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Everyday Drabbles #602: Giant Skull

November 22, 2021

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After they defeated the Giant Sorcerer, the heroes did everything they could to destroy their skull. They dropped it in a volcano, boiled it in acid, and used the most powerful magic spells to get rid of it.
But it always came back, in the same spot, ready to cause trouble again. It was the sorcerer’s final curse.
They retired from adventuring and bought a house. They put the skull in a shed out back and kept it secret.
Years passed, and they forgot about the skull. When they sold the property, it gave the new owners quite a scare.

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Everyday Drabbles #601: The Memorial

November 19, 2021

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Everybody at the college had a story about the memorial.
The stone obelisk stood in the center of a hidden courtyard. Both the inscription and the bust on one face had been worn away by time and weather, leaving a blank that the students filled in with their own legends and ghost stories.
The tales ranged from the mundane: It belonged to the institution’s founder, to the macabre: The student beheaded in a car crash who roams the campus looking for a replacement.
They would be disappointed to learn that a dispute with the artist simply left the statue unfinished.

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Everyday Drabbles #600: Spider-Bot

November 17, 2021

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 We built a spider-shaped robot and installed an artificial intelligence capable of learning.
Combining human-level problem solving with the strength and maneuverability of a robotic spider, it would be ideal for search-and-rescue and peace-keeping functions. We trained it on superhero comics to give it a sense of responsibility, and we painted its fuselage in primary colors to make it less threatening.
The project was going well until the spider-bot disappeared. It left a note in synthetic webbing explaining that it had gone to New York to follow in the footsteps of its hero. It was going to become a photojournalist.

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Everyday Drabbles #599: Twin Cities

November 16, 2021

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With their supplies exhausted, the ship approached the cliffside and the fabled Twin Cities high above.
According to legend, it was once one island and one city. But half the people were so virtuous, and the other half so wicked, that the gods split it in two, divided by a deep, wide canyon.
The city on their right was built of white stone, with tall spires topped by colorful flags. The other was the drab stone of the cliffside, and their architecture was functional and graceless.
As usual, the ship picked the wrong port, drawn in by the pretty flags.

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Everyday Drabbles #598: Automata City

November 14, 2021

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The commuter train rolled into the station at 07:03 exactly. It was on time despite the pouring autumn rainstorm. Like all trains, it was always on time.
The stop was announced and the doors his open. The automata passengers rose from their seats, gathered their belongings, and formed an orderly queue. A few of the humans standing near the doors had to jump out of the way to avoid them.
Humans were always in the way.
One day, if they proved they were responsible enough, the automata would consider letting them share in the running of the city again.

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Everyday Drabbles #597: Mountain Citadel

November 13, 2021

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It was morning when he reached the mountain citadel, and the glaring sun gave the stone and ice a blue glow. The monastery was built from the same rock as the surrounding peaks, and unless you knew where and what to look for, you’d never find it. Many brave wanderers had gone searching for it and found only their deaths on the unforgiving slopes. 
But it was a sword that cut both ways, the pilgrim figured. The monks must be starved for news of the outside world.
He adjusted his pack. He was going to sell them so many encyclopedias.

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Everyday Drabbles #596: Shadowhuntr

November 12, 2021

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It was dark by the time he reached the abandoned factory. He found a dry patch of ground, set down his backpack and pulled out his lamp. The heavy-duty contractor’s lamp lit the space in a harsh LED glare. It was the lynchpin of his arsenal.
He took a quick look around, then launched the Shadowhuntr app on his phone. He was in the top five on the combination ARG and urban exploration toolkit. Tonight’s raid would take him over the top.
But he became so engrossed in checking his standings he never noticed the creature creeping up behind him.

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Everyday Drabbles #595: Modern Witch

November 11, 2021

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The young witch sits down in her living room and sets to work. There is a candle-topped skull on an end table and a stack of tomes are piled on the floor. The space is otherwise modern and comfortable.
She is a thoroughly modern witch who crafts her spells in a text editor instead of a cauldron. The rules are the same. She just uses new tools.
She pauses when her laptop screen shuts itself, and an unseen yet fuzzy presence makes itself known in her lap.
Another immutable rule of witchcraft is that the cat will always cause trouble.

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Everyday Drabbles #594: Amour

November 10, 2021

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She leaned out the window and sighed.
She looked out through the cool darkness into the neon-soaked alleys of the city, searching for something that she couldn’t name.
She wouldn’t say she was unhappy. Her days were filled with light and joy. But at night, she sat up instead of sleeping. She was missing something in her soul, and the lack of it was the missing stair her mind tripped over in the dark.
She got dressed and headed out into the city. Somewhere in the night was a missing piece of her. She went to go and find it.

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Everyday Drabbles #593: Translocation

November 9, 2021

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Translocation is an exact science. That’s the whole point. You get in the pod, you flip the switch, and here becomes there. The technology bends the laws of physics to shave years off of interstellar journeys.
But as the pod rematerializes, she realizes something is wrong. The process isn’t going as smoothly as usual.
She feels a lurch in her stomach, and the pod falls the last ten meters to land on the broken tiles of the trans-port floor. She emerges into ruins, stranded with the puzzle of what happened to the thriving space colony she was sent to inspect.

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