How Far Can We Fly?

“Mars Colony Nuova Gaia, 4th of June, 2114.

Day 3157 of the Dedalus Mission.

Our current settlement is home to 8 people and it’s getting crowded. With the new arrivals set for three months from now, we are on a short schedule to add more space…New living quarters, completely new life support unit, another floating garden and we will finally finish the tunnel to the Dome that will house our first animal settlers.

They said we could make a list of things they would send us, but it is limited to 5 items and 50 cubic centimeter per person . How can I decide? From all the things I think I miss, what is it that I truly long for?

Marcus and I had an argument the other day. He says there is something disturbingly wrong with me, for he can’t understand how I can stay so focused and determined after all these years out here, but most of all he just can’t understand how can I be so irritably happy most of the time. He is breaking more and more each day, the thought that he can never go back is driving him crazy, slowly and irreversibly.

How can I explain to him that I dreamed about this since I was a kid? That I would leap from tree to tree in my back yard, pretending I am Joan Carter of Mars. How can I describe all those summer nights I was stargazing from the roof of the old barn on my grandparents farm? How can he understand that irresistible interstellar pull on my heart? Every step in my life lead to this moment, to this place, to this planet.

So, when he asks: What do you miss most?
I reply: Dreams.
And when he asks: So, how come you are always smiling?
I say: Because of the view.

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In My Dreams You Always Smile

Time for another entry in Friday Fictioneers challenge, courtesy of Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. If you want to give it a try, check the info on her blog. 100 words more or less, inspired by a photo, here we go….

 Copyright –  Sarah Potter

I left the memory of us in the top left drawer of our old desk.  It seemed like a too heavy burden to carry, so I left it all in Mom’s winter garden.

Years gone by and still I dream of us. With hugs and kisses you blew away all my childish pains and worries, even when your oxygen tank became too heavy to drag around.

The old desk is gone. Along with the winter garden and you. The improvidence of childhood is replaced with the ever present sorrow of old age. But I hold tight to our memory.

Ablaze

Time for another entry in Friday Fictioneers challenge, courtesy of Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. If you want to give it a try, check the info on her blog. 100 words more or less, inspired by a photo, here we go….

 Copyright –   Karuna

We were children of summer, careless and scorching, just like mid-July breeze. In our world lines were meant to be crossed and rules were made to be ignored.

“Will you come back?” Alain, with his usual boldness asked, while you just sat there and watched the ocean. It surprised  me how effortlessly I enjoyed your naked bodies, but how impossibly hard it became to look into your eyes.

Without a word, you ran into the water and we followed you for our last dive, three souls lost in an ocean of love.

And then the world pulled us apart.

From Afar

Time for another entry in Friday Fictioneers challenge, courtesy of Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. If you want to give it a try, check the info on her blog. 100 words more or less, inspired by a photo, here we go….

 Copyright –   Jellico’s Stationhouse

The soft afternoon light follows the shadows waltzing across the wall, like a lover following the one who offers only a heartbreak. Curtains part before a breeze that carries the fragrance of spring flowers and something long forgotten. The music sneaks around the old furniture, whimsically scattered across the room. Two entangled bodies reflect in the large mirror at the foot of the bed, offering a splendid portrait of wasted chances. A long-case clock in the corner mocks the thieves, as the stolen time slips away.

His arms hold me tight.

This wont last.

But I don’t care about tomorrow.

Home

Time for another entry in Friday Fictioneers challenge, courtesy of Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. If you want to give it a try, check the info on her blog. 100 words more or less, inspired by a photo, here we go….

 Copyright –   Jennifer Pendergast

“Hard to imagine it was once blue, isn’t it Grandpa?”

Ryōkan watched his granddaughter, nose and hands pressed to the window, her imagination trying to transform brown planet into an aquarelle of blues and greens.

“I don’t have to imagine, I remember.”

With an ease enabled by the low gravity field, Kahouru pushed against the window and glided towards Ryōkan.

“I wish we could go back.”

Kissing the top of her head, Ryōkan offered his pocket watch to Kahouru. The old broken thing with an image of the Earth elicited the sweetest smile from the girl.

“Maybe in another lifetime.”

You Carry Me

Time for another entry in Friday Fictioneers challenge, courtesy of Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. If you want to give it a try, check the info on her blog. 100 words more or less, inspired by a photo, here we go….

 Copyright –   Shaktiki Sharma

“One, two, three…One, two, three…turn to your left. And again!”

I was there once. Feet softly touching the ground, your arms lifting me up in the air, my hands reaching for the sky. I never counted the steps, never thought about the moves. We were liquid magic, barely standing still.

“Two, two, three…Two, two, three…Release!”

I stand still now. Watching someone else dance my dreams away. The paralyzing pain comes in waves, crashing over me, leaving me breathless.

But you are here, lifting me up, whispering softly:

“One, two, three…One, two, three…Fly!”

You carry me.

Pale Blue Dot

Time for another entry in Friday Fictioneers challenge, courtesy of Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. If you want to give it a try, check the info on her blog. 100 words more or less, inspired by a photo, here we go….

 Copyright –  Sarah Potter

The view up here is beautiful, the splendor of my home below more distant every minute. Everything I ever knew and loved is there. DNA of my ancestors and my descendants compressed in building blocks of future. And still…there is this calmness I feel, the sense of fulfillment as I reach for my final frontier.

My great-grandmother taught me to look up, to search the sky: “One day you could be up there.”
“But I am not a bird.”
She would smile and caress my cheek: “No, you are a ray of light.”

Here I am, soon to become just that.

Where there were snowflakes, I saw galaxies. This week’s offering is an excerpt from the short story I wrote some time ago. I am working on a longer version, but you can check the original with all its imperfections. 🙂

Make It Count