Short Story : The World Smells Different After It Rains
The drought that had for many years affected the crops on Upsilon 4 – a planet known colloquially as Euphoria – had not been the worst thing that could have happened to the colonists. The massive artificial bio dome that now covered the colony made sure that there weren’t any long lasting effects because of this lack of rain water by creating an artificial atmosphere, though it meant that crop development had been limited to the areas surrounding the habitats of the locals. Life for the colonists now consisted of tending their personal crops twenty-four hours a day, and trying to prevent their less honest neighbours from stealing from them.
Trisuten Bor spent much of his day tending the crops that grew in his family’s garden. His mother had died giving birth to his little sister and, in recent years, his father had become extremely ill, so the seventeen year-old pretty much had to cope with feeding what was left of his family on his own. His sister Tocktott wasn’t any help – she was more interested in playing with her pony toys, which was understandable for a six year-old.
Tocktott stood on the porch, a pony in each hand, watching her older brother as he slaved over the latest crop of potatoes. The artificial atmosphere may have provided all the rain fall they needed, but it didn’t plant the food for them.
“Are you almost finished?” Tocktott asked in a whiny voice, “Daddy’s too tired to play with me, and I’m so bored.”
Trisuten turned to his little sister, resting on his hoe, “Can’t you just go inside and find something to do?” he asked, “This is important work I’m doing here.”
“I don’t even like vegetables,” Tocktott pouted, “Why can’t we have cake for dinner?”
“You know how difficult it is to make the ingredients for a cake,” Trisuten told her, “You need flour, eggs, sugar—“
“I get it,” Tocktott interrupted, “No cake. Fine! I’ll just starve then!”
And she stormed back into the house.
Trisuten rolled his eyes at his sisters temper tantrum, wiping the sweat from his brow and looking out of his garden into the one next door. His neighbour, Trembuama Adique, lived only a few feet away with her sick mother, but he’d never been brave enough to speak to her. She was a year older than Trisuten, and a few inches taller, but Trisuten didn’t care if she was taller or shorter than he was.
That’s what love will do to a person.
As he watched her gardening and digging, he smiled to himself, leaning dreamily on his hoe which rested neatly amongst his potatoes. As he continued to watch Trembuama, she glanced up from her work, seeing him staring.
Panicked, Trisuten almost fell over himself to look like he hadn’t been staring and tried nonchalantly to carry on farming his garden. Trembuama smiled to herself and continued with her work.
Trisuten glanced surreptitiously at Trembuama, to see that she was no longer watching, and he breathed a sigh of relief, stretching his back and staring into the sky. The sun was bright today; even brighter than usual, and even through the protective dome he could feel its heat. As he continued to stretch, he couldn’t help noticing something he’d never seen before. A strange white formation that was moving across the sky. He furrowed his brow as its white colouration darkened to an almost grey, racking his brains to try and think what it was.
Then he finally clicked.
It was a cloud.
His eyes widening in sudden excited panic, he ran back into the house to tell his sister and his dad. Trembuama glanced up as Trisuten disappeared into his house, then she too looked up at the cloud.
In his house, Trisuten raced into the living room where his dad was lying down on the sofa and his sister was playing with her ponies.
“C-cloud!” he stuttered, staring at his two family members.
“What?” his dad asked, trying to sit up.
“Outside,” Trisuten swallowed nervously, “There’s a cloud!”
“A what?” Mr Bor managed to stand up from his seat, “What did you say?”
“There’s a cloud, in the sky!” Trisuten told him for the third time, “Quick, come and look!”
Mr Bor groaned as he tried to lift himself to his feet, just about managing before taking a step towards the front door. Trisuten grabbed his arm and whisked him out the entrance, calling back to his sister.
“Come on, Tott! Come and see the cloud.”
“What’s a cloud?” Tocktott asked, getting up from the floor and dropping her ponies.
“Just come and see,” Trisuten shouted from the garden.
A Tocktott joined her father and brother in the garden, she saw them staring up into the sky. Beyond the bio dome that engulfed them, a large grey cloud loomed overhead. Trisuten glanced over at Trembuama, who was walking over to join them.
“Is that... a rain cloud?” she asked, staring up into the sky.
“I think so,” Trisuten smiled at her, “It must be a miracle.”
Trembuama smiled back at him.
“Is it going to rain?” Tocktott asked, “Will there be a rainbow?”
