In A Perfect Circle

In A Perfect Circle

 

     The crew set off from their home planet of Isis on a direct course to the unexplored, by their standards, planet of lush fields and pristine ponds and lakes known as Cartore. The ship traveled faster than the speed of light for three months until Cartore was within range.

     During the trip the all male crew exercised, ate, slept, read and cleaned their equipment and probes. When the planet was within range the captain announced to the crew:

     “The time has come, this is what we’ve been waiting for. Now we’re minutes away from touching down on Cartore. I hope you all are as excited as I am.”

     The crew watched through the cockpit window as the ship hit Cartore’s atmosphere. Suddenly the layer of sulphuric acid, mistaken as clouds by the men, started melting the ship’s hull. The men scrambled around trying to repair the damage but they were quickly sucked out of the ship through the gaping holes and dissolved in the acid atmosphere. All except for one man, Artel who recalled something he learned in high school. The great Albert Einstein theorized that if you travel in a perfect circle at the speed of light, then bisect that circle (basically taking a short cut) then you will actually see yourself. Artel had to try this while the ship was still functioning.

     He took hold of the controls and turned out of the acid cloud, then he drove the ship into a complete circle, he hoped it was perfect, set it to cruise control and increased the speed to beyond light speed. Art wondered if Einstein contemplated what could happen at beyond light speed. The lights of the ship went out for a second and when they came back on the rest of the crew were present with the captain speaking: “I hope you all are as excited as I am. Hey, Art, what are you doing at the controls?”

     “I had to get us out of there, we can’t go to Cartore, the atmosphere is all sulphuric acid, it will burn holes in the ship and kill us.” Said Art. Adrenaline pumped through his body as he looked around to make sure everyone was safe and sound. He couldn’t believe it worked!

    “I doubt it, we’ve come this far, there’s no way we’re turning around.” Said the captain.

    “It already happened, I went back in time to prevent it from happening again.” Said Art.

    “How did you take us back in time? Time travel is impossible.” The captain said as he looked around to the men, who appeared to be laughing.

    “It is possible and I did it. You have to believe me, or we’ll all die, again.” Said Art.

    “I think Art might be on to something. I’ve heard theories about time travel. Maybe we should scan the atmosphere before we land, just to be sure.” Said one of the crewmen.

     They scanned it, pure sulphuric acid, Art was right. The mission was soon aborted, they were going home.

The Sorians

The Sorians

Main character: A promising ambassador with a cold demeanor

Setting: A miltocratic country where humans live in complete luxury served by aliens that do all the work

Plot: A powerful forbidden technology and the cost of using it.

 

                Following the Sorian war, and the victory of the humans, the planet took on a new resident, the enslaved Sorian aliens. They wait on the humans, trained to pamper them and work for them. From what I could tell the aliens took well to their new roles, they made excellent slaves and almost enjoyed it. They were well treated servants, given a section of the house to live in and all their food and needs were taken care of. I’ve been living as a slave for one year, although my real job is ambassador for the Sorian people. We feel like the time has come and we deserve some more respect. We’re not willing to fight the humans again for we would surely lose, but we need to reach an agreement, somehow, no cost is too high.

                I’ve been looking into some darker technology, communicating with native Sorians through telepathy (humans are not aware of this ability of ours). We are a smart race, but not the best soldiers. They told me about the dark ray weapon, a device buried in Earth’s crust, put there thousands of years ago so that it would never be used again. But we unearthed it at a construction site and did some research. Ancient dolphins developed and used it two thousand years ago to destroy the whales who were consuming their food sources. The ancient dolphins were an extremely intelligent race that developed many weapons, but the dark ray was their most effective. However, modern dolphins have no technology, it’s almost as if their intellect disappeared. This could be why the technology is forbidden, it could have some massive draw backs, but we’re willing to adopt those if it means we can have our freedom again.

                I continued working at the construction site until I felt as though the time came for an agreement. I took a video of myself demanding the freedom of the Sorians and if the demand was not met, then I would activate the dark ray. I then sent it to a major news station, they played it that night for the viewing of millions of people. I was summoned to the white house and sat down with the president.

                “So, you’re the one who was sent here to make a change?” Asked the president.

                “That’s correct, I’m an ambassador of the Sorian race and we want our freedom. I’ve been living in slavery for the past year and I’ve studied your race carefully, searching for weaknesses. Little did you know you had a weapon of mass destruction lying under the feet of your people. I unearthed it and now I have it with me. Such a powerful little weapon this is.” The ambassador said as he played with the gun in his hand. With a sudden movement the president reached for the gun. The ambassador was quick and pointed the weapon at the president. “Oh no, you can’t have this, now you must die for your stupidity.” The ambassador said as he pulled the trigger. “No! You fool, you don’t know what you’re doing.” Shouted the president, but he was too late. A sudden white light filled the room and spilled out the window. When the ambassador opened his eyes the president was gone, but the importance of this did not cross the ambassador’s mind. He was small, about the size of a turtle and his mental capacity was greatly diminished. The humans were gone, the Sorian’s could inherit the planet but they had more competition now. They no longer had their telepathic abilities and their intelligent was on par with a common mouse. The dark ray effectively got rid of the humans but the side effects were huge, they paid the price for freedom.    

