Four Flash tales:Two SF and Two Fantasy

I have four short stories for you all this week. A total of 2,216 words.


Each of these were inspired by a pic that Charlie Hoover likes to post on his Geek picture of the day over on Google +. A couple of people who enjoy the pics started to put tiny stories in the comment sections. I joined in even though mine tend to be longer. These four stories started out significantly shorter, but while revising them I added a few sentences. One of the reasons they are so long is that I try to describe the scene for anyone who hasn’t seen the picture that inspired the story. An example: the last story of these four was a pic that showed run down small campers or trailers near a fence that surrounds a city. The fence had an opening just wide for people to slip through. The fence has a sign like I described in the story.

I have 17 of these stories and after I do another ten or so I may just place them in an anthology.

The Fourth story is my third dystopian tale and first flash dystopian.



So without further ado here are the four:

The Cambot:

The small figure stood there, looked at the paper that had slid out of a slot on the bottom of its body above its one wheel. It had somehow rolled out from the range of its programing. And it hadn’t heard any radio signals calling it back either. Now it didn’t know what to do. At least the rain that came down hard wouldn’t harm it, for it was made for outside use, in all weather conditions. Of course for appearances sake its wheel was rubber which might slip on ice, snow or even a wet surface.
The camera which made up half of its body would broadcast this image to anyone close by who had the correct devices. No bluetooth signals nearby. It knew it now sat on an old cement bridged without any smart tech that it might be able to connect with. Someone could plug in a three pronged device on the camera itself or even a USB wire plugged in a port under the camera. Of course most of bluetooth devices had security it could not get through.
The cold weather didn’t bother it but it did keep people inside, which was both good and bad. Samurien stood ready for another round. A tickle of blood flowed from one shoulder and she still hadn’t seen the beings she fought. The darkness in this arena filled everywhere except for this one patch of light. The haze that surrounded that spot was cold so she thought of it as very dense fog. It stole all of the other light around her. Pain kept her company, but she knew it well. Her life had been always full of it and the training also but that had been different, a better pain.
She had lost her helm earlier, but even though dented and with her thin red cloak torn, her armor was still whole. Somehow she had missed one incoming blow. It had hurt but she knew how to make her pain into anger that would speed up her defenses.
Her blond hair’s two braided pony tails hung down on each side of her face, some stands had escaped. They lay on her forehead and cheeks, others poked her skin.
Her sword had no dents nor notches even, even though she had stuck the beast and wounded it. Even though she carried only a half-bastard sword, she held it like a full two handed weapon; she had more strength with two arm. Not to mention she was short so both hands fit well in its hilt even without a guard, its crossbar served as one
The metal of the grip still felt good in her hands, and Samurien had been well trained which make it hard for this being to knock the sword out of her hands..
Something hummed and without looking she knew the sword’s runes had activated. She smiled for she had a better chance now. This was trail by combat even though she wasn’t sure if she was the one on trail or the thing. But with the mystic power of the sword she would know where the beast was and the rune’s light might blind it or if it could not see, the humming it made would confuse its hearing. She had a trick to use against its sense of smell, even though if she could smell her own sweat now so it could easily.
Sweat beaded on her upper lip so she licked it off, at least it had no blood it in. She didn’t know what this was about but when it attacked next it would be very surprised. Even with her short stature she was strong and had lots of endurance. Now she had an even more powerful weapon. If she was on trail she also had the confidence that she was not guilty and she felt determined to make sure she won to show that.
So she would. Bad in that there were humans that would steal it and tear it apart so they could sell its insides. Or reprogram it for some use it wasn’t made for.
Vibrations in the cement made it roll back from the edge of the street it had found itself. A big truck was coming, if it stood too close the suction of the vehicle could suck it under the truck or a part of the large vehicle might impact it damaging it.
What to do?
The truck zoomed by, the roar of its engines confusing the cambot’s hearing. It rolled on, saw someone running its way. No signal came from them so it decided they wanted to steal it. It rolled toward dark shadows, hid in a corner of the bridge’s railing. They looked for it but it shut down most of its components, so no light or noise would show them where it was.
Half an hour later it rolled off the bridge, to do so it had to go out onto the pavement for there were steps on the cement. It made sure it stayed there only for a minute. Another chase when those humans came back. It followed a cat who also ran. They both made it to a dark place under debris. An hour later it beeped.
What? It hadn’t done that.
Oh, a signal. When it came close enough the cambot rolled out into the open. A man in a uniform it knew saw it and came over.
The man picked it up and said, “There you are. We will take you back home with your buddies.”
His words and signaling device fit its programing perimeters so it now knew what to do.

