Doc Sherwood
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Thunderous, Chapter Four
Candlelight and heaps of plenty had transformed Joe’s usual space-lounge into what looked to him at least like a Harvest Festival. Hamburgers of every shape and size were piled on platters atop each table, and in and out of the friendly flames his circle of supporters moved busily to their first encounters with sliced cheese and tomato ketchup and the like. Joe suspected he had overdone it, but everyone looked happy. Maybe this was some kind of consolation for his having no message from Neetra to share with them instead. Joe gazed out on those who had put their faith in him and his cause, and mustered a small sad smile.
By Doc Sherwood5 years ago in Fiction
Thunderous, Chapter One
On a flat-topped mountain overlooking a gulley which served as an outer space drive-in cinema sat Joe, an hour or so subsequent to Flashshadow’s mysterious interview with Flashthunder. Joe had frequently been to this spot before, as it was his preferred vantage-point for surveying the galactic newsreels by night, but this evening’s feature presentation was not set to begin until later. The rocky ravine far below was bereft of twin-seat spacecraft, and the towering holo-screen which closed off its far end was dull and blank in the asteroid’s perpetual deep blue night. Where motion and action were the accustomed state, all at present was lifeless, but for the turmoil reigning within our hero’s breast.
By Doc Sherwood5 years ago in Fiction
Origin, Chapter One
The Four Heroes and the Next Four stared aghast as one, staggered by the scene that had presented itself to them. A straightforward mission to retrieve the severed head of one of Dimension Borg’s robots from six old enemies had spiralled irretrievably out of control, upon the sudden appearance of a horde of warlike and strangely familiar rock-men apparently under the command of a girl identical to Phoenix Neetkins, who called herself Phoenix Prime. Now, as an inferno continued to blaze throughout the ravaged warehouse interior, as the robot’s domed head looked silently on from its pillar of technical apparatus in the centre of the floor, and as the stony soldiers poised for the advance, Phoenix Prime issued her order from her vantage point far above the others’ heads.
By Doc Sherwood5 years ago in Fiction
The Heroes, the Pirate and the Head, Chapter Three
Joe and Neetra had found a quiet corner of the castle grounds where a low stone wall bordered the very edge of the cliff, beyond which the sunlit city could be seen stretching in every direction. Neetra was standing by the wall gazing thoughtfully into the distance, while Joe was sitting on a bench nearby.
By Doc Sherwood5 years ago in Fiction
The Heroes, the Pirate and the Head, Chapter Four
The great arched window of Nottingham Castle’s banqueting hall looked out upon a magnificent night-time vista, where the million city lights that had begun to burn again shone into infinity against the darkness. Within, the capacious room was deserted and mostly in shadow, but for the glow of a few tall candles that stood on the one table that was in use. Their flickering flames danced from the wine bottle and glasses and reflected from the chinaware, which bore the remains of a sumptuous dinner. Above them, all alone, Joe and Gala sat facing each other.
By Doc Sherwood5 years ago in Fiction
The Heroes, the Pirate and the Head, Chapter Five
The Dimension Borg robot’s head, a glowering hemisphere of blue metal that could have passed for the one belonging to its creator, sat disembodied on a pillar made up of the myriad intertwined cables, pipes and tubes that were keeping its functions online and its free will in check. Its narrow eyes glared unblinkingly ahead, but unlike the grey optical sensors of this robot’s thousand dead brothers at the Military Control Centre, these eyes burned with a tiny crimson ember at the very heart of each.
By Doc Sherwood5 years ago in Fiction
The Heroes, the Pirate and the Head, Chapter Two
Nottingham Castle, perched on a rugged cliff-face that overlooked the whole splendour of the thriving city, was one of the oldest parts of The Four Heroes’ home. It was equally true, of course, that all of Nottingham was the same age, having been brought into existence in a single instant, but its creators had recently visited the city’s strange retroactive history and learned that centuries ago, Nottingham was also a tiny settlement atop this defensible highland where perhaps the first ever group who could call themselves The Four Heroes had dwelled. The castle, which had been there then, was still there now, and this very day marked the latest turning-point in its long history.
By Doc Sherwood5 years ago in Fiction
The Heroes, the Pirate and the Head, Chapter One
The sun was shining down on a city that moved, breathed and sang with the joy of being alive. Nobody had known, on that day years ago when The Four Heroes created Nottingham, just what a safe-haven for all mankind was and what it would mean to live there. However, its people had since learned that an end to the evil and hopelessness that ruled Pre-Nottingham Earth did not bring with it an end to the challenges, the struggles and the rewards beyond price that made living what it was. In the shelter of Nottingham’s skyscrapers and hills, citizens had become older and wiser, children had grown up, and friendships and loves had made lasting foundations. One day there might be invasion and war, one day a protector of the city might be mourned as lost, and another day might even be announced as the last the world would ever know. All this, the people of Nottingham had faced. But there were other times too, times without number when the forces that had brought their city into being had triumphed over the darkness, and this was one of those times. What it stood for, to be leading life as a part of The Four Heroes’ vision, could be seen and felt all around. It was carried on every warm early-summer breeze, it shone from the glad faces of the populace, and it resonated from the towers steadily climbing back to meet the endless blue sky. Nottingham had survived.
By Doc Sherwood5 years ago in Fiction
Origin, Chapter Four
All were kneeling as the laboratory swam back into focus, all overwhelmed by the tide of emotion that had submerged them, all unable for the first seconds to speak or even find the words that could describe what they had been through and learned. Finally, it was Phoenix who broke the silence.
By Doc Sherwood5 years ago in Fiction
Alea Iacta Est
Canopied by the shady vaulted ceiling of what served as an out-of-the-way antechamber, but was actually one hollow plant-cell among millions inside a gigantic alien fungus, two figures sat cross-legged and side-by-side on the floor. It was Joe and Gala, each with head bowed beneath the round brim of his or her black hat as together they pored over a great leather-bound book that lay open in the dust before them. They could almost have passed for a pair of children on a rainy Saturday afternoon, but that their lives thus far had led them through experiences that went some distance beyond truth-or-dare.
By Doc Sherwood5 years ago in Fiction
