[LNHY/ACRA] The Daily Super Short-Short Story #25

Saxon Brenton saxon.brenton at uts.edu.au
Sat Oct 2 01:28:16 PDT 2004


The Daily Super Short-Short Story #25
 
A Devil Came Down to Georgia 7
 
Last Time: Martin witnessed a skirmish purportedly between good and evil.
 
     The seminary student frowned and crossed his arms. "You're assuming 
that I want to be involved in your war."
     "It's not a matter of wanting or not wanting," the armoured giant 
replied seriously. If he was put off by Martin's all-but explicit 
rejection of his position, he didn't show it. "It's a matter of calling."
     "My calling is to God."
     "Yes."
     There was a long pause while Martin waited in vain for clarification 
of that. Finally he said, "You want to explain yourself, or should I just 
assume that you're deliberately being cryptic?"
     "The lines between good and evil are usually clear cut, but there 
are complications in this case," was the reply. "You will inevitably 
make a choice, but you must be sure that it is the *right* choice, and 
any advice I might give could muddy your reactions. You must search 
your feelings on this matter."
     "Thank you, Obi Wan Kenobi," was Martin's sarcastic reply. Then he 
frowned and said, "Why am I even talking to you, anyway? You're just a 
dream. You're probably just a suppressed anxiety about how Dad wanted me 
to go into his computer software company rather than take vows."
     "You are dreaming, but that doesn't mean that I'm a figment. And 
*that*," said the giant, pointing back towards the now distant battle 
between light and dark, "certainly is not."
     "Maybe. Maybe not," said Martin distractedly. He was thinking about 
what Shane had said earlier today. Was it really only a few hours ago? 
He had totally lost track of time, and now that he was trying to regain 
his bearings he found it difficult to adjust his sense of place and 
duration.
     'Oh, I'm dreaming and can do the impossible' Shane had said, or 
something like that. Well, let's see how... if... this worked. He raised 
one arm and imagined metal wings. The shape and form and texture. What 
it would feel like to have air racing over them.
     And quite suddenly, there were wings. "Okaaayyy," he breathed, and 
then began constructing a full flying battlesuit in his mind. Thruster 
jets formed at his ankles, and metal armour (far more aeronautically 
streamlined than that of his companion) formed over his body. Martin 
took to the air.
     "Cool!" was Martin's opinion as he soared up into the night sky. 
This was great! Better than sex, at which thought Martin blushed. He was 
supposed to be putting those sorts of urges behind him. Huh, hadn't Freud 
said that when you were dreaming of flying you were actually dreaming of 
sex? Martin recalled.  .oO( I wonder what it means when you're dreaming 
about sex, then? )
     The young man continued to climb higher and higher, and eventually 
he woke up.
 
 
     Martin tried to reorientate him perceptions and discover where he 
was.  .oO( Bed, ) he finally decided. Yeah, that would make sense. The 
clock on the bedside table said 2am. Bleah. That afternoon nap and 
subsequent study session to 11 must've thrown out his body clock.
     He rolled over and prepared to get up. He needed to go to the 
bathroom. He started to untangle the bedclothes from around his legs, 
which was when he discovered the thruster jet tubes growing out of his 
ankles.
     "Wha?" He looked around blearily. Was he still dreaming?
 
Tomorrow: How about some Tsukamoto style cybernetic body horror?
 
The Daily Super Short-Short Story series created by Arthur Spitzer, and 
used with belated permission.
 
-----
Saxon Brenton    University of Technology, city library, Sydney Australia
     saxon.brenton at uts.edu.au 
The Eyrie Archives of Russ Allbery which collect the online superhero 
fiction of the rec.arts.comics.creative newsgroup can be found at:
     http://archives.eyrie.org/racc/



More information about the racc mailing list