Thusday December 31st, 2020

The exercise:

Ah, the final day of 2020, at long last. A lot could be said about the year that was. Significantly more positive things can be hoped for in the year ahead.

But, I mean, when it comes to the year that concludes today, good riddance covers most of it.

Anyway. Write about: the lay of the land.

2 comments:

Greg said...

Heh, the Netflix trailer is good! LIsa Kudrow caught me by surprise though, she looks a little older than I was expecting!
I have fixed the white-on-white problem for the poem, so you should have a legible copy of it now :)

And so, to
the Lay of the Land
"Lawyer-at-arms!" Master Licko's voice was sharp and three of his upper arms were twitching, which was a clear indication of anger. I stood up from my desk where I had been reading through the proposed contract for a construction project and saluted with both rij-arms.
"Lawyer-at-arms! This letter --" he thrust lambskin parchment at me, and I noted with slightly annoyance that he'd clearly opened this himself instead of allowing the secretary -- who was much more disposable -- to do it "-- claims that I have accepted a commission to produce a sonic sculpture."
I took the parchment and saluted again and went to find the secretary, wondering to myself why Master Licko hadn't just summoned them and complained in the first place. That reason became apparent when I, having exhausted all other options, checked the materials storage room and found them nailed to two of the walls there. A cursory examination of the nails and the nearby nailgun confirmed that this was most likely Master Licko's doing, and so was probably covered in a contract. I would have to check before I could consider calling Trauma Services to assist the vetchling.
"Sonic sculpture?" I said, waving the parchment in front of their veer-eyes. They crossed, swam in vitreous humours for a moment, and then brightened slightly.
"The Lay of the Land," they gurgled, and I made a mental note that I would have to check the contract quickly if the Trauma Services were to be of any use. "Agreed four cycles back, and we've done the preliminaries. The humans are capable of sustaining the necessary sounds, though Master Licko may have to be a little more gentle with the smaller ones."
I nodded. Master Licko had set art forward an entire generation with his studies of human sculpture and how long a showpiece could last for under the right conditions, and had increased interest in the whole affair nearly fiftyfold. Thankfully the planet they came from churned them out by the millions so there was little chance of scarcity ruining the art.
"Thank-you," I said. "I shall go and check contracts." The secretary gurgled a little and deflated in worrisome places, and I decided that perhaps their contract should be checked first. But only because the costs of hiring a new one were currently so high.

Marc said...

Greg - we tried watching it the other night but the overwhelming feeling we got was 'too soon', so we've shelved it for now.

Man, you're just hitting up all the old favorites this week. Feels like it's been a long time since we've spent time with Master Licko and his lawyer at arms. It's impressive how quickly you brought me right back to their world with this one.