Flash Fiction: Broken Thread

This was written for Flash! Friday (a weekly competition for 150 word fiction). The photo of St. Kelda was the photo prompt and you had to include a baby and the name Stella.

Broken thread

I met the man beside the stone house. He came at sunset, the baby in his arms. He didn’t have to explain; I knew exactly what happened. She was chosen. That was all there was to it.

“Her name is Stella,” he said and looked up at the swirling stars. As he did so I wrapped my cloak around me, hiding me from his sight. It was better this way. In the morning no one would ask after the missing child. It was the same with me.

I stepped into the stone house; our halls. Some called us faeries. If only we were. But someone had to do the work.

The other women looked up from their looms for a moment. Only mine was empty, the last thread broken at the moment Stella’s mother gave her last breath.

One day I’ll have to tell her how we are chosen. I’ll have to tell her that it was my fault.

St Kilda, Scotland. CC photo by Neil Wilkie

Sci-fi Flash Fiction Double Take

Here’s two pieces I wrote for Flash! Friday, inspired by the photo below. They turned out to be two very different stories.

Homecoming

Everyone who had money, the right connections, or drew the short straw had left for the colonies. No one cared about the moon or mars when there were other planets. When you could get away from the war.

Tattered family photos were stuck on the workshop’s walls. Faith wiped her hands on a greasy cloth.

“It should work now.”

Her grandson flipped the switch and the beacon started transmitting.

“They left us here on this planet and now that they want to return you’re playing them music to welcome them? You’re daft, and they’re not worth my spit. They’re worse than the aliens.”

Faith fiddled with the switches to keep from hitting him.

 “You know how we survived the war? My parents sold my brother to the colony mines. And they kept him there forty years.”

The music played louder.

 “You look me in the eye and say he’s not worthy. You look him in the eye.”

Gemini V, August 29, 1965. Public domain photo courtesy of NASA

Research Topic: The Space Travel of Primitive Species on QW3491 (Working title)

Three students watched on a screen as the pod descended into the ocean. Their scanners assessed the passengers’ vital signs and took footage of the smiling faces.

“So… they survived?”

“Yup.”

“That’s a shame. Someone dying would have made the data interesting.”

“We weren’t supposed to mess with their instruments in the first place. You’re not supposed to intervene in societies, no matter how primitive. That’s the first thing we were taught.”

“Relax, it was just a bit of fun. This. Is. A. Boring. Place. And we’re not even allowed to set foot on the planet in case they see us.”

“So… as long as they don’t see us…”

“Hey, I’m not getting dissected in their primitive labs.”

“Please, that’s a campus legend! Look, we just camp in the desert somewhere for a night or two. No one will know. If I don’t get out of this research centre I’m going to go crazy.”

“Fine. I’ll bring the field kit.”

#453469289 / gettyimages.com

Book Impression: Lost Languages

Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World’s Undeciphered Scripts by Andrew Robinson (McGraw-Hill)

In LostLanguages, Robinson gives the reader a clearly written study of some deciphered and undeciphered scripts. The book is divided into two parts, the first of which tells of “Three Great Decipherments” – the Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Linear B, and Mayan glyphs. After this he turns to various scripts which are partly or completely undeciphered. These scripts are taken from across the world and includes:

•        The Meroitic Script (Sudan)
•       The Etruscan alphabet
•       The Proto-Elamite Script
•       Rongorongo (Easter Island)
•       The Zapotec and Isthmian Scripts (Mexico)
•        The Indus Script
•       The Pahistos Disc

Lost Languages by Andrew Robinson

Ongoing study of these undeciphered scripts is also covered, showing the remarkable work that goes into this field of study. The book is lavishly illustrated with photos and line drawings and, although it is a hefty volume, is not only suitable for academics. Rather, it is a treasure trove for anyone interested in the subject. I really enjoyed it and can highly recommend the volume.

Robinson, A. (2002). Lost Languages: The Enigma of The World’s Undeciphered Scripts.McGraw-Hill.

Some websites of interest:

Andrew Robinson's website

Ancientscripts.com – “A compendium of world-wide writing systems from prehistory to today”

An Interesting TED talk by Rejesh Rao about the Indus Script