“Imagine!” exclaims Felix.1
He enjoys rising before any of the others in the little group currently lying in various positions around the trunk of the giant tree. The others usually find this to be a most unwelcome affliction.2
“Jesus Felix, do you know what time it is?” groans John blinking wildly.3
“No really John, just imagine!”4
“What the hell are you going on about man?”5
“Look,” Felix points.6
More blinking ensues on the part of John, but to no avail, “There’s absolutely nothing there.”7
“Indeed there isn’t,” agrees the other.8
John considers going back to sleep. He had been having a very nice dream about lying in the shade of a gigantic fern, while a Quistry salesman tried to pawn off some artificially colored elephants to startled passersby. This idea proves impossible on practice, however, so he wonders if he should settle for walloping Felix over the head.9
“But imagine that there was. Imagine that there was a whole civilization brewing underneath this very spot.”10
John ponders this: “If you dig straight down through the asteroid, you’ll come up in an outpost manned by the Outsiders.”11
A man lying near him suddenly snorts and sits up. Without pausing to open his eyes he says, “Actually, the Outsiders have taken up a position very close to our own. If you were to foolishly decide to dig through the asteroid,” he opens his eyes, possibly to emphasize his point, “you would emerge in an uncovered patch of land, fated to die from lack of oxygen. Additionally, you would create a sizeable air leak in our colony’s dome.”12
Eduardo is a professor of something-or-other. Apparently John’s geographical blasphemy had worked quite fast to rouse him from his sleep.13
“Thank you for that sir,” John bows his head in a most solemn matter, trying to hide his grin in his collar.14
“That is not exactly what I was referring to…” adds Felix, “If we were on Earth, this would have been a possible place for an expansive ant colony. We would have sat here surrounded by tiny, wandering creatures.”15
“Ah but we are,” John nods sagely, “These tiny creatures are known as germs. Wash your hands before you eat, children!”16
Felix may be lost in his imaginings, but he is still able to find his way back to reality in order to treat his friend to an angry glare.17
“And not just tiny creatures. I mean, I’ve even read about things called squirrels which allegedly climb trees and eat nuts and rarely fall down -- not like the applebots we have harvesting the fruits this year. Anyway, my point is that we’d be surrounded by life on all sides. Right now there’s nothing but people and plants here.”18
“Would you actually prefer the colony to have animal life?” asks John, “Don’t forget that it is shared by two other races. They would not have been happy to find that we have undocumented organics living here, and registering all those species with the International Consulate would take years.”19
“But still,” Felix persists, “Wouldn’t you like to see something other than humans once in a while?”20
“If I had a problem with humans, I wouldn’t be able to survive in the area allotted to our outpost, Felix. But since we’re talking about things we’d like to see… I have to admit that I wouldn’t mind seeing some rain. I’ve heard some of the throughsies talk about it. It sounds incredible. I would give anything to see water fall from the sky!”21
“Wow John, even I wouldn’t go that far,” remarks Felix, “I’ve heard that you can get sick from being in too much of this stuff.”22
“Don’t worry guys,” says the professor, “Rain usually falls very gently. Plus, if you don’t want to get hit by it, you can carry an umbrella.”23
“A what?” exclaim the boys in unison.24
“Well… it’s a little like a cloth dome that you stick on a pole and carry around over your head to shield it from the rain. It is really quite a --” he breaks off as Felix is laughing so hard that tears are streaming from his eyes.25
“That sounds like a perfectly ridiculous thing to carry around,” he gasps, “I promise I won’t make you befriend any squirrels, if only you swear you won’t make me have to go everywhere with one of those. When you really think about the problems that are found in paradise, you realize how nice it is to live elsewhere.”
A contest entry
- Outside Of Earth by flowerbee1234.
151 points, ended February 17, 14 entries
Silver trophy winner
• next story in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 16 of 16
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This was a small but fun read. Good job.
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This was a fun little piece to read and it made me laugh. And I too like the colorny idea!
-Andi
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I like the whole colony idea. Things like that have always been interesting to me.
What was funny to me was the mentioning of squirrels and umbrellas."allegedly climb trees and eat nuts"
Maybe you should expand on this; it could make for a great start to a novel. Nice job!
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I really enjoyed this. It's very interesting and creative from beginning to end.
Keep up the good writing :] -
I simply love this story, I read it twice through. You have some very interesting characters here that you have placed in an interesting world which makes for an all around great story. Very creative. Even though I read this twice I have no suggestions. Keep writing.
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Very nice. An interesting world you have here...described perfectly.
Walloped is a great word by the way.
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This is a cute, enjoyable read. It could stand to have a little background information added, but over all it was good for a laugh. The story drew the reader in and kept their attention throughout. Good work!
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This is a cute, enjoyable read. It could stand to have a little background information added, but over all it was good for a laugh. The story drew the reader in and kept their attention throughout. Good work!
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This was a really fun piece. You did a terrific job creating another little world in such a short story. The characteres were quirky and enjoyable, and it was interesting to hear the outside opinion on our wildlife and inventions.
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this is awesome. i really liked it.
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Thanks!
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This was some what funny, and it had my interest the hole time. I really enjoyed your character Flex. Great job!
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unwelcome affliction.2
IT SHOULD BE UNWELCOMED AFFLICTION I THINK
throughsies
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN???
HAVE NEVER HEARD OF IT...
WELL THEY ARE A FEW SUGGESTIONS...
TAKE CARE
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Not bad
This was a cute, enjoyable read. Very well told and gripping. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for the comment on my story. :-)
beginning: 4, language: 3, ending: 3, dialog: 4, characters: 5.
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yes
I enjoyed this! Great fun and well told. Kinda Adamsesque.
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Not bad....could go more in depth to improve a bit, but not bad.
-Jade-
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