Day 5: What do a 1952 Chevy, a fast food diner & the view of the Earth from the Moon have in common? An appearance in your story.
The room snapped into focus violently, every sound, smell and sight hitting me at once.
"...And then d'you know what I said to him? I'll tell you - I told him that the only way that he was gonna get me to go steady with him was to die and come back as a com-puh-letely different person!"
White-knuckled hands gripped the table in front of me. Whose hands are those?
"Ronny, Ronny are you even listenin' to me? Seriously, what is UP with you today? Anyways, so you know what he said to me then? 'Uh, uh, uh, well Nancy you're a... you're a mean person! That's just downright mean!' I swear, we gassed so hard we almost blew soda pop outta our noses!"
Laugh damnit - this is your cue to laugh! I chuckled woodenly, almost certain she'd see through it. I looked past her to the exit, calculating my escape should she make a scene. Legs tensing, I felt my pulse quicken in anticipation. Man I hope this body is quicker than the last one.
"I know right, hi-LAR-ious! So, who are you takin' to the dance?"
I had to get out of here. We didn't have time for this. "Oh shoot, I was supposed to do something for my Dad and I'm totally late. He's gonna go ape!" I really hoped this body had a Dad. Before she could begin to protest I jumped up and started moving towards the exit.
"But Ronny, what about the food?! Ronny, your keys! How are you gonna -"
As I skipped down the steps of the diner, her shrill voice faded into the sound of The Archies starting on the jukebox. I picked the first car I saw in the lot - an Admiral Blue 1952 Chevy - and jumped in the front. 15 seconds to hotwire, 540 seconds to get to the compound, 240 seconds to get past security and into the lab. Damnit Leland, you've only got 105 seconds to spare. You better hope these legs are fast! The car roared to life and I sped away, watching chatty Nancy waving wildly in the rear window.
Getting past security at the compound was easy. Government facility security my ass. Moving as quickly as I could without arousing suspicion, I navigated the maze of corridors to the astrophysics lab. I had one chance and only 220 seconds left. I turned the last corner and there he was: Dr Edward Jennings, the grandfather of the end of the Earth.
A mere 117 years from now in the year 2086, Professor JT Jennings will engineer a tool to extract core materials from the outer core of planet Earth. In the race to sustain the ever-expanding population on our planet, scientists pushed boundaries, looking for higher potency energy sources. They dug deeper and deeper into the Earth, trying to breach past the tangent cylinder to the inner core. Until the Earth pushed back. Now all that's left of humanity are holed up on the Moon, staring at what used to be home, waiting for all the smart arses to find another habitable planet that we can swarm to. And that's why I had to do what I was about to do. Dr Edward Jennings can never have a son. Professor JT Jennings could never be born to that son. It was our only chance.
I walked into the lab, trying not to get distracted by the glaring lack of security. Dr Jennings turned around at the sound of my footsteps. "Excuse me, you're not allowed to be in - ", the shockwave from my neutraliser temporarily disorientated him, dropping him to the ground. He'd be ok, in fact, he probably wouldn't even remember I was here. Sure, he'd never father any children, but it's a small price to pay for the safety of the planet for another 100 years or so.
As the good doctor came to his senses, I felt the room slipping away; the edges of the light fading, as if I was staring through a window that was beginning to mist up. "Hey, hey you! What the - Marcy! Marcy get in here, there's a man, a ghost, whatever the hell Marcy come quick!"
But Marcy would never see me, and Dr Jennings would be treated for concussion and a "disturbance", caused by lack of sleep and heightened stress levels. And the Earth would keep turning.
"...And then d'you know what I said to him? I'll tell you - I told him that the only way that he was gonna get me to go steady with him was to die and come back as a com-puh-letely different person!"
White-knuckled hands gripped the table in front of me. Whose hands are those?
"Ronny, Ronny are you even listenin' to me? Seriously, what is UP with you today? Anyways, so you know what he said to me then? 'Uh, uh, uh, well Nancy you're a... you're a mean person! That's just downright mean!' I swear, we gassed so hard we almost blew soda pop outta our noses!"
Laugh damnit - this is your cue to laugh! I chuckled woodenly, almost certain she'd see through it. I looked past her to the exit, calculating my escape should she make a scene. Legs tensing, I felt my pulse quicken in anticipation. Man I hope this body is quicker than the last one.
"I know right, hi-LAR-ious! So, who are you takin' to the dance?"
I had to get out of here. We didn't have time for this. "Oh shoot, I was supposed to do something for my Dad and I'm totally late. He's gonna go ape!" I really hoped this body had a Dad. Before she could begin to protest I jumped up and started moving towards the exit.
"But Ronny, what about the food?! Ronny, your keys! How are you gonna -"
As I skipped down the steps of the diner, her shrill voice faded into the sound of The Archies starting on the jukebox. I picked the first car I saw in the lot - an Admiral Blue 1952 Chevy - and jumped in the front. 15 seconds to hotwire, 540 seconds to get to the compound, 240 seconds to get past security and into the lab. Damnit Leland, you've only got 105 seconds to spare. You better hope these legs are fast! The car roared to life and I sped away, watching chatty Nancy waving wildly in the rear window.
Getting past security at the compound was easy. Government facility security my ass. Moving as quickly as I could without arousing suspicion, I navigated the maze of corridors to the astrophysics lab. I had one chance and only 220 seconds left. I turned the last corner and there he was: Dr Edward Jennings, the grandfather of the end of the Earth.
A mere 117 years from now in the year 2086, Professor JT Jennings will engineer a tool to extract core materials from the outer core of planet Earth. In the race to sustain the ever-expanding population on our planet, scientists pushed boundaries, looking for higher potency energy sources. They dug deeper and deeper into the Earth, trying to breach past the tangent cylinder to the inner core. Until the Earth pushed back. Now all that's left of humanity are holed up on the Moon, staring at what used to be home, waiting for all the smart arses to find another habitable planet that we can swarm to. And that's why I had to do what I was about to do. Dr Edward Jennings can never have a son. Professor JT Jennings could never be born to that son. It was our only chance.
I walked into the lab, trying not to get distracted by the glaring lack of security. Dr Jennings turned around at the sound of my footsteps. "Excuse me, you're not allowed to be in - ", the shockwave from my neutraliser temporarily disorientated him, dropping him to the ground. He'd be ok, in fact, he probably wouldn't even remember I was here. Sure, he'd never father any children, but it's a small price to pay for the safety of the planet for another 100 years or so.
As the good doctor came to his senses, I felt the room slipping away; the edges of the light fading, as if I was staring through a window that was beginning to mist up. "Hey, hey you! What the - Marcy! Marcy get in here, there's a man, a ghost, whatever the hell Marcy come quick!"
But Marcy would never see me, and Dr Jennings would be treated for concussion and a "disturbance", caused by lack of sleep and heightened stress levels. And the Earth would keep turning.
[word count: 737/841]
No comments:
Post a Comment