#sf

A tangle of freeways and overpasses

It's Friday around 9pm, and we're driving home from dinner at the pub.

Charlie has her seat laid back a bit, and is chewing her bottom lip a little.

"Love, you have your thinking face on." I say.
"Hmm. Yes."
I wait while she chews over her thoughts.
"What do you know about Anthea?" she asks after a few minutes.
"Not much. Started in the call centre a couple of months ago. Seems to fit in OK. Why?"
"She's not human. And I don't know what she is."
"So she's an alien?"
"I don't think so. She fits in too well. And the way she swore at me for the trick with the wing was too natural. I guess her parents could be, and she was raised here. But no. I think she's just something I've never seen before."
We drive on for a bit.
"I know she has her lunch in the park." I supply after a few more minutes. "And I think she's on the day shift next week."
"Alright. I'll talk to her then. Somewhere nice and neutral."
We get home, and after cuddling and giggling at cat videos for an hour or so, turn in for the night.

It is now 10am on Saturday, we've finished a leisurely breakfast, and Charlie is washing up when there is a soft tapping on our door. We look at each other, and I go and answer it.

Standing at the door is Anthea, and just behind her is an older woman - around my age, although in much better shape than I am.

"Hi Toby. This is Candice, my mum." I do a quick double take, but no, this is not Candy-the-werewolf. "I figured your wife probably noticed something off about me, I looked you up on the white pages."

I looked them over. Anthea looked embarrassed, while her mum was standing confidently. "Come on in. Lounge room is that way." I point "Sweety! Anthea and her mum are here."
Charlie comes out of the kitchen, looks at them, and then looks again.
Candice speaks up "I can explain."
We get seated, and I make introductions.
Candice takes the lead "OK, so I am human, and Anthea is my daughter."
Charlie nods, and she continues "Her father isn't. It took me a good ten years to get our genes to work together. As it is Anthea is about 80% human."
"And the other 20%?" I ask.
"Plant. A South American plant that, um.."
Charlie's eyes narrow, and then widen, and she grins. "Looks like a cross between a pitcher plant and a Venus flytap, only about ten feet tall?"
"Uh, yes."
"So you have a symbiotic pairing. How lovely. And you've created a dryad! Oh this explains everything!" exclaims Charlie excitedly.
Anthea looks relieved at that.
"Right then. Tea? Coffee? Something else?" I cut in, now that the tension is broken. I can see I'm going to have to ask Charlie about what sort of plant later.

-----
Candice previously appeared in https://aus.social/users/rdm/statuses/113033681406444679 and https://aus.social/@rdm/114510127680594433

#CharlieAndToby #SF #SFF #microfiction #tootfic #IAmWriting

1/2

It is nine o'clock on a... Well no. It is 4:45 on a Friday afternoon, and we've all knocked off to go down to the pub. Charlie is meeting me there, and we'll probably do dinner there. She doesn't usually turn up to after-work drinks, but Anthea was coming off shift and asked if she could meet her.

We walk in, and I can see that Charlie has already claimed one of the long tables. I give her a hello kiss, and we all sit down. Anthea makes a point of sitting across from us.

She is clearly trying to reconcile the two of us. Me, I'm a skinny middle-aged geek in a tee shirt and jeans. Charlie has an ageless elegance. She's dressed in a black singlet and vest combo over culottes with a flamingo print.

"So this is the new one, Tobes?" she asks me.
"Yep. Anthea, meet my wife Charlotte."
"Hi... so... um... well, how did you two meet?"
"It's your story Tobes. You tell it."
I take a sip of the drink that has arrived in front of me. "OK. So. Once up on a time, about thirty years ago, I was working at the University in the tech department..."
---
I'm standing in the server room, with a laptop balanced against one of the racks, plugged into a server that was misbehaving really strangely. Every now and then, it was sending garbled emails to all the local users. And when I say garbled, I am not talking about the system alert emails, no these were something else. On top of that every few hours the load on the system would spike, and then drop down again - to no apparent pattern. I've unplugged it from the network, and I've got a sacrificial laptop plugged in in case there is some sort of virus.

I'm puzzling over how ordinary the log files are, when I hear the server room door open. I look up, and instead of Steve, the other sysadmin, I see this young woman walk in carrying a raw chicken leg.
"Um, we don't allow food in here" I say.
"It isn't food, it is a tool," comes the reply.
"I'm pretty sure it has had tools used on it. Sharp ones. How did you get in here?"
"Steve let me in. I've got permission from the Board."
This puts me on the back foot a little. If she's running a con, she's going big as an opening gambit.
"The Board, what is it?" I ask.
Quick as a snake she replies "A bunch of old white men sitting around a big table, but that's not important right now."
That gets my attention. "Why have the Board of Management let you in here?"
"There's a resonance on the campus, and it is starting to get noticed. It seems to be coming from right there" she points with the chicken leg at the server I'm working on. Before I can answer, she continues "Can you get us onto the roof directly above this point?"