 

The Curse

The Curse

Main character: A cocky mercenary who pilots a building sized starship

Setting: A place where machines have integrated with human society

Story: A handgun and the strange fortunes of those who touch it

                “Okay, here we go, time for a smooth landing.” The mercenary says as he enters the atmosphere at an alarming rate. Clouds cruise by as he can see the ground expanding in all directions. He’s pulling the huge ship up but the landing destroys most of it. Somehow the mercenary is unharmed through the ordeal. The ship accordions but stops at the cock pit. “Phew, I really am a great pilot and an even better mercenary. Now, time to look around this primitive planet.”

                The mercenary is currently in between wars. He wasn’t hired by any kingdom as of yet, so he decided to go exploring. Using the money from various kings the mercenary purchased a sky scraper sized star ship, almost completely destroyed now.

                He crash landed on the highly populated planet of Sorg. He just so happened to settle in the trees of one of the planet’s only parks. Joggers looked up as the massive ship crashed on top of the tall maples. He got out and climbed down the trees. He noticed a strange machine pruning some nearby plants while another was walking four dogs at the same time. “This really is a strange place,” the man said to himself. He made his way out of the park, saying hi to the few humans he saw. “Now time to find some work, I bet I could fetch a huge sum protecting this fine town. They would be foolish not to hire me, I’m the best.”

                The mercenary approaches a busy street just as a robotic taxi parks next to him. “Do you need a ride?” The machine asks. “As a matter of fact I do, take me to the mayor’s office.” The mercenary demands. “Yes sir, right away.” The car says as it speeds off. The man looks around the city as he’s driven around. He notices other robo-taxis with people inside, talking on cell phones or reading books. “Hmm, it’s almost as if machines have totally integrated into human life, very interesting.” The man says to himself.

                The car slows down and parks directly in front of city hall. “That will be $50.” Says the car. “See, the thing about that is..” and the man quickly bounds up the stairs and runs inside. He finds the office of the mayor and casually walks in. “Can I help you?” Asks the mayor. “What you should be asking is can you help me?” Says the mercenary. “I don’t follow. Who are you anyway?” Asks the mayor, starting to get a little ticked off. After a long talk the persuasive mercenary convinces the mayor that he should hire him with a massive annual salary for the job of city protector.

                “Allow me to show you the fire arm you’ll be assigned. He walks over to a gold box and opens it. With a gloved hand the mayor removes an antique colt .45 and gives it to the mercenary. “Now I have to tell you about this weapon, something very important.” The mayor says to the man. “Oh I know how a gun works, where am I assigned to tonight?” The man asks. “You must patrol the park tonight, there have been reports of some undesirables harassing people in the area. But about the gun…” Just then the mercenary leaves without listening to the mayor.

                That night the mercenary covers every square foot of the park and only arrests two kids for smoking weed. “Undesirables? I could do this job in my sleep.” Just then the man notices a figure with red eyes shining in the moon light. It races towards him and bears it’s teeth. The mercenary is caught off guard and doesn’t draw his weapon fast enough. The beast tackles the man as a shot gun blast rings thorough the park. The beast runs off limping into the ground cover and past the trees. The mayor walks over from the right of the mercenary, holding a twelve gauge. “Are you alright?” The mayor asks as he helps the man to his feet. “Yeah, that thing surprised me. What was that?” Said the mercenary. “What I was trying to tell you earlier is that that gun is cursed. I was hoping that you would be able to lift it and destroy the beast.” Said the mayor as he reloads the shotgun. “What do you mean by cursed?” Asks the mercenary, unable to catch his breath.  “All the other owners of that weapon have been gruesomely mauled by the beast. It’s cursed. Now it is up to you to kill the beast and lift the curse.”          

Spider Like

Spider Like

Main Character: A widely known android with a hooded cloak

Setting: The last days of the world, in St. Petersburg Russia

Plot: A mysterious occurrence that would reveal yet-undiscovered truths about the origin of mankind.

