Saturday's Storyteller: "Andy woke up in space."
by Belinda Roddie
Andy woke up in space. And how lovely the cosmos were! Swollen nebulae pulsing like rich celestial cotton candy. Misty fingers rising to the occasion. Beautiful in every way. Like a child's fever dreams come to life.
Andy had not been prepared for this. At least, he thought he hadn't. But his suit had been prepared in the most beneficial way. In the cold vacuum, it protected him and seemed to give him endless oxygen even when there was none outside his helmet. And as he jettisoned about, he could see the corners of his visor brimming with stars.
He found a rocky planet to set down on, to readjust his footing, and see how far he had gone. Earth was nowhere near him. Good. This was a very nice change from the 9-5 monotony he had become accustomed to at the age of thirty-nine. Even with his suit on, he felt his receding hairline prickle as if with static electricity. His breath was warm, making his face feel greasy as he paced slowly around the terrain, the sparse gravity allowing him to lift with the dust billowing around the asteroids.
What a friendly place space was. No judgment or moral values. Smiles from white dwarfs who didn't get mad when you called them dwarves. The gleam of a distant sun heating a distant solar system. The galaxy was open to Andy, who had woken up this morning thinking he'd have to repair the copy machine again because some asshole always dumped coffee on it. Instead, he was a weightless speck in the chaos of the unknown universe.
An insignificant speck.
Andy liked it that way.
This week's prompt was provided by Daniel Bulone.
Andy woke up in space. And how lovely the cosmos were! Swollen nebulae pulsing like rich celestial cotton candy. Misty fingers rising to the occasion. Beautiful in every way. Like a child's fever dreams come to life.
Andy had not been prepared for this. At least, he thought he hadn't. But his suit had been prepared in the most beneficial way. In the cold vacuum, it protected him and seemed to give him endless oxygen even when there was none outside his helmet. And as he jettisoned about, he could see the corners of his visor brimming with stars.
He found a rocky planet to set down on, to readjust his footing, and see how far he had gone. Earth was nowhere near him. Good. This was a very nice change from the 9-5 monotony he had become accustomed to at the age of thirty-nine. Even with his suit on, he felt his receding hairline prickle as if with static electricity. His breath was warm, making his face feel greasy as he paced slowly around the terrain, the sparse gravity allowing him to lift with the dust billowing around the asteroids.
What a friendly place space was. No judgment or moral values. Smiles from white dwarfs who didn't get mad when you called them dwarves. The gleam of a distant sun heating a distant solar system. The galaxy was open to Andy, who had woken up this morning thinking he'd have to repair the copy machine again because some asshole always dumped coffee on it. Instead, he was a weightless speck in the chaos of the unknown universe.
An insignificant speck.
Andy liked it that way.
This week's prompt was provided by Daniel Bulone.
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