FRIDAY FICTIONEERS - UNION STATION TODAY - MY 100 WORDS - BY LINDA PALUND

UNION STATION TODAY

            “Jeez, will you look at that!”

            It’s hard to move quickly inside a Hazmat Suit, but when I managed to fumble my way through the opening Jack had blown for us, I had to catch my breath.  Which is also very difficult in these suits.

            With Global warming, the tornadoes became more frequent in Maryland until they finally decimated the Lusby Nuclear Power Plant, sending deadly radiation on favourable winds straight to DC. 

            The evacuation was a farce, only the President’s plane made it out safely.  The remaining terrified residents barricaded themselves inside Union Station.

            That was 50 years ago.

• Historical Footnote:
• In 1961, as a testament to the strength of the Station's design and construction, a civilian firm surveying the Washington, DC area buildings determined that Union Station could serve as a fallout shelter for hundreds on an extended basis and thousands in an emergency. One key location was a deep, heavily pillared storage area originally designated as a swimming pool and steam room for affluent railroad patrons.

·       This Dabble in FLASH FICTION is from FRIDAY FICTIONEERS courtesy of:

·       http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/30-august-2013/

·       and you can comment on mine below:

·        

FRIDAY FICTIONEERS - REPORT FROM PLANET EARTH - MY 100 WORDS BY LINDA PALUND

Report From Planet Earth

             “0002 calling Base.”

            “Proceed, 0002. Have you anything to report?”

            “Neither flora nor fauna have survived.  No architectural works remain.”

            “0003 reports a structure north of you.  They are sending an image through now.”

            “Yes, I see it.  I cannot speculate to its purpose.  Give me 0003”

             “This is 0003.  We have found an asymmetrical stone structure. A petrified specimen of Flora attached.”

            “Can you determine the structure’s purpose?”

            “A burial ground exists alongside.  We calculate the structure served as a prison or internment camp.”

            We cosmic archaeologists have difficulty determining context in artefacts left behind on such desolate planets.

This Dabble in FLASH FICTION is from FRIDAY FICTIONEERS courtesy of:

http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2013/08/21/23-august-2013/

and you can comment on mine below:

FRIDAY FICTIONEERS - THE 'CAR' - MY 100 WORDS BY LINDA PALUND

The ‘Car’

            “Is that a ‘car’?”

            “Yes, Girlie, it is a car!”

            “I didn’t know there were any left.” 

            “This one’s been trapped under that tree.  It’s a Japanese model.  If there’s fuel in the tank, we can drive back to civilization.”

             “Japanese! Are you sure this isn’t a Fujiwara trap?”

             George ran a scan. 

            “There’s fuel in the tank.  It’s our only option, since your Space Folding System crashed."

           I zapped the branches delicately off the car with my spitfires. I had no idea how to drive the thing, but George is an R7 Series Robot.  He can literally do anything!

This Dabble in FLASH FICTION is from FRIDAY FICTIONEERS courtesy of:

http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/16-august-2013/

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FRIDAY FICTIONEERS - TINY DANCER - MY 100 WORDS BY LINDA PALUND

Tiny Dancer

            She had spun herself back to the 21^st century, knowing full well that time travel made me sick.  She thought she could escape in time, but a little nausea wasn’t going to stop me.

            “Sima! What the hell are you doing?”

            “Oh, Girlie! Look at me! I can spin and spin!”

            Sima, our ‘Simulacrum’, the latest AI product from Peachy Keen, had self-realization issues.   “I’m too damn perfect to be anyone’s toy.  I gotta be free, Girlie, free!” 

            The 21^st Century ‘normals’ hadn’t noticed her, but my special lenses kept her in focus. The poor kid didn’t have a chance.

This Dabble in FLASH FICTION is from FRIDAY FICTIONEERS courtesy of:

http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2013/08/07/9-august-2013/

and you can comment on mine below:

FRIDAY FICTIONEERS - THE KILLER BEE AND ME - My 100 Words by LindaPalund

          THE KILLER BEE AND ME

      "How the hell are we going to get that thing back home?" 

      "Relax, Girlie.  Remember,  I'm the brains of this outfit."

       It was true. When the R7 Robots came in from the cold, George became my partner. I supplied the 'Two Gun Girlie' brawn and George supplied the R7 Robot brains.

      "What's your plan?"

      "I'll jump on it's back and Zap it with your Stungun.  You grab its leg and Flip us back to the Hanger."

       It's a good thing R7's are indestructible, because as soon as George pounced, that Bee took him for a ride George will never forget!

FRIDAY FICTIONEERS - THE VIEW FROM PLANET 9 - MY 100 WORDS BY LINDAPALUND

        THE VIEW FROM PLANET 9

          I promised George, the Laboratory's R7 Series Robot, that I would visit Planet 9 to see how his brothers were faring.   Since completing their project for Peachy Keen Technologies, the Robots had become despondent, even suicidal.          

