Something Lost? Tough. Tough. Tough. That's what they said. #life should be Tough. Tough. Tough. They said it as if they wanted it to be. Tough. Tough. Tough. Maybe it's meant to be. Tough. Tough. Tough. All I know is that it really is. Tough. Tough. Tough. So I have no choice but to become. Tough. Tough. Tough.

Sultan's Web Like time The shifting sands of the desert move imperceptibly before me As I sit in this little jeep A vision of eternal nothingness I can now honestly say: "I have seen it all." For all is dust In one form or another

Mermaid Mermaid A solitary breath on distant breeze, The cusp of #life across the sea, A flash of gold 'neath a wave, A glint of silver in her wake, Mermaid, mermaid, come to me, Are you real? Oh let me see!

The Argon Testers - Part 1 Bill Franks slouched into the room, his bulk filling the doorway before, as if by habit, he spun on his heel and allowed his momentum to topple his weight onto the sofa. He liked the sofa. Fondly, he called the living room his "laboratory", for this was the place where he would watch endless science programs on television, and conduct experiments on the coffee table. His wife, a stern looking woman called Maud, simply left him to it. She had learned long ago that her husband was best left alone with his hobby. Perhaps Maud would have been wise to check up on her husband every so often, for little did she know that those idle years spent perusing his "hobby" had resulted in him constructing a fully functional time machine in the living room. And this very night, after the nine-o-clock news, he planned to take his maiden voyage, back to his youth, to tell his younger self not to marry Maud, but to marry his teenage sweetheart, Samantha Cranberry, instead. And so, he set the controls for 1980. He had been planning for this occasion for a number of years, and was dressed accordingly. Yes, he wore a leather jacket with a picture of tennis legend Storno Bagorgington embroidered on the back. His heart pounded as he contemplated what he was about to do. He would go back, find his younger self, and tell him not to dump Samantha. It would be easy. Then he would use the time machine to return to the present day, and settle into eternal domestic bliss with Samantha. Maud would simply disappear into her own alternative future. For he would not have ever met her. Simple. And so, Bill Franks sat in his sofa, donned his space helmet - which he had constructed from a goldfish bowl - and typed in the target date and coordinates into an old computer. He pressed enter, and a blinding flash of light lit up the room. And then he was gone. Unfortunately, Bill Franks had misunderstood the nature of spacetime. He thought you could just nip back and change the past. How far from the truth! Little did he know that he was about to spawn an entire parallel universe. A universe filled with a great many strange things. To be continued.

Star Sailors In their temple they sit, some frowning, others fumbling nervously with their digital hymn sheets. They are waiting for the alignment of three suns, an event that occurs only once every nine thousand years. The first child born at "equinox" will be half god and half human; a new leader to take the species into the new era. Their technology has failed them. They have acquired all knowledge, and yet they have forgotten how to feel. They are dead inside, and for centuries have relied on rituals to keep their world alive. Any one of them caught indulging in a creative act must be sacrificed, for they believe that creativity is the preserve of the gods. Many secretly hold on to the hope that the new leader will overthrow the old order, and put an end to the boring ways and rituals of the past. Some even hope that the sun child will be an artist, for only an artist can understand the needs of the soul. And so, the circle of the twelve sit in the ancient temple. They read aloud from their digital hymn sheets. Above them three suns spin slowly across the blazing sky.