Exhibit E.H.
02/04/23 22:06
Exhibit E.H.
Aldiss always struggled with zoos. They pulled him in to quench his constant curiosity, whilst pushing him away with the multitudes held outside of their habitats. He’d seen so many now that he was almost numb to their many shades of negativity. But here he was on Bastion Alpha 5 visiting another one. Hopefully his last. The data leak passed on to him via his contact on the Millennium Earth Station 2.0 looked promising. If it was credible then the lead was his best for decades. He’d been drenched in hope in the early years of his quest, but he tried not to have it these days. He always wanted to just be as methodical and unfeeling as he could.
The two suns over the planet were warming but never too hot at this time of year. The red one was low in the sky barely casting a shadow as its light was drowned out by the yellow star. He flicked side of his glasses to increase the polarisation before getting off the train beside the zoo. It was quiet at opening time, but it would be busy in the coming hours when the holiday makers had risen. He’d skipped breakfast: today it was all about the zoo. Getting it done quickly and methodically.
He followed the path to the enclosures. His heart began to race. The telltale sign of hope afflicting him. It angered him. But as he approached the enclosure he could not control it. Minutes later he’d fainted and was taken in hand by a robot medic. The excitement had run roughshod over his own medical controls. His blood pressure spiking both up and down sending him crashing against the window to the enclosure. His mother, who was among the exhibits of “Earth Humans”, didn’t even notice.
_____________
This is an amended story after I misread in my rush to get a story down for Microcosms 185 'zoo' instead of 'zookeeper.' Thought I'd got a story done which I quite liked, so why not finish it off and give it a home on here? Without the maximum 300 word limit I could tweak it a little too.
Aldiss always struggled with zoos. They pulled him in to quench his constant curiosity, whilst pushing him away with the multitudes held outside of their habitats. He’d seen so many now that he was almost numb to their many shades of negativity. But here he was on Bastion Alpha 5 visiting another one. Hopefully his last. The data leak passed on to him via his contact on the Millennium Earth Station 2.0 looked promising. If it was credible then the lead was his best for decades. He’d been drenched in hope in the early years of his quest, but he tried not to have it these days. He always wanted to just be as methodical and unfeeling as he could.
The two suns over the planet were warming but never too hot at this time of year. The red one was low in the sky barely casting a shadow as its light was drowned out by the yellow star. He flicked side of his glasses to increase the polarisation before getting off the train beside the zoo. It was quiet at opening time, but it would be busy in the coming hours when the holiday makers had risen. He’d skipped breakfast: today it was all about the zoo. Getting it done quickly and methodically.
He followed the path to the enclosures. His heart began to race. The telltale sign of hope afflicting him. It angered him. But as he approached the enclosure he could not control it. Minutes later he’d fainted and was taken in hand by a robot medic. The excitement had run roughshod over his own medical controls. His blood pressure spiking both up and down sending him crashing against the window to the enclosure. His mother, who was among the exhibits of “Earth Humans”, didn’t even notice.
_____________
This is an amended story after I misread in my rush to get a story down for Microcosms 185 'zoo' instead of 'zookeeper.' Thought I'd got a story done which I quite liked, so why not finish it off and give it a home on here? Without the maximum 300 word limit I could tweak it a little too.