Jovian Dreams

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the words: mermaid, blink and glass

Jovian Dreams

He first saw her in a dream, maybe…

Although he was wide awake at the time, he chose “dream.” The alternative, hallucination, would mean that he’d traveled a little farther down Crazy Road than he wanted to admit.

His rational mind told him there was nothing out there. Nothing swam by because nothing lived at the bottom of the swirling gas oceans of Jupiter - nothing except a forgotten outpost, and its lone occupant, Stanley.

It was hard, but he tried not to give up hope. The last transmission from Earth had been more than six months ago. The gist had been global warfare was imminent. This didn’t bode well for Stanley. He was well aware of Einstein’s thoughts on the subject; “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

A planet that bombed itself to bedrock rarely sent out rescue missions.

He tended his garden; he slept and from time to time, he would dream of her swimming in the blue and green gaseous ocean outside of his dome, with the grace of a ballerina.

Time passed and his hope passed with it. Only his dreams kept him alive.

+++++

The knocking on the glass woke him. At first he was confused. His eyes tried to blink clarity to his mind. Apparently he had fallen asleep in his garden. He did that a lot lately.

There was that knocking again.

He looked up and it was her, looking directly at him through the dome.

The Jovian mermaid of his dreams had returned at last, but he was not dreaming.

She swam seductively, enticing him to the airlock.

He’d been alone too long. Putting his hand on the handle, he paused, then opened the hatch.

Word count 300




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