Short Story: Slow Burn

So far, I’ve written two short stories.  The first story about a man or woman who lay dying at the end of a lost space battle was an excellent exercise for growth of character without direct references to gender, appearance, or name.  We learned s/he was stoic, at peace with her fate, and very rational despite his/her circumstances.  I felt very proud of my ability to convey those states of mind without other trappings.  It’s still pretty early in my writing career, and I know that writing is like anything else: the more it’s practiced, the greater a wordsmith you become. 

The second story was less of a short story, to be perfectly honest.  What it turned out to be was the beginnings of an amazing world, character, story, and basically all around novel.  As such, I’m actually several thousand words deep into it as we speak, and I will continue to add roughly one thousand more words a day until it is complete.  I had been working on a fantasy novel prior to it, but I honestly believe that novel will require my writing skills to be at a higher level in order to do it justice.  I’ve chosen a rather complex and daunting task with it, so I actually feel better with the shift in gears to a more descriptive sci-fi novel with great world building and a lovely amount of intrigue to leaven the novel.   It wasn’t much of a good short story, but as far as seeds for a novel, it was incredibly good.

So, today is going to be less of the second short story to date, and more of the first one. 

Without further ado:  Slow Burn

So much for being ‘brand new‘ Gemini groused to himself as the last sounds of the engine blowout faded from inside the cockpit, the noise replaced slowly by silence.  Without preamble, the gravity generator shut off, leaving Gemini pressed the wrong way against his cockpit restraints while his ship began to lazily drift without guidance from the main engine.  “That” he mused aloud “marks the end of my business at Cornerstone.”  A cool female voice answered his statement “I am not familiar with that command Captain Gemini.  Please restate your request.” 

Well, at least I haven’t lost my DOLE-E, Gemini thought with gratitude.  “I’m sorry Dolly” Gemini said “I am not issuing commands at this time, begin listing full status report.”  Gemini unstrapped himself from the cockpit as Dolly began listing off status reports for each primary system.  Floating in the lack of gravity, he pushed off from his chair towards the ceiling, where he could grab hold of the guidance bar.  As always, he felt such Zero G redundancies lacked any sense of decorum.  A naked steel grey bar which ran along the ceiling of his entire ship wasn’t the least bit in keeping with his personal grand images of romanticized space travel.  It comes in handy entirely too often though he thought as he swung along it towards his destroyed engine. 

Before he even arrived in the rear of the ship, he knew he was in deep trouble.  The biggest giveaway was the engine bulkhead door being lodged firmly in the rear kitchen wall, at least 20 feet from it’s normal resting place.  “How did I not have a breech?” Gemini wondered with amazement.  “Internal reinforcement engineered specifically to direct any explosive blasting out through one way overflow nozzles.  The remaining force of the explosion was not sufficient to break through the structural integrity of the engine housing, instead finding the point of least resistance in your bulkhead door.”  Dolly intoned with her usual lack of understanding towards the word “rhetorical”.  “Thank you Dolly” Gemini responded automatically as he surveyed the damaged hallway leading towards what used to be an engine room. 

Charred is the only word that seemed to fit.  Every possible surface was coated with the burnt residue of engine grease, coolant, and the reminder of what had once been the terminal interfaces.  The engine itself was ruined beyond any hope of repair.  A useless lump of melted metals and circuitry, there was no hope that he would be getting even nominal use out of anything in this room.  Again, he marveled at the lack of escaping ozone.  The walls and ceiling were pockmarked where the super-heated engine grease had chewed into them.  What now? he wondered as his mind worked furiously to dig him out of this disaster.

“Dolly, is the structural integrity of the engine housing compromised?” Gemini stated with a surge of hope as an idea struck him.  “Negative Captain Gemini, engineered safeguards allowed for sufficient diffusing of the destructive forces when the engine failed to keep all superstructures intact.”  “Dolly, is the engine mounting capable of detaching what’s left of the engine?” Gemini asked with baited breath.  “Unknown Captain Gemini.  My circuitry connected to the engine room has all been destroyed, and I am unable to check the engine mountings.  I calculate a 17% probability that the floor sealant prevented the destruction of the mounting apparatus.”  “Then we aren’t out of the game yet Dolly!” Gemini whooped as he turned himself around in the lack of gravity and headed towards the cargo bay

Thankfully, shipping regulations demanded that all goods be firmly attached to the cargo bay floor, so nothing heavy and dangerous was floating about with newfound freedom.  Gemini rotated in the lack of gravity, planted his feet on the ceiling, and shoved off towards his goal.  With luck, he had picked the right angle to reach the heavy farm equipment secured towards the front of the cargo bay doors.  “Dolly, will one of these tractor engines allow for entry into the nearest hyper-loop junction?”  “Affirmative Captain Gemini.  It will require a slow burn to keep within the safety margins of the engines designed capabilities, but it will be sufficient.” Dolly stated with her usual lack of emotion. Gemini however, looked at the tractor engines with enough emotion for the both of them.  They looked like hope.  

Fin
Justin