A Winter Wish Challenge Post by kailhofer » December 31, 2009, 03:56:34 AM The challenge was to write a story where a wish was fulfilled in a winter setting. Example story: Solace By: N.J. Kailhofer "Lotería!" Jax couldn't have explained to anyone from the ship why the sight of the snow falling outside the window made him catch his breath in his throat, but it did. Maybe it was because the ship never had weather. Rain was like a water shower on the ship, which he had tried, but snow was different. The flakes floating past the window mesmerized him. Where do they go? He wished he could see. This metal blister on this nameless world gave him everything he needed to live while they he waited, but it was too late. Through his tiny window, he watched the creatures slide into oblivion as the microbes ate away at them, all of them. There weren't even puddles left where their bodies used to be. Soon, his prison cell would finally die, too. The moon rotated so slowly that night lasted three years, and the life support system on the escape pod wouldn't take it. But when it finally breathes it's last gasp, it will open the doors. [align=center]***[/align] Marta rolled over in the bunk and draped her long leg over his. "Why do you have to go?" Jax sighed and ran his fingers through her black hair. "Because everyone not as good as me failed. Because those creatures are the greatest challenge in the known galaxy. Because who knows what else they may find further on? Maybe nothing, and we might have to return with nothing unless I find a way to communicate with them. Because it's my job." "I don't care." Her brown eyes burned. "Isn't there any way out? The center planets are so far from here, by the time the ship comes back to you, my dear Jacinto, you'll be old and gray. I want to have children. I am noble born. One of my sons could be the next Captain, but not without a father who is a senior officer to help him, to shield him from his rivals and enemies until he is strong, with many victories and great discoveries to his name. My girls will marry into strong houses, building the alliances we'll need. Together, we could forge a dynasty that lasts until we return to Earth, three centuries from now." He lied, "It's my duty, alone." Her eyes glared. "Esto es el colmo!" With that, she stormed out of the room. [align=center]***[/align] At the edge of the window, Jax could still see the wreckage of the shuttle. All antigualla. Maybe if they hadn't thought the wreckage was food, they might have ingested less human bacteria. I might have had someone to talk to. "Hey, gorrón," his teacher used to say. "Is all you do stand around and gab all day?" "Hell, yes," Jax would reply. "There isn't anything else to do unless I want to get in a fight or chase chicas." The old man would smile. "You will. Your generation will get to do it all. I'll be long dead and you'll be standing on another planet, probably chasing alien chicas instead." The thought made him laugh. The gray, shambling figures that roamed the surface never even reminded him of Marta. They barely took notice of him. He knew they were intelligent, to a point. They had a social order, and he identified leaders and took detailed notes, like a dutiful officer should, but he could never tell if they ever saw him or heard him screaming. Then they all melted away and left him trapped inside the small pod. [align=center]***[/align] "Hey, Jax!" A face peeked out from the bunk above him. "Amigo. She left you, eh?" Jax sighed at Rico, his roommate. "You know she did. You watched her leave." Rico hopped down and sat on the side of the bed. "Whatcha gonna do? From hour 16 to hour 24 this is our room. We live together." As if I could forget. "What do you want?" "You sure you won't get back together?" "No." "You don't mind then, if I see her?" Jax blinked at his thickheaded bunkmate. "Why her?" Rico smiled. "Oh, c'mon! I hear you two all the time, almost every night. She really gets into it. A man would be a fool to not want that." Jax headed for the door. "Be careful what you wish for." In the corridor, he pushed past the Low Ones waiting to get into the washroom. Senior officers don't wait in lines, he reminded himself. "Damn." Every urine receptacle was busy. An oral sanitizer was open, so he cleaned his teeth while he waited. It was just as packed in his deck's galley. At that hour they only had stimudrink #4, but at least he found the last spot near his favorite window where three seats were mounted a centimeter more apart than the others. The liquid made him feel awake as he stared out the window at the large, curved stretch of the outer hull in front of him. If only something would break, I could go out there, but nothing ever broke down. [align=center]***[/align] The light flickered. The time had to be soon. The food synthesizer was shut down and the temperature in the pod was dropping. There! Faintly, Jax could hear the pins begin to retract inside the door. The pod is still obeying quarantine safety procedure, protecting my life until it can't anymore, then it will open the doors to give me one last chance to find my own way to survive instead of suffocating from carbon dioxide. A low moan came from the ceiling above him, from pipes freezing and metal cooling, probably for the first time since the ship initialized in Earth orbit. He'd disabled the audio warnings. A red light flashed next to the door, ticking away the moments until freedom could be his. The door started to move. Taking his last breath, Jax peacefully stepped out into the thick methane snow, into the wide open he'd always wished for. Alone. [align=center]The End[/align]