1:57 PM
Mr. B-G
The full moon behind the black silhouettes of the mighty forest pines had always evoked a strong deep instinct in Lance. It was so basic and primal; it felt like a calling from another life. It always put things in perspective. He had a clear view of the pines and stars from his bedroom window. More then 1000 times now he had fallen asleep while gazing at them. Tonight was no different. While here, the familiar sight had calmed him in times of hardship and stress. From his first day at his new school to the last day of summer, from the day he got his new dog, to the day it died from a car accident, from Christmas evening, to the day his brother was born, the moon had always been with him. Its pure white light always had eerie effect on the front yard below him, making it seem just a little unreal.
Tomorrow was Saturday, the end of the week. After the weekend, he would go back to school for 5 days, then another weekend, then perhaps a vacation, a few more months of the routine, then summer, when he still do the same thing every day, but it would not include school. The pattern of his life; until he finished high school. Maybe then he could get out expand himself; find a career, focus his education. Tonight, all he cared about was sleep. Tomorrow, he was going to see a movie with his friends.
As his eyes closed, he got a final look at the moon. Or, rather, were the moon would be. It was a cloudy night and the there was only a periodic break through which the open cosmos could be observed. The grey sky was tainted near the horizon with the warm orange and pink of distant city light beyond the woods. In the deep black of the middle sky the Aura borealis flowed high and bright.
The next day, as planned, Lance and his friends went to see a movie. It was great. The actors were realistic, the plot engaging, the music provoked strong emotions for the situation and every scene was picture perfect. It was “epic”, and the viewers ate it up. They loved to get lost in impossibly grand superior worlds of imagination, in which there were heroes, characters, places, and things which they felt were somehow more extreme, more awesome, then those in the real world. The audience was mesmerized.
Suddenly the power cut out. There was a low angry roar all around them. It was pitch black in the theater. Even the exit sign was dormant. The people panicked. There was instant kayos. Lance and his friends scrambled to find one another, then to get out. When they finally did, after nearly being trampled by the hustling crowd, they found the streets too were filled with crazed citizens. All the lights were out and not even flashlights or cell phones worked. Worst of all was the sky, for it had turned blood red with streaks; the flaming tails of destroyed satellites as they fell from their orbit.
Within 24 hours, the world’s major cities were diminished to smoldering ruins. The extra terrestrial attackers, whatever their motives for war were, had decimated earths population. In some parts, they sent grate bolts of superheated plasma hurtling towards the surface, turning the sand to glass and vaporizing life. Their millions of drones made short work of all mans planes. Forests burned and oceans fumes steam.
5 years later, Lance found himself on a rescue operation as the chief engineer aboard a medical ship. The invaders of earth had brought devastating weapons with them, such as the EMP generator, which they used in the initial attack, but humans were quick to adapt and reverse engineer any and all technology that they obtained from the aliens.
Within 3 years of the first encounter, the surviving scientists had learned the secrets of light speed travel and artificial gravity. It, along with salvaged alien weapons technology would at best give them small defenses, enough for evacuation of any inhabited planet that could be attacked, not that there were enough humans left to colonize them.
They were lucky to have survived at all. The only reason some lived was because the aliens had underestimated human kinds advancement from the last analysis of their civilization, which was more then 100 earth years ago, when they left their home planet and began their march towards the sol system. Since then, humans had made the atomic bomb, and with it, appropriate shelters in the mountains. It was in these that the survivors hid until the bombardments stopped. Later they would learn that all of human kinds weapons had been used, had been necessary, to destroy the enemy ships in space. Every bomb in every nation’s arsenal was used to penetrate their defenses, but eventually, the alien fleet was destroyed, leaving only a handful of humans left. It was learned that the aliens were from a distant planet, and travel between there and earth, even with light speed engines, took a century. If another fleet had been sent, the humans had 100 years to prepare. However, the second encounter with the new enemy came much sooner then they though. Lance had been drafted, like many others, into earth’s armed forces. While scouting a planet they thought might be inhabitable, an exploration frigate had scanned its surface. Orbital images showed a small structure made of refined materials. It had right angles and a strong power signature emanated from its position. Communication with the ship was lost soon after. It was assumed it was an alien outpost, on the outskirts of their special territory. Lance and his shipmates were on their way to investigate and help anyone they found who was injured, although following the aliens pattern of destruction, there probably wouldn’t be much left. It was likely suicide to even come close. But Lance followed orders, like everyone else.
As they approached the planet, Lance could see its’ moon out the window against the dark side. It was about two times larger then earths moon, but with their distance from it, it appeared very similar. There were no pine trees, although a nearby nebular had the same effect as the northern lights on earth. He thought about his position; a new recruit in the space marines, on his way to war with an alien species. He had always wondered what it would be like to be one of the 300 Spartans at Cher Napoli, or a solder on the front lines in the American civil war. Now he found his situation to be even worse. “Maybe life is as epic as the movies” he contemplated, “or more so. We mistake the plot twists for disasters, the climax for death, and there’s never any music playing to set the mood. There doesn’t need to be. The mood is set automatically. He wondered what movie hero would do in his position as he flew towards near certain destruction. But then he realized he was no hero. When the human fleet came to investigate the loss of a second ship, all they found was a single escape pod…
As his eyes closed, he got a final look at the moon. Or, rather, were the moon would be. It was a cloudy night and the there was only a periodic break through which the open cosmos could be observed. The grey sky was tainted near the horizon with the warm orange and pink of distant city light beyond the woods. In the deep black of the middle sky the Aura borealis flowed high and bright.
