a monument to our destructive past

Journal Entry: January 14, 3014

A group of us were sent to Earth today to take readings and make observations as part of the Bi-Century Progress Check.  The opportunity to do so was one of the reasons I joined The Collective in the first place, since they were the only ones authorized to set foot on the planet anymore.  When my name came up I was thrilled to finally get down there.

The ride in was uneventful.  Stunning, of course, and the ship was eerily quiet as we all got our first glimpse of the sun cascading through the atmosphere and the red-orange glow of the superheated air spreading away from us we sliced our way through.  But there were none of the bumps and bounces reported on previous missions.  It seems that The Collective have finally smoothed over the landing process.

Once on the ground, we deployed and I surveyed the deserted landscape, observed the clear delineations, the markings where the land had been divided and raped, and marveled that they remained after so much time had passed.  The Collective had hoped that Earth would have begun to heal itself already but that did not appear to be the case.

I resisted the urge to remove my protective visor and drink in the colors as they were meant to be seen, but I felt it unwise to risk getting contaminated with anything that might still be in the air.  Besides, the black and white suited the setting, suited the mood.

Something on the horizon caught my eye and I made the slow trek across the dusty ground to find a dilapidated domicile.  It seemed odd that it had remained after so much else had faded away to nothingness.  It seemed out of place.  And, yet, it did seem right at home, crumbling walls and collapsed ceiling, at the same time.  A relic of the old people tied to the ground they had destroyed.  A monument.  A reminder of the damage they caused.

I gathered my samples from near the building and then made it back to the ship just as they were preparing to launch.  My manager wasn’t pleased that I had called it so close.  But, I wasn’t alone in straggling in at the last moment.  Most of the crew were determined to make the most of their time on the mythical land.  Who could blame them for that?

While the images will haunt me for the rest of my life, while I know I will feel sorrow that I will never step foot on Earth again, I am glad I went.  No regrets.

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You could probably read some sort of scathing commentary on our current state of affairs, our current use of resources, etc… but that really wasn’t my intent.  I just saw the picture and, as is usually the case, went where the words took me.  That being said, I do welcome any discourse along those lines you feel up to chatting about, just let me know in the comments.

And, if you want to play along, this post was in response to moi’s Picture Writing Challenge for the week.  What do you see?  Write it, link it, post it.

for the right price

“Step right up for the adventure of a lifetime.  For your destiny.  For the ending you deserve.  For the right price, you too can ‘Claim Your Island.'”

Wandering through the Expo at the fairgrounds, Darren and Anna were intrigued by the pitch and stopped at the booth to chat with the customer service rep.

“What do you mean, ‘Claim Your Island’?”

Smiling, as only true salesmen can, Ian stepped forward to address his new customers more personally.  He draped his left arm over Darren’s shoulder, winked at Anna, and then dramatically spread his right arm across his booth’s sign, “We at CYI promise to provide you the perfect Island to meet your needs.  Do you need a summer home?  A winter home?  A place to retire year round?  Do you just need to get away from the rest of the world for awhile, find yourselves, and reconnect.  We have what you are looking for.”

Anna, incredulous, asked, “Are you talking about actual Islands?”

“I’m glad you asked,” Ian released his almost hug like grip on Darren’s shoulder and grabbed a map off the counter of his booth.  His spread it wide between his arms and seemed to smile even more broadly.  “Which one looks best to you?”

“Is that a map of Earth?”  Darren could feel Anna tugging on his hand, encouraging him to walk away, but the absurdity of what Ian was selling compelled him to stay a bit longer.

“Yes.  Exactly.  And every Island you see on the map could be yours.”

“Those aren’t Islands, they are continents!”  Anna was not amused.

“They are surrounded by water, aren’t they?  What’s your definition of Island?”  Ian’s smile never wavered.

“But, how can you possibly expect anyone to believe that you have the power to sell Australia, or Africa, or any of the others?”

“As I said, for the right price, you too can Claim Your Island.”

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Word Count: 317

It’s time to InMon again:

The Rules

There are none. Read the prompts, get inspired, write something. No word count minimum or maximum. You don’t have to include the exact prompt in your piece, and you can interpret the prompt(s) any way you like.

OR

No really; I need rules!

Okay; write 200-500 words on the prompt of your choice. You may either use the prompt as the title of your piece or work it into the body of your piece. You must complete it before 6 pm CST on the Monday following this post.

The Prompts:

TABLE FOR TWO
GRUNGE
CLAIM YOUR ISLAND
EASY COSTUME
INCHES AWAY

Keep Calm: Matticus

I went and played in the Cave of Scribes again this week. Be good little kingdomites and go check it out!

contagious

He was the third child.  The third of eight… there used to be a ninth but no one ever wanted to talk about that anymore.  He was like his brothers and sisters in many ways, but he was unique in one very special way.  There was a host of living organisms that had taken up residence on him while his siblings remained pest free.

