Body Weight Betrayal

The only thing stopping me from falling a few dozen storeys was a thin sheet of plastic.

I went to roll over, but the plastic made a sound that I didn't like, given I was still under the effects of gravity.

So instead I lifted a leg, slowly, then reached out with it and tried to hook the floor where the plastic was held.

My pant leg hooked on, but at the expense of the plastic, which began to tear under my weight. But my pants would hold me up, right?

But my recent weight loss meant they were loose...

The Onboard Computer's Talking

The star went nova fifteen minutes ago. And the resulting energy wave will hit us in five minutes.

We do not have enough time to use thrusters to get out of danger, although I have begun moving anyway.

Attempting a jump to fifthspace with this amount of energy in the surrounding area will ruin fifthspace travel in the area for centuries.

Yes, we would be blamed, despite being dead.

Available options are self-destruct, send a final message, panic. Which would you like to do?

I don't recognise that as an option, Captain.

I presume this declaration of love is panic?

Growing Investment

I'd just started my shift, when the traveller leant on the fence, looking between me and the field.

"Having a break?" The traveller asked, using the entirely wrong stress points. But I withheld a laugh.

"No, just started."

"Doing what?"

"Watching."

"Watching... what?"

"The field here, I supervise its growing."

"Your job is to watch grass grow?"

"You sound confused, Traveller."

"It's just that the saying... Is this special grass?"

"As special as any other."

"This a religious thing?"

"I'm an atheist."

"Then why the hell do you watch grass grow?"

"Because it's my job, traveller."

I love being self-employed.

The Rules Of Life

The rules of life were fixed. Life was cold, wet, and unhappy. Then someone worked out how to break the rules with fire.

The rules of life were fixed. Life was violent, brutal, and short. Then someone worked out how to break the rules with bows.

The rules were fixed, then came iron. Navigation. Soap. Contraception.

Every time the rules of life seemed fixed, someone discovered something that broke them.

And then someone discovered magic, and that seemed to break the rules permanently.

But magic had the most rules of all.

Until someone worked out how to break those too.

When The Rains Came

When the rains came, he told me. When the rains came, all would be solved, all would be well.

When the rains came, it became a state of mind, one that flowed through our whole lives. When the rains came, that was the key, so today wouldn't matter.

When the rains came, that day built up power, as it needed to fix so much, to make up for so much neglect. When the rains came.

When the rains came, it was much later than he thought, but they still came.

But when the rains came, they washed away everything.

Everything.

Customs

The paperwork was fully completed out, but the guard was still asking questions.

"And how long will you be in the country, again?"

"As I said, a month."

"And you'll be staying with this John Lindsburg?"

"Lindson, not Lindsburg."

"Ah yes, right. And the purpose of your visit?"

"Tourism, and... Nothing else."

The guard seized upon this.

"And, huh? You doing something else while you're here? You want to come clean now?"

He sighed.

"John Lindson is my gay lover."

The guard coughed, and waved the man through, satisfied with that explanation, and thus not bothering to check his bag.

Shell

The Doctor stared through the clear plastic shell around the gel tank, and the body inside.

All the sensor readings said they were in prime health, there was nothing wrong with them, physically, that he could find.

And yet they refused to wake up.

He was getting frustrated, he'd checked every medical database and every network, but there was nothing to be found to explain their lack of life.

Eventually, he found a reference to an old text, that had an unorthodox solution. But he was desperate.

And it worked, lightning did indeed bring his stitched together monster to life.