The Contradictite

[Author's Note: This was written in December for the Litmas 2005 competition on deviantArt. It did not win. It plays with the idea of X-mas, treating the X like the Roman numeral for 10. That's what the dec- in December is for, after all.] Cell Sixteen in The Laboratory shined with red and green lights, blinking on and off, causing a yellow light to pour into the hallway. Clenoin peeked his head into the door as he walked past. “Someone else decorating for X-ember?” he asked Kakaisha, who was partially obscured by a cabinet. Kakaisha leaned to the side as she stared into a beaker. It glowed faintly with a reddish tint. “What’s that, Clen?” Surrounding her were several shelves of the red, glowing bottles. The computer’s monochrome screen contributed the green. Together they flickered, illuminating the room in a festive manner. Clenoin looked away shyly. “Nothing, Kakaisha.” He shuffled his feet as he tried not to make eye contact with the woman. She resumed her note taking...

Once upon a time, there was an author named Günter Godric. He specialized in writing speculative fiction, but took special enjoyment in reinterpreting fairy tales through a science fiction lense. His most recent tale took the concept of Diamonds and Toads, and added a space element to it. Diamonds and Toads in one of its many forms, tells the story of three young sisters, two of them vain and wicked, the third pure and noble, and their evil stepmother. The older sisters took advantage of all opportunities that would come their way, while the youngest sister was long-suffering, humble, and took her lot in life with grace and humility, taking no more than her share. Günter, on the particular evening in which we join him, sat on a stool in a bar. In his hand was an imported beer, and at his side was a ragged old man who was much less partial about his drink. Günter’s face was flush, and his speech slurred. Though the bar was mostly empty, he still spoke to the old man beside him as if...

[Author's Note: This story has been released to the Public Domain under the CC0  license. The full version may be read here .] "The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax-- Of cabbages--and kings-- And why the sea is boiling hot-- And whether pigs have wings." Lewis Carroll, "The Walrus and the Carpenter" Gladwell once wrote:             Cabbages and Kings                       To G.G.             Thanks for helping me write this. But:             Things were not right with the universe. Chapters Chapter 1 Chapter 2

Eyes in the Dark The restaurant was a quaint affair with orange walls mimicking adobe clay. Carlos ordered for everyone, speaking Spanish to the waiter. While waiting for the food, John lifted a glass of water to his mouth. “Señor,” said Carlos gravely, “don’t drink the water.” John has a surprised look, holding the glass to his lips. “I’m only kidding.” The others began to laugh at John’s expense. He too began to laugh, sipping his water. He set the glass on the table, shaking his head at Carlos. They passed the time spent waiting for their food by talking with each other. They learned a lot about Carlos and his family during that one evening. The food itself was a new experience for John and Martha, who had rarely eaten anything made outside of their kitchen in quite some time. Granted, they had eaten Mexican food in the past, though it was Americanized. This stuff was pure. This was true Mexican food. Everyone ordered different things, but they all shared...

Forgery At the hospital, Doctor McKinnie filled out some paperwork. Having done it many times before, he was an old hand at these documents. He sorted them and stuffed them into a large yellow envelope. He scrawled the Drost’s address on the face of the envelope, slapped a stamp in the upper right-hand corner, and dropped it in the outgoing mail bin. He had to lie a bit to get the data into the system. It was not blatant fraud, just a little misrepresenting of dates things occurred, and whether or not he witnessed a particular event. He told no one of what he did. He could face serious consequences. Though, it was for the best. *** John parked his truck next to the house. He did not notice the man hiding in the back. Grabbing the box of epinephrine pens, he made his way for the front door. His wife greeted him cheerfully, apparently having no signs of recently being ill or in need of serious medical attention. The man observed this, then jotted a few notes. He l...

Allergies John encountered Carlos one afternoon. He and some of the other hands were smoking cigars. “Big news, jefe, my son was born this morning!” “That’s great, Carlos. What’s the boy’s name?” “Pablo.” Carlos reached inside the cigar box he had and handed a cigar to smoke. John took it, unwrapped it, used a knife Carlos had to cut the head, and held a lit wooden match to the tuck. He puffed on the cigar lightly as he told the hands what the day’s activities would be. He came inside for lunch smelling slightly of cigar smoke. Martha set down a sandwich and bowl of soup for him. Marvin crawled about the kitchen while he ate. Crawling to his feet, he looked up at his surrogate father. He sniffed John’s pant leg slightly, sensing the odor of cigar. Scrunching his face in disgust, he coughed, and then crawled into the other room in search of more interesting things. John finished his sandwich then reconvened with his hands in the fields. As he worked, the sun ...

Hatchling As the days passed, Martha and John took turns tending to the egg. The incubator did most of the work. They just ensured that nothing bad was happening. “John, what happens when this thing hatches?” “What do you mean?” “It will be hungry, I guess. What will we feed it?” John had not thought about this before. “I should run into town. What do you think it will eat?” Martha pondered for a moment. “We had better play it safe: get vegetables, meat and some grains.” “Okay.” John grabbed the truck keys and hurried outside. At the door he turned, “You’ll be all right here by yourself?” Martha glanced at the egg, and then back at John. She smiled and nodded. John got into the truck, rolling it onto the street. Martha turned towards the incubator, getting a chance to study the egg. She absentmindedly ran her hands along the amber colored glass, tracing the patterns of the egg. She jumped back suddenly as it moved. Her husband had told her that if it started hatch...