Silly Books

Posted on Mon Jan 15th, 2024 @ 6:31am by Warrant Officer Arlan Harlan

513 words; about a 3 minute read

As Harlan melted down slightly in the tube during an active combat sequence, his mind drifted to things he'd read over the years. In particular, the speculative science fiction of centuries past. At the time, Harlan thought they were silly. Generation ships full of hibernating people, humans uploaded into super bodies near the end of their lives; what nonsense. Particulary odd were tales of Earth disappearing or being abandoned. Authors really had no faith that humanity could turn itself around if it was given a tall enough task.

And yet, Harlan couldn't help but think of all the wonders he'd seen and that Starfleet had cataloged. It was almost like a story, how humanity had reached the stars and embarked on its never-ending series of five-year missions. Planets were people who ate narcotics and philosophized at length, or monoculture planets resembling episodes of Earth's history. What more might be out there that hadn't been discovered yet? If only people stopped shooting at each other like they were right now. Then, some real exploring could be done. Perhaps some of the stories with even more fantastic aliens or phenomena wouldn't seem so odd anymore. Harlan very much wanted to see or hear Starfleet's mission continue to unfold. He might even write a book of his own; his experiences certainly blew some people away in their scale and chaos.

However, none of that would happen if he couldn't get out of this freaking tube. He had tried fiddling with wires, manipulating menu interfaces, and even punching the sides of his temporary coffin did nothing. He also didn't seem to have much luck shouting into his badge to Lopt and Gantt; everyone was very occupied with his previous directives of not getting the ship blown up. It might be several minutes of enclosed, tense, stress before he was free. Would he even get free? Would the ship blow while Harlan was ensconced in a cylinder of modern technology? That would be just perfect for a lifeline tube monkey. Curse these things! If Harlan got out, the evils of tubes would really be high on his list of things to include in a book, particularly if it was fiction.

"Aha!" he yelled at nobody in particular. "Maybe my book can be fiction! Those books were nonsense, but they must have been fun. I can just see it now. There's this person floating alone in space, betrayed by his friends and jettisoned in a tube during a hunt for some lost alien artifact. It would be high on action but low on science. And aliens would have to be both recognizable and respectful of anyone who might read it that wasn't human." It was a tricky line to walk; so many books were gross male fantasies of romancing alien women. Even the legendary Captain Kirk was rumoredd to have dallied with many during his adventures, but Harlan would have none of that. A memoir would undoubtedly happen after retirement, but perhaps Harlan would write his own "silly book." if he ever got out of this stupid tube.

[OFF]

 

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