racing and obsessing about what she was probably doing to him.  Slowly he reached to undo his belt but stopped as his comms beeped to indicate it was 8pm.  He needed to get to work, people would be waiting.

He punched the car into life and barked out instructions.

“Alexa, take me to work”.

“Affirmative” she confirmed.  “Destination set.”

The car pulled out from under the cover of the hab and slowly rose into the air, quickly syncing speed with the traffic above and joining the flow.  It weaved its way through the other vehicles, the neon advertising boards lighting up the night and throwing their day glow hues into the darkness.  He looked down and watched as the lower levels disappeared into murky nothing and sat back in his seat, eyes closed, and waited.

Alexa confirmed that he had reached his destination and the doors of the vehicle opened with a feint hiss.  Aldous stepped out onto the landing pad and felt the wind on his face.  He wandered across to the edge of the pad and looked out across the city.  He loved being so high up, it gave you a real idea of just how vast the city was and with the sun still able to filter through this high up the late evening sun felt good.

“Were ready for you sir” came a voice accompanied by hurried footsteps.  “Everyone is waiting.”

He turned to see a pretty dark haired assistant who’s name he could not quite remember.

“Thank you” he said taking a large leather book from her.  “Claire isn’t it?”

“Karen” she answered, cheeks flushed.  “It’s Karen.”

“Karen.  Right, thank you Karen” Aldous said and disappeared through a door at the edge of the landing pad.  He could still see her in his head, the rain falling and the neon blinking.  He quickly skipped down two flights of stairs, straightening his tie and running over his notes in his head.  Another assistant was waiting for him and she quickly ushered him towards a door at the end of a corridor.

“Thank you” he said politely, this time choosing not to get another name wrong, and stepped through the door and onto the large stage.  He knew there were thousands of eyes focussed on him but he looked straight ahead and headed to the lectern.  He carefully placed the book on it and opened it to the bookmarked page before composing himself and looking up.

“Good Evening” he said smiling broadly and standing tall.  “My name is Aldous Emerick, I am the Pastor of The Holy Enlightened Church of Christ, and tonight we are going to be learning more about why these aliens are an abomination in the eyes of the Lord.”

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.

Captain Trexel was a rather large and imposing creature at the best of times, but when enraged was something beyond fierce and for most creature trouser soilingly terrifying.

“Enter” he barked at the rap on his quarters door, waiting and watching as Corporal Dartus entered and snapped to attention in front of the desk at which Trexel sat.  “Explain yourself Corporal” he demanded.

The best Dartus could manage was a confused “Captain?”

“The Humans” Trexel shouted, “Explain your treatment of the humans boy.  Reports suggest that you have not been treating them with kindness and compassion.  They may be our property but we do not abuse them.”

Dartus stammered.  “S-S-Sir I just thought that they didn’t matter give we have so many.”

Trexel stood, rising up to his full and thoroughly impressive 8 foot height.  His lips smacked and teeth began to grind.

“Do you not get it boy” he snarled, “We need to treat them with kindness, tenderness and ensure they are comfortable and enjoy their time with us.”

“Sir, yes Sir” he responded.

“And besides” Trexel continued, “If you cause them undue stress by killing one of them for sports in full sight of the others their flesh becomes rather tough and most unpleasant to eat…”