end


The Trial In Darkness

Samurien stood ready for another round. A tickle of blood flowed from one shoulder and she still hadn’t seen the beings she fought. The darkness in this arena filled everywhere except for this one patch of light. The haze that surrounded that spot was cold so she thought of it as very dense fog. It stole all of the other light around her. Pain kept her company, but she knew it well. Her life had been always full of it and the training also but that had been different, a better pain.
She had lost her helm earlier, but even though dented and with her thin red cloak torn, her armor was still whole. Somehow she had missed one incoming blow. It had hurt but she knew how to make her pain into anger that would speed up her defenses.
Her blond hair’s two braided pony tails hung down on each side of her face, some stands had escaped. They lay on her forehead and cheeks, others poked her skin.
Her sword had no dents nor notches even, even though she had stuck the beast and wounded it. Even though she carried only a half-bastard sword, she held it like a full two handed weapon; she had more strength with two arm. Not to mention she was short so both hands fit well in its hilt even without a guard, its crossbar served as one
The metal of the grip still felt good in her hands, and Samurien had been well trained which make it hard for this being to knock the sword out of her hands..
Something hummed and without looking she knew the sword’s runes had activated. She smiled for she had a better chance now. This was trail by combat even though she wasn’t sure if she was the one on trail or the thing. But with the mystic power of the sword she would know where the beast was and the rune’s light might blind it or if it could not see, the humming it made would confuse its hearing. She had a trick to use against its sense of smell, even though if she could smell her own sweat now so it could easily.
Sweat beaded on her upper lip so she licked it off, at least it had no blood it in. She didn’t know what this was about but when it attacked next it would be very surprised. Even with her short stature she was strong and had lots of endurance. Now she had an even more powerful weapon. If she was on trail she also had the confidence that she was not guilty and she felt determined to make sure she won to show that.
So she would.

end


The Flat Lands


“I told your there would be other pyramids.”
“Yes, you did and you were right, Schiean.”
The young man and woman stood only inches away from the edge of section of floating land they lived one and looked down at another section that drifted among the rest of the grouping. That one sat at the base of another horizontal piece of earth. What had to be waterfalls more than twenty meters across fell from the top one to the one they stared at, where the water continued on in rivers. They could see great step pyramids sitting in the middle of two lakes, miles apart. Everything looked green and lush probably because of the great rivers, which continued on and fell off of that level in smaller falls. They each could smell the growing things from where they stood even though that could be the fora of their land. They could see that theirs had different trees and bushes.
As they studied that level the sun that heated all of the sections made them warm for they had to no shade at that spot.
She said, “And, Rillem, they look like people are using them.”
“As we hoped. Maybe now we can find out what our pyramids were used for before whoever used them moved away or became us then forgot-if we can find a way down there.”
Schieam nodded at the last for it looked like there wasn’t even a waterfall to connect their land to that the one they viewed.
“I think there must be a way because those people look to be the decedents of who ever built our pyramids.”
He nodded, “War, or famine may have driven them away. If so there is a way down.”
A pause then, “Well, it took us a year to get here. Look at the other lands, we stand on the largest so it took us a very long time to find the right edge, so another couple of months won’t be so bad since we know there is something down there.”
She nodded again.
“Let’s get going, and check your weapon. Just in case Uncle Jourem is right about what they used our pyramids for. And we don’t know what animals are there. We know he wasn’t crazy nor full of wishful thinking, so he could be right about that also.”
“I have already,” with a tone that said she wasn’t stupid.
They looked again and turned left which seemed to be the better direction.

end


Disease Base Camp

Tony looked out the back window of the camper. He could see four of the other eight campers and trailers that made up their base, eight tents of various sizes and three shacks were around a corner. All looked run down with faded paint and rusted metal but they all still kept the rain out and some of the cold. Their clothes looked in the same condition. The trees helped with shade in the summer. A latrine rested off to the side and even though behind some trees in the ruins of a warehouse, the wind sometimes blew the smell their way.
The gap in the tall chain link fence with the triple thick chain links, that surrounded the city still stayed open. Every day he wondered about that. After all the whole group had the Morbus: a new sickness that had developed on a pacific volcano island where few people lived. Some thought it happened because of radiation from nearby atomic tests, while others thought something the volcano had brought up made the virus form. It spread so fast that a tenth of the world’s population had it before the authorities knew something new was here. It twisted a person’s DNA and created a feedback in a way I couldn’t understand. Which is why many died or changed. The medical experts were surprised that so many survived and others were basically unharmed. Most people caught it but it only killed a quarter of those, another third were effected in other ways. Those left over were normal after they recovered.
He shook his head, those in his group had deformities, sores, a tendency to vomit at odd times or other problems. Plus they are smelled for there wasn’t enough water out here to bath as well as they should. Those few who never caught it or who survived untouched lived in cities like the one next to them. A few had rural bases. Everyone had fences and walls around them, many with that symbol on them: the international symbol for disease with a slash through it. It now meant that those inside were Morbus free.
His group would go into the city and raid urban gardens and stores. None of them liked doing that but they needed food. There were a couple of charities that helped some not enough. It surprised him that the authorities here hadn’t chased them off yet. Of course they might be more worried about stopping the violent groups of Morbus victims, or the internal gangs. Some acted like savages. They had discussed it among themselves many times, and even though various people had theories, no one could say for sure if the violent ones were just living out their personalities or if a part of their brains had been damaged by the disease. Whatever the reason, some of them robbed, killed, raped as well as stole things. Some of them had been killed off but there always seemed to be some around. His group, and a few others, always snuck in and hid. They never harmed a city drawler and only did the minimum damage when they broke into a building. Sometimes the dwellers leave something out for us, either for charity’s sake or they are trying to keep the violent ones from doing them harm.
The raiding party that was in there now might find some oranges, he hoped so for he missed them for breakfast. Apples would be good and books too. Tony missed those a lot. He sat back down to wait for them.

end stories