52 bad short stories.

The Flame: Mars Day (Sol) 42 Days from landing    Dear Readers,  I am delighted to be writing this to you from OUR planet! I call it this because its only inhabitants are us, Earth born humans (and those adorable little rovers who've been here the last 100 years!), but soon, (many months from now) Martian born humans will join us. Many of you are expecting and now, myself as well! I know it has been a crazy few weeks, the carbon scrubbers and domes just getting started. The pressure alarms are going off less and less as our new living spaces are being used more and more. Our spaceships and sleep pods are now being abandoned for our permanent homes. It's bittersweet, to finally have our dwellings in this place. Sweet, because now we can begin the amazing process of creating societies and families. Bitter because some of us are home sick from not having our familiar gravity, water sources, fresh fruits and veggies, and all the smells. Does anyone else miss the smells, ...

It was a slow passionate kiss. That is what he noticed the most. His wife always said goodbye in the morning, but this morning was different. This morning it was like she was afraid he wouldn't come back.  "I hate it when you have to go inside the mines like you do today. Keep your helmet on and pay attention. I want you to come back to us." Mike knew she was worried. All he had in him was a joke, "Oh I should tell you I'm going into the mines everyday if I'm going to get kisses like that. I almost don't want to leave today."  She slapped him gently on the arm. "I can always call your boss and check the roster."  He smiled at her one last time and stepped out of their living pod and into the hallway. The tunnel felt a little extra damp this morning, but it was the same temperature and smell he'd grown accustomed to, the ozone and burning smell. Everything was controlled by machines, and they were below the surface, safe from the radiati...

Edgar's whole life revolved around the plants. Ever since he could remember his father trained him in plants. Most of the other children saw the flame of continuance when they were 12. Edgar knew about it well before then, he also knew what fueled it. This was a secret of the colony. It was something everyone knew but no one talked about. It was a chilling discovery for Edgar to learn part of the fuel for the colony was death itself.  "Death is a spark.  All sparks are valuable. The spark never dies."  These are the whispers on the lips of all the colonists when they visit the flame. Small prayers they utter and lift up. Hoping their lives are valuable.  Edgar understood these words more than anyone. His father was an intellect, and his parents were among the first 200 to create the colony. He saw the domes rise as a boy and learned to live underground. He was valued among the entire community because he helped develop a hybrid of the sweet potato which contained mor...

Our entire existence is about survival. Nothing else matters, at least it's not supposed to matter. When we are raised, we are trained to follow all the rules. We learn about the reckoning when we are 12. It's another trip we take, to see the flame of continuance. It's beautiful and I think it was the first time (other than the sunset) where I have seen the color blue. We don't use it in clothing, it's pretty drab, our food is mostly yellow, orange, and green based on the plant used to make it, and everything is made out of steel and metal. Blue is not commonly seen and according to my research, on Earth blue is the rarest color in nature, not a lot of flowers or plants are blue, only the vast oceans and bodies of water are blue... but we don't have those.  This flame has been burning since the beginning of our arrival on Mars and only goes out once a month when the reckoning is complete. It is relit after 3 days of mourning. It's a beautiful flame. Flames a...

Roberta and Edward could not conceal their excitement Orion had been picked. They expected Milo, or one of his classmates, never could they have guessed Rion would be so excited about bees, or that his lack of schoolwork would end in any kind of reward. They just wanted him to make it through the school year; this honor would be a giant boost for him.  "What a wonderful surprise!" she was hugging and kissing her smaller son.  "Ok Mom, don't make this a thing." Orion shrugged Roberta off and looked at his brother for guidance. Milo just smiled back at him.  "Are you sure you don't want to do it?" Orion looked at Milo, worried he was taking his brother's spot in the ceremony.  Milo's bright eyes shined back at him happily, "No, I think they picked the right guy."  Jenny Balata chimed in next, her brown ponytail, white lab coat and glasses, "Let's see if these bees picked you!" she said with a smile.  As a group they he...

Edgar watched as Roberta walked over to Carl. He was relieved. She could be a lot to handle sometimes. He'd whisper Carl a 'godspeed' if he didn't dislike him so much. He watched Edward talking to every waiter and waitress he encountered, probably looking for the tastiest treats, sugar, and caffeine. Edgar decided this would be a good time to look in on the youth program. This was always the main event for the colony. "The Children are our future", the wise words of Dr. Lira Helix carved into the cement bench by where the children were sitting.  Sorted by ages, the smallest children sat in a semi-circle around their teacher. The older ones, ages 6-11 were standing near Jenny Balata and listening intently. Milo and Orion would be found in this group.  Milo stood in the front talking to Jenny about a self-pollinating peach tree. He was an excellent student and would be going on his walk to the Remembrance Flame next year.  Edgar shuttered remembering his own exp...

