Category: Stories

The 7-11 was crowded for a Friday night, lots of people in and out. Jordan was waiting for the right person and the right pause in traffic to make a move. No couples, no kids, only a solo target was going to be easy enough. It had been too long since he’s had to rob anyone and he was feeling rusty.

Jordan was an average sized man, standing 6 feet tall and weighing about 250. He had a shaved head and wore a closely trimmed beard. 

It was approaching ten o’clock and he was getting hungrier, his stomach grumbled a few times too often and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could wait it out. Finally he saw a younger looking guy go into the store by himself, he had parked near the end of the parking spaces and would be shrouded in the dark, perfect… now if only the other customers would cooperate. 

The guy was taking a long time in the store and Jordan started to get antsy. “Breathe Jordan, breathe, patience, this will be fast and easy.” He unsheathed his knife and gave it the once over, still looked pretty menacing in the dark and should be all he needs to pull this off. He skulked closer to the parked car and found a shadow to hide in. 

He’d been out of work now for four weeks and the kitchen at home was bare, he was only doing what he had to to survive. Due to his work record he wasn’t able to collect the full amount of unemployment and he found it hard to survive on just $138 a week. Food was an essential need at this point and he needed extra money to make it. This poor sap was about to help him whether he wanted to or not.

He had asked his parents for help, but they couldn’t help being in the assisted living facility was expensive enough they said. His dad even suggested he pull himself up by his bootstraps and get a real job, like he hadn’t tried to find a new job, but the economy was crashed and only the millionaires and billionaires seemed to be doing ok, though to hear them talk they too were feeling the pinch. Jordan would take their kind of suffering over his any day.

He grabbed the medal of Saint Christopher that hung around his neck and prayed for forgiveness and strength as the man approached. 

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Ed, 5’9” tall, about 210 slim built and wearing glasses was out on a Friday night just to pick up some snacks and buy a lottery ticket. The jackpot for Saturday night was $350,000,000 and he was already planning how to spend it all. In the 7-11 he grabbed a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos, a pack of Twizzlers and two cans of Rockstar Pure Zero Punched, his favorites. He approached the counter and stood in line waiting for his turn and thought to himself maybe a scratcher or two would be in order as well, what the hell.

Finally at the counter he placed his stuff down, grabbed his wallet and asked “Can I get 5 Powerball tickets for tomorrow and two of these scratchers” pointing to $10 tickets in the display. 

“These?” the teller, a middle aged middle-eastern man with a bushy mustache, asked pointing to the right ones “Yeah, those” 

Ed paid for his items with cash, stuck his Powerball ticket into his wallet and headed out the door.

“You forgot your scratchers” the clerk called 

Ed slapped himself on his forehead and walked back in. “Lucky you caught me, maybe it means these are winners.” 

“Good luck” said the clerk smiling. 

Ed smiled at him and thought to himself how lucky that was and maybe these would be winners after all. A couple extra dollars would be nice. As he approached his car he hit the key fob to unlock it and moved his bag to his right hand. 

He just saw Jordan step out of the shadows as his hand reached the door handle. Thinking it must just be another customer he didn’t think anything of it.

“Give me your wallet.” Jordan said loudly with as deep a voice he could manage, he was hoping it would be harder for him to be identified if he were caught. He had slipped a bandanna over his mouth and nose to obscure his features and hoped that would be enough. He held the knife firmly and hoped his target couldn’t see how much his hand was shaking.

Ed felt adrenaline surge through his body and his fight or flight reactions came to the forefront, this was one time he wouldn’t lie down and take it. He wasn’t planning to hand over anything to this thug. He looked over his shoulder and saw the man and thought – I can take him, I know I can. He slowly turned around and faced his attacker.

“Slow buddy, slow, just hand me your wallet and no one will get hurt” Jordan said twisting the knife and hoping the distant lights would make it glint and look more menacing. 

“I’m not giving you my wallet” Ed exclaimed “scram, get out of here” he said and tried to shove Jordan away. 

