Week 3- For the third week we will be going into the future, SF Fans buckle up!
They have to use these elements:
Genre-Science Fiction
Timeframe & Setting- 2454, A Moon Colony Fort
Objects- An M-4 Machine Gun with Rocket Propelled Bullets & Rotten Tomatoes
Special Rules: All characters must be human or animal, however they must have crazy space suits
Noah T.'s Writing
“Daddy, look at the fighter plane!”
Lt. Cody Mackey looked down at his son who stood staring at the planes that hung from the ceiling displaying their savage looks and strange shapes. Cody picked up the small child and put him on his knee. “That plane could only go 1,000 miles per hour.” The small child looked up into his fathers face trying to comprehend the number. Cody had dark black hair that was shaved in a crew cut and a handsome face with muscles on his arms that made him look like a perfect Hollywood Superstar. “How fast do you fly Daddy?”
Cody looked down at his son and stroked his soft blond hair and opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by a deep voice from behind him. “Your daddy flies us around at speeds of over mach 10 little man.” Cody stood his son onto his feet and turned to find his German comrade behind him. Cody’s huge friend towered over the father and son and looked more like a gentle beast than the stud that Cody was. Cody’s face lit up as he stood and took his friends hand into his own. “How did you find me?” asked Cody.
The German punched Cody playfully in the stomach making the little boy laugh.
“Well um, we are special ops forces for America in case you have forgotten?” He then picked up Cody’s hand and pulled down his sleeve reveling a black device that looked like an ordinary watch. “And we were trained to never take these off of our wrist. Right?”
Cody looked at his partner and said, “Kurt Limberg, you don’t mean you went to HQ just to get my location from a little robot I wear on my wrist?”
The massive man bent forward to look at Cody’s forehead and then rapped on it like a door saying, “Mister Genius, are you home!” The little boy’s laughter echoed through the walls of the marble museum as the two men made a show of swinging fake punched at one another and doubling over as if in pain. Kurt made a jab at Cody’s side, which Cody exaggerated and fell to the floor where Kurt knelt next to him. He then whispered in his ear, “HQ wants you and I to leave now! Get your son to his mom and let’s go!” Cody stood holding his side as if in pain. “I will get you back Limberg! Either here or in our craft. You haven’t even seen some of the crazy stuff I can make that baby do.” Just then a lady approached. She was young and attractive yet had a certain look of seriousness in her face as she looked into Cody’s blue eyes, which betrayed a look of worry. Cody places his hands on his wife’s shoulders and simply said, “Take care of Clayton and yourself. I love you!” He gave her a kiss and bent down to give his little boy a hug. He waved behind him as he walked toward the entrance of the Smithsonian Museum where his partner waited for him.
“Lieutenant Cody Mackey. Lieutenant Kurt Limberg. You have a new mission.” Said the rather stocky American President who sat in his leather chair in the White House. The two men stood smartly at attention, fully focusing on the President’s every word. “I have had my most trusted men check and recheck every man we have in the SOFA (Special Ops Forces of America), and none I have looked at do I have complete trust in. With the exception of two men.” The President looked at the Cody and Kurt and smiled. “I will give you two guesses of who these two are?” Both Cody and Kurt still stood at attention but grinned from ear to ear. “Now gentlemen about the mission…please do not stand at attention. It makes me feel…like I am being guarded.” Both the men came out of attention and stood as best they could in a relaxed position, despite everything in them that screamed to follow their training by standing at attention in the presence of a higher rank. “Thank You.” Said the president. He then motioned them all over to a glass table that stood behind Cody. The President tapped his finger on the glass causing the heat sensors inside to activate the fiber optics to come to life. The President’s fingers flew over a virtual keypad on the glass, typing out a code that would take months to memorize. At last he hit the enter key causing the entire fifteen foot table to turn into a picture of the Earth and the Moon. No one spoke for a minute, but all three men looked at the huge map of the Earth and its satellite, the moon. At the top of the table there were words that read “Rotten Tomatoes Operation (RTO).” Seeing the words, Cody now realized what the mission was about. There were terrorists who had discovered the secrets of space living and where living on the moon. Strangely enough they kept returning to Earth to retrieve rotten tomatoes from Earth then roaring back up to their moon colony. Not harming anyone on Earth, just retrieving rotten tomatoes. Although