<p>The vessel with the mirrored sides and photovoltaic sails negotiated the solar winds with ease. The captain was experienced, had weathered storms across the electromagnetic spectrum, gravitational ones to boot. "<a href="/tags/align/" rel="tag">#Align</a> the instruments and begin the deep chant, crew! In two Earth days we'll be gliding into port above# Mercury." </p><p>Everyone joined in the deep chant except Molly, who hummed "In the arms of the solar flare," a popular Mercurian folksong.</p><p><a href="/tags/wss366/" rel="tag">#wss366</a> <a href="/tags/microfiction/" rel="tag">#microfiction</a></p>
microfiction
<p>The sun was slowly climbing over the horizon, bathing everything in warm, morning light. Flocks of docile clouds dotted the sky, a welcome contrast to the angry storms of the last week. All-in-all a perfect start for a haircut day.</p><p>With a cup of steaming hot wakeup tea in hand, I went through my morning routine. Energy storage was full, thanks to the storms, and I diverted incoming power from the wind farm to Bearlington, they still had capacity. Two turbines with reduced efficiency and a couple of blades due for their checkups. I sent a message to the maintenance list. Solar output was way down, but we'd take care of that today.</p><p>I took a careful sip of tea and scrunched my face. This harvest had extra punch. The startup routine for the drone went through without issues and I loaded the shears and chainsaw before I took my seat, which made the load indicator turn yellow. Curse those cookies. Well, as they say: "fly yellow, it's mellow".</p><p>The trip up the mountainside to our solars went smooth and I saw that two drones had already landed. Sam and Juri were chatting and drinking tea when I joined them.</p><p>"Pretty early and pretty fast, this year." Sam said, as she drew work areas onto a map on her tablet and sent them to us. The mild and wet weather had made the forest spill into the clearing for the panels, and reclaim what was rightfully hers.</p><p>"Jup." Juri laughed and let his hydro shears clack. "Time for a haircut!"</p><p><a href="/tags/writing/" rel="tag">#writing</a> <a href="/tags/hopepunk/" rel="tag">#hopepunk</a> <a href="/tags/solarpunk/" rel="tag">#solarpunk</a> <a href="/tags/microfiction/" rel="tag">#microfiction</a> <a href="/tags/tootfic/" rel="tag">#tootfic</a> <a href="/tags/smallstories/" rel="tag">#smallstories</a></p>
<p>Why do you want access to the restricted section? Well yes of course research, but you can’t just front up; you need to make an application via your department. Because it’s a cognitohazard. You specify what topics you want, register a mind vector, then do your research. You’ll be accompanied—at all times—by a psychologist, and when you are done one of our proctors will merge your temporary state with your entry state, filtering out things you didn’t want to know. This is not a game; the true crime podcast archive contains examples of almost all the evils of which humans were capable. Wiping them out was a mercy.</p><p><a href="/tags/tootfic/" rel="tag">#Tootfic</a> <a href="/tags/microfiction/" rel="tag">#MicroFiction</a> <a href="/tags/poweronstorytoot/" rel="tag">#PowerOnStoryToot</a> <a href="/tags/title_sealed_section/" rel="tag">#Title_Sealed_Section</a></p>
Edited 50d ago
<p>Now that we have a number of Synthetics on the Team, there's a new rule for stand-up meetings. No locking your knee joints, no medianet access. Meetings are getting too long again.</p><p><a href="/tags/microfiction/" rel="tag">#MicroFiction</a> <a href="/tags/title_new_rule/" rel="tag">#Title_New_Rule</a></p><p>---</p><p>Please enjoy this double-length <a href="/tags/weeklyomnibus/" rel="tag">#WeeklyOmnibus</a> recap of my daily <a href="/tags/tootfic/" rel="tag">#Tootfic</a> wherein each morning I confirm that it is safe to Outside by testing my brain's creative faculties. </p><p>Would you consider subscribing to <a href="/tags/poweronstorytoot/" rel="tag">#PowerOnStoryToot</a> 's tip jar at <a href="https://ko-fi.com/unixbigot" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>ko-fi.com/unixbigot</a> to keep them coming? Members will receive free collected e-books of back issues in future. Volume Zero of the e-book collection is free for everyone in PDF and ePub on my Ko-Fi store now. Volume One (nearly 100 stories) drops next week!