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January 31st, 2021

1/31/2021

The bar was supposed to open at noon—where is Duncan?
The drop-down window shades remained locked up tight from late last night. Remains of the party that took place overnight still littered the picnic table, and empty beer bottles lay everywhere.

I opened up the side door and found the interior in the same condition. Usually, Duncan arrived early to clean up and get ready to open at noon. It was apparent that he’d never shown at all this morning.

Locking the door behind me, I headed down the footpath toward his bungalow. His small pad was situated not far from the bar. Ideal for a quick run home if he’d had too much of his inventory or to bring company if he got lucky.

Either way, He’d never been late to clean and open up. In the ten years I’d been helping him run his little enterprise, he’d always shown up. Duncan was as reliable as my old watch.

A fine mist of sand and water covered the bungalow porch, but no tracks indicating him entering or leaving. He never locked his door, so that didn’t mean anything. Inside, no Duncan passed out or extra females’ bodies in the bed either.

I opened a beer from his fridge and sat on the wicker chair on the porch. Last night wasn’t as straightforward as I wished, but I remembered him saying something about meeting a guy to make a deal. What kind of deal? Who? When where? I had no clue.

So I started back up the path to the bar to find Duncan was there. The bar was clean and open when I got to the beach. “Hey, Buddy, where you been?” He grinned and passed me an icy beer.

It looked like him, sounded like him.
But it wasn’t him.

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January 24th, 2021

1/24/2021

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David keyed his private comm, “They’re gone—disappeared without a trace.” Part of him sighed with relief, but his gut shook with fear. Either way, he had problems.

The storm clouds gathering on the horizon matched his mood. Dark and dangerous. He tried to ignore the coming blast of weather that was natural to this planet. The weather always got nasty at night.

He finally heard from his CO—conduct a perimeter check. Secure all exits and stay put for further orders. From the condition of the buildings, not to mention the locks, secure was probably an overstatement. He would make the buildings as secure as he could get them with what he had left. Someone else would have to figure out what happened to the colonists.

David retreated to the settlement’s command center where the glass windows had stood up to hurricane-force winds and hail and lighting and whatever it was that came across the valleys. Darkness was falling, and the winds began to howl through the deserted settlement. He should be secure until the others arrived, but the hairs on the back of his neck bristled as if they thought differently. They were right.

In the central command center’s depths two floors below his location, a shadowy figure shut down life support for the settlement. The lights went out, and the familiar hum of the oxygen generator ceased. David swallowed hard, dropped his helmet visor, and engaged his breathing pack. As the winds grew stronger, David felt the building shake. This was different—this was not from the approaching storm. The source of the shake seemed to come from the other side of the complex.

As he gazed out the thick windows, heart pounding, the habitats began to rip apart. He watched in horror as sheets of the prefabricated construction flew into the air, caught by the storm’s powerful winds. From behind him, David heard the swish of the automatic door into the command module. He turned to find the planet’s native inhabitants standing before him.

They weren’t happy.

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January 17th, 2021

1/17/2021

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Each night at dusk, the lighthouse keeper lit the beacon. Although some nights, he knew it wouldn’t do any good. The lights of the bacon couldn’t penetrate the fog that often engulfed the bay.

It was a ritual of sorts that he performed every night. He had a large ale and a hearty supper. Then just before dusk, he’d start climbing the stairs. Lately, he’d had to start the climb earlier in the evening as his body was telling him he was getting too old for this job.

The strain of living alone on an island was starting to take its toll. He had begun to hear voices lately. At first, it thought it was the wind playing tricks as it whipped its way through the old building. Now he was dead sure it was a voice calling him.

His bones seemed to know when he would hear The Old Man. That’s what he called the voice. “The Old Man.” Sometimes he heard it in the beacon room at the top of the lighthouse. But most of the time, it was in the stairwell.

He could never quite make it what the voice was saying. He was sure it wasn’t happy. He had answered it, but the voice disappeared into the night.

This night the voice was strong and clear.

“It’s your time.”

“My time?” He stopped mid-step on the stairway.

“Yes, time to man the ‘SS Edmund Fitzgerald.’”
He reached the top of the stairs and into the lantern room. Tonight, the night sky was clear. The moon and stars lit up the bay, illuminating a ship just offshore, floating just above the water.

He blinked, and he was standing on the deck of the ‘Edmund Fitzgerald.’ The winds blew, and water beat at the hulls and he never felt more alive.

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January 10th, 2021

1/10/2021

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Unexpectedly, my laptop rebooted and displayed an ominous image and a more ominous warning.

Looking around the room, I saw the rest of the computers in the room had done precisely the same thing. People sat staring at screens that a minute ago had important work on them.

Now all the screens showed a Green background and a classic pirate signal. The words blinking in different colors under the skull and crossbones said that the internet had been hijacked and demanded that certain terms yet to be announced would be met before it was returned to working order.

I knew I was in deep trouble.

I had told congress that it was impossible to completely disable the world’s internet because it was set up so no one entity could completely shut it down. Looking at my phone, I found it too had the same green screen with the same message on it.

People were franticly trying to make calls with their now disabled phones. I knew better. Whatever had commandeered the internet had also managed to compromise the satellites that supported phone systems, which in turn supported a vast majority of the internet.

I headed downstairs to the archives. Deep in a back room, I had seen some old radio equipment from World War Two. I pulled out a couple of base radios and antennas.

Up on the roof, I set up the radio. Having never actually used it before, it took me a bit to get it going. Once the tubes heated up and the aerials were up as high as I could get it, I tried broadcasting. In a few minutes, I got a response.

“It worked. They bought it.”

“Good, now send up the files, and we’ll get the money in your swiss bank account. by midnight.”

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January 03rd, 2021

1/3/2021

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An iridescent glow cascaded through the bedroom window, awakening him.

He’d seen the glow before in his dreams, but his mind had buried it deep within his subconscious. The reality this was not a dream scared him, even more than the memories.

The glow compelled him to go outside. Outside clad only in his t-shirt and boxers, he was oblivious to the cold despite his icy breath. The glow emanated from somewhere near the horizon and spread through the sky, creating the sacred bird’s image. His eyes never leaving the light source, he started walking across the snowy ground.

He stopped when reaching the source of the glow, only to find he was not alone. A dozen villagers stood near him.

A voice reverberated through the air from all directions. “You are here because your ancestors promised you to us.”

Glancing at the others, he recognized the same fear that he felt on their faces.

Someone spoke. “What gives you the right to drag us out of our beds in the middle of the night?”

Murmurs of agreement echoed through the gathered.

“This,” was the immediate answer.

A human-like figure materialized from the green haze carrying a ball of light in his hands. As the figure reached them, the ball of light became filled with images. The villagers peered into the ball, amazed. Images of their ancestors stood before the same figure they stood before now.

They could hear their elders speak to the figure. “If you help us win this war, we’ll do anything you ask.”

“My only request is that at any point in time in the future, I would like to have your children or relatives return with me to my homeworld to teach their history to our dying world. And perhaps save my people.” The glowing figure spoke again.

“I am here to collect your elder’s promise to return with me to my world to save it.” The majestic bird swooped toward the ground from the sky, collected the villagers, and vanished in a blinding flash.

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January 31st, 2021

January 24th, 2021

January 17th, 2021

January 10th, 2021

January 03rd, 2021

500 Words The idea is to write a short story about 500 max short based on a picture and an opening line. ​From there one can go ANYWHERE..​Please note: the images used are free-use images and do not require attribution.

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500 Words
The idea is to write a short story about 500 max short based on a picture and an opening line.
From there one can go ANYWHERE..

Please note: the images used are free-use images and do not require attribution.