| Civilization Endangered By Joseph Herron 05/05/2003 Period 3 - English I woke up that morning like any other, tired and grumpy, but I had no idea that my life was about to change... forever! I was awakened that morning by a ray of sunlight radiating through my paper-thin curtains. Well, I guess I can't really call it sunlight, since the sun of Terris is artificial. In fact almost everything on Terris is artificial. You see, I live on a space colony, basically a giant heap of Steel and various plastics floating in the empty void of space. Since all the space colonies are relatively new, big corporations haven't really taken hold here. So anyone who wants to make an actual living either has to get a blue-collar job, be a boss of a blue-collar worker, or be a thief. So basically everyone here has to live it rough. But me, I'm a bounty hunter. That's right, a no-good, two-timin', leatherneck, who'd betray his own mother for a profit. That's just an exaggeration of course, but that's what everyone else thinks of me. I just think they're jealous 'cause I make more cash than they do. I have a few allies around here but most of them are social outcasts too. Oh well. When I got up that morning, I immediately put on some clothes and decided that I needed a drink. So I walked out of my musty old apartment building and headed for Clyde's. I left on foot, I had a car I just felt like walking I guess. I always liked Clyde's bar, it's a real dive but I like it because they got strong drinks for a good price. When I got there I asked Clyde for a cold one. Just when my drink arrived, Sheina came through the door. Oh Sheina, that little wench, she could seduce a man to do anything! Not just because of her looks either. She was beautiful all right, no doubt about it, but the way she walks, the way she talks, the way she acts, it just really adds zest to her persona. I don't know, there was just an indescribable sexiness about her. But even despite her "social" personality, she always played "hard-to-get" every time I asked her out. Well, I guess she has to in this town, because every guy in the neighborhood thinks that she's for sale, if you know what I mean. When she walked in she immediately saw me and screamed, "Vincent! I've been searching all over for you! Hurry! Follow me, I want to show you something!" The other guys in the bar snickered right when she said my full name like that. I hated the name my parents gave me, why would anyone burden their child with a name like Vincent? Oh well, at least most of my friends call me Vince. Almost before she finished speaking, I immediately replied, "Oh c'mon Sheina, at least let me finish my drink first!" "No time for that!" she implored. "Just come with me!" So I sullenly left my drink on the table for the bums to take and followed Sheina to wherever she wanted to show me. When Sheina finally stopped, I wondered for a moment what she wanted me to see, then after a few seconds of thought it struck me. We stopped right in front of an electric appliance store with televisions in the display window. The TVs were displaying a recent news broadcast taken just this morning. It just got to the top-story just as we got there. Suddenly angered that she drove me out of the bar just to show me a news broadcast, I screamed, "Sheina! You ran me all the way over here, just for this!" "SHHHH! Be quiet and watch it" She said almost too quickly in a raspy whisper. So I did so and watched reverently as the newscaster started speaking. "Now for our top story. For years we have thought that the great universe was void of life except for Earth. Now we find that we might be wrong, because recently a fishing trawler on earth has discovered something very unusual with its weekly tuna, a flying saucer. Yes, you heard right, a flying saucer, the alien craft that people have been catching glimpses of since the 17th century. But could it actually be a spacecraft from another world? Doctor Steward Griswald thinks not. 'It could not possibly be an authentic alien spacecraft, even if flying saucers have visited earth, we would've found one centuries ago! Besides there are no controls inside for pilots to operate, so it has to be either a total non-functioning hoax, or a remotely controlled operational secret project of Neo-Russia! There are also no signs of age, so it couldn't have crashed before the revolution. It also couldn't have crashed after the revolution, our satellites and radar systems, or witnesses living on space colonies would've noticed it before it crashed.' Thank you very much Mister Griswald. Now Doctor Acnis Geineger, what do you have to say about this? 'I think Mister Griswald is not taking into account that alien life forms from another world may use a system of mechanics than we do, and maybe their ship may be made of some material that normal human detection systems may not see. The controls for the ship may also be controlled in a different way than buttons and levers; maybe the alien creatures have come up with a more efficient sophisticated way of maneuvering the ship, such as telepathy or telekinetic abilities to move the ship. Or maybe those odd shaped black spots on the inner walls of the ship have something to do with it. Or�' 'That's enough Mr. Geineger. Now, Mr. Griswald, do you have anything to add to this?' 'Yes I do, thank you, I think Mr. Geineger's ideas are absolutely ridiculous and total science fiction. I also think that it is obvious that Mr. Geineger is obviously too young and amateur to be a true logical scientist and that Mr. Geineger obviously reads too many science-fiction novels.' Okay, thank you, but all that's all the time we have tonight. 'Hey! Aren't you going talk to me again?' Tune in tomorrow for a special preview on..." |
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