Cody now understood the map he still wondered where they came in. The President at last broke the silence. “I am sure you have be acquainted with the strange activities of these terrorists?” Both men nodded, receiving a pleased look from the President. “Well where you come in is finding out why they are taking these tomatoes and what they are using them for.” Kurt could not hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. “With all due respect sir. Do you mean you want two members of the most highly trained special operations group in the world to go to the moon to figure out why a bunch of crazy’s have stolen our worthless rotten tomatoes.” The President instead of scolding him began to chuckle as well and then became dead serious. “To your answer Lieutenant Limberg…Yes. I have sent other men up but they never return. There is a leak in the SOFA somewhere but instead of looking for him, I decided to look for two who I know are loyal, trustworthy and the best at what you do.” Cody straightened up and placed both hands on the glass table. The President starred at the two men, the light coming from the fiber optics in the table illuminated his face making it seem like the scene of an epic spy movie. The President looked at two men and said, “ I can trust no one. You two are to go to the moon. Find out what is going on and then destroy them or it. However there will be no backup. If you get in trouble I cannot send anyone because I do not know whom they would be firing at. You will have to discover and destroy the secrets on the moon, alone!”
“Roger sir, we read you.”
Kurt looked at his partner who was piloting the massive craft toward the edge of the atmosphere at super sonic speeds. Kurt reach over and tapped him on the shoulder and said into his microphone that was built into his helmet “Hey Cody, the president says we are under the radar of SOFA for now so when we are ready to break the atmosphere let him know so he can jam the radar signal!” Cody nodded his head in understanding, simply saying “Roger.”
About five minutes later Cody’s voice came to life on the radio. “This is RTO Operator. Please disable the radar for 2 minutes while we enter outer space. Over.” The president’s voice came through in Cody speakers in his helmet and said, “I read you RTO Operator. Disabling in 3,2,1 SOFA radar is now disarmed. Enjoy your all expense paid trip to the moon. Over.” Exactly two minutes later the president’s voice came through again. “RTO Operation, radar is now active are you clear of its waves? Over.” Cody looked at Kurt and smiled and said, “Roger Command. We are clear. Landing at destination in three minutes. Over.” Cody’s helmet once again came to life with the static reply “Roger RTO Operation. Over.” Cody at the controls of the monstrous machine expertly guided the craft just above the glowing surface of the moons dusty and rocky surface, sending rocks spiraling off into space. Coming to a large crater in the moon Cody dove the craft to the bottom saying into his private mic that only he and Kurt could hear. “Command this is RTO Operator we are about to impact the ground. Good Bye!” Kurt looked at Cody who was pretending to fiddle with the controls and just began to yell. Cody just before impact glided the craft back up to its original height and began laughing. “I told you I would get you back you using this machine, Kurt!” said Cody. With a look of disbelief on his face Kurt loosened his grip on the bar in front of him and slumped down in his chair breathing heavily. Cody’s laughter was stopped however when the president came to life on the radio announcing their arrival to their destination, which was a small crater that hid the craft perfectly. The two men climbed into the back of the craft dressing in skin tight jumpsuits that were made from an advanced fiber optics specialist and allowed them to walk through crowds invisible. They then strapped an assortment of weapons, of the same fiber optics make, to holsters on their legs. Besides the small guns they carried, they both attached an M-4 machine gun to their chests with a retractable wire that made there no way of losing their precious protection. These guns however where made for space with bullets that were rocket propelled so that they did not simply float toward the target bouncing harmlessly but instead delivered a super sonic bullet to and through the body of the target killing instantly from blunt force alone. Equipped for battle they placed a helmet on that was equipped with a rear and side view cameras to allow the two to see in every direction. As well as a private and command communication system and breathing system that takes the harmful gases around them and turning it into oxygen, allowing them to walk around with an unlimited air supply. They then climbed into mini machine that looked like the main craft but smaller in size and also self-destructible for easy riddance. Cody then took the controls once more taking the two men to the edge of the terrorist moon village.
