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FF – Can we go to Bloomingdales?
Here is my story for Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Marie Gail Stratford.
Copyright Marie Gail Stratford
“Can we go to Bloomingdales, Daddy, can we can we caaaaan weeeee?”
“Ooh,” chipped in her brother, “how about ‘Wrigley Field’? Is that where the chewing gum is made?”
“No, son!” laughed Dad. “That’s where they play ‘the baseballs’. Why don’t we try the zoo?”
“Yes, please!” chorused the kids.
Mum left the group, walking from the holographic image suite to look out of a window at the Earth, far below. Was that a small patch of green or just her imagination? Was the planet recovering, sooner than predicted?
Maybe the kids, or their kids, would live to see Chicago for real.
FF – Rise of the Machines
Here is my story for Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Claire Sheldon. Obviously, this photo speaks of dire consequences for mankind.
To read this week’s other stories, click on the blue froggy.
Copyright Claire Sheldon
He didn’t know. How could he know?
Every day, Jeff arrived at his desk. Every day he sifted through mounds of old data, sorting, checking and scanning. Every day, he shredded old data and threw the staples in a jar.
He could never have known…
… that his staple collection had achieved critical mass. That the staples had become self-aware.
In offices everywhere, staplers rose up against their masters. Fingers were pierced, while sheaves of important documents fell apart at inopportune moments. Important meetings collapsed. Civilisation fell. The world burned.
He hadn’t known. How could he have known?
FF – Daytime at Midnight
Here is my post for Friday Fictioneers, the 100 word story prompt hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by her long-time friend Lucy Fridkin.
To read this week’s other stories, click on the blue froggy.
Copyright Lucy Fridkin
Frederick stared down at the great Arks below. Though after midnight the light from the approaching solar storm reflected off the water, casting shadows which danced across the waves. Soon the Arks would set sail; later they would dive to the depths of the ocean, protecting the world’s inhabitants inside hardened steel shells…
“What’re you doing?”
“Oh, just looking at the bay, dreaming up a story.”
“Come inside. The solar storm will be here soon. We want to be together at the end, to say goodbye.”
“Okay. Arks would’ve been good.”
“Huh?”
“Oh, just thinking out loud.”
FF – Still Useful
Here is my story for Friday Fictioneers at last. Friday Fictioneers is hosted by Rochelle and this week’s photo was contributed by Sean Fallon.
You’d hardly believe it, but I spent all of yesterday trying to think how I could add a salt shaker and iPhone charger so I could work in the line “I’m charging you with a-salt and battery.” Sadly, it was not to be :-(. So here’s yet another post-apocalyptic nightmare for you instead.
To read this week’s other stories, click on the blue froggy.
Copyright Sean Fallon
Seamus stared sadly at his cache of batteries. Time was you could slip one of these babies into a torch, a remote, a toy, and it would come to life! Not anymore. Not since the flares.
Who knew the Sun held such anger in its soul? Every circuit board on Earth, every machine, fried in an instant.
The door flew open, dragging Seamus from his reverie.
“Seamus! Got another one who won’t cooperate! Need some more of that acid.”
Seamus picked a battery out of his pot, carefully sawed the top off and handed it over. Still useful, he muttered.
Friday Fictioneers – Tapping the Core
Here is my contribution to Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers for this week, in which we get a photo prompt and then 100 words to write the story. This week’s photo was contributed by Madison Woods.
This week’s photo shows the moon high above. OR DOES IT? You’ll have to use your imagination to see what I first saw :-).
Click on the blue froggy for this week’s other stories.
Copyright Madison Woods
“A new form of energy,” they’d said. “Clean, limitless. A New World.”
It’s a new world, all right, thought Simon. He and Amy were the only two left; all the others had fled.
“We should go too,” Amy said, shaking.
“Go? Where?” was his reply.
And so he and Amy stood staring down the smoky vegetation-lined shaft at the Earth’s burning core far below. Tapping the core for energy had seemed such a wonderful idea, but like a child playing with a chainsaw they had no idea of the power they were unleashing.
Another hour, and the Earth would burn.
MFTS: Reboot – Earth 2.0
Here is my contribution to Barbara Beacham’s Mondays Finish the Story. We get a photo and an opening sentence (which is in bold in my story). Then we have 150 words or so to finish the story. The opening sentence this week was contributed by Eric Wickland of Momus News.
Click on the blue froggy for this week’s other contributions.
Copyright B.W. Beacham
At first, it looked like an ordinary marble, but it was far from it.
