Category: Stories

Yzabel / August 21, 2005

[Part 3 out of 4. Read Part 1 and Part 2.]“Welcome to your new quarters, Lieutenant Vell’An. You and your men are now consigned here.”The sliding transparent door slammed shut between the two Rims, locking itself in the same split second. The tall officier turned in a quick movement, for Vall’Eran to meet him with a confident smile.”What the…” said Vell’An in a cold voice. “Open the door. This is an order!— Sorry, Lieutenant. Before you ask, if you decide to attempt anything, I’ll have to release this. You know, of course, that your bodies aren’t protected with nano-bots.”He flashed the small sealed vial marked with the red etiquette, in a move that he hoped looked threatening enough, and saw the surprise and anger in the officer’s grey eyes. Of course, the man had seen the laboratories, as well as the carefully aligned and shielded containers for the virus he was supposed to bring back to Ewell, once its development would be finished.”This is an act of treason. The Ministry will be informed!— We should reach Shigari Archipelago in about six hours”, Vall’Eran said. A certain feeling of satisfaction rose in him upon seeing the surprise on the Lieutenant’s face. “If I were you, I’d make sure to take a seat. It’s the first time we’re moving this flyland. There could be… accidents.— You’re completely mad! It’s not meant to—— Nano-tech can be put to many uses, you know. Not only to harm and destroy.”Read More

Yzabel / August 17, 2005

[Part 2 out of 4. Read Part 1.]They should have listened to MARA, when she had warned them of the hard times to come, of the military coup in Varsa, of the declining Senate of the Llenane Confederation, too big and loose to keep a whole continent under its guidance any longer. They should have paid more attention to the alarming signs of the previous years, to the escalation of political incidents, when governments had begun to worry and slowly admit to themselves that the situation was getting out of hand, on the diplomatic level as well as on the economic one. They should have listened to her, indeed, when she had told the Council of Nations that they had to step in as moderators between Mornen and Llenan, before it was too late.The negotiations had lamentably backfired, the two other continents taking offense at Ewell’s repeated ingerence in their foreign affairs, and in the end, war had taken its claim on them all.In his office of the highest tower of the Core Research Center, Vall’Eran was replaying for the tenth time the latest holo-display he had received on the secured Ministry channel. Obeying the new orders would only send them spiralling even more quickly on the road to destruction. A nano-virus! Using the units to assist the medics wasn’t enough anymore. He had consecrated his life and work to this research in the hopes of helping medicine progress, of bettering life conditions for the Ewelli and for the rest of the world, once it could be adapted to the human race, and now they wanted him to turn his precious nano-bots into a weapon of mass destruction against Mornen and Llenan.”Eran, we need to talk.”Read More

Yzabel / August 13, 2005

[A draft for a short story I’m trying to put together. It can be seen as specific material, as it’s set in the world I’m working on, and I’m not sure yet whether I’ll manage to give it enough sense to stand on its own, or if it should forever remain stashed in a folder until I publish a longer story presenting said world itself. I’m also still trying my hand at using proper dialogue mechanisms in another language than mine. Please bear with me.]

Et In Arcadia Nos

Once the communications were restrained, Chief Engineer Vall’Eran knew that it was only a matter of hours before the personnel would get at him.”This is going nowhere! What do you want?”Enhanced by the nano-transmitters whirlwinding around him from his personal unit, his voice boomed in the vast conference room of the Core Research Center, covering for a second the shouts of the workers. Coming from all nations of Ewell, from the white-haired Rims to the stern Kellens with their icy gazes, they were all gathered on that day for the same reason, and he couldn’t ignore their claims any more.Read More

Yzabel / August 7, 2005

[Following my decision to take the risk to publish a few stories online, this is a short text from a few weeks ago— when I realized it was indeed very short, I decided that making it longer just for the sake of it wouldn’t fit. I wrote it directly in English, as I wasn’t feeling very inspired with French. Let’s hope it doesn’t contain too many mistakes.]

The Story That Fell From The Sky

On a warm spring afternoon, the Story fell from the sky.It was a short story, at first—no more than a few sentences, randomly thrown together in a much disorganized way, lazily soaring on the wind, above the red and grey roofs of the small town. Stories always started with few words, and always went unnoticed.When the first Sentence took shape, born from the glee of a child quietly playing on the pavement near the bakery, the Story started to move a little more quickly.Read More