Justin’s Comments (group member since Mar 13, 2016)

Justin’s comments from the Science Fiction Microstory Contest group.

This month’s theme: Anomaly, Anachronism, Anti-Hero
Required elements: Writer’s choice within the categories above!

This month’s theme: Anomaly, Anachronism, Anti-Hero
Required elements: Writer’s choice within the categories above!

Thank you all so much! What a nice birthday week present!!

Thank you Tom!! Asimov's "Nightfall" is one of my favorite sci-fi short stories, so this is a small homage to it. I have a book that is volume one of his short stories and I re-read it periodically because the stories are so incredible. "The Last Question" is also one of my most favorite short stories because I feel it is very profound.

Anyway, thank you for the gracious comments!!

Role Reversal

Lordston Thal strained to see in the flickering light of his headlamp. Between the dust in the air and smoke from the tallow candles, it was a miracle he could see anything at all, let alone work. He exhaled slowly into his shirt so as not to disturb more dust, and gently went along the edges of the presumed door with his small brush. The probability of finding a door at the rear of this chamber from the pre-Imperial dynasty was next to zero, yet here it was. The grad students had done the heavy clearing first, leaving him to do the detail work – and claim credit for any significant scientific discoveries of course. This could be the breakthrough that proved his gap theory, but no, he was getting ahead of himself.
“You doing okay back there Professor?” called one of his students.
“Yes,” he coughed. “I’m fine.”
Thal took a swig of water from his canteen and wiped away an errant rivulet of sweat trying to irrigate the age lines on his forehead. He could not help but feel a sense of unease and urgency. If his gap theory was correct in its timing, then time was very short indeed. However, the department chair and university dean had both warned him not to discuss his theory in public, and threatened to pull his funding for this very excavation if he did not toe the line. He was loathe to submit to their admonitions, but then two men from the Internal Security Directorate had paid him a visit at home and made much less civil entreaties.
So he held his peace – for now.
He made steady progress, and soon the door’s outline stood out in sharp relief from the rock in which it was carved. Putting his fingers along the upper seam, he was surprised to feel the movement of air.
“Bring me a pry bar!” he barked. After a brief fit of clanging and swearing, another student soon materialized next to him holding the requested tool.
“Thank you Mister Stiles. Now my good man, please stand back.”
Stiles was quick to oblige and stood to one side in the dancing shadows.
Thal prepared to exert himself, but was again surprised as the heavy door moved with only a fraction of the force he had estimated necessary.
A rush of moist, fragrant air greeted him as he gingerly stepped into the new chamber.
Looking around, he saw nothing but a smooth floor punctuated at regular intervals by small glass chambers on thin, metallic stems.
His headlamp sputtered in the moving air.
“More light!” he yelled.
Stiles soon appeared carrying two large torches. Thal snatched one greedily and held it aloft to better survey his discovery.
“Stiles…” said Thal, stunned, eyes glued to what should have been the ceiling. “Bring the daguerreotype.”
***
“August colleagues, Esteemed Chair and Revered Dean, thank you for granting me an audience this evening. What I present to you will literally upend our entire civilization as we know it.”
Thal paused for effect.
Uncomfortable shifting and coughing reverberated throughout the Odeon.
“First plate please Stiles.”
A grainy image shimmered on a cloth screen behind Thal.
“These are sedimentary strata where evidence of prior civilizations has been discovered. Where the strata is undisturbed, the civilizations occur at regular intervals as you can see here. What we don’t understand are these gaps between them, as if each civilization were suddenly cut off by some cataclysmic event.”
“Professor Thal, are you going to once again regale us with your gap theory?” growled the university Dean. “You were warned.”
“Revered Dean, I will come to my point, since your academic curiosity and patience seem strained. Second plate please Stiles.”
“Good heavens man!” cried the Esteemed Chair. “You’ve put the plate upside down.”
“No he hasn’t,” rebutted Thal. Those furnishings were carved into the room’s ceiling.”
“That’s preposterous!” shouted a professor.
“But why?!” voiced another.
“Yes, why indeed,” said Thal. “It is my theory gentleman that this planet’s gravitational field reverses on a periodic basis, becoming anti-gravity if you will, and based on my estimates between the civilized strata and the gaps therein, the next shift is coming very soon. Possibly within days. We must prepare shelters like the one I discovered or-“
“Or we’ll all float away into the heavens!” mocked the Revered Dean.
The Odeon erupted into raucous laughter.
It was then that Thal noticed the water in his lectern-bound decanter begin moving slowly towards the ceiling.

(750 words in story) Justin Sewall © 2023
Reviews/critiques welcome

Tom, what do you mean by disassociation? Like at the atomic level, or groups separating - is that the fragmentation? Just looking for a little clarity. Thank you!

Tom, great story! I'm envisioning the SHIELD helicarriers from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Great imagery!

My condolences Bill on your loss. I had worked with Carrol briefly on trying to do an audiobook version of a book she had published through Lillicat. It didn't work out, but she was a pleasure to work with and I was happy a few of my stories from here were published in one of her anthologies.

Paula wrote: "Is the client's audiobook fiction, Justin. I love your audiobook/audio-stories work."

Thanks Paula! My client's short book is actually about food invention and innovation during World War II and comparing food resources in colonial possessions to their imperial possessors. It's a short book for this client that I narrate YouTube videos for. I am also narrating one of my sci-fi short story books, but am only about 50% through it.

