Snows of Titan
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I repurposed a thank you poster I made for my daughter’s Girl Scout cookie booth :)
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Thank you!
Thanks to KellePics at https://pixabay.com/users/kellepics-4893063/ for this image
Snows of Titan
With this much nothing you’d think seeing someone coming would be easy. But here, on Titan, nothing’s easy.
We’ve marched since the Sun went down towards the Colossus. Will he let us pass this time? Derek figured out the riddle last time but the riddles change and get harder each time we ask.
But, that’s not our concern here on the plains. We were raided last night. Loosing all our stuff in this wasteland is our concern right now. Gotta be more careful, gotta keep our eyes open and feet moving. They came, stole everything and vanished. But we’ll be ready this time.
We know the plan and we don’t like it but we gotta do what we gotta do. We left our sled and most of our goods behind, only brought the essentials: enough food and water to get us to the next watering hole, shelter against any storm that might come up and believe me, they come. Quickly. From the mouth of the Colossus. It eats the warmth of the day and breathes blizzards into our path.
Simon in the lead signals to stop. Get down. We all drop. Looking for any sign of the raiding party. I squeeze my blaster, making sure it's fully loaded. My blood pumps, eyes jump, body rattles with readiness. Billy starts to panic. I can hear him panting.
"Dude, chill." I hiss at him.
"Can't man. Can't loose everything again man." He pops his head up.
BIZZZUUUU!
Laser blast to the head. He's done. His belongings tumble out of him but I don't move. I stay frozen. Where did that shot come from? The snow?
Another shot takes out Mikey. It came from the snow!
"They're in the snow!" I shout. The raiding party explodes from the white powder around us lighting up the night sky with their red laser blasts. I return fire, blue pulses exploding out. Got one! Their belongings explode out. I rush to it, gathering the treasures.
BIZZZUUUU! Derek is shot. He's down. I grab what falls out. Shooting, blasting , grabbing. That's all that can be thought about out here on the plains.
One of them said something before he shot Derek. I don't know but it was like an echo, like they were talking through a tin can and string. Bad connection?
I rush their line. Danny's down. Karen's shot. Everyone around me dropping. I switch to my Mega-Cannon Delta 6. Now that my team's down, I don't have to worry about friendly fire. Pulling the trigger, the energy builds as I dodge shots. One catches my shoulder, I shrug it off. The pulse grows, erupts from my Mega-Cannon, and eradicates the raiding party. I run up to them, checking out what they have. Collecting all their belongings.
I don't know why these people attack us over and over again every night. Guess it's just what they do.
The Colossus stands, seeing my victory, seeing the sole survivor of the raiding party's failed raid. He says his riddle:
"I fall but I never get back up.
I’m different but called the same.
I’m sometimes a ball but I’m not round.
If I get warm enough I go away but I’m not angry.
I’m sometimes part of a man but I don’t have any skin.
What am I?"
Oh man...I am terrible at riddles.
"Answer?" the Colossus demands.
"Uh....", think! Think! Derek's the riddler. I'm the shooter. Oh man.
"Time's up." The Colossus' massive fist crashes down on me. My belongings spew from me.
Dead.
"Come on Kyle! That was an easy one!" Derek yells through his mic.
I rip off my VR headset and throw it down. All that loot from the raiding party, now just sitting in front of the Colossus. Someone's going to get it before I respawn. Man, this sucks.
"Don't die this time Derek!" I tug the VR headset back on and connect back in. We respawn on the mountains above the plain. Someone runs across the plain and grabs all my loot.
Bummer.
<end>
Note: Artificial Intelligence was used in the writing of this story. As a reader, do you care? I’d be curious to hear your thoughts. If you care, why? This is more for me to learn how people are thinking about AI in writing as I move forward with this new tool.
Thanks to Carol Varsalona for hosting poetry Friday this week. While I’m not sharing a poem I’ll still participating. Check out her blog Beyond Literacy Link for tons of great fall images.
Have a great week!