Jeremy McLain’s Comments (group member since Nov 24, 2015)

Jeremy McLain’s comments from the Science Fiction Microstory Contest group.

Blood Chit:
Captain Gray awoke on an alien planet. "Holy Sh..." he spoke into his comm loudly enough his mic picked it up and transmitted.
It was coming back to him. He looked around the escape pod, the displays were flashing warnings. His escort ship had inexplicitly failed.
"Some infernal Centaurian meddling no doubt." Gray grumbled. At least his pod was smart enough to set down in a 'mild' climatic region of the planet. Minus 50C outside was rather mild compared to other planets he had had the misfortune to visit.
He punched a button and voiced a command to launch a small surveyor probe to map the local area.
He knew, unfortunately, the closest Solarian outpost must be on the other side of the planet while a Centaurian outpost lay closer to his location. No doubt they picked up his distress signal. He hoped that they were doing more important things at the moment.
But he had to assume they would be closing in on his landing area based on his last known trajectory.
The intel on the natives was not extensive, but a rudimentary dictionary of their language had been mapped. It was a heat signature based language. By changing the thermal signature of their appearance, each could communicate to each other in dazzling displays of infrared light.
The humans nicknamed them ‘Torches’ as they appeared like flaming torches on the thermal sensor displays. The Torches were a pre-industrial society. Both humans and Centaurians had come to an agreement on treatment of natives of pre-industrial non-aligned planets. Each side attempted to not be detected by the natives nor attempted to shape the inhabitants' future. This agreement was routinely ignored by both sides. Ever since the end of the Centaurian war, each side had endeavored to survey and stake claims to as many worlds in the stellar neighborhood as possible.
Gray had his EVA suit dialed into the climate, he was a worried the nuclear-powered suit would light him up like a Christmas tree against the cold night. He remembered to attach the language display on his suit. He was uncertain how the Torches would interpret his appearance. But if he was to escape detection by the Centaurians, he would need to enlist the native help.
"Here goes nothing." He reached of the handle to open his craft and pulled it, the door slid aside while he lumbered like out like some clumsy giant. His display showed a village to his north, so he beared towards it.
He commanded to display the message 'blood chit.'
----------
Maraxthul saw something in the corner of her eye. She stood up on her legs and was astonished. A very brightly-lit thing was walking right toward her. As it got closer she almost fainted. Could it be? An angel? It was saying something.
"Fear not. I am from the heaven. My protective egg is thrown down. Understand me. Please take me to the nearest heaven. You will be nurtured."
"Blessed Graoxul!" She shouted and bowed her head down. "I will do as you have commanded me." Though somewhat perplexed at the angel's grammar, she ran off and later came back with the village shaman. She was emphatic, "see, it is what has been foretold."
The shaman looked at the brightness of the being before them. "I think it is Providence, Maraxthul, come to bring another blessing to our people, but if he wants to go to heaven, let us not delay him." He said to Captain Gray "come with me."
----------
Captain Gray followed the two Torches. He hoped his message had been translated correctly. The one taller one was telling him to keep following him into one of the buildings. His translator was working on its signage. In it, his sensors could barely make out any thermal or light signatures. All of the sudden, he felt a sense of falling. He landed with a load thud. It was dark in here as well. He voiced a command to turn his artificial lights on.
----------
A gathering of Torches had by then gathered in front of the building.
The shaman said a prayer "Oh, Graoxul, thank you Blessed One for this sacrifice you have provided to us from the heavens on this longest of nights, Holy Solstice."
----------
In growing panic Captain Gray turned his namesake as he saw stacks of Centaurian bones before him. A bell-like 'ding' sounded in his ear while his HUD displayed the sign’s translation. ‘Village Butcher.’

Justin,

Yes, it is Lou Cifer. Actually a cross of him and Hades the Greek god of underworld. Who was married Persephone goddess of the underworld who would spend part of the year in Hades (winter).

A much needed vacation:

