James Pyles's Blog, page 190
September 11, 2017
On a C-130 Flying into Puerto Rico
The Puerto Rico National Guard C-130 was approaching Luis Muñoz Marín Airport carrying evacuees from St. Maarten in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. “Guys with swords just popped up in the hotel lobby, like Pirates of the Caribbean only more raw.” Gus Phillips had been vacationing in St. Maarten feeling lucky he was alive to […]
The Faith of Parents
“Thank God we stocked up on supplies before it got bad, Rick.” “Must be the frustrated Boy Scout in me. Never want to get caught with my shorts down.” Rick and Rachel Norman turned when they heard the giggling behind them. Their daughters, five-year-old Amie and her two-and-a-half-year-old sister Hannah were laughing. “Daddy’s shorts down,” […]
September 10, 2017
Bastet’s Fearful Symmetry
The 27th Story in the Adventures of the Ambrosial Dragon: A Children’s Fantasy Series “I can’t believe this. You’re telling me that the snake is really something called a Lord of Chaos whose name is Arioch and who by the strange magic of randomization accidentally merged with Apep, the ancient Egyptian god of chaos and evil?” […]
September 8, 2017
Diverting Armageddon
“Papa, why do I have to go to Hebrew school? You didn’t.” “My dear little Miss, that’s because I’m not Jewish. You and your Mama are.” “But it’s so boring. I already know all of the Hebrew, the cantillation is so easy, and Rabbi Endelman drones on and on and…” “Now stop it. Rachel Aiyana […]
September 7, 2017
Falling Down the Rabbit Hole
Twenty year old Fred Valentich was reaching the end of his rope or at least his dreams. With only 150 hours of flying time, he had been twice rejected by the Royal Australian Air Force and failed all five of his commercial pilot’s licensing subjects, not once but twice. He’d also been cited for deliberately […]
September 6, 2017
The Desert of the Real
Life after the Matrix. Morpheus called it “the desert of the real”. I should have taken the blue pill and stayed in wonderland. No, then I’d be lost. We won. We defeated the machines, removed all those people from the power source. They died to free humanity. We didn’t murder them, they just didn’t want […]
The Lost and the Found
“Now we wait.” Historian and linguist Aiyana Zheutlin sat down on the ground in front of the rough-hewn hut in the Amazon rain forest. “Wait for what?” Her companion, engineer Lynn Huỳnh quickly sat down beside her, putting her tablet in her lap. “Him. I told you. We brought the food and water as a gift. […]
September 5, 2017
When Adam Awoke
The light was too bright at first but then his eyes adjusted. He took a deep breath and exhaled feeling pleasure at the rise and fall of his chest. He looked at the clacking sound above him. Something turning around and around. A cool breeze came from it. It felt nice. He sat up and […]
September 4, 2017
Restoration
“So you’re saying that as a direct result of our time incursion preventing the experimental Forerunner time-spaceship from causing the Tunguska blast and subsequent runaway global warming, we caused this massive change in history. A history where Leif Erikson and Christopher Columbus never visited the New World. A world where Europe never colonized the Americas […]
Hunger in the Darkness
“Emily, how’s it wild camping if we have to book the damn island. Come on, help me with the raft.” “But Patrick, what if we get caught?” “No one expects us in this part of Poisson Blanc so late in the season. Already threatening to snow. The cowards who camp here with RVs, and surfboards, […]