“Self-Destructing Mini Craft in 3, 2,1!” said Cody on the private communication system.
A muffled explosion sound was all that was heard before the small machine vaporized by the small nuke. “Command this is RTO Operator. Preparing to enter enemy territory. Unsure of next transmission. Over.” Said Kurt into the mic. “Command reads you RTO Operator. Happy hunting! Over.” Cody snorted and thought, “Yea happy hunt man in the safe and comfortable over stuffed chair.” The two men walk invisible right through the streets that were lined with egg shaped skyscrapers. After walking for a few minutes Cody and Kurt stopped both flicking through the images of maps and buildings that flashed up on their optics operated helmet visor. “Look Kurt, looks like to the test facility is just to the right of us.” Said Cody. The two men standing right in the middle of the street, with enemy’s passing by them in strange white suits, both of them stopped and pulled up the view of the building beside them with their side view camera’s. The both walked up to the door and found a box that looked like a security system. Kurt quickly pulling one of his goodie from his small pack, brought out a decoder that he held up to the box. The small screen on the device scanned through millions of digits per second stopping every time it found a correct digit. Cody found himself thinking back to the President typing the long code into the table but was interrupted by a single beep sound from the device. Kurt looked at Cody and although he could not see through his dark mask he knew a smile lay on his face. After walking several miles through mazes and boxes that Kurt quickly decoded and walked through they came to a room that had three men wear silver radiation suits. They were examining something in a glass barrel. Seeing the contents of the barrel, Kurt and Cody looked at each other. There inside the barrel the rotten tomatoes disappeared into a green vapor that swirled inside the barrel. One of the three scientists went over to a wall where he typed a code on a keypad. When the code was finished a huge sliding door opened revealing three missiles the size of the skyscrapers outside. The scientists carefully moved the barrel over to the third missile in line and connected the barrel to the missile letting the vapor disappear into the body of the missile. They all started to laugh and through his noise amplifying earphones in his helmet Cody heard them say in English! “Well my dear friends tomorrow these we launch at Earth and the day after that Earth is ours.” Kurt raised his gun and shot a three round burst placing a supersonic bullet in each of their heads. They approached them to find an order written in English that looked identical to a SOFA order. With a dreadful realization that SOFA was the terrorists, Cody radioed the president. “Command this is RTO Operator. We have located the use of the rotten tomatoes. They are being used to make some kind of super nuke. The rotten tomatoes when exposed to the gases here in outer space turns it into this green toxic vapor. We also found out it is the SOFA that are the terrorists. What step do we take next? Over.” The answer came several seconds later. “RTO Operator is there anyway to destroy those missiles with explosives. Over” Cody looked at Kurt who shook his head at Cody. “Negative Command. The metal hull is too thick on the missiles. The only way to destroy them is to self-destruct which would mean…which would mean we won’t be coming back. Over.” Cody’s mind whirled, either way he lost. If he did not destroy them his wife and child as well as all of the inhabitants of Earth are destroyed but if he did he would not return. “RTO Operator I think you know my decision. Destroy the missiles. Do you have any last message? Over.” With tears in his eyes Cody keyed his mic and said, “Tell my wife and child I love them. Over and Out.” Cody gripped Kurt’s hand and shook it. The two men walk over to a missile. Flipping up a glass lid revealing the self-destruct button. Cody one last time keyed his mic and said to Kurt, “Been a pleasure working with you buddy. I wouldn’t have had it any other way!” With that he slammed his fist into the button detonating the missile.
The End
Isabella’s Writing
Derrick floated just above the Moon’s surface, his M4 Machine gun weighing close to nothing in his right arm, as he made his way into the large, metallic structure that served as his home. A tall man dressed in a orange and red florescent colored space suit, similar to the one Derrick wore himself, floated towards him as he landed on the North Moon Colony Fort landing platform.
“Any news on the Comet Brothers, Eric?” Derrick asked the tall man.
