January, 2013 Archives
Jan
A Stone’s Throw
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
For eons, stones have found their existence tedious at best, cursed by their lack of mobility and sensory organs. Why have a soul if they were doomed to suffer without ever experiencing anything but their own actuality? Their only solace was that they had been blessed with two nemeses, wind and water, against whom they could battle relentlessly.
It all changed when rocks became a unit of measurement. They found themselves hurled hither and thither whenever someone needed to estimate something’s proximity.
Of course rocks had no way of understanding the change. Still, at least they have a purpose now.
Jan
Miniature Dragons
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Before science invented the microscope, there was a popular theory that supposed illness and disease were the result of miniature dragons that attacked our immune systems. People believed the only way to defeat them was to equip an army of miniature knights to combat these miniscule, invisible dragons.
The king called for volunteers. They would join a mating program modeled by the dog breeders who created the miniature schnauzer. Over the course of several generations, they would sire knights tiny enough to fight the dragons.
Eventually it was discovered that germs, not dragons, were making people sick.
Sometimes science sucks.
Jan
The Never-Ending Date
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Barbara and Steve began their first date in the firehouse deli. They both thought it quaint. It didn’t take long for them to realize things were going extremely well. After their movie, as he walked Barbara back to her house, Steve suggested they continue the date tomorrow.
“I’ll meet you in the morning and it will be part of the same date.” Barbara found the idea charming.
When Steve proposed three years later, Barbara asked if that would mean the end of their first date. Steve said no.
“Why would I stop the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Jan
The Glue
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Victor Coolidge often referred to himself as the glue that held the city together (the joke being the reason he was so obese was that a city of one billion people needed a lot of glue). In the end, he was the snag that lead to the city coming apart at the seams.
When he told his media friends that Georgi was the infant predator, they seized on the story. A manhunt began. Top-levels began dying in the vents. The riots spread to the sewers and the ground levels.
Georgi became the eye of the hurricane that finally destroyed Colossopolis.
Part 5
This is the treatment for a sci-fi novella. I think it’s definitely worthy of more than the 100-word treatment. Let me know what you think!
Jan
Victor Coolidge
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The larger an election, the greater the opportunity for corruption. In the largest city in the solar system, people assume it’s easy to manufacture tens of millions of votes. For this reason, no one believed that Victor Coolidge, mayor of Colossolopolis, was duly elected. But his grip on power hardened over the years and seemed unlikely to end in anyone’s natural lifespan.
But when Coolidge was discovered eating infant flesh in the vents, the news spread through the city at light speed.
Not many people believed Coolidge could overcome the scandal, but he knew all he needed was a scapegoat.
Part Four
Jan
The Vents
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
In Colossopolis, the slums and sewers were home to escaped convicts, perverts, and the debt-afflicted–the least desirable elements of society. Most of the city’s population would never see the sewers in their lifetimes.
Such people had never even heard of the vents.
The vents were for the mutants and genkies who had nowhere else to go. There was a division of Justice that specialized in going into the vents to retrieve wanted criminals or especially valuable contraband. They had an 82% success rate of coming back alive.
Georgi was born in the vents and he didn’t want to go back.
Part 3
Jan
Neon
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Georgi was having trouble seeing.
Vacuumers operate in shifts of 16 hours on, 4 hours off for five days in a row, with three days of downtime. During their breaks, most of Georgi’s colleagues stayed in the seedier sections of the city, near the exteriors.
For the majority of vacuumers, it was enough to dabble in illegal, though lightly-monitored, activities such as drug use or gene manipulation. Only the most foolhardy went in for neon ingestion. Georgi, however, wasn’t worried about harm to his nervous system.
But if he couldn’t see, he’d be fired and sent back to the vents.
Part Two
Jan
The Vacuumers
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
A city of one billion people relies on many citizens and institutions to maintain order. But in Colossolopis, the world’s largest urban center, everyone knows who the city most depends on for survival.
The vacuumers are the only civilians allowed outside the city interiors. Donning their radiation-shielded hazsuits, they crawl like insects on the rooftops, cleaning the air.
Some doubt that what they are doing can really be called cleaning. It has been generations since anyone has been able to freely breath the atmosphere. But if they were to stop, the toxicity levels would quickly breakdown even the strongest shielding.
Jan
Gently Home
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Seagulls arced lazy turns as an angry ocean pounded my listing fishing boat. Separated, the submerged boat lights cast a green glow around me, making the ocean even darker as the light trailed into abyss. Floating, my thoughts went to all life in the ocean, reacting, surviving, inching slowly along the ooze and undulating mid-water with goals ingrained. Ocean smell, thick with sea spray and sargassum, cradled me like a childless mother. Dipping below the horizon, the boat disappeared, sunset style, leaving me with only the immensity of space. Gazing at weightless gulls, the blue mire pulled me gently home.
From Guest Contributor Wes Keller
Jan
The Man Who Knew Too Much
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
They came from miles around to ask him questions and he always answered truly. It seemed to those visitors that he knew everything. At least, no one could ever remember a question stumping him. He was worth every penny.
It was different for those who knew him. At first, they had been amazed of course. How did he know so much? But after a while, the novelty wore off and he began to get cocky, lording it over them how much smarter he was. And really, it was just plain awkward to be around someone who knew everything about you.