Author’s notes:
This story was written for an Extremely Short Story Contest at Quark. Limitations: 1. Must start with “The spaceship hit the magician”. 2. Must contain the words “napalm” “death metal” and “monkey”. 3. Must be under 800 words.
Comments and critiques are appreciated. My word count = 572
<< Edit – August 1, 2006 >> This story placed 1st! Read my analysis of the results. << End edit >>
Farseeing
The spaceship hit the magician’s hat, knocking it off in the middle of his lecture. Professor Zirar let them lie as he continued his lesson on crystal ball gazing. Kurtal glowered as he sank lower into his seat, already folding another model. Ten minutes later, this one bounced off Zirar’s ear in the middle of his demo. “If you can see into the future, Professor,” Kurtal said. “Then how come you didn’t see that coming?”
Zirar exhaled softly. “Throw another Battle Star model at me, and I will set your clothes on fire as you dangle in the air from your toes.” Kurtal’s face grew pale, a stark contrast to the robes he wore, which were more fitting for a necromancer than a Seer. “Now that I have your attention, see me after class.” Kurtal didn’t answer, but Zirar continued teaching anyway.
At the end of class, Zirar retrieved the two Battle Star spaceship models and his hat. He set the hat on his desk and turned the models in his hands over and over. “These are quite good likenesses. How long have you been practicing making these?”
“Three years now.” Kurtal spun the heavy chain on his wrist round and round. “Professor, how did you know they were Battle Star models?”
“You’re not the first person to wonder what life is like at the end of the world.”
“Then why don’t you teach us how to see it? I’m so bored trying to see what I’m going to eat for breakfast for tomorrow or figure out where the monkey will throw its banana peel.”
“Then go take Farseeing.”
“They won’t let me, cause I’m a freshman.”
“Then why don’t you just See the class?” Kurtal didn’t reply as Zirar reached for his crystal ball. He looked into it for a few moments. “Course, that would be hard for someone who can’t See what he’ll have for breakfast tomorrow.”
“Why not? If I can listen to death metal concerts in the 20th century, I can See that class.”
Zirar leaned back in his chair, smiling. “Which song was it?”
“Something about a bus explosion.”
“You ever try to listen to it again?”
Kurtal fell silent. “Now, that’s the difference between Farseeing and Nearseeing. Farseeing depends on trends. It won’t guarantee exactly where the monkey will throw the banana peel, but it will show you that the monkey throws the banana peel onto the floor, because that’s its trend. Nearseeing is about determining exactly where it will land. You need both to be a credible Seer, because then, not only will you be able to show someone the lyrics to that death metal song, but you can tell them how to listen to it too.”
Kurtal played with the chain around his wrist some more. “This class is still geared towards babies.”
“Just be glad you’ve got lots of spare time since you’ve already mastered the basics. You could study up on something else, like napalm fireballs. You’d probably like that.”
“What are napalm fireballs?”
“Go See the wars of the 20th century, then talk to me. And if you prove to me that you can reproducibly See the Farseeing class, I’ll give you an A. Otherwise, you still have to take the final. And you have to stop throwing things at me in class.”
Kurtal twisted his chain, then nodded. “You got a deal.”
“Good. See you in class on Monday.”
[...] Either way, I got rejected. It seems like the reason was it was too short and not satisfying in and of itself. Leading Edge sends comment sheets with each reply, so here’s what the comments said about “Farseeing“: [...]