“A vacation on the surface!” “She wants a vacation on the surface!” growled Lou as he looked over the drawings of his latest project.
His assistant Harry agreed readily knowing his boss was such a workaholic.
“In any case, I have to get this proposal in to the city council for review and approval before I can even think of any vacations.”
“And to think of the bureaucracy we’ll have to go through to get the project through, we’ll be lucky to turn any profit after they're done with us. It’s enough to make one retire, you know?”
“If you retire, then what would you do?” Asked Harry.
Lou smiled. He knew he would be bored out of his mind if he retired. Besides, if he got this contract, his company would have work for as long as he could imagine. The project would entail hollowing out another 5 million cubic km to effectively doubling the vast subterranean city’s space. The overcrowding of the existing city was overburdening its infrastructure. New livable space and new infrastructure were badly needed for the ever growing population of this metropolis. Of course that didn’t stop the infighting on the details and the right mix of infrastructure and development to keep attracting new residents. The city was competing with other underground cities across the world for businesses and the right talent to keep the city the best place to be. There were even sky cities now that they had to compete with. ‘sky cities, how in the hell would that work?’ thought Lou to himself as he heard a knock on the door.
He opened the door “Councilman, how are you? How’s the good Mayor doing? What can I do for you?”
“Oh, we’re fine, fine. You know I’m your friend, right? I have some bad news. The mayor wants more environmental risk assessments to be done before we can consider moving ahead with the expansion project.”
Lou felt his face redden as he offered his guest a drink. Knowing Lou had a bad temper, Harry nervously poured the 2 drinks for his boss and the Councilman.
"I hope your trip went well, nonetheless, Mike."
Mike returned "well you know, quantum elevators, it's almost magical, if I didn't know better."
"Yes, interdimensional travel isn't my cup of tea either." Getting back to business Lou asked point blank. "Why exactly is the mayor delaying?"
"I told you, environmental risk assessments." Mike replied "You know, the job could cause floods, earthquakes eruptions on the surface, right?"
"Hogwash! You know very well that my company has perfected the tectonic stabilization technology. Damn it I have billions riding on this thing, what are you trying to put me out of business?" Lou lit up a cigarette, one old habit he maintained. He knew it drove the do-gooders crazy.
Mike replied "no, we do though want some more competition in the market place. There is a possibility to assess one of your competitors' bids."
"You're seriously not considering going with one one of those devils, are you? They'll totally screw it up believe me, we'll be having pandemonium up there."
"Like I said, competition" Mike insisted.
"Alright, alright, I'll just wait til you come crawling back to me when one of the others screws it up." Lou said sarcastically.
"I'm sure you're right about that, Lou"
With that Lou addressed Harry "Harry, can you send a message to Persephone and tell her that I will take that vacation after all. Wherever she wants to go. I'm feeling a little cramped down here all of the sudden."
Mike got up to leave and said once more that he was sorry to be a bearer of bad news.
He went out the door and took a look at the company name stencilled on the outside of it. He read it out aloud "Hades Real Estate Development Corp. the best in the underworld." "I'm sure it is, I'm sure it is" he said as he walked to the elevator.

Congrats Jack! I've been lately reading a lot about the history of the Cold War, it is a fascinating era. The story was a good flip-side to the real history. You never know, your story could be the real history in some parallel universe.
I wish I could've gotten a story in for June. I have a half done story maybe I can finish and post as comment later this week.

Heather we shall see, not to worry,as usual I will endeavor to add in perhaps too nuanced thematics with some gallows humor thrown in there for good measure.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php...

I for one call dibs on the redshirt trope. no one else will be hurt in the making of this micro story. Just the guy in the red shirt. He was literally asking for it.

Good job!! One of my top contenders.

E.T.A.

“Where to?” said Eddi as his next passenger climbed into his vehicle.
“Oh I don’t care anymore. Just drive me to Central Park. I need some fresh air.”
“Yes, Ma’am. No problem. ETA is 15 minutes.”
“ETA?”
“Sorry, ETA estimated time of arrival.”
“Oh, yes, thanks” her voice trailed off, his definition barely registering.”
“Something troubling you, miss?” his voice evincing a gritty voice betokening some bygone era.
She tried to shrug off his question replying “oh, no, I’m ok. Just a little tired.”
“Yeah, everybody says that.” Eddi smirked with a knowing smile. “It’s none of my business but you do look distracted. I’ll take a guess, marriage problem?, kid problem?, your parent of some other loved one is not doing too well health-wise? Money issues?”
“Well, quite a few of those.” She replied paying closer attention to her driver, eyeing him with some suspicion. “And you are right, it is none of your business.” She huffed.
“I’m no psychic, it’s almost always one of those.” The cabbie chuckled amusedly.
“Oh” she backed down.
“The things folks tell me, you’d be surprised. You’d think with all this technology, we’d be more connected. But we aren’t. Lots of loneliness out there.” His voice intoned wisdom beyond his years.
“I suppose so” her interest in him piqued. She looked like she was about to cry. “There is so much going on right now, I feel like I’m drowning.”
“Life can be overwhelming sometimes. But it is also so beautiful. You need to take time to stop to smell the roses, as the saying goes.” The grit in his voice really coming out. “Speaking of which, we are almost there, ETA 3 minutes.”
Realizing the time was racing away, she asked him a question. “How are you doing, if I may ask?”
He smiled “Hardly anybody asks me that.” He acted surprised. “I’m fine, I’m always fine Miss. I just remember that each day is a gift. You know what I mean?"
Even though he was giving cliche advice, somehow when he said it to her, it seemed somehow new to her. She went on to tell him how her mother was dying and that she hadn't come to grips with that reality. She felt like time flew by then. "Ok, we're here. Do remember to stop to smell the roses, Sara."
Somehow feeling much better but wondering how he knew her name, she alighted from the vehicle and walked towards the park. Eddi flipped his service light off. Then opened up his center console and said “This is EDDI, number 3929, uploading report on Sara Smith of 20 Maple Dr. citizen number 1,934,839,498. Signs of mental and emotional distress have been noted in her file. Recommend further observation followed by calibration of her medications."
The EDDI or "Emotional Development Driver-Intelligence" unit pressed the gas pedal and then hung a left at the next street. A white beacon on his map illuminated his next pickup and his ETA. A profile downloaded. "Ahh, another customer ready for some redirection." Even though he was a glorified toaster, he still felt good helping people. At least that's what his emotion module told him to feel.

Kalifer, I hadn't read the book (...High Castle) yet. Not too much time to 'read' these days but try to get audiobooks when I can. I did see that Amazon has made a series out of it which came out last week, hopefully they can do a good job of it. I saw the pilot show they had made awhile ago. They got enough interest in it to make a first season (10 episodes).

Saw this very interesting storytelling concept(link). Sorry I didn't have time to post a story this month. Maybe I can just post one later this week just for practice.

http://www.wired.com/2015/11/the-pick...