A Title Game Exercise

 Exoplanet  

    It hung above me, turning slowly in the sky. The planet’s star was much closer than the Sun was to Earth, and so it moved faster than the Earth’s. It was strange to be able to look directly at the dark red object, glowing ominously in the sky. Watching it, it easy to see the motion of that celestial body as it carved its way through the heavens. This new world was a very different place, certainly not hospitable to Earth life yet but it was the only one we had found with real potential. Gliese 667Cc, a planet with three suns. It distantly orbited the pair of binary red stars, but almost all of its heat came from the much nearer red dwarf. I raised my hand and looked at the bits of frozen atmosphere stuck to the outside of my thick gloves. If I took this thing off, I would die for sure. While it might have some atmosphere, it was not a breathable one. It was made of mainly Hydrogen and cold methane. But there was also a significant amount of carbon dioxide and a small amount of oxygen, signs that life survived here. Unfortunately the star was in a cold phase, reducing the heat that this planet could receive from it and hiding the possible living things below the ice. It would have been better to wait for a warmer phase to begin colonization, but a micrometeorite swarm had put an end to any notion of waiting. It was time to find a way to live here, forever separated from the life on Earth that I had known until now.

Entropy

    Watching the lifespan of the universe slowly wind its way toward oblivion, he wondered what he was missing out on. Frozen in time, as his ship forever fell towards the black hole, time for him did not pass. But from his perch outside the fourth dimension, he watched as the galaxy turned and existence itself continued without him. At first, he had been simply focused on survival. But eventually that became a given. Then he dedicated himself to escape. Looking through all the information the ship had on physics, quantum or relative, macro and micro. He learned so much about it that he likely understood it better than anyone ever had, but he still was unable to find a way to either die or escape his predicament. It was then that he lost his mind. It’s hard to say how long he may have been like that, mutely cradling himself in a corner, mind switched off as he tried to run from his life. But with enough time, even insanity can fade. Eventually, he reclaimed his mind. More at peace now with infinity, he began to simply do everything he could think of. Mastering every instrument on the ship, creating new ones, writing stories and creating art. He spent what would have been centuries breeding the stowaway rats into companions, and was still trying to see if he could make them intelligent with enough time. But now, the hour was late within the universe. When the last stars blinked out, he knew he would finally be finished. When his black hole evaporated, there would be nothing left to do. Eternity for him, would finally end.

The Moon Over Antarctica

    The penguins huddled together in the harsh, cold night. The wind swept over their bowed backs, trying to find a way down to the bodies below, sapping their strength. This night would go on for a long time, during which the males would keep their eggs balanced upon their feet, warm under a layer of fat and feathers, waiting for them to hatch. But right now, one male feels his egg begin to move. The chick growing inside is almost ready to come out, soon to peck its way through the shell and see the world for the first time. The father leans down a bit more, in order to inspect his prize. But as he does so, a shift in the others behind him makes him lose his balance for a moment, and he feels the egg slip off his feet! Quickly he plunges himself under the mess of bodies, searching for his egg before it gets too cold sitting on the sheet of ice. He can’t see anything in this darkness, and even the light of the moon cannot illuminate between the crush of penguin bodies. But he feels it for a moment, before the movement of the crowd causes it to be pushed away from him. Wriggling his body, he squeezes after it. Searching frantically, he feels this way and that, pushing between the feet around him as the penguins above call out in annoyance. Finally, his beak touches something solid. He wraps his neck around the thing, and scoots forward, shielding it with his body. He moves his feet forward, props it up on them, and finally is able to stand up. He pushes back a small ways from the penguins around him, looking down, dreading what he might see. But the soft light of the moon shines down, illuminating a perfect egg.

