Hummingbirds And Other Tales

By ML BINELLI

A series of short stories in which the fantastic joins comedy and horror. Themes such as aliens, cannibals, psychopaths, vampires, ghosts, zombies, dealing with the devil, buried people alive and eternal beings, are developed in a very peculiar way, demonstrating that already known stories can be retold endlessly in very different ways, without losing originality.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ML Binelli
• Release date: Oct 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781071546710

Book preview

Hummingbirds

and Other Tales

Summary

Ride

Hummingbirds

Date

Escalator

Passengers

Taxi

The Last Show

Ride

The Engineering course was very tiring because of the absurd load of Mathematics. Useless in his opinion. Leave Mathematics to Mathematicians and Technology to Engineers, he repeated to himself. Manon was about to leave The College for this reason.

The most technical and interesting subjects would be taken only next year. That is why he became interested in advertising of the Space Exploration Agency set in one of the warning signs of the University. It would cost him a semester. Everything has its price. In addition, he would earn extra useful credits at the end of the course. Maybe getting a little away from the class, the old interest may return.

Two months of training and he would be able to pilot a Bee, a small ship with a life support system for one person for six months. However, in case of an emergency, some compartments could be moved to accommodate another human being with some comfort. Each reconnaissance mission lasted four months where it would advance deep into some unknown and uncharted zone.

The exploration ships were followed by the mining ships, all moved to Gravitational Impulse. They doubled time as if it were a piece of paper and voila! In a magic spell they could be on the other side of the Universe. The problem was fate. From one point to another, but where would this other point be? In the center of a star or in a black hole, maybe. If so, they would be crushed like flies in a tiny fraction of a second. A map was needed. Knowing the destination point and knowing there is nothing in this place when the ship is moving. So, the trip would become safer.

The Agency worked for years on a map of the Universe. It threw ships called Beehives that went out in all directions to the limits of the updated map. When they reached these limits, they launched the cartographic ships that entered the unknown Space and mapped the celestial bodies within a quadrant of pre-established research for each one. If there were a system of Planets, there would be analysis of their compositions for future mineral exploration. The propulsion of these ships was conventional and slower. In this way, they expanded the Charter of our world.

The processing of data collected was not enough. You could not afford a machine better than the human brain to process images, to find strange events outside of our current astronomical knowledge, and someone to deal with some mechanical damage to the Bee. This motivated him. Perhaps he could see something unprecedented of, not yet observed, which would bring him great satisfaction.

On the way to the Training Center on a train, he was still lost in the excitement of the adventure and did not even notice someone sitting next to him. He feels an itch in the neck and takes his hand there, as he turns his head and looks at the stranger at his side. He shudders to see the subject's profile. A man looking forty-five with dreads. One of the ends is tickling your neck.

Excuse me! The man says, pushing the dreads behind his head.

Do not worry! You're Doctor Monroe, aren’t you?

The stranger smiles and turns to him.

I am! Are you one of the new ones or have you done this before?

It is my first time!

The Doctor offers him the hand.

So, we'll have a good time together, I'm in charge of Star Charting classes.

Nice to meet you, Doctor! You are a legend! He holds out his hand as if to greet a  personified God.

Do you already have a designated location?

Sector 9574648S.

Oh, you memorized! The Doctor laughs.

Manon blushes and lowers his eyes.

"Do not get upset. I am proud of those who want this job. There are risks, you know.

Yes, I know. There were some accidents, wasn’t there?

It is true. The latter got hit by a wandering rock. Poor young man was pulverized. He is no time for maneuvers.

The dread bothered his neck again. Monroe realizes it and once again throws them back.

"Forgive me again. Well, I am going to walk a little. See you in training. What is your name again?

I didn’t say it, it's Manon.

The Doctor shakes his hand again and gets up. He sees him walk away in amazement. Doctor Monroe! Pure luck finding it! The man tested the first Bee and was lost for months before he could get back. Moreover, when he came back, he had those strange, out-of-date dreads. What is that? There was a fabric wrapping all the dreads. He gets up to get a better look at the Doctor walking toward another wagon. Behind the fabric he has the impression of seeing something moving, should be the effect of light on the designs on the cloth. He sits down again and returns to his thoughts.

The man is a legend. A defect in the ship caused by small asteroids took away the navigation to him and destroyed its antenna. He was forced to land on the satellite of an unknown planet in a region not yet mapped. For months he struggled to reprogram the navigation system so he could get back to the first Beehive. He returned with the skeleton of an alien, the only proof so far of the existence of other beings besides us in the Universe. The Agency was able to recover the spacecraft's ship. Its technology is still being deciphered. A ship with huge holes and several smaller ones. It was hit by the same asteroids as the Doctor, but it was less fortunate. Manon looks at his reflection in the window glass and sees a stupid smile on him. Doctor Monroe. The stupid smile grows.

The months of training passed in the blink of an eye. Many technical knowledges supported by practical classes in Mechanics. Manon learned to make a Bee. All its parts were dovetail, as if it were a giant puzzle. The ship was small enough for one person. It had a movie theater, a library, and a suspended animation room. If it ever an accident occurs and drift, it should lie in the capsule and be frozen. Therefore, your chances of being saved increases considerably.

An AI operated the ship. It was responsible for much of Manon's training. He nicknamed it Yolanda. He would be able to talk to it on the trip, but it was not human enough to create the illusion of being with him.

At first, he felt physically unprepared. He was not in the habit of manipulating tools. Yet dexterity came. Over time, his brain has created new synapses allowing you to achieve exceptional craftsmanship. The knitting lessons were strange to everyone at the beginning, but by the end of the training, the students' fingers would be capable of microsurgeries of such dexterity.

The only disturbing thing about the training was that all the students were kept apart. All communication was prohibited. Screens separated the dining-room tables. Not even then did they have the pleasure of an uncompromising conversation.

If he did not conform to this reality he would be summarily excluded from the training. They needed brains that did not suffer from loneliness even for such a short period. Everyone was always tested psychologically . Any deviation, any indication of mismatch would be enough to get them out of the program. All this generated a collective neurosis, causing three-quarters of all enrollees to be declared unfit during the training phase.

The worst moment came almost to the end when he was summoned to a conversation at the coordinating board. Manon had long been platonic with a colleague, Mariah, and she corresponded with him back. In the interview, or interrogation, he was informed of Mariah's cut. It caught him like a piano falling on his head. He had enough self-control not to be betrayed by his facial expressions. They were being watched. By mentioning her name, he turned to stone with great skill. She sadly filled her eyes with tears when they informed her of his rejection.

It was a lie, of course, they had not yet decided who they were going to give away, there was a possibility that both might be. Due to the lack of control they eventually excluded Mariah. Manon wept, yes, in a part of the immense library not monitored by carelessness. Two shelves at an unusual angle disguising their actual dimensions. Behind one of them, he