“I don’t know,” Trisuten chuckled, “Dad, what do you think?”
Mr Bor was just staring at the cloud, “It seems weird,” he said, “there hasn’t been a cloud in the sky for many years. This drought has been ongoing since I was very young, and now there’s a cloud...”
Trisuten stared at his dad, “What are you saying?” he asked.
Mr Bor looked gravely at his son, “I just don’t like it,” he told him.
#
Three weeks had passed since the cloud had arrived. Celebrations had begun on the second day when the cloud broke and rain began to fall. After a day of tests from the colonist scientists, the rain water had been deemed safe and the bio dome had been retracted to allow the rainwater to water the local crops. Some colonists had even begun to plant new crops outside the dome, in areas that had previously been deemed impossible for agriculture.
But Mr Bor had remained staunch in his views about the cloud.
“I’m telling you, something isn’t right about that thing,” he said to his son over dinner that evening, “I’ve never heard of a single cloud producing rain water when the rest of the sky is clear.”
“So what do you think it is?” Trisuten asked his father.
“I don’t know,” Mr Bor said, “but I don’t trust it.”
After dinner, Trisuten went over to visit Trembuama. After the incident when they cloud first appeared, he’d actually plucked up the courage to talk to her, and they had gotten on famously. They were planning their first date for the following weekend.
“So, how have your crops been fairing?” Trembuama asked him when he arrived at her door.
“They seem okay,” Trisuten told her, but my father still thinks that there is something suspicious about the cloud. If he had his way he’d have kept the bio dome up, at least over our garden. He won’t even eat any of the new crops. He’s been surviving on the leftovers we’ve had in storage.”
“Well I think it’s been a blessing,” Trembuama smiled, “You know how sick my mother has been? Well, ever since she’s been eating the crops that have been rained on she’s shown signs of improvement. She can even walk unassisted now! It’s almost like the rain water is enriched with pure goodness. If you breath in, you can even smell it. It smells divine.”
Trisuten widened his eyes in disbelief, “That’s great news,” he said, “but—“
“But what?” asked Trembuama.
Trisuten furrowed his brow, “Don’t you think that’s a little bit odd?”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, rainwater making someone better?” Trisuten said, “I don’t know much about the history of rainwater, but I always thought that the artificial rain we had with the bio dome was pretty much the same, and that didn’t have healing properties.”
“So what are you saying?” Trembuama asked, folding her arms across her chest in a defensive motion, “That my mother is making things up?”
“No, of course not,” Trisuten shook his head, “It’s just... what if the cloud is dangerous?”
“If it’s making my mother feel better, than how can it be dangerous?” Trembuama said angrily, “Maybe your father should try some of the new crops—then he might actually start feeling better and get off his fat behind and actually do something for the community.”
Realising that he’d made Trembuama angry, Trisuten tried to appease the situation, “Now, there’s no need to—“
“Just go,” Trembuama boomed, “and forget about this weekend. I’m busy.”
Trisuten stared in disbelief at Trembuama, shocked that things had turned so quickly. Maybe there wasn’t anything dangerous about the cloud, but Trisuten’s father had never been wrong before...
Another week had passed, and the colony was holding a festival to celebrate the cloud. The rain had seemed to come and go as needed, and the crops had flourished. Many of the colonists had actually started to gain weight from over indulging on the new crops, but like his father Trisuten had decided not to eat them. His sister had been reluctant to agree to this but, as far as he knew, she had only been eating the food her father and brother had prepared for her.
Trisuten stood next to a table, staring out at the young people who were joking and dancing together. He didn’t much feel like celebrating; Trembuama hadn’t really spoken to him since their argument, and she’d started seeing Dashid, a handsome muscular lad who had caught her eye during one of the now regular community gatherings to discuss the cloud.
Trisuten father seemed even more ill than usual, but had managed to make it to the festival. Little Tocktott didn’t seem much different than before, other than having initially lost a bit of weight after the arrival of the cloud.
As he stood at the sidelines of the happy event, the mayor of the colony, who also happened to be Dashid’s father, clinked his glass for silence. Everyone stopped partying and turned to him.
“Welcome, one and all,” he began, “to our one month celebration of the cloud. We once used our bio dome to grow limited crops which barely fed those of us that live here, but now we have enough good soil and rain cover to start exporting to other colonies and actually turn a profit here.”
A big cheer rose from the crowd. The mayor waved his hands for quiet.
