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  Kenneth Lawson
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September 18th, 2022

9/18/2022

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He hoped the electric skies beyond the bay didn’t foreshadow what might come. It had been quiet around the bay for some time. But Raymond knew that the skies would open up soon, and the fury of their neighbors would reign down upon the town—or it could be just a thunderstorm. 

Either way, Raymond was not happy. A thunderstorm meant people would be stuck inside his hotel, crowding the bars and public spaces. However, if their northern neighbors were getting ready to do what they had threatened to do for decades, they were all in trouble.

The land to the north was a dense forest inhabited by a species from another planet. They had settled on the planet eons ago, and over time, the two factions had learned to live with one another in guarded peace. There had been friction caused as the differences in their way of living had been magnified in the last few hundred years. The loud, boisterous humans lived with little regard for the damage they were doing to the planet. 

Legend said they would soon send the humans a message they could not ignore. He’d seen what they were capable of before when he had lived with them years ago. The tall steel buildings and cities were no match for their power. People would die and property destroyed. Raymond knew he had to broker peace between the village and them.

Slipping out the back exit of the hotel, he took a little used path around the bay, hoping he could make it in time. There was no moon to guide him, but he knew the way well. Entering a clearing, he found the structures among the trees simple-looking but deceptively complex in their structure and functions. The light flittered through the windows was an eerie yellow—casting shadows on the surrounding objects. 

Raymond’s heart thumped in his chest, and he willed his heart to slow down as Darthmoore stepped from a shadow upon seeing Raymond. They stared at each other. Raymond’s six-foot-tall figure cast a long shadow across Darthmoore’s short, squat body, covered in a mix of scales and long thick fur. 

“I knew you come.” Darthmoore approached Raymond, holding out a thin boney three-fingered hand. They shook.

“How have you been?” 

“Pretty good, It’s been too long.” They ignored the obvious topic of discussion and sat on a bench near one of the buildings. The yellow light from the windows made the drinks they held look even more foreign. 

“You know what happening?” Darthmoore finely broke the prolonged silence punctuated by their sipping their drinks. Raymond nodded between sips. It had been too long since he’d had their special ale.

 “There must be some way to stop it.”

“No, not this time, We have repeatedly warned your people that they were destroying their world—our world. They chose not to listen.”

Raymond sighed. “Destroying entire villages seems counter-productive.”

Darthmoore nodded in agreement. “I understand, but it is out of my hands. The Council has ordered it done.”

As they watched, the sky over the bay lit up, throwing light and fire deep into the night. 

 It was happening.

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September 04th, 2022

9/4/2022

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​The sun was setting in when I arrived in Key Largo to meet my fate. The cool breeze blowing in from the water made me shiver as I surveyed the docks jetting out from the shore. It had been centuries since I’d been here. The last time was about 1715, during the hurricane that caused much damage to the islands. Two Spanish ships sank during the hurricane, and I had been attempting to salvage the sunken cargo on one of the ships.

Now over three hundred years later, I was back. I was currently on assignment working with NASA, who did not know of my alien origin or that I could time travel. While I was on Earth assignment again, I discovered someone related to a woman I cared deeply about during my first assignment was in trouble. I had to help. 

Once covered in scrub palmetto and mangroves, the island was now covered with businesses, restaurants, hotels, and marinas. My destination was a marina, and as I arrived, a lone figure walked toward me from the docks. She ambled towards me with the ease of someone used to walking on unsteady boats. Her firefly red hair glinted from under the captain hat she wore pulled down low over her face.

“Jarvis? Captain Jarvis?” She held out her hand as she reached me. I nodded and shook her hand—It was firm.

“You said you had a map with the location of the last two Spanish ships that went down in the 1715 hurricane?” I nodded. She turned. “Then get on board.”

 I knew her history better than anyone. Deidre didn’t know I had been keeping track of her family since the 1600s when I met her great-great, several times over grandmother and namesake. Having followed the sea-faring family all those years, I knew that times were hard for them. The fishing business had become a tourist business, and even that wasn’t doing as good as it should. A little research told me they were deeply in debt and about to lose their fleet of sport fishing boats. So, I made some inquiries to find her. I told her I possessed a diary containing the name of her ancestor and the coordinates to a shipwreck filled with gold and that it belonged to her.

Standing on the deck of Deidre’s fifty-foot Bertram sport fisherman, I gave her the coordinates of the Spanish ship that went down. The mate untied the ropes from the dock cleats, and Deidre eased the boat from the dock, heading into the open ocean. After two hours at sea, we arrived at our destination.

Deidre put on scuba gear. “You’re sure about this? I nodded, and she rolled backward over the gunwale into the water and sank out of sight.

Fifteen minutes later, she surfaced, holding a gold coin above her head. The grin on her face said it all.

I helped Deidre, and a salvage crew retrieve the treasure from the sunken galleon. The family I had watched over for so long was now financially secure. It was the least I could do for this Captain Deidre. After all, she was descended from the daughter of the fiery red-headed woman I loved so many centuries ago and her pirate father—me. 

My daughter.

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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.

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