</p><p>You can now also find a web archive and RSS feed at <a href="https://kit.biggs.id.au/fiction/" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>kit.biggs.id.au/fiction/</a></p><p>Mon 19 January: Body Shop <a href="https://aus.social/@Unixbigot/115918595546764949" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="aus.social/@Unixbigot/115918595546764949"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">aus.social/@Unixbigot/11591859</span><span class="invisible">5546764949</span></a></p><p>Tue 20/1: All Systems <a href="https://aus.social/@Unixbigot/115923773699600109" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="aus.social/@Unixbigot/115923773699600109"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">aus.social/@Unixbigot/11592377</span><span class="invisible">3699600109</span></a></p><p>Wed 21/1: Upload Suite 3 <a href="https://aus.social/@Unixbigot/115929598649368915" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="aus.social/@Unixbigot/115929598649368915"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">aus.social/@Unixbigot/11592959</span><span class="invisible">8649368915</span></a></p><p>Thu 22/1: Have you tried the punch? <a href="https://aus.social/@Unixbigot/115935486005135198" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="aus.social/@Unixbigot/115935486005135198"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">aus.social/@Unixbigot/11593548</span><span class="invisible">6005135198</span></a></p><p>Fri 23/1: Refused Service Service <a href="https://aus.social/@Unixbigot/115941123066543187" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="aus.social/@Unixbigot/115941123066543187"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">aus.social/@Unixbigot/11594112</span><span class="invisible">3066543187</span></a></p><p>Sat 24/1: New Queensland <a href="https://aus.social/@Unixbigot/115946168023342639" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="aus.social/@Unixbigot/115946168023342639"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">aus.social/@Unixbigot/11594616</span><span class="invisible">8023342639</span></a></p><p>Sun 25/1: Sink Hole <a href="https://aus.social/@Unixbigot/115953388992680303" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="aus.social/@Unixbigot/115953388992680303"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">aus.social/@Unixbigot/11595338</span><span class="invisible">8992680303</span></a></p><p>Mon 26/1: The Fourth Front <a href="https://aus.social/@Unixbigot/115958842577513243" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="aus.social/@Unixbigot/115958842577513243"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">aus.social/@Unixbigot/11595884</span><span class="invisible">2577513243</span></a></p><p>Tue 27/1: 431372-Jorts <a href="https://aus.social/@Unixbigot/115964234395465012" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="aus.social/@Unixbigot/115964234395465012"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">aus.social/@Unixbigot/11596423</span><span class="invisible">4395465012</span></a></p><p>Wed 28/1: CSF <a href="https://aus.social/@Unixbigot/115969655294402318" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="aus.social/@Unixbigot/115969655294402318"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">aus.social/@Unixbigot/11596965</span><span class="invisible">5294402318</span></a></p><p>Thu 29/1: Wakeup call <a href="https://aus.social/@Unixbigot/115975335795269256" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="aus.social/@Unixbigot/115975335795269256"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">aus.social/@Unixbigot/11597533</span><span class="invisible">5795269256</span></a></p><p>Fri 30/1: Rock Life <a href="https://aus.social/@Unixbigot/115981122817874169" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="aus.social/@Unixbigot/115981122817874169"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">aus.social/@Unixbigot/11598112</span><span