Search Results for 'liz'

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  • #3588

    In reply to: The Hosts of Mars

    ÉricÉric
    Keymaster

      Area 12 was easy to locate. The whole ship’s design was shaped like a clock, with the 12 quadrant at her helm, with the main deck. It was also where, everyone had been briefed after boarding, the main emergency exits were located.
      Something serious must have had happened for the Code Red to have been triggered.

      Captain Rama Shivakumar was trying his best to gather information from the central command, but Finnley was reacting very unusually. Quantum computers and artificial intelligence was still a rather new technology. Remarkably efficient, but its bugs were terribly difficult to understand and fix, and certainly above his pay grade.
      Ram’s second in command, Karthikeya Uthayashankar was coordinating the crew’s efforts to sweep the ship for clues. It seemed that Finnley’s sensors had panicked at some unusual and very localized electromagnetic pulse, which could have seriously damaged the navigational systems and put everyone’s lives in dire straits.

      By looking through the logs, the pulse seemed to have originated from Area 6, in the quadrant that was reserved for the honoured guests, currently occupied by Mother Shirley and her following.

      “Captain Ram, did you find anything?” Karthik enquired, fidgeting at the prospect of having to manage beside his crew of ten fellow men, a unruly herd of thirty snotty travelers. He seriously doubted that in times like this, the 21 finnleys would be of sure-footed help to them.
      “Relax, Karthik. The computer most likely overheated. See, it already has adjusted its parameters, and there isn’t much we can detect now that’s out of normal.”
      “And what about the passengers, Captain?”
      “We’ll send them to Mangala. It’s only a day before schedule, it will be fine.”

      #3585
      TracyTracy
      Participant

        “I do think, Elizabeth,” remarked Finnley, somewhat cautiously, “That you rather over~egged the brûlée.”

        #3582
        TracyTracy
        Participant

          “Oh there you are Bert!” Mater said, trying to push aside the odd feeling that Bert had materialized in front of her, rather than walking into the room in the usual way. “Flora wants to spend a penny.”

          #3581
          TracyTracy
          Participant

            Bert raised an eyebrow at Elizabeth’s obvious sarcasm, which unfortunately caught her eye and put him in the spotlight of her penetrating gaze.

            “How about you Bert? Were you listening?” she asked, raising an eyebrow of her own to match Berts.

            Finnly, always on the lookout for an opportunity to out do Liz, raised both of her eyebrows simultaneously; then looked quickly down, pretending to examine her nails.

            Bert decided that in this case honestly was the best policy and replied “No. I was wondering if Prune had cleaned up the blood spattered corridor.”

            While Liz was momentarily speechless, Finnley quickly interjected another line from the book she had hidden under the table.

            “Then why did none of us hear the blood crazed howl?”

            “Ah! Aha! I’ll tell you why nobody heard the blood crazed howl!” Elizabeth had become alarmingly animated, leaning forward and rapping sharply on the table with her cigarette lighter. “The walls of isolation that surround you, the windows you keep closed and shuttered for fear of a draft of passion, the fences of barbed trotted out dogma you use as protection ~ but I ask you, protection from what?”

            “Buggered if I know, Liz. Can I go now?” said Bert.

            #3579
            F LoveF Love
            Participant

              Finnley looked up guiltily from the Lemololol novel she was surreptitiously reading under the table. In an effort to give the impression she had been listening, Finnley read the first line her eyes fell on.

              “You know Elizabeth, I always say you need a good smoking pile of manure to grow bigger cucumbers.”

              Elizabeth gasped in admiration. “You are so wise, Finnley. We may have had our differences in the past — I have such strong inner values — and I may call you odd behind your back, but manure and cucumbers, that is just brilliant! That sums it up precisely. Let me make you another cup of tea.”

              #3577
              TracyTracy
              Participant

                “Ah, there you are Bert!” Liz smiled graciously. “Do sit down, you look harassed and all of a dither. But the kettle on first though, there’s a love.”

                Bert glared at Liz resentfully. “I thought I was a bit part, not a jack of all threads.”

                “Oh cheer up, Bert! When you’ve made us all a nice cup of tea we’ll all sit down and talk about it, won’t we Finnley?”