                Here I am with probably more than a thousand nuclear warheads buried under my feet. I raise my hood over my head to shield my identity, they know me here. I tread carefully, trying not to set off a chain reaction, but they’re miles deep so I have nothing to fear. I’m in the heart of half of the Cold War, St. Petersburg Russia. What I’m doing, not sure, but I am drawn to this city to find something out about the humans, me not being one of them. Yes it’s true, I’m an android built by super computers, so I basically have no allegiance to humans, even though I care for them. I’m known as a god droid, created to oversee the progress of nature and technology. I also have the ability to predict the future, but I’m powerless to stop it. I can’t change the future, only view it. My quest is to uncover any secrets about humans, so I start where life begins.

                I’ve been to local hospitals to view newborn infants to see if they can change the future that I see, so far they cannot. But my trip is not fruitless; I’ve witnessed unusual birth defects. Some of the infants are born with eight legs, like a spider. The children are surprisingly mobile and can climb around and onto the ceiling, completely upside down. They are quick too, easily out running the nurses and parents. At one point my hood fell from my head, but no one seemed to notice, I quickly righted it.

                The future I see is a strange and frightening one, I have not yet understood it, but I don’t have much time. The future is all around us, it is constantly happening. First I must figure out this spider problem. Some of the babies are born completely black or brown; some have yellow or red spots. Some of the premature babies were screened for other abnormalities, tests showed they have traces of poison in their bodies, but do not seem to create harm to the host, as if they’re meant to have it, like a defense. I made notes in my CPU and recorded video footage to view later.

                I left the hospital and ventured out into the streets, it was a frenzy. People were running and screaming. I heard someone say “all the missiles have been launched” that’s when I figured out the thing about the spider babies. They are devolving! Reverting back to the closest evolutionary relative, the spider! That’s it, humans evolved from spiders! I have to pass on this information to the super computers. Just then a war head landed close by, the droid saw a bright light, then nothing.

                He awoke on the streets in a ruined Russia. How he survived, he will never know. What he did before the massive launch of nuclear war heads was send his information wirelessly to the nearest super computer. Even though humans are now extinct, due to a malfunctioning computer in St. Petersburg which launched all of the buried nukes, their origins will be documented forever.     

Roman Bunnies

Roman Bunnies

Main Character: A noble lion tamer’s child who is plagued by fluffy bunnies

Setting: The days of the Roman Empire, in a strange lost city within a different dimension

Plot: A narrow escape from a fiendish trap

                The boy’s father walked to the boy’s quarters and opened the door. A wave of white fluffy bunnies over took him and then ran away into the floating house. He fell to the floor and brushed off his shirt, small paw prints riddled the fabric. He didn’t think anything of it when he yelled to the boy: “Cladius, it’s time to wake up.” The boy wriggled in his bed with a bunny on his head and slowly opened his eyes. “Yes father, I’ll get up soon.” “No, you get up now! Today is a special day, we have some important quests. Caligula will be landing on the house in two hours, along with his trusted horse.

                Cladius’s father is a noble lion tamer who spends his day doing exactly that, taming lions. He sells the lions to customers who pay a hefty price for them. The Serbian lions are the flavor of the month; African lions are still very popular. He has a special taming room, within his floating house, where the lions meet him and feel at ease. He uses a collection of scents and massaging to tame the lions. This is his passion, he’s been doing this for the past twenty years. The income from selling the lions has paid for Cladius’s education. He’s a young boy, but a very good student.

                Cladius emerged from his bed and brushed off the fluffy white bunny. He dressed and walked down to the kitchen, a trail of bunnies followed him. Father served the boy eggs and wine, along with bacon and sausage. The boy could barely eat when a helicopter landed on the roof. “Yes, that must be Caligula and the horse, his second in command!” The boy watched as his father ran to the attic, a cluster of bunnies ran out of the way and piled on Cladius, he fell over and laughed uncontrollably. The bunnies have plagued him since his birth, but they’re friendly and harmless.

                Father led Caligula and the horse into the kitchen to meet Cladius. The emperor’s face was all distorted and angular, much like everyone else, but his was more pronounced. Then he talked: “Thank you sir for letting me into your home and meeting your child. I have but one request; let me see you tame this lion I brought. A surpise! Wonderful. Father loves challenges. “Perfect, into the taming quarters we shall go.”

                Father released the lion from his cage and stood back in anticipation. The beast lunged for Claudius with large teeth bared. Father jumped in front of him and wrestled the beast to the ground. Caligula and his horse soon disappeared, leaving in his helicopter. Father killed the beast with his bare hands and ran over to his son.  

                Previously that day, Caligula injected the lion with a rage virus and conditioned it to attack the young Claudius. He is the next in line to be emperor. Caligula was hoping he would be killed by the lion. His plan, however, failed. Claudius will grow up to take over the role from the mad Caligula and rule the empire.  

Space Port Part Two

Space Port Part Two

                Little Pete’s body drifted off to the burning star known as the sun, soon he was incinterated, to become nothing but a Carbon collection consumed by nuclear fusion.