The giant glass dome glowed red from the sky, reflecting the color of the Martian regolith surrounding it outside. In the distance the view of the Mountain and other domes clearly in view, no dust storms today. Inside people were gathering around and looking at the green plants scattered throughout the space. Automatic watering devices whirring while tending to the plants. The hellish land outside was unimaginable in this green, lush paradise.  "It's beautiful in here and it smells great!" Roberta commented to her husband, various plant and flower smells filled the dome. It was very different from the ozone and machine smells all the human Martians were accustomed to experiencing. Edward was ignoring her and looking in the direction of a blonde woman serving small liquid beakers for nourishment. The theme was science and technology; the decor and food, down to the smallest detailed microchip shaped crackers, were perfect. Even the test tubes of flavored protein showed the...

Heather did not know she was selected to be reckoned. The person chosen does not find until it's time to die. She brushed her grey hair and went about her business. She was of the age that is normally chosen but of the 8,000 people on the planet, chances seemed unlikely. She had heard about being chosen. She had two friends last year who received the "honor" of the reckoning. They both worked in the greenhouses. The remembrance ceremony for both was amazing and the people who were chosen to end their lives were merciful. They went painlessly into their death and their bodies were entered into the compost which feeds the continuance flame.  This is the protocol for all who are reckoned.  As she dressed and got ready to go to section 4 and work in her medical unit, the reckoning did not even cross her mind, why would it? Humans don't think of their own death every second of the day. Her grown daughter, Silvia, joined her, for the last 4 years they both worked in the sam...

Edgar knew it was expressly forbidden, but he couldn't help it. Almost like it was an addiction, a desire which burned inside of him to make sure that he could spread the word. Maybe this was what he read about religious zealots; he didn't understand the concept. Mars only had one religion: the book of continuance, staying alive.  He had been working for months, in his lab in his greenhouses, bioengineering plants no one on Mars had seen before, plants his grandfather brought in the hopes that one day Mars would be terraformed. Bioluminescent plants, flowers bringing him smells he had never experienced and neither had anyone else alive on Mars today.  He sat in a chair, with his dark, warm robe, as people walked by, it was a market, he had vegetables and herbs on his table, with a tent over his booth, in the dome the Martian sun beat down, but it was still cold. It was always cold.  It was fine to sell these vegetables, people were selling all sorts of random things, the ...

He took a deep breath and peered out the window at the vast Martian landscape. The taste of strawberry muffin was still in his mouth, and it gave him a familiar comfort. Mack always ate one before his land walks. He continued putting on his suit, hooking up his air pack, and letting his supervisor give it the once over to make sure there are no tears in it. The surface is full of radiation and a tear could be deadly.  He went through his personal mantra, "Continuance and humanity, the future of these rest on me".  He made sure he had the note from his daughter when she was 3 tucked safely away in his breast pocket under his suit. "I love you, Daddy." scribbled in green crayon. His good luck charm. Then he touched the screw above the red 'open' on the airlock, the same one he had been touching for 15 years, and he pushed the button and went out.  Every time he went out it was similar to someone jumping out of an airplane, you never know what's going to ha...

When I was a child, we had very memorable tunnel trip. I guess on earth they called them "Field Trips". There are no fields here, basically it was time away from school.  We went to colony 1 where the central offices are so we could learn about our government. It was a normal day. We explored the offices. We saw the snake plants. We met one of the elders, Jacob Feldspar, he was one of the original 200 people.  His face was so old. He must have been the last one left at that time, he was at least 70. There are none left now.  His skin was tinged with yellow, and he was wrinkled beyond belief. I have never since seen such a face. Even to this day, no one lives this long.      "It is very important that we retain the cultures established in the beginning. We have these to make our society strong and continue mankind. Having all the different religions and societies on Earth does not work. They are fighting. The weather is terrible. In here we have it all and w...

The place we all like to congregate to eat is called "The Canteen". When Mars was first developing the people who came had lived on Earth with society and these things called "Restaurants". I guess this is the closest thing we have to a restaurant. It was established first as just a place to eat, everyone would come here, and after time everyone started to be able to visit colony 3 to pick up supplies, have their own kitchens in their living spaces, and an economy was forming.  The elders who started Mars established a system of credits. As more people came to Mars over those first years, they started establishing places to buy and produce goods. We needed basic survival things but then established some of the nicer parts of humanity. Better clothes, better foods, better jobs.  The Canteen stuck around and evolved with it. It was established in the beginning by a man name Martin. He is long since dead, but we have an AI version of him call Martin which tends to a lo...

The Martian landscape really is beautiful. All 8,000 residents have amazing views because of the domes that are constructed.  It's hard to believe my grandparents came here with almost nothing. People had been here before them, but they didn't build much, and they died out. They weren't really settlers. It was more like a suicide mission, but they did bring supplies and building materials. Before that there was only robots with solar power moving all over the planet and taking in information for scientists to figure out how to live here. Some of those are still out there, transmitting signals and exploring parts of the planet that we haven't been to yet.  When my grandparents and the 200 other people all came here 75 earth years ago, they had the supplies they needed shipped in advance, plus the advantage of the people who died off and left storage units. The first years were spent in the ships they landed in and building the structures we call home. Sounds like a lot o...