Short Story: Accident

He had the most boring job in the city – for real – it ranked bottom in a Kingdom-wide satisfaction survey. Traffic control warden. There were only six of them, and they rotated in eight-hour shifts, two a shift; relinquishing their soft, warm seat and sweat-sticky headset to the next with a wordless, faceless expression.

                An expression that didn’t change.

                He could see through the ‘eyes’ of the drones and direct their movement through the headset and from the ‘comfort’ of the office. There were physical monitors too for when the heavy feeling on the eyes became too much, but for the most part, that faint blue glimmer of the screens was a pale facsimile of light on his skin and nothing more.

                Two minutes into a shift and he became a dislocated entity, a city-bird without a roost.

                A little longer and red triangles flashed in his periphery. An accident. Two traffic control drones were needed on the A5 road. He despatched them and connected to their cameras; autocars shifted in synchronicity around him, keeping their distance and speed in check. As he got nearer to the accident he began to overtake them as their speed decreased, and then stopped altogether. Up ahead, one autocar had overturned. The wheels hadn’t thought to stop turning.

DailyFlash: Within Means

“How do you want them?” asked Mireille.
     The wanderer held her rations out. The temptation to eat them right away had slowly vanished the older she got. Now it was the exact opposite. “Dried.”
     Mireille took the fruit from her hands and placed them in the condenser. In an hour, the grapes would be raisins, the apples one third their size and hard, and all the liquid would be collected in the bottles. They would make a nice meal out on the sands, sometimes accompanied by jerked meat.
     It used to be a challenge to spread the meals out; make it last as long as possible. Now, she’d find shelter and be surprised by how much she still had left. Might even take fewer rations than offered.
     “Can I trade these for extra clothes anywhere?” she asked.
     Mireille looked at her as though she was crazy.

This flash fiction was inspired by the world of Neon Sands, the first in a trilogy currently accepting nominations on Kindle Scout. Like this world and want to read more? Please vote for Neon Sands on Kindle Scout and get a free copy!

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/M0AVK7KHQVAB

DailyFlash: Lightning Rainbow

"The rains are coming on! The rains are coming on!" shouted the little boy. He jumped into an excited run and tried to pull his sister with him.
     She stood, knowing there was no need to rush. There was a little bubble of excitement within, but it wasn't quite as big as it used to be.
     The boy lead the way, bounding up the stairwell from level three where he shared accommodation with his family - and a few others. Neon strip-lights lit up as he passed beneath them. The girl watched him disappear into the courtyard of the dome through heavy double doors that swung back into her face.
     In the courtyard her brother was already standing with his friends, waiting for the weekly shower.
     "30 seconds..." said Kirillion's voice over the loudspeaker. The girl looked up to the apex of the dome and the saucer-shaped shadow of the watchtower from where Kirillion spoke. Where the important things were done.
     Then it began. The pipes that ran adjacent to the shaft leading to the watchtower gushed with water. She put a hand on one and could feel it vibrate. At the top, the pipe passed from their dome and into the outer dome - the Agridome - and there; they watched as the water cascaded in a rainpour they could see, but not feel.
     Lightning rainbows shimmered on the inner lining as the rain made its way down to the crops below, and all the kids "wooowed" in wonder.

This flash fiction was inspired by the world of Neon Sands, the first in a trilogy currently accepting nominations on Kindle Scout. Like this world and want to read more? Please vote for Neon Sands on Kindle Scout and get a free copy!

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/M0AVK7KHQVAB

DailyFlash: Bathpod

The space station spun with the living quarters at the outer edges to get the most benefit from the centrifugal force. On downtime occupants could retreat to their cabins for the required daily exercise, then cool off in the viewing pod. With the windows at their feet, the viewing pod was a half bulb and doubled as a bath. You could run water into it, turn off all the lights, or dim them, perhaps have the television on in the background, or the stereo with its pumping sound display flashing; and step down into the window. Recline, legs outstretched, ass pressed against the cool solar glass of the pod, mooning the world as you rotated past.

DailyFlash: Neon Knight

The police waves are static white noise broken by intermittent code-words and numbers, all of which he knows. One hand on the wheel, with the other he flicks through different channels, cruising at speed on the urban highway, slashing the asphalt of the night with tires blazing a trail from one scene to the next. It's raining, of course it is, this damn city would be underwater if not for the storm drains letting it all run away. No one overtakes, instead he glides quietly past fellow travellers with glowing advertisements running down the sides of their vehicles; goddamn sell-outs. He is a void on the tarmac, a shadow weaving through the neon. The homicide frequency whispers "Ten-fifty. Perp go, sight on foot, T with BC. BH." He flicks a switch and the car rises above everything, no longer a shadow.

DailyFlash: Monolith

The gravity was heavy underfoot as I climbed the incline to get a better view. Boy, was it spectacular. The ancient alien monolith even more mysterious against the backdrop of undulating, barren hills, punctuated by faux-cacti and shrubs. It glistened irregularly, humming audibly; I could feel its vibrations in my fingertips. The shadow of its tall pillar stretched taller still, a thick black block of darkness reaching for the hills, as though running from the sun. It was happier, more at home, in darkness I sensed.
     The dusty ground at my feet began to move; slowly, the tiny grains of sand, stone and dirt rolling around my boots and between my legs and away from me, in ever increasing swells, towards the now-blinking light of the monolith. Not a breath of wind whispered in my ears. It was pulling me in. It was pulling everything in.

DailyFlash: Eden Day

"What's wrong, Annie?" asks Mrs Monroe.
     "Nothing," she says, staring down at the blue planet. The sun is a distant ball of light, its glare and power absorbed by the solar glass.
     "Then get back to your desk," orders Mrs Monroe, offering the empty seat.
     Annie turns away and slumps in her chair. "Yes, Doctor Monroe."
     "How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not a Doctor."
     "About the only person who isn't," mumbles Annie. It's not fair, she thinks, looking back to the blue planet. The solar glass stretches across the entire wall; the entire side of this pod constantly facing the sun. Looking back at Mrs Monroe, who continues her history lesson, she stares into the vastness beyond The solar tubes arc for miles, connected in grids, like highways, with family pods linked like roads.
     "... and there came a point where all the petty fighting and squabbling became too much; the danger of death over oil or territories too likely. So we developed our technology, and on Eden day, we fled, leaving all the war behind."
     "It's not right," says Annie. "What we did. They needed us. They need us. If everything you've said is true."
     "They do. And one day, when the time is right, we will share with them what we have learned, and it will be Eden for everyone."

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DailyFlash: Loose

It's bright in the rat room; strip lights illuminate from above and heatlamps glow from within each of the glass cages. The cages form a grid against the wall, a row of seven at the bottom and eight running up: fifty-six in total. Of course, up and down is relative in the space station. On the opposite wall the vast blue ocean shimmers majestically through the port window. And rats seem almost to swim on the surface; white rats with long tails that have escaped their cages, all the doors open. Rats floating, bouncing off walls or gnawing at cables that dangle from flashing instruments. The scientist in white chases, the coattail of her jacket trailing like a cape, one arm flailing and the other hugging fluffy white bundles to her chest. 

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