Fantasy Drabble #235 “Humpback”

Miri treaded water, waiting, watching. A hundred yards away on the boat, the others were filming, and there was a diver with a waterproof camera somewhere nearby. Suddenly she wished she had put on the wetsuit instead of just the bikini; but there was too much artifice to all this as it was.

The cow and her calf were nearby: they’d seen the spouts. They would come closer when the cow was ready, long grey shapes moving silently through the blue. She’d wrap her arms around the slippery skin and their minds would reach out, and the conversation would start.

SF Drabble #305 “The Strange Charm of Captain Quark”

The machine shut off with an enormous crack, but the tingling sensation didn’t go away immediately. An hour later, after they had finished the tests and the questions, he could still feel it fading into his fingertips and toes.

The hospital ward become dormitory was empty except for him; he was the only test subject. It wasn’t until he shut off the lights to go to bed that he realized he was almost imperceptibly glowing.

Write down anything unusual, the briefing materials said.

In another hour he was flying a mile over the city, designing his costume in his head.

SF Drabble #304 “Waiting For Glixpacti”

“How long are we supposed to sit here?” The helmsman asked. The surface of the nameless border planet had rotated by so many times he was sure he could draw a map of it from memory.

“Until they show.” The Captain muttered, without looking up from his Pad. “They wanted a face-to-face meeting, we’re obligated by treaty. The Glix aren’t known for their punctuality, but they will show.”

“Then what?”

“Up to them. They want to fight again, so be it: we’ve beat them back three times already, and we’ve only gotten stronger since. Hopefully they want something else now.”

Zombie Drabble #321 “Blinded”

Wet, awful sounds. Tearing cloth, ripping flesh.

She lost her eyesight in a car accident: tiny shards of glass embedding themselves in her retinae. To never see her family again — much less her own face in the mirror — had seemed like the end of the world. That was seven years ago. Then, yesterday, the real end of the world came.

They wouldn’t get through the door, not for a long time… but she could hear them eating her neighbor, Rory, the one who had always carried her groceries. When the sounds of that terrible meal ended the banging would begin.

Fantasy Drabble #234 “Locked Away”

I can’t tell you how long I’ve been in here. Years, decades, certainly. The house has been bought and sold many times, families have come and go: the abuser and his alcoholic wife; the newlyweds with the seven little dogs; the elderly lady who only lasted two months; the gay couple. Now it’s a woman and her three children, clearly fleeing from a divorce.

It’ll be one of the kids, sneaking up into the attic. Not for several years — they’re too little now — but it’ll happen. They’ll find the heavy oaken chest and they’ll open it, and I’ll be free.

SF Drabble #303 “Memorial Day”

My great-granddad, he was in the Marines. Highest he got was in a plane going from America to some desert. Granddad served on Mars, putting down the Miner’s Rebellion, but when they were granted independence he stayed, so I guess he was an all-right guy. Dad came to New Dixie with the first wave, in cold sleep. He fought for twelve years until the Chukho finally ceded us the system and pulled out.

I joined last year. Haven’t seen action yet, but there’s a lot of systems out there, and the Chukho aren’t just going to give them to us.

Fantasy Drabble #233 “Applicant”

It took nearly a week to reach the top of the mountain, even with the expert Sherpas and the charms and amulets. The last climb she made on her own, and afterwards In her exhaustion she lay across a broad rock and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths of thin air.

He was standing there when she finally sat up. “Congratulations on your successful ascent.”

“Thanks.”

“Come for the Magicks, I gather.”

She could see the temple over his shoulder. “Something like that.”

“Well, best come on then. There’ll be tests.”

“I love tests.”

He laughed. “Not for much longer.”