“It has been a pleasure seeing everyone flourish in the last few weeks,” he continued, coughing slightly, “and I hope to see you all flourish further in the weeks to come...”
The mayor put his hand to his mouth, having something of a coughing fit, and Trisuten looked around as other members of the colony also started to join in the coughing. Mr Bor stood to attention as he noticed the colonists doubling over in fits of coughing madness, and Tocktott clung to his leg.
“What’s happening?” she asked, clutching her pony toy for dear life.
Mr Bor shook his head, “I think I know,” he said, “it’s the rainwater.”
The three watched as people started to cough off discoloured bile, and Trisuten almost screamed as he caught the eye of Trembuama. She was clawing at her own throat as black and green gunge oozed from between her lips, and she collapsed to the ground in a fit that sent her into spasms.
“What are they doing, daddy?” Tocktott wept as she watched every member of the only community she’d ever known collapsing to the ground in spasmodic fits, “Why are they lying down?”
“I don’t know, honey,” Mr Bor said flatly, resting a comforting hand on his daughter’s head.
As the colony members slowly stopped moving, the three remaining stared in disbelief at the gunge and bile that had emanated from their mouths. As they watched, it started to move together, swishing and swirling as it drew itself into one huge mass and lifted itself from the ground.
“Greetings,” the mass spoke, “we are the Euphoria organisms. We come in peace.”
“Peace?” Trisuten shouted fearfully, “You’ve nearly killed us all.”
The organism moved around, appearing to take in its surroundings, “We did not mean to,” it explained, “What did you do to us when we fell from our cloud?”
Trisuten shuffled his feet, “They used you to water their crops,” he explained, “They... they ate you!”
The organism shook slightly, as if it were laughing, “Well, no wonder they died,” it explained, “as our name suggests, to imbibe us is to be filled with an overwhelming sense of well-being—but it is short lived. We did not mean any harm.”
“It’s not your fault,” Mr Bor said, “We should have known better than to not suspect the arrival of the cloud.”
“Thank you for understanding,” the organism said, “perhaps in time we can work together to make things right.”
Mr Bor held out his hand, and the organisms moved to envelop it in a welcoming gesture.
Trisuten looked down at the dead bodies that were littered all over, and stared sadly at the corpse of Trembuama, the girl he had once loved.
He remembered how she had said that the rainwater made the air smell divine. Well, now all he could smell was death.
Originally Posted 27/7/2015
Result - 1st Place
Trisuten Bor spent much of his day tending the crops that grew in his family’s garden. His mother had died giving birth to his little sister and, in recent years, his father had become extremely ill, so the seventeen year-old pretty much had to cope with feeding what was left of his family on his own. His sister Tocktott wasn’t any help – she was more interested in playing with her pony toys, which was understandable for a six year-old.
Tocktott stood on the porch, a pony in each hand, watching her older brother as he slaved over the latest crop of potatoes. The artificial atmosphere may have provided all the rain fall they needed, but it didn’t plant the food for them.
“Are you almost finished?” Tocktott asked in a whiny voice, “Daddy’s too tired to play with me, and I’m so bored.”
Trisuten turned to his little sister, resting on his hoe, “Can’t you just go inside and find something to do?” he asked, “This is important work I’m doing here.”
“I don’t even like vegetables,” Tocktott pouted, “Why can’t we have cake for dinner?”
“You know how difficult it is to make the ingredients for a cake,” Trisuten told her, “You need flour, eggs, sugar—“
“I get it,” Tocktott interrupted, “No cake. Fine! I’ll just starve then!”
And she stormed back into the house.
Trisuten rolled his eyes at his sisters temper tantrum, wiping the sweat from his brow and looking out of his garden into the one next door. His neighbour, Trembuama Adique, lived only a few feet away with her sick mother, but he’d never been brave enough to speak to her. She was a year older than Trisuten, and a few inches taller, but Trisuten didn’t care if she was taller or shorter than he was.
That’s what love will do to a person.
As he watched her gardening and digging, he smiled to himself, leaning dreamily on his hoe which rested neatly amongst his potatoes. As he continued to watch Trembuama, she glanced up from her work, seeing him staring.
Panicked, Trisuten almost fell over himself to look like he hadn’t been staring and tried nonchalantly to carry on farming his garden. Trembuama smiled to herself and continued with her work.