class="invisible">2817874169</span></a></p><p>Sat 31/1: Condition T <a href="https://aus.social/@Unixbigot/115987867980673357" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="aus.social/@Unixbigot/115987867980673357"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">aus.social/@Unixbigot/11598786</span><span class="invisible">7980673357</span></a></p><p>Sun 1 February: Four Five <a href="https://aus.social/@Unixbigot/115992860131385873" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="aus.social/@Unixbigot/115992860131385873"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">aus.social/@Unixbigot/11599286</span><span class="invisible">0131385873</span></a></p>
Edited 45d ago
<p>"Doctor, why am I woken up by a blaring siren? Are we being attacked?"</p><p>"No, I'm afraid the TARDIS has a bug."</p><p>"A bug?"</p><p>"Yes, they didn't account for the time change that happens in the Spring."</p><p>"What happened?"</p><p>"We've been sent into the hour that was skipped. We are in fact in... nowhen."</p><p>Dum dum dudum dum dudum....</p><p><a href="/tags/doctorwho/" rel="tag">#DoctorWho</a> <a href="/tags/daylightsavingtime/" rel="tag">#DaylightSavingTime</a> <a href="/tags/dst/" rel="tag">#DST</a> <a href="/tags/microfiction/" rel="tag">#microfiction</a> <a href="/tags/nonsense/" rel="tag">#nonsense</a></p>
<p>"I don't care what your boss says. It's not happening."</p><p>Rith stared down the serval in front of it, watching him adjust his uniform collar nervously.</p><p>"Um... But he said that if you don't comply th-"</p><p>"He is also aware that I am an immortal and powerful dragon, which is why he sent you."</p><p>"But-"</p><p>"I would also recommend that if he wants to make threats upon my person, that he should come here himself and," it said, performatively searching through it's notes, "here it is - *try it.*"</p><p>"I CAN'T SAY THAT TO HIM!" he squeaked out in a terrified voice. "My life would be over!"</p><p>The wyrm leant on an elbow. "What's your name - and before you speak, not your *rank*. Your name."</p><p>"F-Filip."</p><p>"Filip. Do you agree that this request is moral?"</p><p>He whimpered. "N-no."</p><p>"Is your personal safety in danger if you don't follow this command?"</p><p>"He'd have me killed. Or worse."</p><p>Rith reached under the desk and pulled out a card with a familiar helix imprint.</p><p>"These are friends. Find a payphone, call them, ask for Havoc. They'll come with a pickup in 30 minutes to a safe house. If you have family, they'll get them too."</p><p>He fought back tears.</p><p>"Why would you do this for me? I'm... Not anybody!"</p><p>"You're a real person, with honour, and beliefs, that you shouldn't have to compromise to live and love and thrive. This is just the first step to make that happen. The rest is up to you."</p><p>He nodded, and ran out of the shop.</p><p>The wyrm pulled on its amber glasses and flicked them on.</p><p>"ROSE, can you let Havoc know I'm sending another for protection?"</p><p>"Of course, Rith. Are you trading for this one?"</p><p>"I don't think so - he looks like, with belief, he can prove himself. He just tried to extort a monster, after all."</p><p><a href="/tags/tootfic/" rel="tag">#tootfic</a> <a href="/tags/microfiction/" rel="tag">#microfiction</a></p>
<p>“Check it out, I got a Trinitron for my new retro gaming rig. Just listen to the satisfying clunk it makes when I turn it on.” *BLONG*</p><p>“Uh, is your rig connected to the internet?”</p><p>“Duh, it’s for strea—ooof.”</p><p>“Stay down!”</p><p>“Get off me! Why did you do that?”</p><p>“The BeamGleam worm is still live, you utter wardrobe handle”</p><p>“Wjuh, uh what’s that?”</p><p>“A cathode ray tube is just a friendly ion cannon; the Worm makes them…unfriendly”</p><p>“Don’t be paranoid tha”—*BZZZT*</p><p>“Told you. Unplug it before you get up, Ima crawl to the kitchen and get the fire extinguisher.”</p><p><a href="/tags/tootfic/" rel="tag">#Tootfic</a> <a href="/tags/microfiction/" rel="tag">#MicroFiction</a> <a href="/tags/poweronstorytoot/" rel="tag">#PowerOnStoryToot</a> <a href="/tags/title_raygun_era/" rel="tag">#Title_Raygun_Era</a></p>
Edited 3d ago