1/2

#SF #SFF #UrbanFantasy #microfiction #Tootfic #IAmWriting #CharlieAndToby

‘Shadow of Heaven’ Challenges The Use of Power

Shadow of Heaven (1969) by Bob Shaw is a tight thriller that is both epic and personal. Shaw blends creativity and strong prose in a way that activates the reader’s imagination. Shadow of Heaven is not a masterpiece but rather a good story told well.

Far above the U.S. East coast the anti-gravity platform known as ‘Heaven’ hovers. A fully automated farmland, Heaven helps to feed the teeming billions of Earth after the Compression. However, unknown to most, Heaven hides a secret.

Journalist Victor Stirling’s latest story starts routine but he discovers that his brother, Johnny, is missing. In this world, though, missing usually mean suicide. Victor doesn’t believe his brother would kill himself. His investigation quickly leads Victor to the only place Johnny could hide, Heaven.

Victor quickly discovers that it is possible to get to Heaven but when he does it isn’t what he expects. There is a community on Heaven and Johnny has taken it over. Johnny has a plan for Heaven and unless Victor can stop him billions could die.

Shadow of Heaven is a remarkable novel for one that is so short. Shaw starts off mildly but quickly brings the world to life with interesting details. The events of Shadow of Heaven take place after yet another World War, however, not one typically seen in SF. Shaw ingeniously creates a world where people life in outrageously cramped quarters. Not because of overpopulation but lack of space.

Shaw’s worldbuilding is subtle and believable but it only adds to the flavour of the story. Shaw also writes strong characters. The protagonist, Victor Stirling, is a man of two worlds. He’s just old enough to remember before the war but has lived most of his life in the aftermath. He’s made a good life for himself but like most people he’s quietly dissatisfied. This dissatisfaction is a strong motivating factor for many of the characters.

Yet, as strong as the characters in Shadow of Heaven generally are, Shaw indulges in making the characters a little too competent at times. When his characters get into overwhelming situations they suddenly have skills that don’t completely fit. It doesn’t happen all the time but its enough to notice.

The plot begins as a rescue story. However, when Victor is faced with the reality of what is happening on Heaven the story takes on a very different complexion. This yet another of Shaw’s gifts as a writer. He can lead the reader on one tack and suddenly change it without it being forced or ridiculous. Careless readers are likely to be caught unawares.

Bob Shaw (1931-1996)

Sometimes when a story shifts suddenly the effect is jarring. This is not the case with Shadow of Heaven. Shaw has a clear plan and executes it well. When what begins as a small scale story evolves into a larger globally important one the transition is smooth and logical.

As the story progresses Victor confronts people of power of varying degrees. In each of these confrontations the people in power only see their point of view. Shaw implies, correctly, that power severely restricts the ability to see a wider vision. Power may not necessarily corrupt but it certainly narrows the field of view.

Shaw is an author I greatly admire for his ability to create richly dense stories that are easily accessable by even novice SF fans. Shaw creates a driving narrative that stumbles in places but hits the right notes at the right times. Shadow of Heaven is a rough gem that shines brightly in the reader’s mind.

#BobShaw #BookReview #SF #ShadowOfHeaven

It's 3AM, I'm on-call, and my phone is ringing.

There's a burst of violet light from next to me. It arcs over me, and impacts against the magic circle around my phone.

I pick up the phone and answer "Hang on a tick." I give my sleeping wife a small nudge, and she mutters something in Latin, and rolls over.

"Toby here. What's broken?" I resume on the phone.
"Hi Toby, Anthea from the call centre. We've got an alert on Sirius12 - system load above predicted limits for over two hours."
"Hi Anthea. That should be OK, we set up some new processing rules, and it will take a couple of nights for the system to recognise the change. If you get the alert tomorrow, don't call, but if it happens after Wednesday, do call."
"OK, Toby. I'll make a note in the Tzzbrzzhgga Nil hzzthrg Grrzght!"
I roll back, and nudge my wife again. When she's asleep her magics sometimes get a bit feisty, and they interfere with the 4G signal. She turns over again.
"Are you still there Anthea?"
"Yes, what happened, I started hearing the strangest voices."
"You were probably hearing Charlotte's dream. Don't listen, and don't worry about it."
"Charlotte? Dream?"
"Yeah, look up the wiki entry about calling me. It's all in there."
I should know, after I cleared it with Charlie, I put it in there. There was a pause, presumably while she read the entry. "A witch??"
"Yep, and if the mobile gets too close when she's dreaming it picks up bits of it. Only her dreams are more like astral interventions, and you really don't want to listen in to those. There can be unpleasant side effects - for you."
"Are you having me on?"
"No, you can check in with my boss and HR. They know."
"..."
"Give me a call if there are any other problems. Good night Anthea."
I hung up, and cuddled in to Charlie, and tried to go back to sleep.

I'm a sysadmin. I manage a corporation's servers along with a team of eight. And my wife is a powerful witch. Really powerful. So all the electronics around the house are in magic circles to protect them from when she's asleep. I went through five phones (three mobile and two landline) before we got that sorted.

She's sort of a magical troubleshooter. That's how we met. She was dealing with a haunted server room. I was managing the servers. I really did have a ghost in my machine. She laughed at my jokes, and I didn't laugh at her work.

#SF #SFF #UrbanFantasy #microfiction #Tootfic #IAmWriting