Once Upon a Forum
A few weeks ago, I was cleaning out some old files and came across something I had written 23 years ago. It was a (very) short story that I had written in an Internet forum for Valentine's Day. The story was written under the moniker of Aqualung, a name I used on-line until about 2012, when I was effectively outed by Google.
Author : Aqualung <76766>
Category: Aqualung <76>
Subject : A Valentine's Day Story
Written : 02/14/96.09:39am
It looked just like a hand grenade, except larger. I found it while digging in the field behind my house and I carried it inside and scrubbed away as much of the dirt and grime as I could. Underneath all of the crud was a shiny oblate spheroid covered with esoteric markings. I'm not exactly sure why, but I knew it was old. Very old. It had that feel about it that old things have. How old, I had no idea. Maybe ancient.
It sat on the counter for more than a week. Every so often, I would pick it up and stare at it and turn it over and over in my hands trying to make some sense of it. The pin with the ring sticking out of the top bothered me. I wanted to pull it out and see what would happen, but I was afraid to. Yet I couldn't help wondering what would happen if I did. And I also knew I would eventually do so. Because I'm like that. Curiosity killed the cat. I knew that someday it would kill me.
I took the shining orb and drove west into the desert. On up into the hills until I could go no further. And then I climbed and climbed until I was atop the highest peak. I sat for a long, long time with the orb (I had been calling it that for some time now) nestled in my lap, my fingers caressing the ring, knowing what I was going to do. And finally I couldn't resist the urge anymore ... I tugged on the ring and the pin slid smoothly from its socket.
The resultant flash radiated outward at the speed of light. For thousands of miles, people were drenched in a rainbow of colors. Photons of every frequency of the electromagnetic spectra saturated the entire planet and spread onward to eventually illuminate the entire universe at the end of time. And the look of surprise that was frozen on the peoples faces slowly turned to wonder. And they stared at one another with a new understanding and insight. And the looks of wonder became smiles of joy.
It was a love bomb ...
Coming across this relic from my past gave me the idea of another short story, but with a different sort of love bomb. (i.e., The Conqueror, in case you somehow missed my previous mentions).
Author : Aqualung <76766>
Category: Aqualung <76>
Subject : A Valentine's Day Story
Written : 02/14/96.09:39am
It looked just like a hand grenade, except larger. I found it while digging in the field behind my house and I carried it inside and scrubbed away as much of the dirt and grime as I could. Underneath all of the crud was a shiny oblate spheroid covered with esoteric markings. I'm not exactly sure why, but I knew it was old. Very old. It had that feel about it that old things have. How old, I had no idea. Maybe ancient.
It sat on the counter for more than a week. Every so often, I would pick it up and stare at it and turn it over and over in my hands trying to make some sense of it. The pin with the ring sticking out of the top bothered me. I wanted to pull it out and see what would happen, but I was afraid to. Yet I couldn't help wondering what would happen if I did. And I also knew I would eventually do so. Because I'm like that. Curiosity killed the cat. I knew that someday it would kill me.
I took the shining orb and drove west into the desert. On up into the hills until I could go no further. And then I climbed and climbed until I was atop the highest peak. I sat for a long, long time with the orb (I had been calling it that for some time now) nestled in my lap, my fingers caressing the ring, knowing what I was going to do. And finally I couldn't resist the urge anymore ... I tugged on the ring and the pin slid smoothly from its socket.
The resultant flash radiated outward at the speed of light. For thousands of miles, people were drenched in a rainbow of colors. Photons of every frequency of the electromagnetic spectra saturated the entire planet and spread onward to eventually illuminate the entire universe at the end of time. And the look of surprise that was frozen on the peoples faces slowly turned to wonder. And they stared at one another with a new understanding and insight. And the looks of wonder became smiles of joy.
It was a love bomb ...
Coming across this relic from my past gave me the idea of another short story, but with a different sort of love bomb. (i.e., The Conqueror, in case you somehow missed my previous mentions).
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