Tom wrote: "Thank you, Justin. And, congratulations on the project."

Thank you Tom, much appreciated!!

Sorry I didn't get one in. I've been narrating/producing an audiobook for my client. Great stories everyone!!

Way to go Tom! Outstanding!

Best wishes for your daughter's interviews!

Yes, a very good story indeed. I thought it was very touching. Nicely done!

Tom wrote: "Justin - excellent story. Very vivid imagery and lively exchange. You really brought the POV character to life.

Very Roddenberry. I was reminded of Star Trek and Andromeda Ascendant."

Thank you Tom, much appreciated. I had yesterday off, and I sat in front of my computer for several hours trying to write something. I had one idea and a cool (in my opinion) title, but then I realized it wouldn't work. So I put in my Star Trek II soundtrack and tried to come up with something else. I like it, I'm happy with it, but it took a long time yesterday to get it going. Thanks again!

Retirement

“Admiral Wycliff, why do I have to retire?”
The Admiral thought for a moment, then ran a comb through the bristle brush white of his remaining hair.
“The same reason I have to Aurora. We’re old. Besides, don’t you think 50 years of service is enough?”
“For you perhaps, but why me?”
Standing before his mirror, Wycliff thought the same thing: Why me?
He straightened his uniform’s shoulder boards and adjusted the braided golden cords wrapped around his arms. He really did not want to get into this conversation with Aurora.
“As the first fully autonomous capital ship in the fleet, I can conceivably remain in service for as long as my primary processing core remains online and the ship’s hull remains viable – which it does I might add.”
“Well my hull is not,” retorted Wycliff, thinking about the two artificial knees that still gave him issues despite the doctors’ best efforts, along with a partially artificial heart and bionic right forearm. He was hardly standard issue by any stretch of the imagination.
He sighed heavily.
“I can still fight Admiral,” intoned Aurora. Wycliff thought he detected a hint of desperation from the A.I.
“Aurora, face it. You’ve been outclassed and outgunned by bigger and better ships. There is no way you can go toe to toe with a Rapeelian ship-of-the-line any more than I can run a marathon.”
A long pause made Wycliff think he had finally put the argument to rest, but he knew better.
“What about the reports of a new Rapeelian weapon that is basically lobotomizing our new fleet A.I.’s?”
“They don’t concern us. You and I are being put out to pasture whether we like it or not. I for one am ready for some extended shore leave.”
“Will you come visit me?” asked Aurora.
That caught Wycliff off guard, and Aurora detected his hesitation.
“Your delayed response tells me that you will not Admiral.”
“It’s not that simple Aurora.”
“Why am I not receiving any additional orders to stand-down and de-couple from the ship? Am I being completely purged?”
A soft chime on Wycliff’s wristcomm interrupted their discussion.
“Yes?”
“It’s almost time for the decommissioning ceremony Admiral. Your shuttle is standing by.” chirped an eager young voice.
“Thank you Ensign, I still know how to read a chronometer. I’ll be there shortly. They won’t start without me.”
“Aye sir.”
“Aurora, standby and prepare for my arrival. Prep main shuttle bay and await further orders.”
“Yes Admiral, right away.”

***

Aurora hung in space – or more correctly, its fighting hull followed a lazy track around Apex Prime while at station-keeping next to the orbiting fleet shipyards. Wycliff gazed at the familiar form and felt pride swell in his chest while anxiety gnawed at his stomach. He noted each major scar, patch and upgrade, events that he had personally overseen over the course of Aurora’s lifetime. Approaching the main shuttle bay, he felt his heart begin to palpitate.
“Are you okay Admiral? I’m detecting an elevated heart rate with minor fluctuations…”
“I’m fine Aurora. Please stow the shuttle as soon as I’m aboard and clear the flight deck.”
“Yes Admiral, I’ll see you on the bridge.”
Wycliff quickly scanned the “For Admiral’s Eyes Only” datapad, careful to keep it out of sight of Aurora’s many optic sensors. Exiting the shuttle, he hustled to the bridge as fast as his joints would go.

***

“Admiral on the bridge,” said Aurora as Wycliff took the center seat with a grunt.
“Thank you Aurora. Now, please download the coordinates from my datapad and go to battle stations.”
“Admiral, these coordinates do not conform with the decommissioning formation we are supposed to execute with the Valor and Victory.”
“Affirmative Aurora. Please download and prepare main drive systems for immediate departure.”
“This is highly irregular Admiral,”
“I don’t have time to debate you Aurora, please follow my orders.”
“Main drive systems coming online.”
“Very well. Now, activate all main batteries, load all missile tubes and deploy reactive armor panels.”
“Admiral, are we going into combat again?”
“Yes Aurora. We are on a classified mission to the Rapeelian’s primary shipyards.”
“But Admiral, those facilities are heavily defended,”
“Yes, but you’re the only ship that can withstand their new weapon without going rampant or insane.”
Another long pause hung between human and A.I.
“I understand Admiral. Because we are so old, we are expendable.”
“Something like that.”
“I will endeavor to inflict as much damage as possible Admiral, then self-destruct.”
“Confirmed… now execute!”

(750 words in story) Justin Sewall © 2023
Reviews/critiques welcome

I'm sorry to hear this Jot. My condolences to you and your family.

Tom, what a great story!

Marianne, so sorry to hear about your mother's declining health.

It is a great story Jot!

Felt good to write and be creative vs. the freelance articles that have been absorbing my free time.