Entries for "The Challenge"

The Future Quilt

(Written for "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge"  - prompt words "Quilt", "Grass", "Mountain")

Professor Tylus opened his eyes cautiously. He was pretty sure that he had entered all the right coordinates and information, but he was aware that something could go wrong. If his calculations were correct, then he should be hovering somewhere above the Snowdonia mountain range, circa 3016. If they weren’t, then he was probably still in the laboratory in his basement, circa 2034.

A piercing light accosted his pupils as he exposed them – he was certainly hovering, and although the protective dome over the FuturequiltTM shielded him against the elements, it gave a clear view of his surroundings and he noted that he was hovering over a mountain range – or what was once a mountain range.

The professor adjusted the controls, slowing the contraption down and dropping the height. The beauty of the FuturequiltTM, unlike other time machines, was that it was controlled entirely by a palm size unit, slightly similar to an old school Smartphone which linked to a portal attached to the nape of the neck that connected to certain brainwaves. It was his own technology, which he had begun to develop back in 2016 and finally, it had worked!

But where his science excited him, the view below concerned him – he remembered these mountains being covered with grass and sheep, now the grass was razed to the ground and every inch had been built upon. Much of it was covered with glass domes, similar to the one above him; it allowed for crop farming in the harsh conditions.

He had not quite known what to expect from the future, perhaps an apocalyptic stillness or a planet almost drowned in oceans but now he saw the truth – population had grown out of control – undoubtedly there was no natural land left on Earth. Grimly, he re-adjusted the co-ordinates.

299 words




January 9th 2016 - "Write a short story or poem about the future. You can go as far ahead as you want."