“Not messing around here buddy, give me your wallet.” He backed out of Ed’s reach and held his knife up.

Ed hadn’t seen the knife earlier and now was a bit more cautious yet still determined not to get mugged and give up his money. He tensed up his body and got ready to make a grab for the knife – he swung his bag out at Jordan’s head and went to grab the knife with his left hand. 

Jordan panicked and ducked. When he came up his struck with his knife welding hand and stuck Ed in the belly. He couldn’t believe he had just done that and yanked the knife out – blood gushed and Ed fell to the ground with a gasp. 

“Dude, why didn’t you just give me your wallet. What the fuck” Jordan said. He had to get out of here, but he had waited too long for this. He reached down and found Ed’s wallet and grabbed it and then seeing the Doritos in the bag he grabbed that too and he ran.

“FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK” Jordan thought as he ran for his car. This was bad, bad. What was he going to do. “Just run”, he thought “get home and we’ll figure this out” he pulled his bandana down and ran for his car and hoped he wouldn’t run into anyone. 

This is the start of a Sci-Fi story I’m writing. We’ll see how it turns out.

Chapter 1

A group of scientists had finally accomplished what we long hoped for – the ability to travel through the universe and back home without losing our most prized commodity – time. The media were calling it warp drive when it was first announced but it wasn’t really akin to what we had seen on old Star Trek episodes at all. I don’t understand all the techno speak on it I just knew it worked and we were going to be able to save everyone after all. The tech guys called it Ushering – as it wasn’t so much a piloted or driven program but one that we directed to the precise place in space we wanted to go. 

The Earth was doomed. Resources on planet had dwindled, despite the decades of warnings that it was likely to happen we just kept consuming as fast as possible. You couldn’t convince the majority that their every action had consequences; they always assumed it was the other guy. I’m guilty myself: two showers a day, leaving my electronics plugged in and taking the Betram two blocks to the store when I could have walked. 

Trying to make up for my own selfishness, I was one of the first volunteers for early missions on the newly enabled star ships. After months of grueling testing, not just our fitness but also the new ships with the capabilities to get us where we were going, the first mission to find habitable worlds was ready. 

The Jump, that’s what we’ve been calling the seemingly instant move from our orbit to another point in space, always left a person with the feeling of your stomach being left behind. The first time was the worst – knowing from the others what to expect didn’t seem to calm my nerves or lower my shoulders from around my ears. But from the moment the ship came to a stop the only way I knew we had moved at all was the sudden lack of sounds with the notable exception of tech beeping. 

Our unmanned ships had located a few planets we thought to be habitable – our journey was to the closest one – though nearness seemed to not matter anymore. Our ship, Usher I, had the capacity for 150 people and 5 metric tons of supplies. 

We wanted to be prepared for just about anything – so certain factions of the population insisted we have weapons aboard as well. The ship was outfitted with various rockets bearing nuclear components as well as the latest laser tech that science had stumbled onto. There were those who thought equipping for violence would beget violence but their voices were drowned out by the fear mongering politicians. Reflecting on the imminent destruction of the planet you’d think we’d outgrow political and religious maneuvering but it doesn’t seem to fade. 

Usher I carried supplies to start terra forming planets to meet the needs of our race. We brought with us not just seeds and soil but also certain chemicals that we believed would transform the alien landscape to enable growth at an accelerated rate. The chemical companies that were so despises in the early 2000s were more than happy to manipulate the soil and seeds that the human race would depend upon.. but not without caring about their profit margin first. Raising prices and taking advantage of the doom approaching many conglomerates grew to epic proportions before the first manned flight, their logos were all over the ship – maybe they thought to be the first advertisers in space, in case anyone was watching. 

Shuttles were detached from the main ship and we made our way to the planet surface – Keppler was the first planet discovered back in the 2000s that would have the potential for life like Earth so naturally that was our destination. Entering orbit seemed similar to doing so back home, rough g-forces and reentry shaking almost comforted me as transcended. The sudden pop of silence and realization that we had arrived within the atmosphere was a revelation. I leaned forward to peer out the windows at what might be home. 