The next day, as planned, Lance and his friends went to see a movie. It was great. The actors were realistic, the plot engaging, the music provoked strong emotions for the situation and every scene was picture perfect. It was “epic”, and the viewers ate it up. They loved to get lost in impossibly grand superior worlds of imagination, in which there were heroes, characters, places, and things which they felt were somehow more extreme, more awesome, then those in the real world. The audience was mesmerized.
Suddenly the power cut out. There was a low angry roar all around them. It was pitch black in the theater. Even the exit sign was dormant. The people panicked. There was instant kayos. Lance and his friends scrambled to find one another, then to get out. When they finally did, after nearly being trampled by the hustling crowd, they found the streets too were filled with crazed citizens. All the lights were out and not even flashlights or cell phones worked. Worst of all was the sky, for it had turned blood red with streaks; the flaming tails of destroyed satellites as they fell from their orbit.
Within 24 hours, the world’s major cities were diminished to smoldering ruins. The extra terrestrial attackers, whatever their motives for war were, had decimated earths population. In some parts, they sent grate bolts of superheated plasma hurtling towards the surface, turning the sand to glass and vaporizing life. Their millions of drones made short work of all mans planes. Forests burned and oceans fumes steam.
5 years later, Lance found himself on a rescue operation as the chief engineer aboard a medical ship. The invaders of earth had brought devastating weapons with them, such as the EMP generator, which they used in the initial attack, but humans were quick to adapt and reverse engineer any and all technology that they obtained from the aliens.
Within 3 years of the first encounter, the surviving scientists had learned the secrets of light speed travel and artificial gravity. It, along with salvaged alien weapons technology would at best give them small defenses, enough for evacuation of any inhabited planet that could be attacked, not that there were enough humans left to colonize them.
They were lucky to have survived at all. The only reason some lived was because the aliens had underestimated human kinds advancement from the last analysis of their civilization, which was more then 100 earth years ago, when they left their home planet and began their march towards the sol system. Since then, humans had made the atomic bomb, and with it, appropriate shelters in the mountains. It was in these that the survivors hid until the bombardments stopped. Later they would learn that all of human kinds weapons had been used, had been necessary, to destroy the enemy ships in space. Every bomb in every nation’s arsenal was used to penetrate their defenses, but eventually, the alien fleet was destroyed, leaving only a handful of humans left. It was learned that the aliens were from a distant planet, and travel between there and earth, even with light speed engines, took a century. If another fleet had been sent, the humans had 100 years to prepare. However, the second encounter with the new enemy came much sooner then they though. Lance had been drafted, like many others, into earth’s armed forces. While scouting a planet they thought might be inhabitable, an exploration frigate had scanned its surface. Orbital images showed a small structure made of refined materials. It had right angles and a strong power signature emanated from its position. Communication with the ship was lost soon after. It was assumed it was an alien outpost, on the outskirts of their special territory. Lance and his shipmates were on their way to investigate and help anyone they found who was injured, although following the aliens pattern of destruction, there probably wouldn’t be much left. It was likely suicide to even come close. But Lance followed orders, like everyone else.
As they approached the planet, Lance could see its’ moon out the window against the dark side. It was about two times larger then earths moon, but with their distance from it, it appeared very similar. There were no pine trees, although a nearby nebular had the same effect as the northern lights on earth. He thought about his position; a new recruit in the space marines, on his way to war with an alien species. He had always wondered what it would be like to be one of the 300 Spartans at Cher Napoli, or a solder on the front lines in the American civil war. Now he found his situation to be even worse. “Maybe life is as epic as the movies” he contemplated, “or more so. We mistake the plot twists for disasters, the climax for death, and there’s never any music playing to set the mood. There doesn’t need to be. The mood is set automatically. He wondered what movie hero would do in his position as he flew towards near certain destruction. But then he realized he was no hero. When the human fleet came to investigate the loss of a second ship, all they found was a single escape pod…
3 comments:
You're an excellent writer, Danny. I'm a sci-fi lover so I enjoyed your story as much as you enjoyed writing it. I don't see how your main character changed other than his age and he was the commander of a medical ship.
My favorite part was probably when the theatre's power failed and people were freaking out, that gave me the clearest image of what was going on. You have excellent descriptions in your story; you did great giving the reader a crisp, clean view of everything. Speaking of which, may I suggest proofreading your story. The few spelling errors were the only flaw in your writing. One other thing was it was slightly confusing when you took the huge time jump in the middle of it, but that just may be me. Other than that, it was fun to read, nice job pulling me into the story
Good story. There was excellent detail and you could really picture what was going on as it happened. I don't think your main character changed much throughout the story. My favorite part was the beginning when he was looking at the pine trees because it was filled with rich description and it reminded me of the pine trees in my own backyard. I also look at the moon sometimes, like your main character does. The flaw of this story is the spelling errors. However, they weren't so bad, and I could still understand what was going on. But overall it was a good story.
Well, i found your story to be excellent. The eposition was great, there were a lot of adjectives and description to keep me reading. The only thing i found wrong were a few spelling errors, but it was still great. My favortie part was the rich description at the part with the pine trees. That was a very awesome story.
Verry nice. /,,/-_-/,,/
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