Eric’s skin tightened around his thin mouth and his long nose dipped up and down as he nodded. “Unfortunately.” He said, as both he and Derrick made their way through the entrance of the North Moon Colony Fort.
The sound of rushing wind filled their ears as their feet slowly sank to the floor. Taking a moment to get used to the feel of artificial gravity, Eric continued.
“Apparently, the Comet Brothers were last seen two days ago in the West Colony Fort.” He said. “In the past week they’ve stolen several weapons from the South and West Colony Forts’ artillery supply and placed five Guards in Medical treatment.”
“How is it that I haven’t heard about this?” Derrick asked, his face taut.
“You’ve been on Guard duty for the last couple of weeks, and you know how tight security has been since the Comet Brothers made their first appearance. As it is, Vera’s only letting a select few in on the details.”
Derrick opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again when they stopped.
Their destination was a small, one story building made of the same metallic material as the rest of the colony. It large, heavy metal door moved aside with the push of a small button and the two men made their way into the building. Eric opened a small door, which led to a large room much too big to be a broom closet, and pushed his finger against a small tablet hanging from the wall. The room moved with a jolt that knocked Derrick off his feet and the feeling of downward motion kept him from standing up again until it stopped with another jolt.
When the elevator opened up an even larger room greeted their eyes. Men and women dressed in the crazy-looking space suits moved between large stands of computers and complex maps and charts of space. A woman dressed in a baggy yellow and orange florescent stripped space suit walked up to Eric and Derrick and gave them a curt nod.
“Well it’s about time we saw you in here, Derrick. I was beginning to wonder if you’d never get let off of Guard duty.” She said.
“You know it’s not my fault I had extra duty, Vera.” Derrick replied with a grin.
“I’m sure it wasn’t.” The Vera’s lips twisted into a smile as her hands gestured that they follow her.
They moved into a smaller room with a large, oval table and chairs all around. Several of the chairs were occupied with other men and women dressed in similar space suits as Derrick, Eric and Vera.
Eric sat down near the end of the table and Derrick followed suite as the Vera stood near the front of the room.
“You’re all here so that we can discuss the matter of what is to become of the Several Moon Colonies that chart the surface our Moon, including the one that we are standing in now.” The seriousness in her tone was not lost on those in the room and everyone’s eye was on her as she continued.
“The Government has sent out the notice that they see no reason to continue our ‘little operation’ up here and they’ve given us four months to clear everything out before they shut us down completely.”
Shouts of shock and outrage filled the room as several members jumped out of their seats or fell out of their chairs.
“But don’t they understand that this is our life? That the whole purpose of the Colonies is for us to continue to our research and be with our families at the same time?” One woman asked. Several other members nodded at her words.
“The Government has sent several complaints to our main head saying that the cost for supporting a space exploration study such as ours is no longer something that they wish to spend.” Vera replied, her face taunt and her eyes hard.
“Do we not pay our taxes just as families on Earth?” An older man cried out angrily.
“Along with the troubles that the Comet Brothers have caused in our Colonies,” Vera replied loudly over the angry exclamations of her fellow members, “the Government simply no longer has interest in our organization.” She continued. “Technology has reached another level on earth and it seems that what happens down there is more important then what happens up here at the moment.”
She stopped for breath before finishing. “I am telling this to these select few so that you will be away of what is going to happen and can help with the explaining and organizing that will need to be done in the next few weeks. Dismissed.”
Silence covered the room as the men and women within went back to their activities until further notice. A depressing hush fell over the rest of the room and for the rest of the day Derrick could think of nothing else but how unfair and cruel the Government was.
* * * * *
The day past with no further disruption and when Derrick went home the silence was finally broken by the cries of his young wife and their two year old child.
It was during that night, while cleaning his M4 Machine Gun as his wife and child sang short nursery rhymes, that and idea formed in Derrick’s head.
It was an outlandish idea that might cause more harm than good, but no one else seemed likely to do anything about the injustice that was about to happen to them.
The following day, Derrick left his house early, leaving a kiss to his wife and child. He took extra care that no one noticed him as he made his way into the one-story that led down to the North Colony Base.