                #3570
                TracyTracy
                Participant

                  “There’s a very fine line, Finnley, between feckless drivel, and fecking snivel, and to not put too fine a point upon it, it’s all fairly pointless anyway,” replied Liz, smiling amiably into the curmudgeonly scowl. “Bert will put the kettle on, I’ll call him over from the thread next door.”

                  “Typical!” muttered Finnley, “Never a thought about waking the poor bugger up, that it might be night time over there. Bloody inconsiderate, if you ask me.”

                  #3566
                  TracyTracy
                  Participant

                    Corrie:

                    “Get away from that door Prune, you nosy parker!” It wasn’t the first time I’d caught her eavesdropping outside room 8.

                    “Begone, thine tawdry wench, spaketh not thus to thine majesty or I’ll have thee hung drawn and quartered!” she replied in a whisper as she slid past me and ran down the corridor.

                    It suddenly dawned on me that this funny speaking Prune had been doing lately was something she was picking up on from behind that door. I inched closer to the door, bending down to press my ear to the keyhole. I was slightly off balance when the door flew open suddenly, causing me to stagger right into the room. Caught red handed, I could feel the blush rising as my hand flew to my mouth. There sitting on the end of the bed was what can only be described as an Elizabethan wonder woman superhero.

                    I backed out of the room quickly, but not so fast that I didn’t see what was on the bed behind the woman. It was the flying fish that had gone missing from over the fireplace.

                    #3541
                    ÉricÉric
                    Keymaster

                      Funny thing was, none of this would be possible, if not for Liz’ impeccable release of new literary works. Despite her feigned struggles, she managed to release them like clockwork.
                      Prolific line-pissing writers like King had nothing to envy to her. She would document and expound on nearly every bit of news passing. As a matter of fact, most of her morning rituals were to document the press review, and make clippings out of the most absurd or mundane events, and somehow, weave enthralling tales with it.

                      The last past years had been the most flourishing ones, mostly focused on tales of social responsibility in magical gardens, civil disobedience in cetacean societies, and financial collapse of ayahuasca economy based Amazonian tribes.

                      Well, to be honest, the magic had to be left to the Finnleys. It was nor the endless cleaning nor the unnerving bluster that had them resign. It was mostly that they were literary agents in cover aspiring to more than a life of cleaning. For what Elizabeth had as gift of prolixity, all the Finnleys were hired to put it all together, while sworn to secrecy.
                      Of course, with each best-sellers, they had to find a new one most of the time.

                      Despite the occasional ill-temper, all of it seemed now like a well-oiled machine.
                      However, Godfrey was growing concerned about the last one of the Finnleys. Very concerned.

                      #3540
                      ÉricÉric
                      Keymaster

                        That Liz had started to become a few sandwiches short of a picnic when she’d hit her 57th birthday was an open secret.
                        Her editor had to personally recruit frequent replacements for her dame de compagnie, whom, no matter how different they looked, she would invariably call ‘cleaning lady Finnley’, stuck with her remembrance of a certain period of her life.

                        Godfrey often had wondered… were he to resign, and be replaced like so many Finnleys before this one, would she also call his replacement “Godfrey”? The though made him titter, as he put the kettle on the stove.
                        At times he wanted to scream that he wasn’t her bloody man-servant, but her personal doctor had made a point to explain to him that Elizabeth’s frail grasp on reality would only be strengthened if everyone continued to play the charade of her life.

                        Truth was, she really did seem to grow younger as the years passed, and as she was bossing around everyone with great enjoyment, Godfrey had often wondered if she wasn’t in cahoots with her physician to have everyone believe she was truly losing it.
                        He had to admit, she was doing a terrific job at it.

                        #3534
                        TracyTracy
                        Participant

                          Godfrey, go and put the kettle on. Finnley wants a cuppa. Finnley come and sit down and tell me all about it.”
                          “All about what?” asked Finnley.
                          “Anything, dear, just make something up. The whole world is insane, and I’ve decided that the only solution is to ..to….”
                          Godfrey, don’t just stand there with your mouth open like a goldfish, put the bloody kettle on. Liz needs a cuppa,” said Finnley.

