FLASH! Super Short Sci-Fi - Volume 2

Field Trip

The Kalzakis family dinner was interrupted by a series of loud bangs, followed almost immediately by the sudden appearance of a dozen glowing orbs that floated five feet above the dining room table. Each orb was roughly the size of a softball, their surfaces swirling with tendrils of hue-shifting smoke that merged with that of their neighbors before dissipating in the air.

WE WILL BEGIN DISCUSSION OF THIS EXHIBIT MOMENTARILY. The booming voice seemed to come from one of the orbs, different from the rest in that its surface was solid and not smoky, although shifting patches of transparency revealed an inner core comprised of what looked like three tiny suns orbiting each other in a complicated pattern.

MAURDITICUS-IV AND GS334281-SYSTEM-PRIME, the unique orb intoned, LEAVE THAT TROUPE OF AUSTRALOPITHECUS ALONE AND JOIN US IN H. SAPIENS CENTURY 21.

The Kalzakis family, which had been startled by the noises and the appearance of their guests, were startled once more as a pair of simultaneous bangs were heard and two new shimmering globes joined the rest of them.

Mrs. Kalzakis, who unknown to her children had a bit of a wild streak in her, started swearing and waving her arms in confusion. Her husband, a slightly more timid character, only watched with widened eyes as a few droplets of sweat appeared on his forehead. Alex, their oldest son, who Mrs. Kalzakis had been cajoling to put his cellphone away during dinner time, got up from the table and left the room, his eyes glued to the screen while his thumbs flew over the rows of digital letters. Jessie, their daughter, shrieked and hid beneath the dining room table. And Brandon, their youngest, looked up at the orbs in wonder.

HERE YOU MAY WITNESS ONE OF HUMANITY'S LONGEST LIVING RITUALS, AT THIS MOMENT IN HISTORY IN STEEP DECLINE, the three-sun orb said. THE FAMILY UNIT DINNER TIME.

Mrs. Kalzakis was gesturing violently between the visitors and her husband, clearly telling him to get rid of them. Jessie, crawling back and forth in terror beneath the table, knocked a chair over and jostled another. Brandon was making little laser guns with his fingers and shooting the orbs down in his imagination.

STILL POSSESSING THE LOWER-ANIMAL TRAIT OF ENZYMATICALLY DIGESTING PLANTS AND OTHER CREATURES FOR SUSTENANCE, OUR ANCESTORS WOULD TYPICALLY GATHER IN ONE LOCATION DURING THE WANING HOURS OF SUNLIGHT TO SHARE THEIR SUMMARIES OF THE DAY WHILST CONSUMING THEIR FOOD.

Mr. Kalzakis disappeared into a nearby doorway while his wife dove beneath the table to grab hold of her daughter. Brandon started filling spoons with mashed potatoes, which he then flung right through the glowing visitors.

THE H. SAPIENS WHO HAS MADE HIMSELF MOST DISTANT ON THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL COORDINATE PLANE FROM THE OTHERS IS AMONG THE FIRST EXAMPLES OF THE TRANSITIONARY EVOLUTIONARY STEP BETWEEN THE COLLECTED HOMO TERRAE AND OUR MORE DIRECT ANCESTORS, THE COMPUTATRUM PRIMUM. THE PRIMITIVE TOOL THAT THE ADOLESCENT MEMBER CARRIED WITH IT WAS ONE OF THE FIRST MEANS OF TRANSFORMING THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BRAIN INTO THE DIGITAL WAVESPACE.

Mr. Kalzakis emerged from the garage, a leafblower hooked onto his arm and connected to the backpack strapped to his body. He flipped a switch and the thing came to life, blowing a constant stream of wind at the orbs above the dinner table. When that did nothing to displace them, he flipped the switch from BLOW to MULCH, intending to suck them into the sagging canvas bag attached to the bottom of the machine. The new setting was as equally useless.

Mrs. Kalzakis, still shouting, emerged from beneath the table, a crying Jessie tucked beneath one arm. Her husband unslung the backpack blower and tried to throw it at the visitors. Instead, it tumbled harmlessly out of his hands, splintered the edge of the dining room table, and fell to the floor. He grabbed Brandon, who had resorted to grabbing handfuls of mashed potatoes and throwing them up into the air, and hauled the boy out of his seat. Together, the Kalzakis's rushed towards the door, getting in each other's way while shouting at and elbowing each other, quickly replacing their fear with frustration.

NOW, IF EVERYBODY WOULD JUST TAKE ONE SMALL FOURTH-DIMENSIONAL STEP TO THE LEFT...

One by one, the orbs banged out of the room. The second that the last one disappeared, the scene reverted to its state prior to the entrance of the globes. Mrs. Kalzakis finally coaxed the phone free from Alex's hands and put it beneath a spare bowl. Mr. Kalzakis and Brandon were having a face making contest, and after some convincing they were able to convince Jessie to join in. As time went on, conversation and laughs shifted back and forth between all of the people around the table as they enjoyed a truly delicious meal. And while the Kalzakis clan continued their successful family dinner, which had been somewhat ruined in a temporary alternate timeline, in a fourth-dimensional step to the left a glowing orb explained to a rapt audience of glowing orblets the anthropological significance of the ritual laid out before them.