His brothers and sisters nagged him, made fun of him, chided him on cleanliness and called him many names: dirty, different, abhorrent, weirdo, gross, freak.

He bore their verbal abuse without comment.  There was nothing he could do about the living things growing ever more pervasive across his body.  He had tried to kill them off early, it’s true, but they had proved very adaptable.  Eventually he had given up and let them flourish.

Besides, he knew something his brothers and sisters didn’t know.  His infection had gone through its incubation period and was getting ready to spread.  He was contagious and his nearest brother would soon be overrun with the swarming organism too.  Sure, “soon” is a relative word when planets measured millennium the way others might measure a day, but Earth knew it was only a matter of time until Mars was crawling with humans too.

Jokes on them.  That will teach them for calling me a freak all these years.

………

Word Count: 227

My response to this week’s Trifecta Writing Challenge:

FREAK (noun)

 3

: one that is markedly unusual or abnormal: as

a : a person or animal having a physical oddity and appearing in a circus sideshow

b slang (1) : a sexual deviate (2) : a person who uses an illicit drug

c : hippie

d : an atypical postage stamp usually caused by a unique defect in paper (as a crease) or a unique event in the manufacturing process (as a speck of dirt on the plate) that does not produce a constant or systematic effect

Remember:

• Your response must be between 33 and 333 words.
• You must use the 3rd definition of the given word in your post.
• The word itself needs to be included in your response.
• You may not use a variation of the word; it needs to be exactly as stated above.
• Only one entry per writer.
• If your post doesn’t meet our requirements, please leave your link in the comments section, not in the linkz.
• Trifecta is open to everyone. Please join us.

Revis prompts me to ramble about movies

Revis asked: If you could make a sequel to any movie that doesn’t already have one, what would it be, and what would it be about?

I spent a whole lot more time pondering these questions than I thought I would.  With the vast catalog of movies constantly rumbling around in my brain I thought it would be super easy to pick one where the ending had begged for a sequel that had never been delivered.

Unfortunately, as is often the case with the mind of a jester, I went straight to joke answers.  For example:  There should definitely be a sequel to Spiderman 2 (there was, of course, but the third movie was so terrible that I refuse to recognize it.)  Or, there should definitely be a sequel to The Return of the Jedi (while these haven’t been made yet, the rights have been purchased and it is only a matter of time before the next trilogy gets rolled out).  Or, they should definitely make Dragons of Winter Night into a movie…  That one probably means a lot less to most of you, but those who watched the terrible Dragons of Autumn Twilight Movie understand that it really wouldn’t have been good for them to make the sequel – they would need to just start the whole thing over – either with better animators, or with a live action cast.  The story deserves better.

So…  you see, my mind tumbled from one joke answer to the next, which did nothing to help me come up with how to actually respond to Revis’ prompt.

Currently my mind is spinning around all the movies where the ending felt unfinished, hanging, and where I was furious that they had ended the way they did.  Often this happens in most of the anime series I watch – I never like the endings, because they don’t “end” but then they also don’t have any new episodes to continue the story line, leaving me feeling incomplete.  “What happens next?!”  I felt the same way at the end of the Harry Potter series (more the books than the movies), okay great (spoiler alert) the good guys win, but then what?  What adventures does he have after the fact?  I want more!

Still, I think I can do better than that.  I’m going to cut myself off from superhero movies altogether, and movies based on books, and anything that is part of a series already.  Where does that leave me?  What genre should I pick?  Would we want a sequel to So I Married An Axe Murderer?  Would we want a sequel to Contact?  Or Signs?  Or Sixth Sense for that matter?  How about learning what happens after The Day After Tomorrow?  Would we want to know if the love stories worked out in the end with sequels for Notting Hill or Love Actually?  What would the next chapters in Lost in Translation or The Royal Tenenbaums look like?  So many movies, so many unanswered questions, so many story lines that could be.

And now this is getting a bit long so I need to wrap it up… make a choice… get it down and explain it away…  I better reread the prompt:

If you could make a sequel to any movie that doesn’t already have one, what would it be, and what would it be about?

If I could make a sequel to any movie that doesn’t already have one, I would write the next scenes after the final credits rolled on Wall-E.  The movie would tell a tale of Wall-E and EVA helping the humans figure out how to survive on Earth.  The first half would consist of trying to wean people off the ships automated food services as they waited for plants to grow, relinquishing their chairs and getting healthy working in the soil under the sun, and relearning how to communicate face to face, resolve issues, fall in love, etc…  The second half of the movie the characters would face the major problem of having to protect their crops from the raging dust storms, and ward off an attempted mutiny by some of the passengers who didn’t trust that they could survive on Earth and tried to figure out how to get the ship up and fully operational again (including turning AUTO back on).  There would be laughs, and drama, and tears, and a cockroach that never gets squished.

What sequel would you make?  (Make sure you link back to Revis’ post when you answer.)