The Whole Wide World

Buzz had explored the whole world.  She knew every nook and cranny.  The world was hexagonal and waxy, and full of others like her.  There were tasks to do which took her from one end of the world to the other - young to look after, cells to build, cells to repair...
One day Buzz was recruited for a task she'd never done before - she was to help one of the older bees, called Zip.  Zip would fetch the nectar and Buzz would transport it into the inner chambers of the world.
"Where do you get the nectar from?" Buzz asked as she followed Zip up to the top of the world.
"From outside," Zip replied.
"Outside?"  Buzz was confused.  Outside where?
Then she saw the other world.  Her own world became tiny, almost insignificant, even though it had been all she had ever known or needed.  She was almost overwhelmed at the size, the strange shapes, the colours!  Zip seemed not to notice, and zipped off to collect some pollen.

Over the following days Buzz helped Zip, collecting the pollen and nectar as the older bee landed, and transporting it down into her world.  She felt safe back down in the familiar sanctuary, but she also felt the urge to follow Zip growing.  It took her by surprise when it happened.  One moment she was sitting at the edge of the world, the next she had leapt into the air and was skimming away into the beyond.  As soon as she realised what she was doing, she turned back.  But now that the first step had been taken, she found herself doing it over and over, flying further and further from the others.
Zip showed her were to find the pollen and nectar.  Buzz could have never imagined such beauty!
These storehouses of food were bright and patterned and soft beneath her feet.  With each flight her world grew, but so did the sense of importance of the world which she had left behind.  Each time she returned and passed the pollen she had collected to a younger bee, she knew without a doubt that small though her world had been, it had to be protected at all costs.

The days wore on and she became comfortable, and found the edges of her new world.  Great blue swaths of water surrounded it, extending on to forever.
She felt wise now that she knew how big the world really was, and whenever she returned to her home she would smile knowingly at the younger bees as they peered out in awe from their little nest.
Age crept up on her, but she was content, knowing she had seen all there was to see and done all there was to do.  She had explored the whole world.

Finally a day came when she knew that soon the flowers would go and the bees would have to hide in their nest from the cold.  She climbed to the top of a tree and looked out across the world, admiring the view before she would have to retreat away from it once more - when she noticed a curious sight, one she had never seen before.
She thought she had seen movement in the water past the edge of the world - a flash of silver.
Yes - there it was again!
"Could it be?" she wondered aloud to herself in her excitement and fear, "Could it be, that there is another world beyond this one?"
She looked back.  The sun was setting, she should return to the nest.  But she had to know, the urge was too strong.  She took to the sky and flew, flew over meadow and flower and tree, flew over stream and cliff and sand... and beyond the edge of the world.

Parachute

"Hello?  Is this Parachute Training Inc?"
"Yes sir.  Are you looking to book a jump?"
"No, no.  I can't say I've ever fancied parachuting.  No head for heights, really, and well.... oh god, the trees are so tiny!"
"Oh, perhaps you'd like to book a gift for a friend?"
"Ah, no.  All my friends CRRRRUUSHHHHHpop on the ground."
"I think we lost the signal for a moment there - there's a lot of noise.  I didn't quite hear that last part."
"Oh I just CRHHSSSSSHHHH not my friends I'm ringing for.  It's me."
"But I thought you said you didn't want to book a jump?"
"I don't CCRRRUUSHHHHHHH"
"Sorry sir, you keep breaking up.  Are you in a car?"
"A plane actually, and that's what I'm ringing about.  I'm a bit pushed for time and I wondered if you could explain to me how to use a parachute?"

Home

Jenny pressed her nose against the glass.  Her breath steamed up the panel, and hazed the view below her.
"Earth!" she gasped.
Her mother, Erin, nodded, and gently pulled her a step back from the window.
"You see there?"  Erin placed a finger on the glass, her pad all but obscuring the green island.  "That's where I was born."
"Really?"  Jenny's eyes were wide.  "It's beautiful!"
"It is," Erin agreed softly.
"Can we go see?" Jenny asked eagerly.
"No," her mother sighed.  "It's all locked up now.  No one can go to Earth anymore.  We can only look from here."
"But it's your home isn't it?"
"Yes."  Erin took a step forward - her turn to lean against the glass.  She pretended to look more closely, but really she just didn't want Jenny to see her cry.  The girl was too young to understand.  I'll never be able to go home.

