A short story about freedom and the open road by David Tombale: The Great Escape

The Great Escape

The bar smelled of stale beer and cigarette smoke and was floating in some sort of haze in front of Craig Marshall’s eyes. High off beer and a pack of peanuts he’d kept by his side the whole night he’d somehow forgotten to cry. For a sixth straight night Margie had refused his calls and now there she was standing next to Freddie by the pool tables.

Craig looked down at the scars on his knuckles and tried to breathe deeply but not too deeply through the stitches and bandages that were keeping his chest together. Walden stood by the door to the back room trying to signal him. He probably wanted to fleece Craig out of the rest of his money in their weekly card game.

Craig waved him off as he looked at what was now his ex-girlfriend, looking oh so good in a pair of tight jeans that showed off her strong legs. She ran a hand through her thick black hair while constantly caressing Freddie’s neck. To think he’d meant to surprise her that night. Looked like there was no point to that now.

Craig put down a bunch of bills and coins to pay for his beer and pushed back from the counter. He was glad he’d stuck to two beers; he wasn’t in the mood to call a taxi tonight not that he knew where he’d direct it to. Ignoring his former girlfriend who glared in his direction while hanging off his former best friend he winded through the crowd until he could push open the exit door.

Outside in the snow he found the owner’s Rottweiler chained to the front steps. The dog raised its head and met his eyes. Running all over its fur were cuts and scrapes some of which looked new. Craig had heard the owner ran some kind of underground fight ring for dogs. Poor mutt looked like it had it worse than him. Spurred on by the beer Craig took hold of the dog’s chain and planting his foot against the wall pulled until he tore the wooden railing on the stairs. The chain fell to the snow and the dog was free.

“Enjoy you freedom you damn mutt,” Craig said.

He walked over to his Chevy but checked the trunk before he jumped in. Amidst the spare wheel and the jack there sat a black duffel bag. Craig opened it up and inside he found stacks of bills. Counting quickly he estimated it came to 250 large. He knew Wiley would bring him his cut from the jewellery heist. Now he could finally get out of this town.

Craig got behind the wheel but just as he was about to pull out he heard a low whine coming from below his window. Rolling it down he saw the Rottweiler looking plaintively at him. Craig shook his head. The dog had to be out of its mind. It whined again and gave him a long slow look.

Craig shook his head again and opened the back door.

“Well what are you waiting for? Jump in already.”

The dog got its paws on the seat and jumped up into the back seat.

“Stupid mutt,” Craig said, closing the door.

He revved the Chevy then pulled out of the parking lot. Joining the few cars that were on the road at midnight he decided it was as good a time as any to leave. He’d buy whatever clothes he needed on the way, and maybe some dog food.

“Hey mutt, I hear Alaska is nice this time of year, what do you think?”

The dog looked at him then barked once.

“Yeah that’s what I thought.”

A science fiction story about solitude by David Tombale: The Intrepid

The Intrepid

The vastness of space had slowly worked its dark magic on Kevin’s brain, filling it with permanent shadows that the bright lights of the spaceship could never completely dispel. It was his fifth year standing at the helm of the Intrepid and there were as many as another eight left before he could awaken another crew member to take over his shift. Not that he’d let them. There was no way he’d trust his fate to a bunch of clones.

Suffice it to say the many years of solitude Kevin had endured with only the ship’s AI for company had left him a little paranoid. Another opinion might be that he’d been driven completely insane by the lack of conversation with another breathing human.

Kevin took one of the lifts down to the cryo chambers. It was a Thursday by his count and this was when he usually went down to check on the others and read to the crew member in POD 00187. The doors opened for him letting him into a huge room covered by clouds of cold air that tried to suck the warmth out of his insulated uniform. He walked from pod to pod checking their diagnostics and the status of their inhabitants.

He went through five rows of them before finally stopping by her pod. She looked like Ophelia from the book, suspended there in the cushioned bed of the plastic pod, her thick brown hair falling around her. Kevin placed his hand on the transparent plastic lid that protected her and was grateful for the black glove he’d chosen to wear. Otherwise his skin might have gotten stuck to the cold surface.

He showed her his gift, it was Alice in Wonderland this time, they’d read it four times but he was certain that it was a favorite of hers. He sat in front of her pod and started reading in a loud voice. It didn’t matter that he didn’t know her name or that she might be a clone like the rest of them. He knew she was special and that they were meant to be so he told her all about Alice again, Alice and the white rabbit and when he finally stood up he was so sure that she looked happier.

Kevin finished his inspection then returned to the helm. He had just sat down in front of the flight controls when she walked out of the shadows.

“Kevin?” she said softly.

Kevin looked up at her and even now was astonished at how closely he’d gotten her to resemble the woman in the pod. The android walked further into the room, the vented air blowing through the flimsy night gown she was wearing. The sound of her heels was loud in the silence of the pressurized room.

“Did you go to see her?” the android asked.

“Yes,” Kevin replied turning his attention back to the navigational charts.

She reached out and placed her arms on his shoulders. Kevin shook her off and glared.

“That’s enough Celeste. I’m very busy right now,” he said firmly.

“Oh but you weren’t too busy to visit her? To read to her? Why don’t you ever read to me?” she complained.

He’d made a mistake by tampering with her neural chip; androids weren’t meant to be so emotional. “You’re a robot Celeste; you don’t need me to read to you.” The instrument panel in front of him began to flash with green lights and when he hit a button an asteroid field jumped up on the screen.

“Well maybe you’ll read to me when she’s gone?” Celeste continued.

“What are you talking about now?” he asked her, annoyed by their whole conversation.

“I’m talking about opening the airlock in the cryo chamber and ejecting all those clones you hate out into space, including her.”

“What?” Kevin’s head spun around. He got to his feet, “You didn’t.”

“I did,” Celeste smirked.

“God, are you insane?” he yelled running for the lifts.

When the lift carried him to the lower decks he raced towards the doors to the cryo chamber but it was too late. She’d left the airlock doors open and he couldn’t get in to the now vacant chamber. He stared with horror at the area where 83 souls had once rested.

“I told you she’s gone,” Celeste said happily.

Kevin turned to look at her and somewhere at the back of his mind resided the hope that he could use the ship to get them all back on board but then he remembered the asteroids and he knew he’d never make it in time. She’d killed them or rather he’d killed them. There was no way they’d ever convict a robot for this. It was all over.