Short Story : Last Taxi Service On Earth
Ever since inter-dimensional travel – colloquially known as dimension hopping - had been discovered in the year 2478, mankind had been able to travel great distances in an incredibly short space of time. As a result, many popular means of transport had suffered.
Bill Jones had run a taxi firm, and in the last six months he had noticed a steady decline in custom. With people more and more willing to take the inter-dimensional alternative, and with taxis costing so much to use, those that could afford it transferred to dimension hopping while those that couldn’t resorted to public transport, like buses, trains, and transport tubes.
He sat in his office, reading through a newsfeed talking about the flawlessness of dimension hopping and how, by using inter-dimensional wormholes, people could now move through space and travel to their destinations without any time passing.
But Bill was suspicious.
Everyone knew, from school age onwards, that there were problems using wormholes. It had been posited that they could be used for space travel safely as far back as the 21st Century, but there were naysayers who suspected that the radiation from the wormholes would have a terrible effect on anyone travelling through, and the only safe way would be in a lead-lined container, which it turned out was impractical due to their weight and they damage they inflicted when they arrived at their destination.
But now scientists had apparently perfected the process, refining the means of transport, and who was the primary scientist behind the new found means of transport?
Bill’s son, Nathan.
Most parents would be proud of any child who could create such a money-making process and regenerate travel for the entire planet, but the fact that it had come at a cost to his father had never crossed Nathan’s mind.
As Bill flicked his palm across the newsfeed, attempting to bypass an ad for Subway, his son walked into the office.
“Hi dad.”
Bill looked across his desk to his son, his eyes unconsciously narrowing, “What are you doing here, Nathan?”
“Good to see you too, dad,” Nathan tried to smile, but it wasn’t easy, “I thought maybe we could talk.”
“Talk?” Bill repeated, “What would you like to talk about? How you’ve taken away my livelihood? How you’ve almost single-handedly put me out of a job?”
“I wanted you to come and see the process in action,” Nathan explained weakly, “If you would just take a look at what we’ve accomplished at IDT, I’m sure you’d get over this petty anger.”
“Petty?” Bill spat, “Ending a generations old company is far from petty.”
“But you don’t have to work anymore,” Nathan explained, “I can cover all of your living costs with the money I’ve made from the patent. You can chill out and relax until the day you die, and then I’ll take care of the funeral arrangements and costs.”
“Is that your plan then?” Bill asked, “To see me dead?”
“You know what I mean, dad,” Nathan sighed, “I did this for you. I don’t want you to have to work.”
“Maybe I like working.”
“Then I’ll give you a job at IDT,” Nathan suggested, “I’ll get you trained up to operate the inter-dimensional transportation devices and it’ll be as if you never stopped being a cab driver.”
Bill stared at his son. Maybe this was the solution he was looking for. He wouldn’t be doing what he’d grown up doing – driving taxi cabs – but he’d still be ushering customers back and forth, and he wouldn’t have to maintain small talk with them because the trip would be so short. Part of him would miss that, but another part realised that perhaps his son was correct.
“Okay then,” Bill said, “you show me how this thing works, and I’ll consider working with you.”
“Well, that’s awfully big of you, dad.”
“You’re not too old for a clip round the ear, boy,” Bill smiled, getting up from his seat and following his son out of the building.
In the car park where Bill still had half a dozen useless taxi cabs, a large transparent box sat with a man in a peaked cap sitting at what looked like a control panel. Bill shook his head at how boring and ordinary the contraption looked as Nathan ushered him inside.
“So this is it?” Bill tutted, “It’s not much to look at, is it?”
“We’re working on making them more aesthetically pleasing,” Nathan told him, “perhaps you’d like it if we coloured them yellow and black.”
“Very funny,” Bill groaned, “so, how does it work?”
“Well, it’s pretty simple really,” Nathan smiled as the driver vacated his seat to allow Nathan to sit down, “we look up the location of your destination on this guidance system, entered the co-ordinates, and hey presto, we’re there.”
“It can’t be that simple,” Bill folded his arms, “what precisely happens?”
“Well, the vessel is transported into a fold in space,” Nathan explained, “and from there a wormhole opens that takes you to where you wanted to go.”
“And what’s in there?” Bill asked.
“Why, you’re destination,” Nathan smiled weakly, “the place you wanted to go to.”
Bill shook his head, “No, I mean what’s in there, in the space between?”
“The space between?”
“Yes, the space between here and wherever.”
“Well,” Nathan shrugged, “nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Yes, nothing.”
“You expect me to believe that this thing can transport people through a fold in space that contains nothing! There must be something in there.”
“Nothing worth mentioning,” Nathan shrugged.
“So there is something,” Bill smiled.
Nathan took a deep breath which culminated in a sigh, “There may be something, but we pass through the area so quickly that it’s hardly worth worrying about.”
