Saturday, October 25, 2008

A HALLOWEEN TREAT: A FUN PIECE OF SHORT FICTION


I wrote the following on a lark, but was dismayed to find out that the main character's name and title were already in use by an internet comic. Such is the life of a writer. I couldn't think of a suitable replacement that would inspire me to finish writing about this adventurous hero.

Had the death ray been properly calibrated, Danny Dare, Boy Adventurer, would have been toast. As it stood, Danny’s nemesis – the so-called Doctor Archibald P. Necropolis – still had a few things to learn about disintegration guns.

Necropolis smacked the gun angrily and Danny took full advantage of the evil doctor’s shift in focus. Crouching low, Danny raced in a broken sprint toward the cargo containers, barely missing the beam that grazed past his shoulder. Hidden behind the immense, metallic storage boxes, Danny knew he had scant seconds to come up with a plan before his atoms were scattered like so many marbles into infinity.

BLAST! Danny couldn’t help but chastise himself for having left behind the molecular syncopator . . . But he had no time for self-recrimination. The crackle of static from his wrist communicator told Danny it was time to get back to work.

"Danny! Come in, Danny!"

"Dare here, Carl. Necropolis has me pinned down."

Another death ray blast ricocheted only two feet from Danny’s position. He could hear Necropolis’ maniacal laughter as it echoed throughout the cavernous space.

"Don’t worry, Danny. We’re outside the cargo bay now. We’ll draw his fire if you can get to the rear hatch." Carl’s tremulous voice belied his man-of-action words. Danny knew the junior officer was quaking in his boots. He would just have to deal with it on his own.

"No can do," Danny commanded. "I want you to count to ten and then come in, guns blazing!"

"But Danny-

Danny cut the transmission; there was no time to argue with Carl today. Danny climbed the nearest stack of cargo containers until he reached a pipe running out from the wall into the ceiling. Using this as a fulcrum, he swung back lightly from the stack of containers like a gymnast. As Danny reached the apex of his outward momentum, he kicked on the rocket boosters in his boots and shot forward again, kicking the precarious stack with a mighty force. The stack of boxes teetered violently and then, like the great wobbly neck of some dinosaur, the whole structure collapsed forward.

Boxes skidded out across the smooth floor of the bay, smashing into other cargo and, more importantly, into Dr. Necropolis. The evil doctor yelped fiercely, dropped the ray gun, and fell back beneath the weight of an oncoming cargo container.

At the same instant, the forward hatch exploded open in an acrid cloud of smoke. Carl Jannsen burst through with half a dozen soldiers, guns at the ready. However, as the smoke cleared, the truth of the scene was revealed.

Standing akimbo, with one leg triumphantly perched atop the crate pressing down upon the nefarious Dr. Necropolis, was Danny Dare, Boy Adventurer.

4 comments:

RRRGroup said...

Hmmm...

Do you have, perhaps, a little too much time on your hands?

RR (kidding...sort of)

dethmama said...

Yay Danny!!!(Loved the story)

Blogess said...

Delightful!

Cullan Hudson said...

Fortunately, I do have time on my hands. Otherwise, it would be much harder to find the time to write.