Friday, September 10, 2010

Flash fiction biologSciFi "The Outpost"

The Dazzle Code
     Suzi switches on her analyzer so it can function on single minded mode. It must be rush hour she says to herself. It must be Dr Cooper she thinks, in slow motion. It must be the scientist from the bunker lab. He comes up to her portal when the sound of her mind is silenced, it's the way data analysis is done here. Even as her page turns are silent, even slowed at a photon to photon pace, a scientist comes to make the analysis, to enter the portal and be welcomed. Maybe he won't notice the ripples. 
     "Hello, Cooper," she says.
     "Did I come at the right time?" Cooper asks.
    "Yes. I am ready."
     Cooper comes inside, carries a sense of the unanswerable with a full knowledge (if that is at all possible) of quantum cosmology; a lifetime spent in the study of quantum universe electron spectrum transfer(Q.U.E.S.T.). His blue eyes, semi-square jaw and ruggedness, are especially focused today. In the laboratory, his manner is usually one of quiet, not intimidating aggression. Suzi and her fellow robiots--fast, calculating, able to scan beyond the realm of their electro counterparts-- are always friendly to Dr Cooper. 
"I need a data check," Cooper says
"Ok," Suzi says. "Photonic view today?"
Cooper looks back at Suzi inquisitively. He gives her a slight nod that seems to come from a place of mistrust. In this lab, no low voiced comments or observations make sounds behind closed doors--or monitors and screens. He, with his own set of questionable data, doesn't try to make small talk with her. Suzi may speak first, if she so chooses.
"I've detected a nova universe dazzle emblem(N.U.D.E.) in my logic code," Suzi says. "Have you spotted it?"
"Yes." He wondered how he was going to get her to tell him--and now she has.

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