H/er Lifeform’s Work

There were 1,342 races within the Galactic Collective. More than three quarters of these races tended towards Galactic Standard Proportions, what Dr. Greenville called ‘humanoid’, when s/he forgot that that term was systemist.

S/he was obsessed with this fact, and spent h/er entire life studying the phenomena. S/he never accepted that the GSP was the result of concurrent evolution. S/he was sure that there was a reason for this, a combined meaning for all life.

S/he was wrong, of course, but s/he did discover the cure for Cell Degrading out of it, so we downplay her beliefs in the records.

Snow White's Discovery

She shivered as the snow soaked through the last layer of clothing and her skin began to moisten. She paused, holding up the lantern yet again in an attempt to see more than a few feet ahead of her, but all she saw was the pure white snow on the ground, the flakes falling to join them, and maybe, just maybe, the black mass of the forest on the horizon.

She lowered the lantern, pulled her cloak a little tighter, and began to stride slowly through the snow once again.

They called her Snow White when they found her body.

Every Day

The pain wasn't unbearable, but only on a technicality since he somehow managed to bear it. Every waking moment was spent in agony, every sleeping moment filled with fevered dreams of pain and anguish experienced and yet to come.

The occasional moment where it subsided from red hot pain down to merely a brutal sensation of distress, those were the moments he lived for, as they were his oasis, his salvation. They kept him going, the hope that it might get better for a second or two

Besides, it was better than asking for help. That's just what They wanted...

Metaphoric Stones

“For my children…”

There was a lot about his job he hated.

“We need stability…”

The hours sucked, the pay sucked more, and the weather, well apart from the occasional cold snap, it sucked too.

“I wanted to help…”

And now there was this.

“She asked me…”

He was just the grunt, he wasn’t paid to think, he did that on his own time.

“To end this madness…”

But surely this was going too far?

“Just a bit of fun…”

A saying’s one thing.

“My intentions were good…”

But did Hell have to actually pave the road with all these?

Faith Called In Sick

He had stood outside the office building for almost twenty minutes. In another fifteen, he was due to walk in and have a job interview his father had arranged, one he was supposedly already going to ‘ace’. But deep down, he wanted to run across the road to the bar opposite, which was rather rowdy sounding for this time of day.

If he entered the office building, he’d meet with Frederica, her suit neatly pressed, her bun severe. She would interview him, and it would eventually follow on that their marriage would be long, their surroundings comfortable, and both of them would be happy, in a way, with their lives.

If he ran into the bar, he’d be greeted by the sight of Clementine doing shots using just her mouth while walking on her hands and knees along the bar. From that moment on, his life would be chaotic, varied and above all else fun, until the two of them would die when their tandem parachute failed to open and they slammed into the Peruvian desert.

But instead, he stood there, indecisively, for long enough that Paloma would crash into him on her scooter, and lead him down another path…

MD FPS

It took a good half an hour, but finally the doctor walked into the room.

“So, Mr. Kennedy, what seems to be the trouble?”

“Well, it’s silly, but my girlfriend insisted I get this checked out. I have a vision issue, maybe.”

“What specifically is the issue?”

“I, uh… Well you play video games at all?”

The doctor rose an eyebrow.

“A little…”

“Well, like, you know when framerate goes down, and it gets all choppy? It looks like that sometimes.”

The doctor flickered slightly as he was updated to be able to deal with a Soul sensing the Program.

Anything Else?

When the hotel room door opened, the young woman gave a short curtesy.

“Hello, can I help?”

The older woman paused for a fraction longer than she needed to, and stepped back from the door.

“Yes, I was wondering where the extra towels I asked for?”

She indicated towards the open bathroom, where some towels were neatly stacked on the sink.

The maid walked over and bending at the waist, opened the drawer beneath the sink and pulled out some more towels. She then turned around again, and smiled.

“Anything else?”

“Uh… No, thanks.”

Both of them regretted that answer.