                Big Cretch nursed his superficial wound and carried on with his business. He bandaged it up, still flummoxed by what happened. This particular Saturday night was like any other, drunken patrons and an empty tip jar. People are pretty cheap at the Chatsubo Space Port. As always they moved like zombies, speed not being a particularly popular drug, the denizens of Space Port stuck to their depressants.

                The next night the Skull’s bar was visited by a rather shady man. He dressed all in black; back suit, black vest and black tie, a rather ominous figure. He wore a silver mask, ominous indeed. Big Cretch approached him, as a bouncer should.

                “What’s your business?” Asked Big Cretch with a snear.

                “Just wondering the where a bouts of my friend Little Pete, he seems to be missing.” Said the man in black. His body language did not give any indications of his mood. The man appeared cool, calm and collected.

                “Haven’t seen him.” Said Big Cretch as he puffed up his chest.

                “I find that hard to believe, he was here last weekend, I know, I was in communication with him.” Said the man in black.

                Little did Big Cretch know, Little Pete reported to some very important people. The entire conversation took place in a dreary back drop. The hazy night barely concealed the dealings of the night. Drugs, Stim, rare spices not seen in any part of Chatsubo, all the color of a murky green. The haze always had a greenish tint.

                As a bouncer it was Big Cretch’s duty to do away with any unsavory folk. He lunged at the man in black and struck him in his silver mask. The man backed away slightly and met the force of the punch.

                “Nice try, my face plate is made of the strongest metal known to your solar system. You can hit me all you want, I’m ready for you. I see you prefer to fight hand to hand, I’ll meet you.” Said the man in black. He reeled back and struck the big man, his blow did little damage, much like the wind pushing a dragonfly. Big Cretch struck the man in his guts, he then pulled his glass knife.

                “Ah..you wish to fight me in that style, with a weapon. I’m afraid I have the better. “ Said the man in black as he removed a silenced pistol. Big Cretch stepped back and dropped the knife. He was visbly shaken, never seeing a gun before, but knowing what it is.

                “Now will you tell me the whereabouts of Little Pete? I do not wish to kill you.” Said the man in black.   

Where Rolls the Ore-Tron

Where Rolls the Ore-Tron

Where rolls the Ore-tron over the mountains silently picking up matter and spitting out the undesirables. Out of the smoke stacks black smoke billow out. Through the barren landscape many more Ore-trons harvest, picking up metal deposits and storing them for refinement. Together they will harvest enough metal to build the hull of a new space ship, running off of the Doomesday Drive, named after its inventor, Chuck Doomesday.

Chuck began his day as a mortician in the place of his employment, the morgue, where the dead gather. He had a voracious imagination, performing experiments on his subjects. He found that the human brain contains more energy, even when dead, than the most powerful computer of the day, in the year 2101. They contained even more than gasoline.

The flight of years began as Chuck harvested and refined the liquefied, human brain. Oh how the years went by. He tuned the fuel for his hovership and never needed to visit the gas station. He graduated to rocket ships and soon to the nebula crossing long range space ship, which is currently being constructed.

He did have a strange interaction during one of his trips to the morgue. He was driving his hovership, running off of brain fuel, when he heard a voice:

“Chuck…..are you there?” The voice said.

He didn’t hear it at first, then it echoed through his head. Another voice called out:

“Doomesday…you didn’t let me rest.” The voice said.

This voice was clearer than the first. Like the other, this one echoed in his head. As if it crept into his soul. That’s when he realized, these are the souls of the deceased talking to him! They want him to join them, in purgatory. What he did was wrong; he should not have taken away their brain, their thoughts, their memories. He ignored their cries and drove on. They pestered and bothered him until he gave in:

“Your souls are no more! There is nothing left of you besides the fuel that I harvested. You need to accept this.” Doomesday said.

They did and soon became his friends. He didn’t need to listen to the radio because his friends would sing for him. A thousand piece chorus sang as he drove. One by one, the souls would tell him about their lives. Eventually the voices died off as the fuel became used up. Even his favorite phantom deteriorated to a whisper and then nothing, he knew it was time to refuel.

He started to feel like god, or maybe the devil, playing with the afterlives of many, for his own benefit. He eventually tried to market it, but there were still a few bugs to work out. He spent many hours in the lab, a small room in the morgue that he dedicated to his work.

Chuck’s research continued, but he couldn’t get rid of the voices. He eventually started selling his product but couldn’t explain the voices. He came out and told the truth. The fuel is made out of human souls. His purchasers laughed and called him crazy, but they heard the voices too. It became a novelty, soul fuel, the stuff that lives are made of. Chuck became a wealthy man overnight. He was awarded man of the year for his invention. Soon interstellar travel was possible. People soon inhabited all the nearby planets thanks to his soul fuel. Even the solitary star jumper had friends to fly with.