He waited for only a second as the elevator brought him down under the top layer of the Moon’s crust.
The doors opened to show an empty room filled with blank computer screens and bare tables, the maps and charts put away.
Derrick walked into the conference room and locked the door. A large TV screen was in the far corner and was only supposed to be used in emergency contact with Earth.
“This is an emergency.” Derrick said to himself. He reached for the TV and a see-through screen popped. He typed in the code for Earth and waited for only a second before a short, thick man appeared on the TV screen. “This is an emergency channel to be used only in emergencies!” The man frowned at Derrick. “And I can tell this is no emergency.” He looked like he was about to cut off the connection when Derrick finally found his tongue and spoke out.
“This is an emergency, Sir!” He cried out, forcing himself to remain calm.
The man paused.
“If this has anything to do with the decision to shut down the Moon Colony Fort Operation, the decision is a final one, and one that will not be changed. “
Derrick took a breath.
“I am aware of the Government’s decision, however if you would only listen to what I would have to say then perhaps you could be persuaded otherwise.”
The man’s frowned deepened. “You have one minute.” He said stiffly.
Derrick nodded and launched into a full speech, quick and to the point. He had no idea where the speech had come from, only that it was based on his feelings for the Moon Colony Program, the work that he did there, and the people that he had met because of it.
He explained to the man everything about the Moon Colony Forts. How it had been made to further explore Outer Space while at the same time allowing whole families to interact with each other. It had benefited many a desperate family, who had lost their jobs and almost all their hope. The Moon Colony Forts had given jobs to many people and, with the help of technology, had given families new homes and new locations where they could actually pay their bills and repay the government.
The man’s ever deepening frown had finally grown into a scowl. “I am fully aware of the many benefits of the Moon Colony Forts, as are the rest of the heads. However the answer is still the same and the reason is a simple one. We no longer have any interest in the program. The research is the same, the technology is the same.”
The two remained staring at each other for several minutes; Derrick’s face growing redder all the while.
Finally, his anger getting the better of him, he grabbed the nearest thing to him, a rotten tomato.
“You people are as bad as this tomato!” He shouted. “All of you are rotten on the inside and the out!” He shouted at the man on the screen.
“This Moon Colony has given me everything that I wanted and I’d be willing to eat this if it meant I could save it!”
The man’s scowled grew even harsher. “You are the ones who are rotten. You say that you will be willing to do anything for something that you love, such as this ‘Moon Fort’ yet when the time comes you’ll just stand by and we will get our way.”
Derrick’s face turned the very color that the tomato in his hand should have been.
“Sir,” He said coolly, “I am no lair, and I am not to be taken for a coward either.” He hoisted his M4 Machine Gun onto his shoulder for better support and, raising his other hand to his mouth, took a large chunk out of the rotten tomato.
Derrick’s face scrunched up as he swallowed the first bite, but his anger, along with his determination to prove the man before him wrong, kept him going. In a matter of minutes the entire tomato had disappeared from Derrick’s hand and now resided in the depths of his stomach.
“D-do you believe me now?” Derrick looked up, his face no longer red but strange shade of green.
The man on the screen’s scowl had now changed to a small smile.
“Perhaps there may be something of interest in the Moon Colony. If you can eat a rotten tomato for the sake of this Colony, then the least I can do is put in a word for you and your program.” He nodded curtly and the screen went blank.
* * * * *
It had been two months and the government had finally given way. After the first couple of weeks, everyone had been about to give up hope, but by the end of it all their worries has been for nothing.
A huge party had been prepared by Vera and a few others to celebrate the wonderful news and almost everyone in the Northern Moon Colony showed up. All over the Moon, people were celebrating the Governments final decision.
Towards the end of the party Derrick was made his way towards the exit, wanting to spend some time with his family. As he reached the door he was approached by Vera. “I know it was you that convinced the government to continue to fund our operation.” She said. “What did you do to convince them to keep it up?”
Derrick just grinned and winked as he lifted up his M4 Machine Gun from the weapons rack, and walked out into the elevator.
