Old Stories #2- Current story!

So. When last we met, I had just finished my four-day web institute for my grad program. Basically, I sat in a room for four days and had way, way too much information shoved into my brain. The last couple of weeks have mostly been settling in to doing classwork, and continuing to look for work. Boring boring.

So! Today I bring you the first page of a current short story WIP. I don't usually write short stories anymore, I don't usually write science fiction, and I almost never write about adults. This story is all three, and has been massively tricky to write!

Working title for this is "Ghost", but that is subject to change.

*
When Andy Rollins started spouting to anyone who would listen that he was seeing ghosts, it got him more than a few funny looks.Folks on  Rainmaker VII  don't much hold with superstition. It didn't help that Andy was the chief compactor on  hydrogen deck. The thought that he was crackin' up didn't go down too good.

I work in compression--two decks below hydro, where we do the actual assembly--fusing the H with oxygen to fill the vats with water. Vital work, but the noise and heat is enough to make anyone crazy. Been more than a few times I've heard things when I get off shift--getting out of comp leaves your ears ringing like nothin' else. Really, it's a wonder it was Andy and not me who went nuts.

He come down to compression deck two shifts after I'd first heard about him seeing things, to warn me that the latest H delivery had been short by nearly a million tons. Not news I wanted to hear--we were already behind on production, and it was planting season down on Homeworld. Had to rain in 8 days, and we were already behind, since the main compressor was down. Component issue was the last thing I needed.

"Goddamn, Andy," I said, screaming to be heard over the whomp-whomp of the compressors. "What am I supposed to do?"

He shrugged, looking unhappy. Andy always hated to disappoint anyone. His family had come from Base3, about two months out from Homeworld, and he had been supposed to get a good job and a spot for them on the surface. Closest he ever got was Rainmaker VII, hovering in the upper troposphere. Not that we could see the planet from here. Weather ships don't get windows. I don't think he ever got over the guilt from his mother dying on a Base.

"There's nothing I can do, Lisle." Andy said. "it was the ghosts."

*

Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuun. 

Web insitute.

Four days of learning. Learned. Library learning. Informations? Many words. Much learnings. Searching good. Many informations. COFFEE TIME!!! More coffee. Sugars. Eat the sugars for brain learnings.

Sleep now.

Running

I hate running. I hate it with the burning fire of a thousand suns. I once promised myself that, after surviving the hell that was high school gym class, I would never again run unless something large and clawed was chasing me.

Unfortunately, I hate being out of shape just a little bit more than I hate running.

I spent a lot of years being very, very out of shape. At the end of my sixth grade year I got really sick, and was homebound for six weeks. My asthma, formerly a fairly minor case that was only really triggered with smoke or heavy exercise, got really bad. I was on steroids for my lungs and I gained a significant amount of weight. Moving at all was very difficult. Being in middle school just made the problem worse--it's not a good time to be overweight, particularly if you also stand out for being tall and kind of nerdy.

It took a long time for me to get comfortable in my skin. I lost most of the weight, though it took years and I am by no means thin now. What I am, is capable. I am in good shape, I can climb a mountain or bike for miles or lift  heavy things that need to be lifted. I have come a long way from having to rest between flights of stairs.

When I moved at the start of this summer, the two things, other than my family, that I knew I would miss the most were having a regular, reliable mechanic who I knew, and having a gym membership. Because without a gym with assorted exciting fitness classes, staying in shape gets a lot harder, and without a job--I am still looking--I couldn't justify the price. I would have to do the unthinkable. Go running.

Run. Regularly. Even though it still makes me want to die or throw up. I am in good overall shape, but running, I think,  is sort of a specialized skill that my muscles still protest. I have actually improved a lot this summer. The percentage of my route that I walk has gone down, and I have gotten faster. But it still sucks, and I still hate it, and I am writing this blog post in part to delay having to put my shoes on and hit the street.

But I guess my time is up, and I have to go. Tomorrow is my first real day of school--I have four days of 8-5 in person classes before the online lessons start, and that doesn't leave me with lots of time to exercise. So I really have no excuse to not go today.

Damn it. I hate running.