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‘FULL EMPLOYMENT’ by Sean R. Meaney
Venin the Ditch-digger worked the shovel through the hard gravel of the collective’s garden. Every day was the same. He dug ditches. That was his job for life. Still it could have been worse. He could have selected one that involved an excessive amount of contact with others. The less contact he had with the rest of these bastards, the better.
“Venin!” Venin looked up at Paeter the Messenger. “When you get done here, can you come over to the Entry gate and dig out the trench beneath the cattle grid? It’s become full of dirt.”
“Sure,” Venin nodded. “Can Fain drop me some drink water over at the gate? I’m out.”
“I’ll pass it along.” Paeter turned and walked away. Venin continued with the garden trenching, extending it a few yards more as requested before departing for the gate.
The Cattle grate was full of earth that had blown in off the Wastelands beyond the Collective. Sara the Goat-herder was collecting strays that had discovered the awesome taste of grass beyond the perimeter. Fain the Water-carrier met Venin the Ditch-digger at the gate with a large bottle of water.
Venin gave Fain the ancient motion of ‘cheers’ as he sipped from the bottle. He couldn’t speak directly to him. All messages were by tradition to go through Paeter the Messenger.
Venin was at work shovelling the dirt from beneath the Grate when Paeter the Messenger arrived. Sara the Goat Herder was still having trouble with getting her wayward goats.
“Mal the Cook asks how long you will be? Dinner is almost on the Table.” Venin pulled the knapsack full of stolen rations from the dirt beneath the cattle grate.
“Not long now...” A shovel blow and Paeter the messenger was dead. “Sara honey? You ready with the Goats?” Sara whistled and the herd animals drew close.
“Ready to go.” They walked into the wilderness.
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101 POST APOCALYPTIC SHORT STORIES
You will submit one work of post apocalyptic fiction. Here are the rules: Restrict it to 150-350 Words. Go away and type it up then post here. Easy. :)
SUBMIT IT HERE ONCE YOU ARE DONE (ITS WORTH $20 OR THERE ABOUTS FOR 300+ WORDS): SUBMISSIONS TO ASIMOV MAGAZINE
All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY. AlLwOrK aNd No PlAy MaKeS JaCk A dUlL bOy. Allworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboy,a l l w o r k a n d n o p l a y m a k e s j a c k a d u l l b o y. All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY. AlLwOrK aNd No PlAy MaKeS JaCk A dUlL bOy. Allworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboy,a l l w o r k a n d n o p l a y m a k e s j a c k a d u l l b o y.All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY. AlLwOrK aNd No PlAy MaKeS JaCk A dUlL bOy.Allworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboy,a l l w o r k a n d n o p l a y m a k e s j a c k a d u l l b o y.All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY. AlLwOrK aNd No PlAy MaKeS JaCk A dUlL bOy. Allworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboy,a l l w o r k a n d n o p l a y m a k e s j a c k a d u l l b o y.All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY. AlLwOrK aNd No PlAy MaKeS JaCk A dUlL bOy. Allworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboy. All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY.
YOu forgot the Title... :(
I'll bet I can guess what the title was ... ;)
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ok so how about this
No one knows what caused the problems at first. It wasn’t just one thing. The world got warmer, and we did nothing about it. Ecological catastrophes we barely cleaned up just made things worse. The heat caused crops to fail. That caused tensions to rise and people to leave their homes and travel across boarders. Which made matters even worse, since those who moved believed different things, different religions, then the majority who were already here. Not to mention the drug dealers, it was to hot for their crops so they moved where it was cooler, which then caused more conflict since the interlopers looked much like those causing children harm. Or so the locals thought.
More and more things were blamed on terrorists. Whether they existed or not, the media had a way of finding someone to blame; that or they just took the blame to cause more people to be wary of them.
We were almost 10 billion on this world. Now the estimates are less then 1 billion. It is amazing how life will propagate when it has an opening. Darwin would have been proud. Unknown species or variants thereof are found almost yearly. Few travel in the mountains anymore.
There are a few guesses as to where the plague came from. Korea, or what is left of that radioactive slag, is the top of list for most people. Since China was the place hit first and worst many thing it was some sort of plant by them to discredit one of their enemies while at the same time ‘slaying the dragon.’
Grandfather, you maybe young yet but trust me these things will come to pass. You can not stop them. Every event of the future reinforces the events of the past. Time is like a self correcting equation. You may put in a variable but it quickly equals the same answer. The only things we know that can go against the arrow of time are radio waves so this is how I am speaking to you now. You must do all you can to help us prepare. Make store houses for non perishable foods, weapons and medicines. Use militias to help you if you must.
Just one thing more, what ever you do, however you must do it, never let them put you in Arkham. Stay away from the east coast at all costs.
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All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY. AlLwOrK aNd No PlAy MaKeS JaCk A dUlL bOy. Allworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboy,a l l w o r k a n d n o p l a y m a k e s j a c k a d u l l b o y. All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY. AlLwOrK aNd No PlAy MaKeS JaCk A dUlL bOy. Allworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboy,a l l w o r k a n d n o p l a y m a k e s j a c k a d u l l b o y.All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY. AlLwOrK aNd No PlAy MaKeS JaCk A dUlL bOy.Allworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboy,a l l w o r k a n d n o p l a y m a k e s j a c k a d u l l b o y.All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY. AlLwOrK aNd No PlAy MaKeS JaCk A dUlL bOy. Allworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboy,a l l w o r k a n d n o p l a y m a k e s j a c k a d u l l b o y.All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY. AlLwOrK aNd No PlAy MaKeS JaCk A dUlL bOy. Allworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboy. All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY.
So what are you calling this one? Loop Error?
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All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY. AlLwOrK aNd No PlAy MaKeS JaCk A dUlL bOy. Allworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboy,a l l w o r k a n d n o p l a y m a k e s j a c k a d u l l b o y. All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY. AlLwOrK aNd No PlAy MaKeS JaCk A dUlL bOy. Allworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboy,a l l w o r k a n d n o p l a y m a k e s j a c k a d u l l b o y.All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY. AlLwOrK aNd No PlAy MaKeS JaCk A dUlL bOy.Allworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboy,a l l w o r k a n d n o p l a y m a k e s j a c k a d u l l b o y.All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY. AlLwOrK aNd No PlAy MaKeS JaCk A dUlL bOy. Allworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboy,a l l w o r k a n d n o p l a y m a k e s j a c k a d u l l b o y.All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY. AlLwOrK aNd No PlAy MaKeS JaCk A dUlL bOy. Allworkandnoplaymakesjackadullboy. All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY.So what are you calling this one? Missing Operator? NO! SCREEN SAVER