All posts by Jim Zoetewey

Arc 8.7.0: A Day in The Life

A Day in The Life: Part 21

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Something hit me from behind. I didn’t feel it, but I heard it sizzle as it hit my shield. It didn’t matter. I let the energy flow through me and build in my shield.

When I was in the military, scientists attempted to figure out where the energy that I use came from. They took genetic samples, poked and prodded me, fired different forms of radiation at my shield, and all they knew in the end was that I had the greatest capacity to draw power and hold it without using it that they’d ever seen.

By the time they got to that point, I could have told them the same thing. Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 21 →

Arc 8.7.0: A Day in The Life

A Day in The Life: Part 20

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I flew past the hotel, a thirty-three-floor needle of mirrored glass that stood near a parking structure to its left and a rust colored 19th century building to its right—though a path that led to an old bridge stood between them.

I might be ready to disappear to an alternate world, but maybe I could do something.

The dinos swarmed down the wide sidewalk overlooking the river, but without the enthusiasm, I’d seen before. A few of them pointed at me and shrunk closer to the building. Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 20 →

Arc 8.7.0: A Day in The Life

A Day in The Life: Part 18

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“You know what I’m saying,” C said. “You’ll have to kill them. There’s no way around it. Do what you need to do.”

They did.

There were two gates. One now stood where a street deadended into a small park in the middle of downtown. Though there were trees and grass in the park, an open air amphitheater filled most of it. Five levels of seats faced a concrete stage. The banner hanging above the stage proclaimed “Sponsored by Rhino Breweries.” Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 18 →

Arc 8.7.0: A Day in The Life

A Day in The Life: Part 17

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Just as it had earlier, Blue’s yell caused chaos. The giant winged dinos dove to avoid her voice despite anything their riders did with their reins. As they dove, the League jet circled around from over Grand Lake to appear behind us even as we dove to follow.

“I’m thinking we should use Blue to herd them,” the Rocket said. “If they stay low, it shouldn’t be hard to hit them from the side.”

Blue’s voice came over the comm. “I’ll try, but you’re going to lose a lot of windows.” Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 17 →

Arc 8.7.0: A Day in The Life

A Day in The Life: Part 16

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There’s only one thing I’m better for in a fight than being a distraction, and that’s a weapon of mass destruction, but this wasn’t the time for a WMD.

I roared toward the flying dino, light flashing on my front to keep me in the air and from the bottoms of my feet and hand to keep me moving forward. With each flash of light came an accompanying pop or explosive booming noise.

I sounded like the Fourth of July—the end of the fireworks display when they’re sending off everything they have left.

From video footage, I knew what I had to look like—a vaguely human shaped being of blinding light. When I fly toward you, you’ll see me even if you shut your eyes. Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 16 →

Arc 8.7.0: A Day in The Life

A Day in The Life: Part 15

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Railgun flipped through channels on the big screen. The local NBC News 10 already had the flying dinosaur in view of its helicopter, but that wasn’t all. Many of the cable news stations followed the same feed. It wasn’t the News 10 feed.

One station labeled it as “Invaders Live Feed.”

I checked on internet news sites. The invaders were making the feed available online. They were that confident of destroying us? What else did they have? Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 15 →

Arc 8.7.0: A Day in The Life

A Day in The Life: Part 14

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The Rocket cocked his head. “Are there a lot of small details that you have to see?”

C laughed. “Or put another way, will my blindness kill you all? Don’t worry. I’m going to show Control, you and Two, how to operate it right now. It’s not hard. It was made to be used by people who don’t understand how it works.”

He gestured almost in the “starplate’s” direction. “Come on. Railgun, take Control’s station. The rest of you can do whatever you want, but it wouldn’t hurt if a few of you checked the spybots’ feeds. You never know what might appear.” Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 14 →

Arc 8.7.0: A Day in The Life

A Day in The Life: Part 13

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Shadow and Voice led me over to the locker rooms to change. If you’re imagining a futuristic locker room, stop.

It looked like the locker room of every high school sports team in the United States—rows of toilet stalls with metal dividers for privacy. A roomful of metal lockers for each person on the team and wooden benches for people to sit. The far end of the room opened into a tiled room with showers.

I read the names on the lockers—Accelerando, Captain Commando, The Mystic, The Rocket, Storm King and the others—realizing, “There’s only one locker room?”

Voice, a thin, blonde woman, shucked her grey Stapledon uniform, laughed and grunted, “You got it.” Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 13 →

Arc 8.7.0: A Day in The Life

A Day in The Life: Part 12

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“I hope my personnel files made entertaining reading,” I told him.

“Listening,” he said. “And I didn’t do it simply to invade your privacy. I needed to know how you’d handle it if the unexpected came up. It happens frequently around here. Now though, I need your answer. We’ll need more people in the next fight and I have an idea about how your specific power can help us.”

Ideally, a journalist reports the truth and nothing more. Everyone knows that perfect objectivity is impossible, but you try your best because the alternative is worse. I knew that, and I also knew that I could never be truly objective about people I’d fought beside.

These are people you have to trust with your life. Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 12 →