Fiction: Trudy Fine's Very Short Journey Through Space (4)

Fiction: Trudy Fine's Very Short Journey Through Space — Part 4 of 4  (Read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here)

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"Hold on tight but don't fuss. It's going to get a little bumpy!" said Ben.
    Trudy turned about in her chair. Where was she to hold on to? Every surface of the ship was smooth and the chair she sat on didn't have seat belts nor was it bolted to the floor. She tucked the uneaten egg into her pants pocket and held onto the edge of her seat with death grips.
    Ben's eyes, full of shadows beneath them, were down at the control panel with his hands hovering over it. He wore the same black trenchcoat but his tshirt was dark blue with a yellow smily face and 'Have a nice day' in yellow around it. Had he slept? He didn't seem like he would like mindless conversations about one's well being much like Steven. Being alive was always enough for him. "We're going into hyperspeed in three, two, one!" said Ben.
    Trudy was jolted forward and then back, paused and began to shake violently. Everything she saw was doubled. A sudden realization that she was in a spaceship with a manic driver made her want to laugh and maybe freak out a little.
    "Don't worry. The chairs are magnetic, you won't be thrown about." Ben said without looking at her. "Did you have a weird dream? We did a few planet jumps while you were sleeping. I heard such travels even on a ship, make humans have strange dreams."
    Her dream was strange but very real, almost as if she was reliving it. It was a long forgotten memory or she had thought - the day her mother sold Trudy's eyes for drug money. But it was the memory of Steven that made her ached.
    "Like I said before, it's much easier to travel when you're unconscious," said Ben.
    "When did you said that?" Trudy had no memory of him telling her anything of the sort.
    "Oh. I guess I forgot. Hyperspeed travel can sort of be a little harsh on your brain. But it's not worse than time travel. Now time travel can really scramble your brain and it's not very enthusiastic in re-scrambling it back either."
    Trudy stared at the floor to steady her eyes. Her head ached. It could be because of hyperspeed or just hearing Ben talk science. Maybe her mind was a little too weak in absorbing information at the moment.
    They stopped shaking. "And we're out of hyperspeed. But we've got company," said Ben. His eyes were on the screen.
    Trudy looked up. There was something out there — a shiny, towering something. "What is that?" Trudy wasn't sure she wanted to know.
    "A Cimmerian ship. Rather too tall for my taste." Ben said. "Incoming." He pressed a spot on the right side on the control panel which lit up and then dimmed. There was a jolt. Then it was complete stillness.
    Trudy opened her eyes to the sight of a metal, two-prong instrument coming toward her. She tried to move away but she was held down by her arms. "Let me go!" But whomever was holding her had serious strength. The two-prong instrument was inches away. "I say, let me go!" she screamed.

Fiction: Trudy Fine's Very Short Journey Through Space (3)

This month's Words for Wednesday is hosted by Elephant's Child. This week's prompts are common phrases with links to food. Feel free to mix and match - or to add ones of your own. They are: 1. He had a chip on his shoulder; 2. Best thing since sliced bread; 3. With a cherry on top; 4. She wants to have her cake and eat it too; 5. Everything but the kitchen sink; 6. Bringing home the bacon. You can find more participants at Elephant's Child's blog over here.
    I didn't use any these phrases, they just didn't fit so I decided to make up one - 'An egg a day keeps the doctor from going back in time to hand you a bill.' It sounds a bit silly but I like it. Maybe I wasn't so clear-minded when I thought this up.

Photo by Ray Bilcliff Photography, link here

Fiction: Trudy Fine's Very Short Journey Through Space — Part 3 of 4  (Read part 1 here, part 2 here)

Ben stopped and stretched out a hand. "We're here." They were in a empty field with flat grounds. There was nothing in sight except for the fallen ferris wheel which was far away and was the size of one of Trudy's fingers. How did they get so far so fast? Her leg throbbed every step she took but at least the pain had lessened. She stopped beside Ben.
    "No need to think too deeply. I moved us forward a bit because you were too slow." Ben smiled. There was that hint of laughter in his voice again. "Look up there." He tilted his chin upward. She lifted her head and looked up. 
    A light appeared in the air high above them. It grew bigger and wider and sent light outward like a pinwheel. The structure was about twelve meters high and was about four meters wide. The light came from the dome at the top of the structure.
    "Is this your ship?" There were no doors or windows aside from the various openings spaced out one above the other which Trudy could only see darkness in them.
    "Of course not. Don't you know it's a lighthouse? It's a cover to keep the tourist away."
    Trudy wondered why he would need to do that when it was Ben's planet. She turned to him. He was grinning with his hands in his trenchcoat pockets. "What do you think? Too old fashioned?"
    She shrugged. "Maybe but I like it." She had never seen a lighthouse but she had read books on how they were used to light the way for ships at night. 
    He snapped his fingers and a door opened in the lower part of the lighthouse."Let's go." The moon sphere light began to dim and shrink and fall into Ben's opened hand. He entered the opening and left Trudy in the half dark. The light from the dome gave off a lot of light but it was rather too high up to light where Trudy stood. She followed him, half wobbling, half walking.
    Inside, Ben's sphere lit the small space. The opening closed with a low click. They started to move upward. "Where are we?"

