It’s been a while since I looked at this story, and after reading the start through each iteration, it always seems the case that I’m never quite satisfied.
That said, I decided to come at it from a different direction. It might not be better, but it might provide a different perspective, and lead to a more polished start in the next iteration.
Certainly this time, there are more words, and a totally different start. It was needed bcause we need to get a little insight into the main character, just before the action starts.
We now put the main character into his environment, the fact weather is going to play a part, as well as the mind set at a time where he will be distracted – emd of night shift, tired, and it’s very cold.
…
My next shift was Sunday night, and when I arrived, the usual crew were not there, replaced by two new people in fresh uniforms. I hadn’t heard what the police had discovered, but it looked like it had been the two other guards I’d worked with since I started. It might have been a simple rotation, my first thought until I got the phone call.
“You’re in charge,” Denvers, the owner of the company, said, recognising my voice.
“Where’s Rowdy and Fergus?”
“New location. You’re it. Break in the new guards, show them the routine.”
“What did the cops say about the incident?”
“You don;t need to worry about that. Just do your job, and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Got it?”
“Yes sir.”
He hung up before I could asked if the extra responsibility got a pay increase.
I hung up the phone and went into the kitchen where the two were sitting at the table, drinking coffee.
“OK. Seems I’ve been put in charge. It means I’ll be doing your induction, and then I’ll show you the job. It’s not hard.”
It had snowed all night, and when it came time to leave, I anticipated having to dig my way out. Earlier snowfalls had backed up, and between the building and the carpark, mountains of snow had grown taller, but the pathway had remained relatively clear.
It wasn’t dark, but there was an errie sort of twilight adter sawn had broken, and the day wasn’t going to get any better. Light snow was falling, and the car park and beyond had all but disappeared behind a cloak of white.
Also, it was cold, well below zero, and the only saving grace was there was no wind. That would probably come later as the forecast was for more snow and possibly sleet.
I pulled the hood to my parka over my head and headed for the car park, picking my way along the path slowly and carefully, because under the new layer of snow it would be icy and slippery, and I’d learned the hard way what it felt like to end up on the ground.
And that being the case, something bad had to happen.
There’s something to be said for a story that starts like a James Bond movie, throwing you straight in the deep end, a perfect way of getting to know the main character, David, or is that Alistair?
A retired spy, well not so much a spy as a retired errand boy, David’s rather wry description of his talents, and a woman that most men would give their left arm for, not exactly the ideal couple, but there is a spark in a meeting that may or may not have been a set up.
But as the story progressed, the question I kept asking myself was why he’d bother.
And, page after unrelenting page, you find out.
Susan is exactly the sort of woman the pique his interest. Then, inexplicably, she disappears. That might have been the end to it, but Prendergast, that shadowy enigma, David’s ex boss who loves playing games with real people, gives him an ultimatum, find her or come back to work.
Nothing like an offer that’s a double edged sword!
A dragon for a mother, a sister he didn’t know about, Susan’s BFF who is not what she seems or a friend indeed, and Susan’s father who, up till David meets her, couldn’t be less interested, his nemesis proves to be the impossible dream, and he’s always just that one step behind.
When the rollercoaster finally came to a halt, and I could start breathing again, it was an ending that was completely unexpected.
The ‘ooh’ from Nancy was unmistakable the moment we rematerialized in the alien’s ship’s bridge. It could be one of those awe-inspiring moments, had it not been for the circumstances.
The second time on the bridge, I realized that it was a little more sparse than it had been before, with a wall of control panels missing, along with a panel that stretched across the front of the Captain’s chair, but with no crew members present.
It was now a blank space. The whole space could have been a large empty room with windows overlooking empty space, except in the distance, our two ships. Beyond that, there seemed to be a thin streak of light, or colored lights, flickering. At a guess they might be a long, long, long way away, but whether it was in the direction we had come, or where we were going, or somewhere else, I couldn’t tell.
On the other side of the bridge, the female alien was still holding the Russian Captain, some sort of weapon at his throat.
I was still feeling the tingling sensation that was the effect after re-materialization. The first time it was disorientating, I was prepared this time.
I was also not sure what to expect, now that it was clear the aliens were not what they portrayed themselves to be. Of course, it was naive of me to expect that others in the galaxy would be better than us.