Floppy Foot

    Flop flop flop. Goofo’s muddy shoes slapped the ground with every step, soaked and heavy. His shoes had dumb looking pointy curled toes, like all the gnome’s shoes did. Totally impractical. But he was never one to stand out, so he went along with tradition. Floppy shoes, pointy hat, white beard. He found it rather unexciting. But today, as inconvenient as it was, at least something new happened. Ahead, Goofo saw the mayor’s house, a giant mushroom covered in earth from the mudslide and partially underwater. A fat glob of rain slapped Goofo’s nose as he looked at it. Well, he thought better see if the old man is ok. Goofo moved towards the collapsed house, sloshing through puddles as he did so. He was listening for any voices coming from inside, but the crashing sound of the heavy rain around him would have drowned anything out. He would have to go in. He approached a window that was mostly above water and clambered over it to get inside. It was dark in here, likely any candlelight or lanterns were put out by the water rushing through the house.

                “Mayor! Mayor Twinklebottom, are you in here?” Goofo yelled over the sound of rushing water. He listened as well as he could, but heard no voice shouting back. He was about to turn around when he did hear something. It wasn’t exactly a voice, it sounded something like the sound “Mmf”. It came from the floor below.

                Goofo moved forward, finding the stairway down. There couldn’t have been much more than a foot of air, the crooked and leaning floor creating a small space below him. Stooping to look under the floor he was on, Goofo suddenly saw the mayor. Nothing was above water but his bulbous nose, soaked pointy hat and bulging, scared eyes. Goofo dove into the thick muddy water, and swam towards him.

                “Mmf, mmf” Said the Mayor. Goofo couldn’t understand why he didn’t just swim away. He felt for the mayor’s hand underwater and pulled. The motion just made the man’s head go underwater completely, before bobbing back up. “Mmf!” He said.

               “What are you trying to say!?” Goofo shouted. The mayor’s hand pulled his down and Goofo followed. He felt down the man’s leg, to his feet. His shoes were stuck, pinned between some pieces of wood. Of course. Goofo sighed internally, and began to untie the mayor’s shoes. Finally, he was able to get them off, and they both swam back, laying on the creaking broken floor above.

“Can we please stop wearing these damn shoes mayor?” Goofo asked, panting.

The Mayor spluttered water out of his nose and beard, and started coughing. When the coughing passed, he leaned back against a cabinet. “Whatever you want Goofo.”

Huh?

                “What do you want me to do? Go over here?” Tom asked, moving his character towards the wall.

                “No no no, you passed the mission marker Tom. It’s right there. Just go back a bit, the door is right in the wall there.”  Tom’s cloaked character turned around, walking straight past the obvious door for a fifth time. “Tom stop! It’s right there! Right there!” I said.

                Tom graciously actually stopped. “Huh? Where?” He said.

                “Okay, just turn your seen to the left. It’s right to your left.” Tom turns his screen in a 180, looking back down the path his character had just come down.

                “There’s no door here, that’s just where I came from!” He said, getting annoyed.

                “No damnit, it’s to your right now! You turned too far, it’s in the wall right next to you!” I said through gritted teeth. Of course, Tom does another 180 and starts walking away.

                “This way?” He asks.

                “AAAH! Just give me the controller dude, this is not supposed to be a challenging part of the game!” I couldn’t hold back my frustration anymore.

                “No, I want to do it!” He said.

                “Dude, it will take me like one second. Can we just move on, it’s not fun to watch you walk past a door a million times.”

                “Fine… Here.”

Taking the controller, I turned his character towards the door that was RIGHT THERE and walked through it. I gave the controller back to Tom silently, an annoyed frown on my face.

Play

                The ball flew high into the air, colored bands turning slowly. “You kicked that higher than Sam!” Said my new friend Dylan.

                “Who is Sam?” I asked. He kept talking about him.

                “My brother.” Said Dylan. I imagined a big kid, tall and a little scary. Maybe 16 or something.  “Saaam, come outside!” Dylan shouted. The front door opened, and a small figure emerged. Sam was his little brother! Immediately, Sam rushed out, grabbing the stick dangling by a rope from the tree, and used his momentum to launch into the air.

                “Aaaaaughaughaaa!” He shouted like Tarzan or something, soaring through the air. Dylan ran forward as Sam swung back towards the ground, and grabbed the stick as well. They both held on, running towards me, and suddenly they lifted above me, laughing as the rope swung high.