The Vision of Torund_The Black Box_The Firefly_Long Journey Home
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The Vision of Torund
It had been 10 years since I had an intimate moment with someone I loved. My husband, King Aelstan III, and son, Prince Prathelwood, were slain by the beast of Eldermoore, a fierce dragon from the legends of old. My daughter, Princess Aesha, left 14 months after their death and after the countless deaths of warriors, knights, hired swords, and local town drunks who had sworn the oath to come back with the head of the beast. I can never forget the way she looked at me. We were both in pain but I found solace in the fact that I believed she and I shared the pain together…that I was not alone. A...
The Black Box
I scrutinize thousands of instructions. The surgical alterations must escape detection.“Diagnostic tests all pass,” the maintenance engineer mumbles, barely audible above the bus yard din. Checking off each item on his clipboard, he says, “Bus 554, all set,” not even bothering to look up. Gone are the days of civility. No humanizing nod or tip of a hat in this age of hyper-productivity, cost out, and running lean. Still, I’m grateful for my route. Each day, drivers lose their jobs, as autonomous vehicles take their place. I don’t know when I last took a day off. As long as I keep my 95% on-ti...
The Firefly
July 20, 1949The day of the discovery began with a muted sun and a balmy breeze, a rarity in July. Dillmont, the sleepy suburb I grew up in, awoke with the sun. Its bleary eyed residents emerged from their homes and soaked in the refreshing Saturday morning on www.onedoor.cctheir wicker porch furniture. As the sun rose above town, lawn mowers traced uniform lines across the primped front yards, tea kettles screamed, and the weekend seemed to be off to a pleasant start.Unbeknownst to us, the object sitting in the center of Sunday Road was prepared to change that. It patiently awaited its discovery as its bla...
Long Journey Home
Luci just wanted to go home. Volcanic ash rained from the sky and lava flowed freely less than a hundred meters away as she hid. Hid from the elements. Hid from her pursuers. Hid from her sisters. She could just make out the outline of her lab door about a hundred meters away through the thick haze that engulfed large sections of the island now. The fastest people on Earth could cover a hundred meters in less than ten seconds. She would have to be much faster at that distance to outrun the pursuit from her sisters and get to safety in her lab on the small island of La Palma. It was one of the...