A momentary absence of pain. Rationality separates from context. A quiet moment, a slow breath. Enough time to settle, then the bottom falls out. Shadows on the walls.
Realspace asserts itself. Spheres resolve themselves into buoys and entry markers. The board starts to sing–*entry path traversal *entry alignment invalid *velocity unbounded *collision imminent.
He’s entered too close, too fast, out of control. Ed will pull his license for this. Heh, that’s funny. Will they pull his license before or after they clean the blood from the cabin? He’s delirious. Look at the walls.
Pull yourself in. Fire the balance thrusters. Engage alignment controls. The lights blur… darken. Hold on. Hold on. Lights refuse to resolve. He can’t hear the panel singing. Hold on. There’s blood on the walls. He has to hold on. They have to know. Too much blood on the walls.
Jo Rhett writes in California.
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6 Responses to “REALITY FAILS • by Jo Rhett”
Comments
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November 7th, 2007 at 4:33 am
Jo Rhett! It’s just as exciting as I remember! Are you writing the story yet?
November 7th, 2007 at 5:04 am
Too much blood on the walls. He turned to Ed. “Help me, Ed,” he pleaded weakly.
Ed confidently took the controls. “Where you at?” he asked.
“The level where you crash land the ship.”
November 7th, 2007 at 9:27 am
I liked this - it raises so many questions and leaves ‘em there.
Gerard - very Red Dwarf! Which I don’t think Jo piece implies.
(Red Dwarf is a cult UK Sci-Fi comedy series. “Smoke me a kipper - I’ll be back for breakfast!”)
November 7th, 2007 at 9:28 am
An intense scene. I’d love to read the rest of this piece sometime!
November 8th, 2007 at 5:08 am
“Which I don’t think Jo piece implies.”
I beg to differ. Clearly it implies it to me or I wouldn’t have made the connection. It didn’t imply it to you.
December 2nd, 2007 at 5:42 pm
[...] Reality Fails [...]