Trisuten glanced surreptitiously at Trembuama, to see that she was no longer watching, and he breathed a sigh of relief, stretching his back and staring into the sky. The sun was bright today; even brighter than usual, and even through the protective dome he could feel its heat. As he continued to stretch, he couldn’t help noticing something he’d never seen before. A strange white formation that was moving across the sky. He furrowed his brow as its white colouration darkened to an almost grey, racking his brains to try and think what it was.
Then he finally clicked.
It was a cloud.
His eyes widening in sudden excited panic, he ran back into the house to tell his sister and his dad. Trembuama glanced up as Trisuten disappeared into his house, then she too looked up at the cloud.
In his house, Trisuten raced into the living room where his dad was lying down on the sofa and his sister was playing with her ponies.
“C-cloud!” he stuttered, staring at his two family members.
“What?” his dad asked, trying to sit up.
“Outside,” Trisuten swallowed nervously, “There’s a cloud!”
“A what?” Mr Bor managed to stand up from his seat, “What did you say?”
“There’s a cloud, in the sky!” Trisuten told him for the third time, “Quick, come and look!”
Mr Bor groaned as he tried to lift himself to his feet, just about managing before taking a step towards the front door. Trisuten grabbed his arm and whisked him out the entrance, calling back to his sister.
“Come on, Tott! Come and see the cloud.”
“What’s a cloud?” Tocktott asked, getting up from the floor and dropping her ponies.
“Just come and see,” Trisuten shouted from the garden.
A Tocktott joined her father and brother in the garden, she saw them staring up into the sky. Beyond the bio dome that engulfed them, a large grey cloud loomed overhead. Trisuten glanced over at Trembuama, who was walking over to join them.
“Is that... a rain cloud?” she asked, staring up into the sky.
“I think so,” Trisuten smiled at her, “It must be a miracle.”
Trembuama smiled back at him.
“Is it going to rain?” Tocktott asked, “Will there be a rainbow?”
“I don’t know,” Trisuten chuckled, “Dad, what do you think?”
Mr Bor was just staring at the cloud, “It seems weird,” he said, “there hasn’t been a cloud in the sky for many years. This drought has been ongoing since I was very young, and now there’s a cloud...”
Trisuten stared at his dad, “What are you saying?” he asked.
Mr Bor looked gravely at his son, “I just don’t like it,” he told him.
#
Three weeks had passed since the cloud had arrived. Celebrations had begun on the second day when the cloud broke and rain began to fall. After a day of tests from the colonist scientists, the rain water had been deemed safe and the bio dome had been retracted to allow the rainwater to water the local crops. Some colonists had even begun to plant new crops outside the dome, in areas that had previously been deemed impossible for agriculture.
But Mr Bor had remained staunch in his views about the cloud.
“I’m telling you, something isn’t right about that thing,” he said to his son over dinner that evening, “I’ve never heard of a single cloud producing rain water when the rest of the sky is clear.”
“So what do you think it is?” Trisuten asked his father.
“I don’t know,” Mr Bor said, “but I don’t trust it.”
After dinner, Trisuten went over to visit Trembuama. After the incident when they cloud first appeared, he’d actually plucked up the courage to talk to her, and they had gotten on famously. They were planning their first date for the following weekend.
“So, how have your crops been fairing?” Trembuama asked him when he arrived at her door.
“They seem okay,” Trisuten told her, but my father still thinks that there is something suspicious about the cloud. If he had his way he’d have kept the bio dome up, at least over our garden. He won’t even eat any of the new crops. He’s been surviving on the leftovers we’ve had in storage.”
“Well I think it’s been a blessing,” Trembuama smiled, “You know how sick my mother has been? Well, ever since she’s been eating the crops that have been rained on she’s shown signs of improvement. She can even walk unassisted now! It’s almost like the rain water is enriched with pure goodness. If you breath in, you can even smell it. It smells divine.”
Trisuten widened his eyes in disbelief, “That’s great news,” he said, “but—“
“But what?” asked Trembuama.
Trisuten furrowed his brow, “Don’t you think that’s a little bit odd?”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, rainwater making someone better?” Trisuten said, “I don’t know much about the history of rainwater, but I always thought that the artificial rain we had with the bio dome was pretty much the same, and that didn’t have healing properties.”
“So what are you saying?” Trembuama asked, folding her arms across her chest in a defensive motion, “That my mother is making things up?”
