Dangerous Mission

Flash Fiction

Dangerous Mission

“We need to get the stream repaired, this is dangerous.” Borgon said, again.

“We can’t fix the stream without iron! We know we’ll beam into an open area; we just need to be prepared for whatever’s there when we materialize. We have no choice! We need iron to fix the stream!” General Arthur barked, frustrated at Borgon’s insistence to restate the obvious. He was not happy about blind beaming either, they literally had no other choice. “Prepare to beam,” he said, cutting off further chat.

They materialized on a rough, white surface, surrounded by large objects, most towering over them. The view was extremely colorful, the sky white and still. There was definite activity though, also many strange smells, and noise! The noise was deafening, coming from all directions, they all turned down their outside sound feeds. Hiding behind a wide object they whispered back and forth.

Borgon had already located iron, there was a lot here, and one source very close at the top of a tall, smooth shaft. “If we all surround the iron we can beam it with us. It seems to be at the top.”

“How do we get it off the shaft?” General Arthur asked.

“I don’t think we can here. We’ll take the shaft then send it back after.

They quickly surrounded the shaft beaming up successfully. Once there, they quickly removed the iron top, then beamed the shaft back to exactly where it had been.

…

Grampa absentmindedly salted his food as he snapped a counterpoint to his son regarding the local election. They never agreed. Looking back at his plate, his beautiful, heaping, Thanksgiving dinner plate full of food, was drowning in salt, the empty shaker in his hand.

“Where the crap is the GD top to the salt shaker?” he bellowed.