“An explanation of what this is really about might go a long way towards preventing tragic consequences.” I thought I’d throw out the opening gambit.
“Agreed. I had hoped the problem could have been resolved before your arrival. As you might be aware, we have the ability to transport our people, and I had hoped to recover the missing citizens that were taken by this,” he pointed to the Russian, “captains ship.”
“They asked for asylum, we did not take them.”
Another piece of the puzzle, the female must be one of the Aliens crew, and had beamed aboard, taken the captain hostage, and demanded the release of the citizens.
Question: why hadn’t he simply beamed them back?
To the Alien, “Is this true?”
“Semantics “
Note: this alien had a very good grasp of the nuances of the English language.
“Semantics or not, if you know anything about earth culture, it’s that we look after those who need help, and if people come to us asking for asylum, we generally give it. You will also be aware that those who ask for asylum generally are in fear of their lives. The question is, why would these people ask for asylum.”
“The people aboard that ship are criminals who were serving their sentences in one of our remote facilities. Your captain apparently came across this remote facility and assisted in setting the criminals free. When we sent a ship to apprehend them, they were taken aboard the earth ship and it attempted to leave. We were going to stop the earth vessel from leaving when your ship appeared, and it seemed prudent not to display hostility. There was also the possibility you were working together.”
“We are not, as you are now aware. Nor would I be willing to interfere with your internal matters, except that it involves another of our ships, one I didn’t know about, which only complicates matters.
Why do you have the captain.”
“He refused to set the prisoners.”
“If you could beam your operative and the captain here, why not just beam the criminals too.”
“They are currently protected in a special part of the captain’s ship that does not allow us to bring them back. They obviously told him what our capabilities are.”
Criminals, if they were criminals, seeking asylum. If it was me, I would be happy for someone else to take away the criminal element and make it someone else’s problem. The unfortunate truth in our world is that criminals didn’t go to jail anymore, they were shipped off to remote mining planets where they spent the rest of their days working in very harsh conditions. Over time it had proved to be a very good deterrent, so much so, that off plant mining operations now had to pay large sums of money to get people to work there.
“Number One.”
“Sir?”
“Find the so-called criminals the captain has stowed on his vessel and ask them what their side of the story is. Quick as you can.”
“Yes, sir.”
I looked over to the Russian Captain. “You might want to tell your second in command to make things easier for my crew.”
A look from me to the alien, and back, time to consider my request, then gave the order.
50 photographs, 50 stories, of which there is one of the 50 below.
They all start with –
A picture paints … well, as many words as you like. For instance:
And, the story:
Have you ever watched your hopes and dreams simply just fly away?
Everything I thought I wanted and needed had just left in an aeroplane, and although I said I was not going to, i came to the airport to see the plane leave. Not the person on it, that would have been far too difficult and emotional, but perhaps it was symbolic, the end of one life and the start of another.
But no matter what I thought or felt, we had both come to the right decision. She needed the opportunity to spread her wings. It was probably not the best idea for her to apply for the job without telling me, but I understood her reasons.
She was in a rut. Though her job was a very good one, it was not as demanding as she had expected, particularly after the last promotion, but with it came resentment from others on her level, that she, the youngest of the group would get the position.
It was something that had been weighing down of her for the last three months, and if noticed it, the late nights, the moodiness, sometimes a flash of temper. I knew she had one, no one could have such red hair and not, but she had always kept it in check.
And, then there was us, together, and after seven years, it felt like we were going nowhere. Perhaps that was down to my lack of ambition, and though she never said it, lack of sophistication. It hadn’t been an issue, well, not until her last promotion, and the fact she had to entertain more, and frankly I felt like an embarrassment to her.
So, there it was, three days ago, the beginning of the weekend, and we had planned to go away for a few days and take stock. We both acknowledged we needed to talk, but it never seemed the right time.
It was then she said she had quit her job and found a new one. Starting the following Monday.
Ok, that took me by surprise, not so much that it something I sort of guessed might happen, but that she would just blurt it out.
I think that right then, at that moment, I could feel her frustration with everything around her.
What surprised her was my reaction. None.
I simply asked where who, and when.
A world-class newspaper, in New York, and she had to be there in a week.
A week.
It was all the time I had left with her.
I remember I just shrugged and asked if the planned weekend away was off.