“No, of course not,” Trisuten shook his head, “It’s just... what if the cloud is dangerous?”
“If it’s making my mother feel better, than how can it be dangerous?” Trembuama said angrily, “Maybe your father should try some of the new crops—then he might actually start feeling better and get off his fat behind and actually do something for the community.”
Realising that he’d made Trembuama angry, Trisuten tried to appease the situation, “Now, there’s no need to—“
“Just go,” Trembuama boomed, “and forget about this weekend. I’m busy.”
Trisuten stared in disbelief at Trembuama, shocked that things had turned so quickly. Maybe there wasn’t anything dangerous about the cloud, but Trisuten’s father had never been wrong before...
Another week had passed, and the colony was holding a festival to celebrate the cloud. The rain had seemed to come and go as needed, and the crops had flourished. Many of the colonists had actually started to gain weight from over indulging on the new crops, but like his father Trisuten had decided not to eat them. His sister had been reluctant to agree to this but, as far as he knew, she had only been eating the food her father and brother had prepared for her.
Trisuten stood next to a table, staring out at the young people who were joking and dancing together. He didn’t much feel like celebrating; Trembuama hadn’t really spoken to him since their argument, and she’d started seeing Dashid, a handsome muscular lad who had caught her eye during one of the now regular community gatherings to discuss the cloud.
Trisuten father seemed even more ill than usual, but had managed to make it to the festival. Little Tocktott didn’t seem much different than before, other than having initially lost a bit of weight after the arrival of the cloud.
As he stood at the sidelines of the happy event, the mayor of the colony, who also happened to be Dashid’s father, clinked his glass for silence. Everyone stopped partying and turned to him.
“Welcome, one and all,” he began, “to our one month celebration of the cloud. We once used our bio dome to grow limited crops which barely fed those of us that live here, but now we have enough good soil and rain cover to start exporting to other colonies and actually turn a profit here.”
A big cheer rose from the crowd. The mayor waved his hands for quiet.
“It has been a pleasure seeing everyone flourish in the last few weeks,” he continued, coughing slightly, “and I hope to see you all flourish further in the weeks to come...”
The mayor put his hand to his mouth, having something of a coughing fit, and Trisuten looked around as other members of the colony also started to join in the coughing. Mr Bor stood to attention as he noticed the colonists doubling over in fits of coughing madness, and Tocktott clung to his leg.
“What’s happening?” she asked, clutching her pony toy for dear life.
Mr Bor shook his head, “I think I know,” he said, “it’s the rainwater.”
The three watched as people started to cough off discoloured bile, and Trisuten almost screamed as he caught the eye of Trembuama. She was clawing at her own throat as black and green gunge oozed from between her lips, and she collapsed to the ground in a fit that sent her into spasms.
“What are they doing, daddy?” Tocktott wept as she watched every member of the only community she’d ever known collapsing to the ground in spasmodic fits, “Why are they lying down?”
“I don’t know, honey,” Mr Bor said flatly, resting a comforting hand on his daughter’s head.
As the colony members slowly stopped moving, the three remaining stared in disbelief at the gunge and bile that had emanated from their mouths. As they watched, it started to move together, swishing and swirling as it drew itself into one huge mass and lifted itself from the ground.
“Greetings,” the mass spoke, “we are the Euphoria organisms. We come in peace.”
“Peace?” Trisuten shouted fearfully, “You’ve nearly killed us all.”
The organism moved around, appearing to take in its surroundings, “We did not mean to,” it explained, “What did you do to us when we fell from our cloud?”
Trisuten shuffled his feet, “They used you to water their crops,” he explained, “They... they ate you!”
The organism shook slightly, as if it were laughing, “Well, no wonder they died,” it explained, “as our name suggests, to imbibe us is to be filled with an overwhelming sense of well-being—but it is short lived. We did not mean any harm.”
“It’s not your fault,” Mr Bor said, “We should have known better than to not suspect the arrival of the cloud.”
“Thank you for understanding,” the organism said, “perhaps in time we can work together to make things right.”
Mr Bor held out his hand, and the organisms moved to envelop it in a welcoming gesture.
Trisuten looked down at the dead bodies that were littered all over, and stared sadly at the corpse of Trembuama, the girl he had once loved.
He remembered how she had said that the rainwater made the air smell divine. Well, now all he could smell was death.
Originally Posted 27/7/2015
Result - 1st Place
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