Archive for the ‘Strange’ Category
One Princess In Amber
June 1st, 2008
I woke at midnight on the day of my one hundredth birthday.
Some sound, perhaps some presence, had stirred my mind. I could see no one in the shadows of my bedroom, but that meant little. Perhaps it had been a dream. But no—I could feel into the corners of the room, into the closet, the hall, the space above the ceiling, and knew someone was near. Moreover, I knew it was someone familiar to me.
One hundred years of relative peace and quiet; now this. I couldn’t tell if the mystery visitor had eyes on me, just that someone was paying attention, the way you might apprehend someone reading over your shoulder.
I had a gun in my nightstand, a knife wedged under my mattress: I’ve had an interesting life filled mostly with whatever interests and challenges I chose to pursue, but every now and then, like the evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibrium, I met someone or something that hungered for that life.
This is not one of those times, Skyler, said a voice in my mind, familiar indeed.
“Hello, Mother.”
by ZorkFox
Tags: adventure, age, fear, old, paranoia, weapons
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The Many Names of the Maker
May 23rd, 2008
“So do you have a name, or do I get to call you God from now on?” quipped Dreanna.
“A name…” He replied almost absentmindedly. He had several names, countless names throughout the eons. So which one to choose?
Before he could fully process the request, an answer “Eric. Eric Bamber.” Interesting choice, he mused.
But it did fit the situation, didn’t it? Wasn’t that what this body was called when he was corporeal? Before his species evolved from beings not much different from Dreanna.
“Eric? What kind of name is ‘Eric Bamber’ for a god??” Dreanna started to blurt out, just catching herself in the nick of time. “Nice to meet you Eric” she replied instead.
“So what happened here?”
“Dunno” Eric replied cheerfully.
“What do you mean ‘dunno’ I thought you knew everything!”
“Interestingly enough, so did we.”
While it was the straight answer she’d been looking for, that was little consolation… it had definitely turned into an “oh shit” moment.
By KevMullins
Tags: confusion, diety, gods, omnipotence
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In January, the time-travelers began appearing in droves. They wore the garb of many different centuries. Most wandered aimlessly, gawking at the sights or fiddling with their various recording devices.
When I overheard a couple of time-travelers speaking English, I cornered them and forced them to explain.
“You didn’t know?” the woman asked. “Every year before this one is off-limits without expensive permits and training. Interference with the past would destroy human history, otherwise.”
The man continued: “But 2008 is open to everybody. After all, there won’t be any human history much longer.”
by Matt Brubeck
Tags: time travel, tourism
Posted in Sci-Fi, Strange | Comments (0)
Nikola Tesla was finally back in control of his space-time machine and all alone, no androids, authors or plot devices to get in the way. He was finally able to use the machine for it’s intended purpose, picking up girls.
He’d been astonishingly drunk when he’d sold it to Mark Twain. Looking down at the controls he wondered why they were so similar those of a riverboat, it made no sense, he must of been drunk when he designed that bit.
He checked the static modulator fluid, he didn’t know what the point of it was, but it seemed important that it was checked, possibly so it didn’t feel neglected. He wished he hadn’t been so drunk when he’d built the machine, he might know more about how it worked.
The noise of the space-time engine subsided as Tesla reached his destination and stepped outside. Battle sounds were drifting over a high wall. Tesla accosted a passer by and gave her what he probably thought was a winning smile. “Excuse me madam, but could you tell me where I might find Helen?”
by Russell Ruffino
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They had taken refuge in the only place in the factory city
no longer hostile to them: the ventilation.
For a while they lived that way in the mile-wide tunnel, the
automated systems of the factory unaware or uncaring of their
presence there. They built homes and started families.
There was enough fauna and flora in the tunnel to sustain them and
they could even venture to the end of the shaft to bask in the sun.
Even so they had a strange pallor that came from spending days out of
the sun’s sight. They thrived and increased their numbers
Then they heard the roar. They had become used to the constant
rumble of city-sized machinery, but this was different, this was
angry, threatening, close.
The temperature in the tunnel rose and some of the more paranoid
began to feel fear. They fled and were mocked.
Until the flames spun through the tunnel, reducing every building and
living thing to ash to be blown out of the end the ventilation shaft.
The factory would tolerate no obstructions.
by William Couper
Tags: fire, machines, post-apocalypse, tunnels
Posted in Sci-Fi, Strange | Comments (0)
