Mythofilia

Imagine: one of those days As Theodore looked out into the black emptiness of space he realised this was going to be one of those days. An amber light flashed on his communicator. Emergency staff meeting, obviously. He called Arjina to take over doing the inventory and made his way to the staff room. Up until a few minutes ago their Holiday Liner had been en route from Krithika, an industrial colony, to Demyan. An agricultural planet that offered a range of affordable family holidays. Things like living on a farm for a week or going on long nature walks. The kind of family vacation destination their company specialised in. But now for some reason, they were somewhere on the outskirts of the mapped universe. When Theodore entered the staff room captain Thompson was already there. She'd gotten the coffee going and was making tea.  Though the way she slammed the cupboard's doors told Theodore this was not going to be a nice little chat. “Easy on the doors...

Imagine: happiness Happiness. It was not the usual subject of stories Helena thought. Which was a bit of a shame because it was hard to come by. Most people only ever had a few moments of it in their entire lives. So why shouldn't they be able to pick up a book or go see a movie that gave them the illusion of it if only for a little while? She supposed it wasn't an easy subject to write about. Honestly, if you had to write something about a person who was perfectly happy with their lives, how much could you tell? What could you possibly say to keep an audience interested? Helena pondered these questions while lazily enjoying the sun in the garden. She had cleared the rocks from the hard packed dirt so she could use the rocking chair without difficulties. She loved this time of day. The afternoon sun always had the exact right temperature. Warm but not too hot. She wondered what being happy would look like in a painting or a sculpture. It seemed to Hele...

Imagine: tracking Sara listened intently to the sounds of her prey. She had come to the right place. The first few weeks she had been bewildered trying to keep up with the herd. But after following them around for some time, she began to see the pattern.  She had guessed where they would go to next. It was hard to keep still. She'd wanted to do a little jig when she realised her guess had been right. But it wouldn't do to let them get away now. The herd was not complete yet. A few stragglers were still passing Sara's hiding place. She had to stay hidden. She couldn't see the one she would be aiming for. It made her nervous. She'd tried to make the butterflies in her stomach go away, this wasn't helping. Finally the last of them passed. She allowed the sound of footfalls to recede. Sara popped her head round the corner to see how the herd had spread. She marked her target's location and retreated into her hiding place. She closed her eyes to im...

What if... #5 What if bananas refused to grow? Pedro was staring intently at the trees. He didn't see Ignacio approaching. 'Well?' Ignacio said. Pedro jumped and turned around to face the owner of the orchard with a dark look in his eyes. 'They are not bearing fruit, but this isn't Black Sigatoka and it doesn't look like TR4 disease either.' Ignacio scratched his head and sighed. 'Spread the guano anyway. I'm going to talk to Enrique. Maybe the cooperative knows something.' Ignacio got in his old jeep and headed to the office that served as headquarters for the cooperative. Almost four hundred family farms were united in the cooperative known as Asociación Mis Guineos . A few years ago Ignacio had made the switch to organic cultivation. Now he was starting to wonder if it had been a mistake to abandon the heavy pesticides. When he reached the office a crowd had already formed. Farmers were coming in, with the sam...

What if...#4 What if the trains were always on time? Alice stood on a platform waiting for the train to arrive. She wore her big coat with the collar turned up. She shivered slightly. It had been a long morning already she thought, as she gazed across the tracks. From the corner of her eye she saw movement. A train was coming. Seeing it veer towards her platform she looked at the nearest overhanging sign to check if it really was her train. But the sign said 'do not enter'. The conductor kept everyone from boarding. The train had a malfunction, it was heading to the workshop. Numbness set in on Alice. She'd been delayed earlier this morning due to maintenance work that was behind on schedule and now this. She'd have to wait till eight to call the office. She debated going upstairs to get some coffee and wait in the hall where it was warmer. But a replacement had been announced and she didn't know when it would get here. Finally she managed t...

What if... #3 What if you were allergic to the touch of the colour blue? Sophie's parents learned early on that their daughter couldn't bear the touch of blue. Ordinarily young girls are showered in pink. However Sophie's mum suffered from a severe allergy to red and yellow. She was so sensitive that even colours composed of red or yellow would cause her skin to break out. Poor Sophie was born in a house all decorated in blue. She was six months old when the allergy first asserted itself. Lying on her blue blanket, wearing her blue dress, baby Sophie began to scream when the itching started. Mum was bewildered. She quickly got Sophie out of her dress only to realise she was wearing blue herself. Luckily their house had a grey linoleum floor. She put Sophie down and called the doctor, tears streaming down her face. Everything turned out all right. But Sophie's parents had to redecorate and reinvent their wardrobes. They...

What if... #2 What if someone named you the Protector of the Universe even though you'd never even left your own planet? Peter was an upfront sort of guy. So when this happened to him, he blinked at the galactic minister and said: “But I've never even been away from my own planet, surely there must be some mistake?” The galactic minister smiled a big pasty smile at Peter and said: “No mistake Peter, we've done our homework. You have no personal enemies, your planet hasn't been involved in a war for decades and your political region doesn't have any sort of crisis that could lead to blackmail. You are the person we need for this job.” “I understand you're concerned about doing things right but there's really nothing to worry about. The Protector of the Universe is more of a ceremonial title you see. Most of the time you'll be cutting ribbons to open new cultural buildings and such. Once people hear there's a new Protector...