Hmm, this prompt feels like a hint to me that I should be writing in a certain direction. Well, never let it be said I can't take a hint!
Vibrations The Ilmatu spilled into the room, scuttling up and across the walls and ceiling, spreading out and hanging there as silent and pale as ghosts. The man who'd been staring at the iced-over pitched made a strangled gasping noise, and then coughed. He tried to hold himself rigid as he did so, but even with that herculean effort he quivered and the Ilmatu nearest him tilted its smooth, egg-like head in a way that might have been observant. "Don't move," he said, his voice still sounding choked. "They have no senses at this stage, they detect vibrations." The vibrations in the air from his voice were enough to stir the Ilmatu into life, and they scuttled around the room, avoiding the floor and creating odd little orbits around both one another and the board room table. Their long limbs, twice or three times as long as normal, stretched out, latching onto solid objects and pulling them across like abseilers discovering an absence of gravity. Frost continued to crackle at the temperature dropped and moisture froze out of the air. "An interesting dilemma," said Miss Sikh. She stood up and the Ilmatu ignored her. "And I mean dilemma, in the proper, two-pronged problem. You can stay motionless and, assuming you manage not to shiver, freeze to death, or you can move and the Ilmatu will find you. Which isn't a death as you think of these things, but I suppose to all intents and purposes you will feel as though you died. But you won't have. Not for at least another fifty years." "You could say," said Miss Hyde, smiling broadly at last, "that we're offering you an extension on your lives. At least, those of your bodies, and whatever part of your mind is kept by the Ilamtu. They need to learn from you." "At least to begin with," said Miss Sikh. "They're parasites!" roared the man at the end of the table, who'd had issues with the feminist agenda. He thumped a fist angrily, while the others at the table stared in horror. An Ilmatu skated across the ceiling as fast as a water-snake and dropped down on top of him. His hands reached up to grab it, as its reached down and around, seizing him in a hug around his chest and waist. Their combined weight tipped his chair over backwards, where the crash was muffled by the expensive green carpet. He started to scream, but the Ilmatu was already pressing skin against skin and his scream dwindled away like a whistling kettle taken off the heat as his mouth healed over into blank, liver-spotted skin. On the Ilmatu's head a mouth opened, a red, wet split in the middle, that gradually slipped downwards into a more normal position. Below it, eyes, nose and ears were also healing over as the Ilmatu stole his senses. "Who's next?" said Miss Sikh, sounding happy.
2 comments:
Hmm, this prompt feels like a hint to me that I should be writing in a certain direction. Well, never let it be said I can't take a hint!
Vibrations
The Ilmatu spilled into the room, scuttling up and across the walls and ceiling, spreading out and hanging there as silent and pale as ghosts. The man who'd been staring at the iced-over pitched made a strangled gasping noise, and then coughed. He tried to hold himself rigid as he did so, but even with that herculean effort he quivered and the Ilmatu nearest him tilted its smooth, egg-like head in a way that might have been observant.
"Don't move," he said, his voice still sounding choked. "They have no senses at this stage, they detect vibrations."
The vibrations in the air from his voice were enough to stir the Ilmatu into life, and they scuttled around the room, avoiding the floor and creating odd little orbits around both one another and the board room table. Their long limbs, twice or three times as long as normal, stretched out, latching onto solid objects and pulling them across like abseilers discovering an absence of gravity. Frost continued to crackle at the temperature dropped and moisture froze out of the air.
"An interesting dilemma," said Miss Sikh. She stood up and the Ilmatu ignored her. "And I mean dilemma, in the proper, two-pronged problem. You can stay motionless and, assuming you manage not to shiver, freeze to death, or you can move and the Ilmatu will find you. Which isn't a death as you think of these things, but I suppose to all intents and purposes you will feel as though you died. But you won't have. Not for at least another fifty years."
"You could say," said Miss Hyde, smiling broadly at last, "that we're offering you an extension on your lives. At least, those of your bodies, and whatever part of your mind is kept by the Ilamtu. They need to learn from you."
"At least to begin with," said Miss Sikh.
"They're parasites!" roared the man at the end of the table, who'd had issues with the feminist agenda. He thumped a fist angrily, while the others at the table stared in horror.
An Ilmatu skated across the ceiling as fast as a water-snake and dropped down on top of him. His hands reached up to grab it, as its reached down and around, seizing him in a hug around his chest and waist. Their combined weight tipped his chair over backwards, where the crash was muffled by the expensive green carpet. He started to scream, but the Ilmatu was already pressing skin against skin and his scream dwindled away like a whistling kettle taken off the heat as his mouth healed over into blank, liver-spotted skin. On the Ilmatu's head a mouth opened, a red, wet split in the middle, that gradually slipped downwards into a more normal position. Below it, eyes, nose and ears were also healing over as the Ilmatu stole his senses.
"Who's next?" said Miss Sikh, sounding happy.
Greg - sigh, I should have known... :P
I don't suppose the next one will help matters... but I'll take a look anyway.
Post a Comment