The new world erupted in colors and shapes, there appeared to be vast oceans and land masses that were not dissimilar to home. Their suns light glittered on the waters, clouds drifted in the skies – a hope filled me that maybe we’d be saved after all. 

Modular pods were assembled on flat terrain; these were as large as a football field and 4 stories tall. Inside we prepared soil for planting and terraforming, built dwellings and places for the lab folks to do what they do. It wasn’t long before the initial buildings were completed and we prepared to explore the rest of the planet. 

Betrams, the propulsion vehicles that replaced automobiles on Earth, were capable of long distance travel over almost any terrain. Equipped with oxygen generators and enough water and sustenance to ensure a long trip. Outside sensors monitored air quality, tools could be extended to sample soil and plant life that we might encounter. 

I had hope that we would discover new life – a first encounter with another species in the universe overwhelmed my thoughts. Maybe intelligent life could help us to better understand the self-imposed destruction of our own world. How did they avoid the pitfalls of greed and apathy that seemed to overtake humanity?

We weren’t that fortunate – we did find some plant life and soil that seemed capable of working with the chemicals formulated to grow genetically modified food from the seeds we brought with us. That was enough hope to keep us going – and would be met with such excitement back at base. 

We explored for three weeks before heading back, loaded up with various samples. We did not find breathable air nor drinkable water but some of the more scientific crew said that modifying what was there would take a little effort on their part but could certainly be accomplished – in time. 

Reaching the base we encountered many changes – several more shuttle trips from Usher I to the planet surface had occurred. A bustling group of people greeted us at the airlock. They had been busy and new life had sprouted in the soil, people were busy in all parts of the base with a hundred different tasks. Though dismayed at the lack of promising air and water – the scientists got to work right way examining the samples we returned with. 

Communication with Earth had been established – folks back home were excited to learn we had successfully arrived. The news empires had insisted a few of their reporters accompany the first journey so everything was being documented and scrutinized by folks back home – not just the governments of the world but every day Joes as well. Someone had taken the time to “check-in” on Facebook so the reporters wanted to know her life story and how she was so forward thinking. The media hadn’t changed, play to the lowest common denominator and feed them just enough to keep them watching. The science of it was boring to the folks back home I guess – strange to think that our hope for survival had less interest than someone clicking a button on their mobile device. 

The Dormitories with hot showers and soft beds called my name. I escaped the turmoil of the city and found a place of solitude. Sleep came quickly and my dreams of other worldly creatures comforted me rather than startled me.

Chapter 2

They’re calling it Kandor – this city on another planet that we’ve created. A few of the people with us are old Superman fans after many people referred to our bustling little civilization as a bottled city they shared about the bottled city of Kandor that Superman saved from certain doom. The name is sticking – even the media uses the name when the broadcast back home.

Large connected bubbles overwhelm the otherwise barren landscape. Most aren’t opaque but rather a dull white. Everyone wanted to peer at the sky – it’s unfamiliar stars and sun held a certain fascination with most of us. To accommodate this need several large domes were constructed where people could observe the night sky without the need of our pressurized suits or departing the seeming safety of Kandor. 

Most of the time we haven’t had time for stargazing – we were busy making sure everything was sealed and safe and journeying around the planet in Betrams – using auto cartography apps that would soon provide an entire 3D map of our new world. Nothing but planet that we could see – no signs of life now or previously could be found. That’s considered a good thing as we didn’t want any angry neighbors upset that we might have ruffled their lawn. 

We did have some excitement a few weeks ago – a few folks were certain they had found signs of life. A bug had been seen in one of the cargo holds and days were spent trying to locate the little bugger. Unfortunately it was just an earth born cockroach that had found its way into our supplies – makes many of us wonder what else might have taken a space trip with us.