“There’s something in this dimension that your company is using to transport civilians across the planet, and you don’t think it’s worth worrying about?” Bill concluded, “Well, maybe we should take a look at this, then.”
Bill approached the controls, looking at them with curiosity, “So, how do these work?”
Nathan put himself between his father and the controls, “Basically,” he said, “you pull the control back half-way, then fully back, and you end up where the coordinates are programmed, but please don’t touch anything until you’ve had formal training.”
“Formal training to pull a lever?” Bill chuckled, “Son, I was pulling levers when you were still nothing more than a twinkle in my eye. Let me see.”
Bill moved his son out of the way, sitting down at the controls, “So, you pull it halfway, then firmly right back towards you, right?”
“Correct,’ Nathan said nervously.
“So, if I pull it halfway, we’ll get to the place between locations?”
“Please don’t do it dad,” Nathan warned, reaching for the controls.
But it was too late. Bill pulled the lever halfway and stopped as everything surrounding the vessel appeared to vanish from sight, replaced with a very curious view.
The landscape that surrounded them was barren, nothing but swirling clouds of colour to indicate that there was anything in the distance, or in fact that there was any distance between their vessel and their surroundings. Bill stared in disbelief through the viewing window, while his son Nathan shook his head in disbelief.
“Why did you do this, dad?” Nathan asked, “We never intended to stop in the space between locations.”
“What difference does it make?” Bill asked, “Look what we’ve discovered?”
“We already knew about this,” Nathan admitted, “and because of what we knew, we didn’t plan on coming here. The machines were designed to bypass this realm for a reason, dad.”
“What, so you could keep it a secret from the public?” Bill scoffed.
“No, dad,” Nathan shook his head, “to protect the public.”
“Protect the public?” Bill repeated hesitantly, “Protect them from what?”
As if in answer to Bill’s query, a sound emanated from the whirling clouds of colour. As Bill looked on in disbelief, a creature swam through the air towards them, a creature that looked like the product of a tryst between a shark and a crocodile. It manoeuvred through the air as if it were moving through calm waters, and headed towards them.
“What the hell is that thing?” Bill asked quietly, hoping that somehow whispering would protect him from the beast.
“It’s one of the creatures that inhabit this realm,” Nathan explained, “we discovered early on that, so long as we moved quickly through the space between locations, they paid no mind to us. Now, though...”
“Now what?” Bill asked.
Nathan swallowed nervously as the creature approached them, “Now they know that we’re here.”
Originally Posted 26/1/2016
Result - 3rd Place
Bill Jones had run a taxi firm, and in the last six months he had noticed a steady decline in custom. With people more and more willing to take the inter-dimensional alternative, and with taxis costing so much to use, those that could afford it transferred to dimension hopping while those that couldn’t resorted to public transport, like buses, trains, and transport tubes.
He sat in his office, reading through a newsfeed talking about the flawlessness of dimension hopping and how, by using inter-dimensional wormholes, people could now move through space and travel to their destinations without any time passing.
But Bill was suspicious.
Everyone knew, from school age onwards, that there were problems using wormholes. It had been posited that they could be used for space travel safely as far back as the 21st Century, but there were naysayers who suspected that the radiation from the wormholes would have a terrible effect on anyone travelling through, and the only safe way would be in a lead-lined container, which it turned out was impractical due to their weight and they damage they inflicted when they arrived at their destination.
But now scientists had apparently perfected the process, refining the means of transport, and who was the primary scientist behind the new found means of transport?
Bill’s son, Nathan.
Most parents would be proud of any child who could create such a money-making process and regenerate travel for the entire planet, but the fact that it had come at a cost to his father had never crossed Nathan’s mind.
As Bill flicked his palm across the newsfeed, attempting to bypass an ad for Subway, his son walked into the office.
“Hi dad.”
Bill looked across his desk to his son, his eyes unconsciously narrowing, “What are you doing here, Nathan?”
“Good to see you too, dad,” Nathan tried to smile, but it wasn’t easy, “I thought maybe we could talk.”
“Talk?” Bill repeated, “What would you like to talk about? How you’ve taken away my livelihood? How you’ve almost single-handedly put me out of a job?”
“I wanted you to come and see the process in action,” Nathan explained weakly, “If you would just take a look at what we’ve accomplished at IDT, I’m sure you’d get over this petty anger.”
“Petty?” Bill spat, “Ending a generations old company is far from petty.”
“But you don’t have to work anymore,” Nathan explained, “I can cover all of your living costs with the money I’ve made from the patent. You can chill out and relax until the day you die, and then I’ll take care of the funeral arrangements and costs.”
“Is that your plan then?” Bill asked, “To see me dead?”
“You know what I mean, dad,” Nathan sighed, “I did this for you. I don’t want you to have to work.”
“Maybe I like working.”