Merrax opened the protective covering to reveal a small blue and green globe. He handed it to the planetary mechanic (No Planet Too Small – Call Now!).
“Hmm, yes, funny smell coming from this,” said the mechanic.
Merrax nodded. “I popped some two-legged creatures on there for a science project and now it smells real bad.”
“Yep,” said the mechanic knowingly. “They’ve stunk the place up. Gases, oils, chemicals… expensive to fix.” His eyes gleamed.
“Isn’t there a cheap option?” asked Merrax. His mum was going to be so mad.
“Well,” said the mechanic. “We could reboot the whole… “
“Earth,” said Merrax.
“Whatever. Start anew. Wipe it all off. Much cheaper.”
Merrax had a think. “We’ll do that,” he decided.
“No worries.” The mechanic popped Earth in a machine and pressed a button. If you listened carefully, you could hear the screams of the dying emanating from the little globe.
“There you go, just like new!” said the mechanic. “Factory reset. Earth 2.0!”
Extinction by Stupidity
Here is my contribution to this week’s Friday Fictioneers 100 word challenge, ably hosted by the talented Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Doug MacIlroy.
To read the other contributions, click on the blue froggy.
Copyright Douglas M. MacIlroy
Marvik and Grvox, father and son team from “WorldRenewals Inc” stepped onto Earth, freshly scorched and ready for new inhabitants.
“The flamers did a good job on this one,” said Grvox. He pointed at a charred skeleton. “What d’ya suppose that was?”
“Some sort of marine mammal, son.”
“And what about over there? Looks like the remains of a… city? Built by those Hoomans? Da, we’re not allowed to flame worlds containing intelligent life!”
“Son, you’ve read the report on this world, same as me. Plundering your planet’s resources to exhaustion to make ‘shiny new things’ isn’t a sign of intelligence.”
Another New Start
It’s Friday Fictioneers time again, the only Friday fiction challenge on a Wednesday! Thanks as always to Rochelle for hosting and choosing the photo, which this week comes from Marie Gail Stratford.
Click on the blue froggy to see this week’s other contributions.
Copyright Marie Gail Stratford
Darius looked at the silo through the tint of his RadSuit’s visor. His grandfather had tilled the soil when they had housed grain. His father had worked on their conversion to missile launch bays. Sighing, he dragged his find – a compact atomic power unit – back towards the shuttle.
As he walked, he looked up at the moon. Home to the human race since the devastating “oil wars” of the late twenty-first Century, it was already 80% irradiated by the ongoing resources war between surviving factions. They’d need this power unit to aid the evacuation to Mars – yet another New Start.
Burnout
Here is my story for this week’s Friday Fictioneers, the 100 word photo prompt ably hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Madison Woods.
To view this week’s other contributions, click the blue froggy.
Copyright Madison Woods
Jedro hesitated, took a deep breath, and turned the tap. Behind him, the crowd strained to see.
Nothing.
Word spread, hope changed to resignation. Loved ones hugged. Children, confused, were gathered up by parents. The last remnants of humankind dispersed, wandering away to make their own plans for the End.
The water was gone. All of it. Jedro kicked angrily at the salt covering what had once been the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.
Antimatter energy, they’d said. Unlimited power. Totally safe! An accident, the Earth moves a fraction of a degree closer to the Sun… and the world slowly boils away.
The Last Sunrise
Here is my contribution to Sunday Photo Fiction. You can view all the 100-200 word stories by clicking on the blue froggy, and why not have a go yourself?
Simon and Shelley sat hand in hand on the hill top, looking out at the rapidly brightening sky.
“Is it true, do you think?” asked Shelley quietly, brushing a few stray strands of hair from her face.
“All contact with Australia was lost hours ago. Russia. Eastern Europe. All going quiet, one by one.”
“Maybe there’s some other explanation?”
Simon squeezed her hand. “It’s still half an hour to sunrise,” he said sombrely. “See how light the sky is already.”
Shelley nestled her head against him. He put his arm around her shoulders.
“Of all the scenarios we’ve seen in the movies – floods, global warming, alien invasion, even zombies – why did nobody mention this?” asked Shelley, sobbing.
“Maybe someone did,” replied Simon, eyes glistening with his own tears. “Maybe we didn’t see that film.” He hugged her closer.
“It’ll be one hell of a sunrise, though,” said Shelley.
Simon nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
They were still sitting, holding each other tight when the sun rose. Once the bringer of life, it had turned on its children. The most titanic solar firestorm in Earth’s history accompanied the sunrise this morning, burning the planet clean.
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