Worth its weight in gold.

"How much for that dung ball there?" the dung beetle asked the purveyor.
The purveyor rolled the dung ball in question onto his scales.
"Ten pounds."
"Ten!  For that quality?"
"This is some of the freshest dung around.  Collected it myself!"
"It's crap."
"Finest quality crap."
"I'll give you five."
"Five?" The purveyor looked almost offended.  "This is hand rolled you know.  Look I'll do you a deal... nine."
"It's not even that smooth," the dung beetle insisted.  "Six."
The purveyor stroked his antenna thoughtfully, as if he were wrestling with some terrible decision.
"Well... how about eight, and I throw in this lovely decaying mushroom too."
The dung beetle pretended to think it over for a moment.
"...Ok.  You've got yourself a deal."
"Excellent."  They shook on it.  "How would you like to pay?"  the purveyor rolled the dung off the scales and began to wrap it for the dung beetle.
"Plastic ok?"
"Certainly, this is the modern world after all.  Have to roll with the times."  He produced a pay terminal, and the dung beetle swiped his card over it.

 "Yeah, look it does this swipe payment thing now."  The terminal beeped to show that it had received payment.
"Oooh that's very clever, you're the first customer I've had with one of those new sensor cards."
"Isn't it?" the dung beetle put his card away safely and started to roll the dung to the door.  "Well, thanks for the dung."
"Thank you, come back soon!"

The magic bridge

"Watch."
Jane dropped the apple over the side of the bridge.  John stood on his tiptoes and craned his neck to watch it fall.  Plop! It dropped into the water and then bobbed to the surface.  The current started to sweep it under the bridge, and they both ran to the other side to watch it reappear.  It did so swiftly, bouncing along on the wavelets... then it stopped... and reversed its path, passing back under the bridge, seemingly against the current.  The children ran to the first side of the bridge again to see it reappear, make a wide circle, three twirls and then resume its way with the flow, to disppear down the river.
"What do you think that was about?" Jane asked.  "I can't even see any whirlpools or anything."
"It was a fish," John replied confidently.  "It grabbed the apple and dragged it back."
"No it wasn't," insisted Jane.  "We would have seen it."
"Magic?" asked John, with some uncertainty.
"That is not a scientific answer," Jane chided her brother, with a smile to take the sting out.
"It might be," John replied.  "After all, if there is something going on here we don't understand, it may as well be magic, right?"
Jane thought about this for a moment, then grinned.
"You're right.  From now on, this is the magic bridge."
They both laughed and ran away to find a new game to play.
Meanwhile, under the bridge the troll was grumbling.
"Another apple drops from the sky, and my fishing line breaks again!"

The Clockwork Key

"The key is an elaborate work indeed.  I don't know what craftsman made it, but the detail is exquisite.  See here, how the teeth are locked into position by this mechanism?  And here, where this miniature timepiece moves these cogs?   Why, as the seasons change this key, too, will change.  What door does it open?  Well that depends entirely upon the date, I suppose.  Does it only open one door on a given day, or many different doors at different times?  I cannot say, and alas, neither can the previous owner."

The Traveller

Flash fiction dice #2!

The traveller awoke just as the moon was rising in a thin silvery crescent.  He doused the embers of his fire, collected together his pots and pans, rolled up his bedroll and neatly tied them all to his humongous pack.  He checked his map - the path led through the forest.  He knew that the moon would not be enough to light the way through the thick trees, but he couldn't wait any longer - he had to reach the city.  He unstrapped a pole from his pack - there was a long wire attached to the end.  He screwed a lightbulb onto the wire and then gave it a flick.  The lightbulb flickered on.  He hefted his pack, and with the lightbulb swinging before him, set off into the forest with a jaunty step and a bright song.