Fiction: Trudy Fine's Very Short Journey Through Space (2)

This month's Words for Wednesday is hosted by Elephant's Child. This week's prompts are: The image at right and Horizon, Tired, Coincidence, Splashed, Holiday, Understand. You can find more participants at Elephant's Child's blog over here.

Fiction: Trudy Fine's Very Short Journey Through Space — Part 2 of 4  (Read part 1 here)

Trudy felt around the bandages over her eyes and pulled them off. She blinked rapidly. It was dark and the only light came from a sphere in the hand of a tall, thin man standing before her. "Hello again, Trudy Fine," said the man. The lapel of his black trenchcoat flapped against his cheek by the wind.
    It was Ben. Under the dim light, his eyes were still quite bright and green. They seemed to be laughing. His thin lips wore a subtle smile. "You might want to shield your eyes for a few seconds." He threw the sphere into the air.
    Trudy lifted her hand over her eyes. A brilliant light was all around her and then it dimmed to a moderate brightness. She lowered her hand and looked up. The sphere was hanging in the sky and it shone down like a moon.
    "Shall we go?" Ben turned and began walking.
    "Hey, wait!" Trudy ran to catch up. "What's that sphere light? It looks like the moon."
    "It is a moon but a different sort of moon as I'm the one lighting it."
    "Oh." She looked up again. It was a beautiful sight though she had only seen the moon once before she lost her eyes.
    They began walking through a forest full of giant trees. Some had colorful leaves, others bare with black trunks, some had odd-shaped fruits and others seemed to drip down but all of them were at least fifteen feet tall. Trudy could only identify the red maples. There was a small maple that used to grow in front of the house she and her mother had lived at when she was five.
    Ben didn't speak. He took long strides with the tail of his black trenchcoat swaying.
    Something jumped past on her left side. Indistinct noises drifted by. Trudy paused to listen. Shuffling. Footfalls. A small object flew by above her. She ran to catch up to Ben. "Didn't you say there are no other inhabitants here other than you?"
    "There aren't. The animals you saw aren't inhabitants. They are part of this planet."
    "They were here when you came to the planet?"
    "No, I brought them here to make the scenery better. The humans weren't appreciating them anyway. Don't worry, they won't harm you."
    Was Ben being kind or did he really brought the animals here to beautify the scenery? She smiled. "Why are we walking if you have, you know, powers?"
    "Why? I have exerted myself trying to get you here. I'm dead tired. And besides, if a being can't walk to their destination, then they must ask themselves, why do they have legs?"
    "I was just— I mean, I don't mind walking. Why are we going to your ship again?"
    "You've accepted me as someone you can trust so why all the questions?"

Fiction: Trudy Fine's Very Short Journey Through Space (1)

This month's Words for Wednesdayis hosted by Elephant's Child. This week's prompts are: machine, telephone, fiction , delightfully, trap, skulduggery and/or groaned, umbrella, fertile, corner, deft, selection. I used machine, telephone, groaned, corner. You can find more participants at Elephant's Child's blog over here.  (Note: Ben is a character from this previous story but you don't have to read that to understand this story.)

Fiction: Trudy Fine's Very Short Journey Through Space — Part 1 of 4

Machines whirled somewhere behind her and then they stopped. She listened. For a long moment, silence greeted her. Then the whirling began again. But the sound faded away.
    When she opened her eyes, she saw only darkness. Blinking rapidly, she kept trying to see but the darkness never changed. A groan escaped her lips. Sharp pain ran through her eyes. For a moment, she had forgot she couldn't see. The constant darkness around her made it easy to forget she didn't have eyes. She lifted her hand to her face. There were bandages around her eyes.
    A telephone rang. She recognized the sound but it couldn't be. They could never afford one. The ringing continued and then it abruptly stopped. No, it wasn't a telephone, it was perhaps an alarm, the kind firetrucks made when they passed by her house. She listened. But again, all she heard was silence. She pressed her hands down to sit up. The material was soft but firm beneath her palms. She turned her body around. Through her thin socks, she could feel the solid cold floor. It was a bed she had been lying on but it was too comfortable to be hers. The scent of cleaning detergent, probably bleach, was all around her. This was not her home. But where was she?
     She held out her hands near her feet. Her boots were there. She put them on. Slowly, she got up and walked forward. One, two, three, four, five, stop. Her fingertips touched something cold and smooth. Carefully, she took slow steps following the pace of her hands on what she assumed was a wall, around a corner, more steps until her knees struck something. It was the bed. The room was small as it only took her thirty steps to go around. There was no opening on the walls. She sat on the bed. Wherever she was, she could not tell without seeing.
    The darkness had been her companion for a long while. She had grew used to it. Counting steps helped her to navigate the space around her. Ten steps to the fridge, five steps to the bed, every time she counted, they were always under one hundred. Small spaces had been her comfort. She could not imagine living in a vast place with so much spaces to count.
    Normally, she kept her eyes closed or else people would see into the sockets and that usually scared them. Some mornings, she would wake up and thought perhaps it was all a dream and that if she could just open her eyes, she could see again. 'Miracles do happen,' Steven had said, 'You just have to wait for them.'
    Steven. Yes, she remembered she was at Steven's grave. And then she was here.
    "Trudy!" That was the name Steven had called her. But it wasn't Steven, he was dead. She stood up.