Sci Fi
Pioneer From Afar
Yesterday, the Sun was rising in the west when we set off from the observatory in our recovery vehicle in search of whatever it was that came down in the desert during the previous night. The three of us - Yoglan, Zibor and I (my name is Nesgan) – are astronomers who regularly scan the data for signs of approaching objects that could threaten the planet. The larger ones are monitored on a constant basis, and craft are sent to intercept and destroy them on the rare occasions when they could spell disaster, and smaller objects are left to burn up in the atmosphere should they get that close.
By John Welford4 years ago in Fiction
Slumbering Legends
Maryl was shaken awake by the bump of the train car, causing her head to clang painfully against the bars of the cage that surrounded her. Stifling a yelp, she brought up her chained hands to gently rub the spot that had been hit. Maryl peeked out the window, past the man that sat next to her, to see the vast desert of orange and iron that they were currently travelling through. They had been on the train for three days now, along with however many other people their captors had gathered from the outer colonies. Maryl was surprised she had managed to get some sleep, as most of the other prisoners were generally cantankerous. She shifted in her seat to a better position as the man beside her stirred. Of all the prisoners on the train, there were three different types that Maryl had noticed. One, the majority of them, were the loud, the angry, and the confrontational. Most of these people were criminals, being transported from one prison camp to the prison in the capitol, which is more secure. The second type were like her; children, elderly, and those that were ill. The children and elderly were being sent to the capitol to be put into work camps, something that Maryl dreaded from the stories she’d heard. Maryl didn’t know where the ill went, as no one would give her a straight answer when she had asked. The third type, and whom Maryl believed the man sitting next to her to be, were veterans. Those who had fought during the Great War and had survived, but unfortunately had fought on the losing side. The victors banished them to the outer colonies, but every so often would bring some of them back into the capitol as prisoners. To what end, Maryl did not know, but it couldn’t be anything good.
By Tyler Curran4 years ago in Fiction
Bendigo and 4-H-N
4-H-N stepped out of the Royal Palace gates and into the starry Martian night, feeling happy and contented and a little bit guilty for doing so. She knew that earlier in the evening there had been some bad news from her sister Neetra, and the problem, whatever it was, had made their parents argue, so 4-H-N had decided to go round and see Crosius while they were still clearing the air. Of course, it was always nice to spend a couple of romantic hours with your boyfriend, and when he was king of a whole planet and lived in a great big luxurious palace it was nicer still. That was what made 4-H-N feel slightly bad, to have been having such a good time tonight when things were obviously amiss between her mother and father. It just went to show, 4-H-N thought to herself as she set off for home, that there was always someone worse off than you…
By Doc Sherwood4 years ago in Fiction
Iskira and Joe
Joe held his solitude some time at the Castle Jaw site, attended on only by a number of increasingly turbid thoughts. The suns had begun to dip, and in this shaded space the uncut grass was already wearing its coat of dusk when Joe heard someone join him. He looked up from where he sat, and saw Iskira.
By Doc Sherwood4 years ago in Fiction
Lost Friends, Chapter Five
The Four Heroes and friends hurried the refugees back to the hideout, beneath a thunderous black sky that was now torn every minute by furious flashes of lightning. Their arrival was greeted with a hundred happy reunions as the former prisoners ran to loved ones and relatives they’d feared they would never see again. Proteus made his way over to his comrades through the joyful laughing crowd, beaming and exclaiming: “You did it, guys! I knew you would!”
By Doc Sherwood4 years ago in Fiction
Lost Friends, Chapter Two
The Four Heroes Ultimate Cycle climbed into Earth-orbit, Dylan piloting, Phoenix and Neetra strapped into the side-seats, Bret manning the guns at the rear and Joe in his preferred place crouching on the drive-section. All five were wearing satellite link-up headsets and microphones that connected them to Doctor Mendelssohn in his laboratory on Mars. Planets glittered coldly in the black emptiness above as they reached the desired altitude and Dylan brought them back about, so that the prow was pointing directly down. Before our heroes’ eyes glowed the blue-green topography of their homeworld, thousands of feet below.
By Doc Sherwood4 years ago in Fiction
Lost Friends, Chapter Three
Even as Kumiko spoke, those she referred to stepped into the main room together. One was an alien with a white and dark-blue humanlike form, and the other a short schoolboy whose body was shaped exactly like a rubber ball. If, as Kumiko said, they were happy to see The Four Heroes, the emotion was more than reciprocal. Neetra ran to the boy at once and joyously swept his rotund form up in her arms.
By Doc Sherwood4 years ago in Fiction
Lost Friends, Chapter Four
A short jog through the ruinous neighbourhood brought Dylan, Bret, Joe, Phoenix, Jeffrey and Kumiko to the monolith of concrete and chrome that was the Mekanikron building. Gone was the bright sunshine and clear blue sky of earlier that day. A preternatural twilight was throwing all into oppressive gloom, and in the heavens beyond the skyscraper’s peak the clouds were circling as if caught in the beginnings of a hurricane. Dylan was wearing his satellite headset, and said into its microphone: “Talk to me, Doctor Mendelssohn, how much longer do we have until the rift opens?”
By Doc Sherwood4 years ago in Fiction
Lost Friends, Chapter One
“Here’s the situation,” said Dylan. Behind him the many viewscreens of the meeting room in The Four Heroes’ house flashed into life, readouts and graphs and schematics blinking into being across their luminous many-coloured surfaces. All those assembled around the long table looked attentively on, as Dylan indicated the main monitor that bore an electronic aerial map of Nottingham. Over a part of it, a red-glowing circle blinked insistently.
By Doc Sherwood4 years ago in Fiction
