FLASH FICTION:-- HORROR, SCI-FI, HUMOUR, CRIME, SLICE OF LIFE, ETC.

Friday 21 March 2014

The vacuum of space


Authors note:
I have heard that over the years scientists have sent many radio messages into space, in the hope that someone may be listening. Eventually some of them formed the opinion that anyone, or anything, that had the ability to track these signals, and the capability to travel the vast distances involved to get here may not be coming with benign intentions, and that it may be wiser to cease broadcasting the messages... In case someone may be listening.
Are those radio waves still travelling?
And more importantly, have they been heard?

* * * * * * * * * *

THE VACUUM OF SPACE

The being had been travelling for many years now, following the tantalising scent, flowing with the undulating waves, feasting on the delicate flavours as it hurtled through space. The tastes and aromas strengthened as it neared the source, its hunger burned fiercely.

It slipped effortlessly into the atmosphere, and there it found a new taste to savour.

It began circling the tiny blue planet. Faster and faster it went, absorbing, devouring, feeding ravenously. Stripping the air and the surface of the planet of the delicious ingredient until there was barely a morsel left.

Its ethereal body, unhindered by liquid or solid, combed the oceans, then beneath the world's surface, seeking out every last drop of food, until there was none remaining.

Its hunger still burned.

Stretching out its senses it tested the surrounding star systems, searching, hunting.

A strange, new flavour came its way.

Once again it began following a distant scent, it left the blue planet behind as it hurtled once more through space, continuing its never ending quest for sustenance.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In a concrete bunker far beneath the surface of the Mojave desert, a corporal stared at his computer screen, unable to understand the figures he was looking at.

“Major? You have to look at this, Sir.”

The officer walked over, and looked at the screen over the Corporal's shoulder.

“According to the readouts Sir, the radiation levels have disappeared, none of our sensors are picking up traces, not in the air, or on the land, even the oceans appear clear, I know this sounds crazy, and impossible, but it's as though the war never happened, somehow the planet's clean again,”

“There must be something wrong with the sensors Corporal, the surface of this planet will be uninhabitable for decades yet.”

“With respect Sir, it's extremely unlikely that thousands of sensors are all malfunctioning at the same time, I've run a systems check too, the hardware's working okay. It's as though something's sucked all the radiation from the planet.”

The same scenario was being repeated in many other bunkers in many other countries.

Before long, the survivors of the world war three apocalypse would tentatively emerge to a new beginning, to a new, clean world. Time would tell if they could keep it that way.


©2014 Stephen. J. Green.

26 comments:

  1. Cleaning the world after contact seems worse to me than dirtying it. There's sure to be a mess, and may it be a pleasant one.

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    1. And hopefully not a radioactive one John. :-)

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  2. Seems like they got a second chance, will humanity realise how lucky they were? Fingers crossed eh! Loved the idea of this story Steve.

    Found a little typo for you second to last para. "others countries." should read other countries yes?

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    1. Thanks Helen, let's hope we never get ourselves into that situation in the first place. :)

      Thanks for the heads up on the typo Helen, sorted it now. :-)

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  3. Well, at least the next war won't go nuclear. How do you build a Bomb when there's no uranium or plutonium? Definitely a twist I wasn't expecting!

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    1. Hi Larry. Knowing the human race's capacity for ruining things, I wouldn't be surprised if they discovered a new method of mass destruction. :-)

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  4. As I was reading, I thought you could have easily stopped and left only the first part of the story, especially with your short introduction. But as I read the second part, I was glad you continued. It was a twist that I certainly wasn't expecting, and I think it made it a stronger, more complete story. Well done!

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    1. Thank you Clara. I was going to write this from the perspective of a dangerous creature following the radio messages back to Earth, but decided I liked the idea of a saviour better. :-)

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  5. The current reality of humanity is that history is never a good teacher. We repeat the same failures time after time. Here's to hoping they can keep it from ever digressing again.

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    1. It is true Stephen, we don't seem to be good at learning from past mistakes, I just hope that we never get to find out about one like this.

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  6. We've been broadcasting all our radio and TV shows out into space since the first broadcast. How deep someone may be listening depends on how well their ability to differentiate from background noise and recognize our information. Stop broadcasting into space would mean shutting off our technology, something I doubt anyone is willing to do. If something hears us and travels the vast distance, we'll have to hope that entity is friendly.

    Keep an eye out for something slithering in the sky.

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    1. Hi David, I'm a bit of a techno-numpty, and didn't realize that all of our programmes were beamed into space, I believe that there were specific ones that were sent into deep space with the intention of reaching other life forms though, I recall watching a documentary some years ago about this, and these were the type of broadcasts I had in mind.

      I don't know what is out there, but I once heard a saying that if we are the only planet containing intelligent life then it would be an awful waste of space.

      And I too hope that if anyone, or anything does track its way back here, that it is here for our benefit, and not its own.

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    2. Hi Steve:

      I liked your take on this -- the ethereal radiation-eater was pleasantly alien, and I liked that for once the military was being careful and cautious in their assessment (which is generally closer to the truth for a listening post).

      Have you ever seen the film Contact, or read the book by Carl Sagan? It's one of my favourite SFs in both media. The film opens with a fabulous montage illustrating how our radio and TV signals spread out into the universe (and yes, they just keep going). They also include a beautifully black joke about the first TV signal strong enough to transmit out to space.

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    3. Hi Katherine, and thank you for the compliment.

      Yes, I have seen the film "Contact" but I haven't read the book. I really enjoyed the film, it starred Jodie Foster, and had David Morse as her Dad. I don't recall the black joke that you mention but if I get chance to watch the film again I will try to watch out for it.

      I do remember the general plot of the film though, and the phrase "small moves" from her father during the time she was projected through the (time?) machine, the time that lasted just a split second here, but many hours where she went to. All in all, it was a film that gave one much food for thought.

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  7. Makes me wonder how much of our mess is already being cleaned up for us.....scary thought in one way, but wonderfully warm in another. I love the concept of this Steve, and the delivery is, of course, superb!

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    1. Thanks for the very kind words Deanna. :-)

      And yes, for all we know hidden forces may already be working in our favour.

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  8. It would be nice to think that they could keep it clean, but we all know what Mankind is like.

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    1. I agree Icy, mankind does seem to be its own worst enemy, doesn't it?

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  9. If only we were as lucky as to have an intergalactic life form with a big and strong enough (perhaps built in) antenna and an apetite for radiation to come to our aid. Alas...though I like the idea and appreciate the military not shooting missiles. It's a nice change, and a thrilling idea to be cleanesed by a space creature.

    Come to think of it, it's to some extent frightening when you think about broadcasts spreading inside the black infinity of the universe. But then again we sent a vinyl record into outer space with enough details about our species and our incredible worldwide music, but maybe they should have included a breaking message in between songs "Come clean our world?" with coordinates.

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    1. If only we could be so lucky, Cindy. I think I would be a bit wary of anything that tracked us here, and I'm hoping we never get ourselves into the same situation as in the story.

      I like your idea of a (Subliminal?) message on the record, it could go something along the lines of:- "Party on Planet Earth, bring your own Dyson" LOL. :-)

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    1. hahaha, Yeah!!

      This comment did make me chuckle. Thanks Sonia. :-)

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  11. Nice to read the positive little twist at the end! Really fun little story; love the idea.

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    1. Thank you, I'm happy that you liked it.
      Thank you for visiting, and for the lovely comment. :-)

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  12. What a great twist! That was AWESOME.

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