          Exiled, they had lost the human companionship they required to fulfil their remit. They no longer had any useful function to perform. 

          How could I tell George we were too late? The exiled R7s had self destructed before I got here. All that remained of them floated within the hydrogen and nitrogen particles that make up the atmosphere of this beautiful, but lonely planet.

                       END

Forgive me, Doug and Fictioneers, my computer met with a terrible catastrophe (marble steps in Athens) and I am trying to use my phone. I could not figure out how to upload your inspiring photo, but I had this one in my phone , so had to substitute. I also can't answer any comments, but they are always welcome.

FRIDAY FICTIONEERS - MAN AGAINST MACHINE - MY 100 WORDS BY LINDA PALUND

MAN AGAINST MACHINE

            The bike was there every day, fastened to the tree where Jenny worked.  But when Jenny failed to show that day or the following, and the bike remained, they gave up calling her home and called me instead. 

            I found the note taped under the seat.

            ‘Dear Mom and Dad, I have gone to Mars with George. 

            Intermarriage with Robots is legal there. 

            We no longer have to live in sin.

            Please believe this is the happiest day of my life.

            Jenny’

            The Man Against Machine Act is pretty clear. The bike can stay, but the Robot has to go.   

This Dabble in FLASH FICTION is from FRIDAY FICTIONEERS courtesy of:

http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2013/07/17/19-july-2013/

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FRIDAY FICTIONEERS - TWO GUN GIRLIE GETS HER GOAT - MY NEXT 100 WORDS - BY LINDA PALUND

I said I wasn’t going to do this, but I have anyway.  Here's another Flash Fiction on this weeks prompt for Friday Fictioneers – totally cause I need to use this character in a novel…

TWO GUN GIRLIE GETS HER GOAT

            Peachy Keen Technologies catapults me everywhere to pick up packages. Tonight, I’m in one of the planet’s last graveyards.

            The package turns out to be a ’Goat’, an illegally engineered clone.  King Enterprises would love to get their hands on it.  Worse, we’ve heard the locals are preparing to eat it.

            “Hey, Girlie!” It calls.

            “Shush”

            “Talking goat, Girlie?” One of King’s men points a Chambers Pistol at me.  Without thinking, I draw my spitfire, zap him where he stands, grab the Goat’s collar and flip back to the lab.

            “Thanks,” sighs the Goat.  “It’s a real zoo out there.”

Brought to you by Friday Fictioneers.  Try it at:

http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2013/07/10/12-july-2013/

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FRIDAY FICTIONEERS - GOATS & GRAVES - MY 100 WORDS BY LINDA PALUND

Goats and Graves

            Goats and Graves surveyed the old graveyard through the chain-link fence.

            “Someone should really clean that place up,” remarked Goats.

            “Nah, it’s a waste of energy.”

            “But it’s disrespectful leaving it like that!”

            “Just some old white folks buried in there.  Let them clean it up.”

            They watched Bulldog climb through a hole in the fence and lead his small flock of goats inside to graze in the shade of the Magnolia trees.

            “Hey Bulldog!” shouted Graves, “What you think you’re doing?”

            “The only good grass ‘round here grows between these old gravestones. These white folks won’t mind.  They’s dead!”

For some reason, I don't know why, I couldn't really write a story, but I felt like writing these little pieces.  Forgive me, here is another:

Goats and Graves

            Daylight doesn’t show the old graveyard to its best advantage.  The chain-link fence couldn’t stop the vandals from knocking over as many tombstones as they could or smashing up the crypts and ripping holes in the fence to graze their livestock inside.

            It wasn’t so much an act of vandalism.  More like revenge.

            The old white folks graveyard sat smack in the middle of our neighbourhood, abandoned but not forgotten.

            It would have made a great park for our kids, with its trees and green lawn.  
            Someday, we’ll tear down the fence and bulldoze the place, obliterating its oppressive history forever.

This Dabble in FLASH FICTION is from FRIDAY FICTIONEERS courtesy of:

http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/24-may-2013/

and you can comment on mine below:

FRIDAY FICTIONEERS - THE VIEW - MY 100 WORDS - BY LINDA PALUND

The View

            It was a beautiful day. The wind blew softly in the direction of the Spaceship, less than a mile away.  Perhaps the fumes would be blown away from us.

            We had heard the news on Fred’s shortwave radio.  Spacecraft had landed everywhere, emitting a gas that drove people mad, committing suicide in staggering numbers.

            To get a better view, Fred climbed up the Sterling Building, the highest point in town. The Fire Company followed with a ladder.

            After the Fire Crew leapt to their deaths, I felt an irresistible urge to climb up there, too.  
            “Oh, look, there goes Fred!”