water – Sophisticated Nonsense

Erian cursed, “You’re a disgusting pig of a woman, Kylie. You’ve got no standards.”

Kylie unwrapped herself from Elwin and turned to face Erian, “You’re such a cranky loser Erian. Why don’t you have a wife, eh? You’ve got a cranky face only a nursemaid could love.”

Erian responded in kind and the two started escalating their argument further when Elwin signalled for them to be quiet. The last stray dog had wondered out of sight. Now was their opportunity to go down to the water. They trio clambered down to the water. Kylie looked around at the dirt, mud, and junk strewn around the canal: her face beaming with excitement at seeing such a novel environment. Erian watched her coldly from atop a pile of gravel.

“Well now what? Where’s this thing that allows you to remove thorns safely?”

Erian pointed to a pool of flowing canal water that was deep enough to submerge a human body, “that’s it there.”

“A pool of water?”
“The water cleanses the wound so the loss of a thorn won’t kill you and you won’t get the plague either,” said Erian flatly.

Elwin looked at him from the corner of his eye, but didn’t protest.

“So do I just put my hand in and then you pull it out?” she asked presenting her right arm in the air which was thorned at the wrist.

Erian shook his head, “If we took out that thorn other people would notice, we’re going to take up the thorn that no one can see.”

Kylie’s gaze narrowed, “You mean the thorn ten centimetres below my belly button?”

“Yes,” said Erian coldly. Continue reading “Thorns – Part 11”

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Space was at a premium in the Comptoni underwater settlement of Deliverance. Whereas on Earth a submarine pen would be a large spacious structure for a submarine to emerge into, free of the risk of bumping into other vessels, in Deliverance submarines had a very different function. Underneath Comptoni settlements were a series of large one-way tunnels for submarines to travel through as though they were underground trains. They emerged in tiny rooms that looked remarkably like subway stations. Indeed, passenger submarines that ferried Comptonians from one settlement to another ran frequent routes. The submarine carrying our heroes emerged in one such station pen.

Relieved to get out of the cramped conditions of the submarine the group soon observed that Comptoni settlements were not much spacious. The under water city was full of people sitting and sleeping in the corridors. The overcrowding was deplorable and the faces of the people they passed were long pale and sullen.

“Why is this place so over crowded?” asked Kimberley, “the last time I was here it wasn’t like this.” Continue reading “Space Fall – Part Nine”