Daily Archives: March 3, 2015

Duty

I hate this job. I’ve worked in Penn Station for three years. I clean the bathrooms.

I push my plastic cart in front of the men’s room entrance. I grab the mob and enter. Men are lined up waiting for an empty urinal. The floor is wet and filthy.

A homeless guy is washing in the sink near the door. His garbage bag is half blocking the door. I squeeze into the room and go to the back  near the stalls.

I hear a scream from one of the stalls. I mop the floor trying to ignore it. Crazy guys get in the stalls and attack each other. The cops ignore them. I continue to mop.

I wonder who designed this place. The water barely comes out of the taps and there is never any soap. Most guys give up and don’t wash their hands. God help us if a disease ever gets in here.

I finish mopping the floor and it is already dirty again. I go outside and gulp in the fresh air.

I hate my job.

The True Story of the White Spots on Ceres

“Hurry,”  the One said. “We have three more Earth days. We must have the shields in place by then.Biobots swarmed the two major life collections on the planet.

“All life forms should enter the bunkers at this time,” the One said. “Our survival depends on avoiding detection. As we suspected the spacecraft will take up orbit. ”

The biobots did an incredible job. Rocky ice now covered everything.  “With what we know of Earth’s technology at this time they will never be able to detect our presence,” the One said.

Below the planet’s surface the deliberations began. “We knew they would come,” Lifeform A said. “Yes, their greed knows no bounds,” Lifeform B said. “I propose a first strike,” Lifeform A said. “They are too close.” The other lifeforms assented and relayed their decision to the One.

“Agreed,” the One said. “We shall wait until they have weakened themselves. It is only a matter of time before their squabbling results in nuclear war. Eradication will be a simple matter.”