My Peak

It's an unusual feeling, knowing that you've peaked as an artist but still creating art. The knowledge that you will never match that one perfect piece, and yet the drive to continue anyway.

Not out of hope you'll somehow match it, or even more preposterously beat it, but out of the knowledge that you can't account for taste, and that maybe a lesser work can still have an impact on someone when they need it.

Thus, you keep creating, no matter what.

(That said, if you don't think 'Williams Versus Williams, 2013' is my best drabble, you're just plain wrong.)

The Blue Button

The blue button must not be pressed by anyone at any time.

It was a rule passed down through a hundred generations on the spaceship, as it made the trip between the galaxies. Of all the buttons on the main console bank, it was the only one that was blue, without a label.

Every bridge crewmember had a theory, most of them saying it would blow up the ship, with a return to the destroyed Earth the second most popular theory.

Of course, the fact that the word blue had changed meanings half a dozen times didn't help matters any.

Inability To See

 I could have been a winner, if only...

There's been plenty of people who started sentences like that, and I always knew that whatever came after it would be an excuse. They'd blame equipment, or some opposition, or they'd swear that they just didn't have the right opportunity.

Always an excuse, never owning up to the fact that they just weren't good enough. Sad, in a way.

But trust me, I know all about winning and losing, since I should have been champion of the world, if it wasn't for the conspiracy against me, and the lack of fair breaks...

Donner Point Observatory

The power went out three weeks ago. The supplies ran out a week ago. And still the snow falls, every day another foot against the door.

One of the technical staff made jokes about cannibalism at the start. They aren't making those jokes anymore. They just sit in the corner, a blanket wrapped around them, staring at the cleaner with... Well, with naked hunger in their eyes.

But what am I supposed to do? Order them not to eat each other? It'll just lead to chaos and infighting. Better i just leave them all stewing in their own thoughts.

Marinating...

Lures

I stopped by his stump, after he mentioned  he had a new idea about how to lure humans further into the woods.

When I got there, he seemed extremely pleased with himself.

"I've got it! This will improve our ability to lure humans!"

I sighed.

"Look, every time you've tried to improve beyond food and water, it's gone badly!"

"Hey, now, I maintain that the caches of those magazines with naked human women were good for luring young human males!"

"So what is it now?"

"This is mobile phone service that isn't enough to use but enough to tease usage."

Backwards Becky

She told me once, during a rare period of seriousness, that she enjoyed seeing the gears in people's minds grind, that she hoped that she might make them question things they took for granted.

A noble sentiment, sure, but she did it by childish stunts like doing the bunny ears with her fingers to the person taking the photo, or by telling people she had a great knock knock joke, but they start it. Their reaction to 'Who's there?' always made her smile.

I should have walked away long ago, but I'm worried she'll think that I'm proposing to her.

Universal Change

I thought I was travelling through parallel universes. I mean, put yourself in my shoes, every few moments, the device would power up, surround me with an energy field, the world around me would shimmer, and then I'd be in the same place, but in a totally new world.

Of course I assumed it was a transport machine, and of course the moment I found a universe of bliss and joy, I put the machine down and decided to stay.

Only for it to kick off and I discovered it was actually just rebooting the one universe, over and over...