Short and sweet, because that's how some of us like it... 11 fantastic short stories from 10 equally as fantastic SFers.
Enjoy the Ooorah out of it, 'troopers!
"Aye, wait up," a deep voice echoed through the steel passageway, harmonizing with his reverberating footfalls as he jogged to catch up with her.
"Eyal," Kara greeted and turned, her blond ponytail whipping around her shoulders.
"You ran out like a bat out of hell, you alright," Eyal asked and dropped his gait to a fast walk.
The windowless, dank hall was brightly lit by fluorescent lights, made him blink rapidly to adjust his eyes from being in a dark room for three hours. He straightened his drab green uniform curtly and looked down at Kara as they stood toe to toe.
"I'm fine," she mumbled and turned away from him, continuing to the next left passage that led to the outside. She opened the heavy door, the fresh air had her closing her eyes in pleasure as a soft wind picked up and rustled the green leaves on the trees- the acoustics of the birds and sounds of nature were enough to relieve some of her stress. Her shoulders slumped slightly, and her jaw slackened from its previous clenched position.
"Hey, hey, Kara, what's wrong," Eyal put a gentle hand on her shoulder, and pursed his pouted lips.
She sighed and pulled her hair out of the tight ponytail. "Eyal, I don't like this. I don't like it one bit. I have a bad feeling," as she spoke, her insides tightened and she suddenly felt sick.
"Okay, hey, Kara, it's just a relocation," he tried to assure her, turning her shoulders so she would face him. He could feel her tension in her muscles and it made his heart clench tighter than he thought was physically possible. "Hey, really, it's going to be okay," he brushed her hair behind her ear, "it's 2020 and we have time travel, what could possibly go wrong?"
When he brushed her hair behind her ear, Kara leaned into his touch, "it's not just a relocation, though. Is it? We are going to another time."
Eyal brought his lips into thin line and nodded, "you saw the video, though, right? It's going to be fine. It's easy to come back. This will be better for everyone, politically, financially... even for security purposes. Where we are standing right now, will be knocked down and replaced with new homes and parks- whole towns. This is the future and we've been chosen to be part of it."
"But why us? We're military, not..." she pursed her lips and crinkled her nose, "prison guards."
"It's a government ordinance. We're asked to make sure it goes off without a hitch. We won't be there forever- just long enough to settle the area. When we're done securing the location and working out security kinks, we're out of there. Didn't you pay attention to the video," he asked and tossed a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the Warden's Office behind them.