She stood on the other side of the kitchen counter, hands around a cup of coffee she had just poured, and that one thing I remembered was the lone tear that ran down her cheek.
Is that all you want to know?
I did, yes, but we had lost that intimacy we used to have when she would have told me what was happening, and we would have brainstormed solutions. I might be a cabinet maker but I still had a brain, was what I overheard her tell a friend once.
There’s not much to ask, I said. You’ve been desperately unhappy and haven’t been able to hide it all that well, you have been under a lot of pressure trying to deal with a group of troglodytes, and you’ve been leaning on Bentley’s shoulder instead of mine, and I get it, he’s got more experience in that place, and the politics that go with it, and is still an ally.
Her immediate superior and instrumental in her getting the position, but unlike some men in his position he had not taken advantage of a situation like some men would. And even if she had made a move, which I doubted, that was not the sort of woman she was, he would have politely declined.
One of the very few happily married men in that organisation, so I heard.
So, she said, you’re not just a pretty face.
Par for the course for a cabinet maker whose university degree is in psychology. It doesn’t take rocket science to see what was happening to you. I just didn’t think it was my place to jump in unless you asked me, and when you didn’t, well, that told me everything I needed to know.
Yes, our relationship had a use by date, and it was in the next few days.
I was thinking, she said, that you might come with me, you can make cabinets anywhere.
I could, but I think the real problem wasn’t just the job. It was everything around her and going with her, that would just be a constant reminder of what had been holding her back. I didn’t want that for her and said so.
Then the only question left was, what do we do now?
Go shopping for suitcases. Bags to pack, and places to go.
Getting on the roller coaster is easy. On the beginning, it’s a slow easy ride, followed by the slow climb to the top. It’s much like some relationships, they start out easy, they require a little work to get to the next level, follows by the adrenaline rush when it all comes together.
What most people forget is that what comes down must go back up, and life is pretty much a roller coaster with highs and lows.
Our roller coaster had just come or of the final turn and we were braking so that it stops at the station.
There was no question of going with her to New York. Yes, I promised I’d come over and visit her, but that was a promise with crossed fingers behind my back. After a few months in t the new job the last thing shed want was a reminder of what she left behind. New friends new life.
We packed her bags, three out everything she didn’t want, a free trips to the op shop with stiff she knew others would like to have, and basically, by the time she was ready to go, there was nothing left of her in the apartment, or anywhere.
Her friends would be seeing her off at the airport, and that’s when I told her I was not coming, that moment the taxi arrived to take her away forever. I remember standing there, watching the taxi go. It was going to be, and was, as hard as it was to watch the plane leave.
So, there I was, finally staring at the blank sky, around me a dozen other plane spotters, a rather motley crew of plane enthusiasts.
Already that morning there’s been 6 different types of plane depart, and I could hear another winding up its engines for take-off.
People coming, people going.
Maybe I would go to New York in a couple of months, not to see her, but just see what the attraction was. Or maybe I would drop in, just to see how she was.
As one of my friends told me when I gave him the news, the future is never written in stone, and it’s about time you broadened your horizons.
It would be very interesting if duelling was still allowed. There are a few people I’d like to stand toe to toe with, take ten paces, then test my ability to shoot with an old style flint duelling pistol.
What’s this got to do with anything?
It’s where our word of the day comes in. If I lose my nerve, or I know my opposite number is a better shot, my second would have to stand in my place.
It’s, if anything, an older use of the word.
Of course, it mainly means, on one hand, coming second in a race or a competition, not exactly the place you really want to be, simply because no one really remembers who came second.
It plays host to a plethora of statements using second as part of the saying, such as,
Second rate, second hand, even if it had more than one owner, second best.
But then there’s a few more that mean something else like a second look, mainly because you didn’t trust your eyes, second nature, it’s been drilled into you (a rather painful idiom if it truly was) and second sight, though this might not necessarily be a verifiable attribute.
And, of lesser note, I’m not necessarily sure I’m second to none.
On the other hand, and pardon the pun using this definition, it also describes a length of time, very short in fact, and it takes 60 of them to make a minute.
Hang on, it’ll only take a second. Yes, we often use the word in vain. I doubt there is any one of us who could do anything useful in a second.
Thrills, Spills, and just a dash of Romance 