“Then I’ll give you a job at IDT,” Nathan suggested, “I’ll get you trained up to operate the inter-dimensional transportation devices and it’ll be as if you never stopped being a cab driver.”
Bill stared at his son. Maybe this was the solution he was looking for. He wouldn’t be doing what he’d grown up doing – driving taxi cabs – but he’d still be ushering customers back and forth, and he wouldn’t have to maintain small talk with them because the trip would be so short. Part of him would miss that, but another part realised that perhaps his son was correct.
“Okay then,” Bill said, “you show me how this thing works, and I’ll consider working with you.”
“Well, that’s awfully big of you, dad.”
“You’re not too old for a clip round the ear, boy,” Bill smiled, getting up from his seat and following his son out of the building.
In the car park where Bill still had half a dozen useless taxi cabs, a large transparent box sat with a man in a peaked cap sitting at what looked like a control panel. Bill shook his head at how boring and ordinary the contraption looked as Nathan ushered him inside.
“So this is it?” Bill tutted, “It’s not much to look at, is it?”
“We’re working on making them more aesthetically pleasing,” Nathan told him, “perhaps you’d like it if we coloured them yellow and black.”
“Very funny,” Bill groaned, “so, how does it work?”
“Well, it’s pretty simple really,” Nathan smiled as the driver vacated his seat to allow Nathan to sit down, “we look up the location of your destination on this guidance system, entered the co-ordinates, and hey presto, we’re there.”
“It can’t be that simple,” Bill folded his arms, “what precisely happens?”
“Well, the vessel is transported into a fold in space,” Nathan explained, “and from there a wormhole opens that takes you to where you wanted to go.”
“And what’s in there?” Bill asked.
“Why, you’re destination,” Nathan smiled weakly, “the place you wanted to go to.”
Bill shook his head, “No, I mean what’s in there, in the space between?”
“The space between?”
“Yes, the space between here and wherever.”
“Well,” Nathan shrugged, “nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Yes, nothing.”
“You expect me to believe that this thing can transport people through a fold in space that contains nothing! There must be something in there.”
“Nothing worth mentioning,” Nathan shrugged.
“So there is something,” Bill smiled.
Nathan took a deep breath which culminated in a sigh, “There may be something, but we pass through the area so quickly that it’s hardly worth worrying about.”
“There’s something in this dimension that your company is using to transport civilians across the planet, and you don’t think it’s worth worrying about?” Bill concluded, “Well, maybe we should take a look at this, then.”
Bill approached the controls, looking at them with curiosity, “So, how do these work?”
Nathan put himself between his father and the controls, “Basically,” he said, “you pull the control back half-way, then fully back, and you end up where the coordinates are programmed, but please don’t touch anything until you’ve had formal training.”
“Formal training to pull a lever?” Bill chuckled, “Son, I was pulling levers when you were still nothing more than a twinkle in my eye. Let me see.”
Bill moved his son out of the way, sitting down at the controls, “So, you pull it halfway, then firmly right back towards you, right?”
“Correct,’ Nathan said nervously.
“So, if I pull it halfway, we’ll get to the place between locations?”
“Please don’t do it dad,” Nathan warned, reaching for the controls.
But it was too late. Bill pulled the lever halfway and stopped as everything surrounding the vessel appeared to vanish from sight, replaced with a very curious view.
The landscape that surrounded them was barren, nothing but swirling clouds of colour to indicate that there was anything in the distance, or in fact that there was any distance between their vessel and their surroundings. Bill stared in disbelief through the viewing window, while his son Nathan shook his head in disbelief.
“Why did you do this, dad?” Nathan asked, “We never intended to stop in the space between locations.”
“What difference does it make?” Bill asked, “Look what we’ve discovered?”
“We already knew about this,” Nathan admitted, “and because of what we knew, we didn’t plan on coming here. The machines were designed to bypass this realm for a reason, dad.”
“What, so you could keep it a secret from the public?” Bill scoffed.
“No, dad,” Nathan shook his head, “to protect the public.”
“Protect the public?” Bill repeated hesitantly, “Protect them from what?”
As if in answer to Bill’s query, a sound emanated from the whirling clouds of colour. As Bill looked on in disbelief, a creature swam through the air towards them, a creature that looked like the product of a tryst between a shark and a crocodile. It manoeuvred through the air as if it were moving through calm waters, and headed towards them.
“What the hell is that thing?” Bill asked quietly, hoping that somehow whispering would protect him from the beast.
“It’s one of the creatures that inhabit this realm,” Nathan explained, “we discovered early on that, so long as we moved quickly through the space between locations, they paid no mind to us. Now, though...”
“Now what?” Bill asked.
Nathan swallowed nervously as the creature approached them, “Now they know that we’re here.”
Originally Posted 26/1/2016
Result - 3rd Place
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