- Joined
- Jun 13, 2006
- Messages
- 6,381
As some of the older (longer serving)Chronners will be aware I've been reduced to near silence of late, only managing the challenges and even then it's been a fight to get them done.
I still have a multitude of stories bouncing around my head but have little time to don anything with them
However having an hour free today I managed to put this down. First thing I've written in nearly a year. (Other than the challenges, of course.)
Just thought I'd share it and see what you think.
Major Hoss
I am old, impossibly so.
In this age of longevity and falsely proclaimed immortality, people suffer the ravages of false pride when celebrating their 100,000 years of living. Hah! How they would shudder and fret to know that even the greatest of their multi-millennia diminish into mere ticks of the clock compared to me.
No this, oh dim and dank room, loneliness that eats in the grey shadows, I’d give it all for the rest I desire, the cosy encompassing warmth of release. Death.
Perhaps now, perhaps at last I can fall into that darkness, allow oblivion to take me. Ever has it been my curiosity that has led me to my fate.
Back, back in the days when life was simpler, when it was perfect I always had to see what was around the next corner; over the hill, around the lake, in the cave. It was the same compulsion that made me sit and watch the strangers when they first came in their bloody city.
It was the curiosity that made me creep ever closer to the one man who sat quietly; then like a damn blasted fool follow him into the city where he ‘gifted’ me with all that.
*******.
Heh, I still miss him.
The curiosity ever drove me on. As I began to wind down there was always something else that caught it like a fish on a hook, and off I’d go again. By the time we reached the stars I was so engrossed with the ever expanding playground of man that the years sped by like shooting stars…
And what I have seen and done!
But now this is it.
I have done all I can and at last I begin to fade.
Age claims me like it never has before. My sight grows dim, my hearing muted. The muscles that once caused me to walk are weak, my hair beyond grey.
This is the end of days.
My days.
“Well hello there Major Hoss, how are we this morning?”
“BLEEP off.”
“And here I am to get you dressed and give you breakfast, and you speak to me like that.”
“If I wanted some young tart to fondle my genitals I’d pay a hooker.”
“Well aren’t you lucky I do it for free. And less of the fondling I’m afraid.”
“Too skinny for me anyhow.”
“Well that’s a relief. Now, I know that you were quite a name in your time, the military and exploring, weren’t you?”
“Heh. What of it. Don’t matter much now. I’m just a grumpy old sh!t.”
“Well there is some news that might interest you…”
“I doubt it, but go on.”
“The Emperor has announced a new expedition. They’re going to take one of the new generation Slice Drive Ships and try and travel to the next galaxy.”
I am old, impossibly so.
I’ve seen it all. Done it all. There is nothing left for me.
But at her words my heart quickens, my pulse beats. A finger twitches.
That old devil of mine whispers of unseen wonders in my ear one more time.
I breathe in deeply.
I’m sure in the subdued light of the room my eyes shine.
“Bugger.”
I still have a multitude of stories bouncing around my head but have little time to don anything with them
However having an hour free today I managed to put this down. First thing I've written in nearly a year. (Other than the challenges, of course.)
Just thought I'd share it and see what you think.
Major Hoss
I am old, impossibly so.
In this age of longevity and falsely proclaimed immortality, people suffer the ravages of false pride when celebrating their 100,000 years of living. Hah! How they would shudder and fret to know that even the greatest of their multi-millennia diminish into mere ticks of the clock compared to me.
No this, oh dim and dank room, loneliness that eats in the grey shadows, I’d give it all for the rest I desire, the cosy encompassing warmth of release. Death.
Perhaps now, perhaps at last I can fall into that darkness, allow oblivion to take me. Ever has it been my curiosity that has led me to my fate.
Back, back in the days when life was simpler, when it was perfect I always had to see what was around the next corner; over the hill, around the lake, in the cave. It was the same compulsion that made me sit and watch the strangers when they first came in their bloody city.
It was the curiosity that made me creep ever closer to the one man who sat quietly; then like a damn blasted fool follow him into the city where he ‘gifted’ me with all that.
*******.
Heh, I still miss him.
The curiosity ever drove me on. As I began to wind down there was always something else that caught it like a fish on a hook, and off I’d go again. By the time we reached the stars I was so engrossed with the ever expanding playground of man that the years sped by like shooting stars…
And what I have seen and done!
But now this is it.
I have done all I can and at last I begin to fade.
Age claims me like it never has before. My sight grows dim, my hearing muted. The muscles that once caused me to walk are weak, my hair beyond grey.
This is the end of days.
My days.
“Well hello there Major Hoss, how are we this morning?”
“BLEEP off.”
“And here I am to get you dressed and give you breakfast, and you speak to me like that.”
“If I wanted some young tart to fondle my genitals I’d pay a hooker.”
“Well aren’t you lucky I do it for free. And less of the fondling I’m afraid.”
“Too skinny for me anyhow.”
“Well that’s a relief. Now, I know that you were quite a name in your time, the military and exploring, weren’t you?”
“Heh. What of it. Don’t matter much now. I’m just a grumpy old sh!t.”
“Well there is some news that might interest you…”
“I doubt it, but go on.”
“The Emperor has announced a new expedition. They’re going to take one of the new generation Slice Drive Ships and try and travel to the next galaxy.”
I am old, impossibly so.
I’ve seen it all. Done it all. There is nothing left for me.
But at her words my heart quickens, my pulse beats. A finger twitches.
That old devil of mine whispers of unseen wonders in my ear one more time.
I breathe in deeply.
I’m sure in the subdued light of the room my eyes shine.
“Bugger.”