                          #3523
                          ÉricÉric
                          Keymaster

                            “Anyway,” Godfrey continued after a ponderous moment, “you’ve gathered more documentation than you ever had before you started a book, Liz. Are you waiting for Finnley, (no offense)”, he waved at her while she was cleaning her overall methodically “to ghostwrite it for you or what?”
                            “Stop pushing me. You know the publishers, never happy without a working draft.”
                            “Exactly my point. Since when do you care about such things? All you need is a picturesque starting scene, don’t squander your wits in scattered tidbits.”
                            “Fuck off Godfrey. Now you got my limerick bone all tingly…”

                            #3520
                            TracyTracy
                            Participant

                              “It’s starting to look like the flashbacks are going to be more interesting than the start of the story, Liz,” Godfrey mentioned, while perusing Liz’s notes.
                              “Does it matter?” she replied crisply.
                              “What are you mumbling, Finnley? Soliloquy? What’s that?”
                              Finnley rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to snort lest it make her cough.

                              #3514
                              TracyTracy
                              Participant

                                “You know what, Godfrey? I could just happily populate imaginary towns and then leave them all to get on with it, you know what I mean? I could call myself The Populator. My George, I think I’ve found my forte.”
                                “Well, you are known for an unbridled passion for introducing new characters that nobody understands, Liz.
                                “Exactly!” she replied happily.

                                #3511
                                TracyTracy
                                Participant

                                  Godfrey, I do know what a window is.” Godfrey looked a bit miffed, so Liz added, “But thank you for the informative article notwithstanding.”
                                  Finnley snorted, which made a dreadful mess all down the front of her overall.

                                  #3508
                                  TracyTracy
                                  Participant

                                    “I suppose we could give her the rest of the day off, but then who would do the cleaning?” Liz replied. “I think it’s always best to distract oneself and keep very busy when one feels under the weather. It would probably help if we gave her some extra work to do.”

                                    #3507
                                    ÉricÉric
                                    Keymaster

                                      Godfrey filled his mouth with peanuts to avoid speaking any negativity.
                                      The raucous cough had alerted him to the presence of the cleaning lady.

                                      In between mouthfuls, he whispered to Liz “Is there anything we can do, like having her breathe in a grocery store bag or anything? Her asthma has taken frightening proportions…”

                                      #3506
                                      TracyTracy
                                      Participant

                                        “I see you are doing well with the exploration of playful spontaneity, Liz,” remarked Godfrey with a dry grin.
                                        “Don’t you start, Godfrey. Everything has to be planned down to the last detail first.”
                                        “Controlled spontaneity is it?”
                                        “More of a solid base, a platform if you like, a launch pad for a cooperation of revelation and inspiration, a raft for the craft to avoid a sea of confusion. That sort of thing.”
                                        “So, how’s it going?”
                                        “Oh, it’s going very well indeed! I think we’re on chapter 57 of the plans already.”

                                        #116
                                        ÉricÉric
                                        Keymaster

                                          (And her struggles with editorial and cleaning staff anarchy)

                                          #115
                                          ÉricÉric
                                          Keymaster

                                            2049. 22 years after the original settlers had landed on Mars, where they had since been followed by more and more pioneers looking for the next frontier of civilization.

                                            A lot had changed since they arrived, they were now a few hundred strong, and the first generation of Martian born babies were entering adulthood.

                                            Maia would celebrate her 50th birthday tonight. In Earth years. By Mars’ count, she was younger by half. Still, she was the eldest of the mission, and had learnt so much during these years. Her son, John had grown into a fine young man. He was named after John Carter of course. He wasn’t the first born here, but was the first to have survived. He always had the will to explore more, despite the dangers, he wanted to make the planet his own.

                                            She knew he was destined to greatness. She had a dream a long time ago, one dream that made her enlist into the program. She’d dreamt of Mars as a lush planet, that mankind had managed to terraform with a vaporous atmosphere, more dense than on Earth, but breathable. The light of the evening sky was misty and a pale grey-green. Maia hoped she would live to see her dream come true, that somehow they found a way to venture out and breathe the new air, having succeeded in making the best out of the immense resources of the red dust planet.

                                          Viewing 20 results - 681 through 700 (of 1,008 total)