FF – Flawed and Forgotten
Here is my story for Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Gah Learner.
Is that the moon in the photo? Is it though?
Copyright Gah Learner
“Inexhaustible energy” was the claim. “Draw our energy directly from the source. We could do anything, colonise the universe! Ultimate power, unstoppable!”
Decades of work had seen “solar extractors” positioned in orbit around the sun. Pure energy, dragged from the sun’s gravitational pull and transmitted to Earth.
But you can’t mess with Nature. There’s a delicate balance, an order to things.
The sun darkened and died as its nuclear furnace burned the last of its fuel, a billion years before its time.
And Mankind, which months ago had fancied itself gods, drifted into frozen obscurity, just another flawed, forgotten mistake.
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draliman on life 
Excellent cautionary tale!
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I hope the folks at “Sun-Suck-O-Matic Ltd” are reading this 🙂
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I think we might fade long before we do that… hopefully not taking the solar system with us
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We’re getting pretty good at destroying everything at once.
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I hope that’s not a prediction!! Nicely done.
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
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Me too, thanks!
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The same expertise that gave the world the Titanic has reached new heights of unstoppable.
And it’s started already. There was frost on my windshield this morning. 😉
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I knew that recent solar probe they launched was up to no good 🙂
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Definitely a case of “Be careful what you wish for!”
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We should stick to pedal power when all the coal is gone.
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i hope it comes after my time. 🙂
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Me too 🙂
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Ooo..well done!! 🙂
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Thanks, I’m glad you liked it!
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Most welcome! 🙂
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Oh my goodness, it’s the neighbours fault they just wouldn’t listen – they’ve ruined us all.
A dystopian vision of the future indeed – although impossible I should think.
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Impossible with today’s technology, maybe… nah, you’re right, probably impossible full stop!
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We are on our way to that doomsday even without the ‘help’ of that sun.
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Sadly quite possibly true.
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This sounds like a great idea on a hot summer day! Let’s get to work turning the sun into our own personal thermostat….
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Oh, the arguments which would ensue. We already have “differences of opinion” over the office air-con…
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Great original take on the prompt! I love how you emphasise that the mistake is not what we did, but why we did it. It is mankind that is the flawed, forgotten mistake.
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Thanks, I’m glad you got that! I almost put a warning at the top that I was going to be a bit “down” on the whole of humanity today 🙂
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Sun was made to go energy less after mankind started drawing from Sun’s core? What did man do with so much energy? Nice thought provoking story.
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I dread to think. Nothing good, I expect. I’m glad you liked it!
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It is a novel technology. May be we shall be there soon. In our insatiable greed to grab, we may deplete sun of its energy.
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Not too soon I hope.
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Dear Ali,
This is quite the chiller. Well done. But…oh dear.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle,
Let’s hope no-one with loads of money to burn reads this and gets any ideas 🙂
Ali
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And then the earth couldn’t store all that drawn energy any more, blew up and became a new sun, making Pluto the paradise it is today. Or so my grandfather Grmlsuvah tells me.
Needless to say that I love your story. 🙂
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Ha, I like that! All the Plutonians coming out of their melting igloos and sitting on sun loungers 🙂
I’m glad you liked it!
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That’s scary. It reminds me of the latest “Time Machine” movie where too much is done to the moon and part of it breaks away and falls away changing mankind forever more.
— Suzanne
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Yeeks. I’ll have to look out for that film!
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Your story describes, to me, our worst fears. The ending reminds us of our lack of significance in the great scheme of things. The last line -‘just another flawed, forgotten mistake’ is very powerful.
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Thanks, I’m glad all of that came through. I edited it a few times to try to get that across 🙂
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Typical humans. Take, take, take… till there is no more. At their own expense…
Well done, sir!
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We do it everywhere, it can only end with the sun. I’m glad you liked it!
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So true!
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Morbid, nice job!
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Thanks 🙂
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Well, that’s it then. We’re doomed!
Click to read my FriFic tale!
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Yep. Might as well pack up, go home and wait for the end 🙂
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I very much enjoyed this, one of my favorites you’ve written. So true … “But you can’t mess with Nature. There’s a delicate balance, an order to things.”
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Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it! I was quite pleased with that line 🙂
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Wouldn’t surprise me, we have a way with nature. A wrong one.
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We do for sure 😦
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I’m glad I don’t live in your world. I like mine better. ;0)
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Mine’s a scary world to be sure 🙂
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;0)
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Wow. Beautifully written. So much in so few words.
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Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it! This one took a lot of editing to get it just right 🙂
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I hope I’m gone before we become like the dinosaurs! Great piece.
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Thanks! Me too. This tech sounds quite far away from us for the moment, thank goodness.
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Well there’s a cheery tale, but I have to say it serves Mankind right. I’m sure there’s a rule of thermodynamics that covers this one and should have flagged it up as a catastrophic idea.
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I was never any good at thermodynamics – too many differential equations – so I’d’ve just gone ahead and hoped for the best!
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Such a sad ending for planet earth, frozen in time, until a alien race arrives to remove the harness from around the sun.
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I’m guessing that would be a while.
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“drifted into frozen obscurity” …my favorite line!
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Thanks, I’m glad you liked it! I reworded that sentence many times.
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Leave it to Mankind to muck up everything. Nicely done.
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Thanks! Mucking things up is what we do best.
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Be sure selfishness and stupidity will bring horrible consequences. A chilling tale.
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We’ll bring it on ourselves…
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A dreadful prospect. I think I prefer your comedic side. 🙂
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Dreadful indeed. There has to be dark so we can appreciate the comedy 🙂
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The human race has this talent for “improvements” which do anything but improve.
nicely told
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My Dad was moaning about Microsoft’s constant Windows 10 “improvements” only yesterday. I’m glad you liked it!
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Windows “up”dates are the worst culprits of “improvements”
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A dark tale this week… nice! Frozen, forgotten and flawed. Forgotten by what/whom? (A rhetorical question)
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Thanks! I’m glad you liked my little foray into the dark side 🙂
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I hope we won’t be seeing this happen, Draliman, and just be a star in the Universe *folds paws*. Another Pawkiss 😀 ❤
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I hope not too, it’s a scary thought.
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Tough luck. Let’s hope it won’t be tomorrow.
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Me too!
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Chilling. Well done.
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Thanks!
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