Probed

As soon as Earth got past light speed, we were warned by a repeating, automated broadcast, go quiet, go dark. The Technodroids were searching for societies worth consuming, based on either finding them physically, or sensing their technology. They were probing the galaxy for another few dozen years then leaving.

Earth heeded the warning, and went silent, intent to wait it out, like every other race.

And then the Technodroids found the Earth, descending from the skies, led there from a sublight speed probe with a record on it that led them directly to Earth. Not that Earth knew that.

Check In Cat

By process of elimination, I'd worked out that it was a stray cat. It didn't belong to anyone in the apartment block, it just hung around. Probably eating garbage and stuff.

Every morning, it sat on the wall and hissed at me as I passed every morning as I went to work during the week, the gym the weekend.

Then I lost my job, so had to quit the gym. And after some weeks, I was at my lowest point, and then the cat came to my door, meowed until I followed, got up on the wall, then bit me.

Fall Guy

I could have killed him. The knife pierced his skin, cut through the upper layers of muscle, a little further into his heart and he would have died, and it would have been 100% my fault.

Not deliberately, you understand. I wouldn't have intended to kill him, I just lashed out and stabbed him accidentally. If that had killed him, I'd have felt so guilty, so terrible.

But, thankfully, the stabbing didn't kill him, he pulled the knife out, then tumbled backwards and fell over the railing and fell twenty stories to his death.

So glad the fall killed him.

Dead Zone

There's a six meter across bubble on platform 12 where phone reception just dies. (There's a power conduit under there.)

More than one relationship has hit a snag because someone didn't get a message. More than one position has been lost because someone didn't answer their phone. At least one radio contest has gone begging because someone was stupid enough not to walk a few meters to the left.

Often someone will notice, file a complaint. I smile, write it down, then throw it away.

Look, I love my mother, but everyone needs a break now and then, you know?

Give Him Two Minutes

"Just give me two minutes, ok?"

He went into the bathroom and slammed the door. The Driver went to go after him, still angry, but I stopped him.

"Look, you're new, so I'll cut you some slack. But The Boss does his best thinking on the john, I bet you after the two minutes are up, he'll have a plan to get out of this. Trust me."

The Driver grunted then stared at his phone's clock. After two minutes, he barged in.

"Oh, he has a plan all right. Get two minutes head start."

The open bathroom window swung sadly.

The Girl With Red Hair

It was that red hair.

I tried to walk away from her so many times. I tried to leave her behind, tried to forget about her.

I managed it a few times, a few months here, a year there. But every time, I came crawling back home.

At first, she would be happy I was back, my leaving forgotten. But that joy wore off more and more every time, until she told me to either stay or go forever.

That red hair made me stay.

After all, it proved without a shadow of a doubt that she was my daughter.

10,000 Hours

I watched him paint, marvelling at his work. Every stroke a masterpiece, the end result perfect. I couldn't believe his skill.

But I knew I was was seeing the end result of a lifetime of work, I wasn't seeing the training, the failed attempts, the crap before the gold.

I watched as he finished, placing the brush and palette down. I approached him slowly, smiling.

"That's amazing work. How long have you been painting?"

"Oh, this is my first go, I just wanted to try it out once."

I never felt more annoyed than I did at that exact point.