Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Nightfall

by John Xero


“For your price range, we got a real beauty.”

The salesman smirked at Joe’s credit chip; he led him into the dim, flickering recesses of the hold, to an ancient maintenance shuttle in flaking yellow.

It would do. Just a little conversion and it would be the perfect mule for his nasty, little dark matter bomb.

A short trip to the sun, and then... the final eclipse. A hole punched into another dimension – let’s call it hell, for the sake of argument. A gateway, for a race long fallen, banished.

For this betrayal, he had been promised his heart’s desires.








(Originally written for Lily Childs' Friday Prediction)

8 comments:

  1. Love it. Readers often say 'you should expand this story' and that's definately the case with this!

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    1. Thanks, Jack. =)

      I think the essence of flinging the ol' 'deal with the devil' forward in time needs no more, but I can see the rest expanded. But then I might have to give it a happy ending... and I don't think it deserves one. ;)

      Or maybe it doesn't need a happy ending. It wouldn't be the first time I've destroyed the Earth... I'm sure it won't be the last... ;)

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  2. Makes me wonder what his heart's desires might be...nothing good, presumably :-)

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    1. I'm not even sure they were specified in the deal, but, you know, your heart's desires... what would you do?

      Thanks, Li. =)

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  3. Nice and dark. Beware Joe, such a race may not be all you would wish for when it comes to fulfilling their promises.

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    1. Precisely, Steve. =)

      It's an old tale, but a good one. =)

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