tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149217012399643733.post8427710480178170469..comments2023-12-06T00:48:23.734-08:00Comments on Daily Writing Practice: Wednesday July 20th, 2016Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14952331166517430843noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149217012399643733.post-52328955338110680312016-08-03T15:37:25.572-07:002016-08-03T15:37:25.572-07:00Greg - I suspect that you would enjoy the products...Greg - I suspect that you would enjoy the products our bakery makes. You should come try them out sometime :)<br /><br />Great details here. I really enjoy your tales from this world. And that ending... oof.Marchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14952331166517430843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149217012399643733.post-77703727932136572892016-07-21T22:32:23.677-07:002016-07-21T22:32:23.677-07:00That's a very popular bakery: I hope you handl...That's a very popular bakery: I hope you handled the rush as well on Thursday morning! I'm not at all surprised that you sell out of the sweet pastries so fast though, they make for great breakfast food :) And I really like cinnamon.<br />It's always nice to get a slightly longer piece from you, and though you've only provided the dialogue it's nice to see that it's easy to tell who's speaking at any given time. It is slightly worrying that I had a teacher called Mr. Tucker when I was younger, but I don't think he was as Machiavellian as yours. Though I think he would have liked to have been.<br />I think my favourite character in this is Dean, with his bold ideas and his rapid action... though it sounds like this may yet be his downfall!<br /><br /><b>The blitz</b><br />Night had fallen. The windows of the factory office looked out into consuming darkness on three sides, but the fourth side was illuminated by the moon. It hung heavy and jaundiced in the sky, bright enough that the stars around it were invisible. The sky was otherwise clear and the mottling of its surface was entirely down to the activities of the Unified Authority and its space programme. If the night-birds made any noise they were drowned out by the steady hum and occasional systolic thump of the engines that extracted phlogiston.<br />Inside the office green-shaded bankers' lamps made pools of light at two desks and the factory manager and the Auditor looked at one another. The Auditor was half-standing, leaning against the manager's desk and holding a leather-bound ledger in one hand. His eyes were accusatory. The manager was sat on low wooden stool, the same one he made his direct reports sit on when he was interrogating them on factory performance and business. Behind them both the coloured crystal panels in the manager's desk glowed softly, their light washed out by that of the moon.<br />The manager nodded. "I see," he said. "Then yes, we will reduce production to 3%. I can blame it o--"<br />"Sabotage."<br />The manager's face crinkled, first in puzzlement and then in annoyance. "Really! I haven't had an intrusion or a workforce issue in seventeen and a half months. Why should I suddenly have one now? It would make more sense to have a mechanical failure that partially blocks the number-two shaft. I can slow down repairs easily enough by allocating the wrong men to the repair."<br />The Auditor stood up straight and stretched, then walked round the manager's desk. The manager's eyes observed him the whole way, but the man made no effort to stand. The Auditor's hands moved over the crystal panels.<br />"The Authority has recently proclaimed that its Engineers are the best in the world," he said. "A mechanical failure at a major phlogiston producer would send the wrong message. Politically."<br />"As if there's any other message." There was no trace of sarcasm in the manager's voice.<br />"However, it could be said that the methods you've taken to keep the workforce happy have been so successful that rebellious elements have grown desperate and mounted an attack."<br />"Ultimately futile," said the manager. He stared now at the floor. The Auditor finished touching the panels, and his hands hovered over the desk.<br />"But succeeding nonetheless in... inconveniencing us."<br />"Can I at least send three of the men home?"<br />The Auditor's hands came down on the crystal panels.<br />"No."<br />A high-pitched hum filled the room and soared rapidly beyond the range of hearing. For seven agonizing seconds there was silence, and then there was a bright flash of light, a blitz. The noise of the electrical discharge reached them half a second later, and then the smell of ozone filled the room, so much better than the charred flesh smell that followed it.<br />Only then did the screaming start.<br />Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08503319830584828982noreply@blogger.com