Flash Entries

Sleeping City (ID#1688586)

Prompt for 7/7 Write a story that includes the words: test, scatter, trouble
Sleeping City
Colonel Stone, visibly upset, sat in the Test Lab. “Do you want to explain that to me again? This time, try to make sense.”
Dr. Micron started the story again. He stood up, took a deep breath and gripped the counter for support. “I’d worked on your experiment for the past six months, without incident, I might add. You sent that…. that spy in here. I don’t know why I’m in trouble.”
The colonel hadn’t sent anyone.
“My forced assistant helped me incorporate the new genetic material into the seeds. I never questioned your ‘new’ orders. I just complied, as she said I should. How was I supposed to know someone could infiltrate the security around here? It took me year to get all of the paperwork done before I was cleared.”
The colonel nodded.
Dr. Micron continued, “Come to find out, she wasn’t even a doctor like she said. I feel so used.”
“Get on with it Micron,” the colonel ordered.
“She suggested that we work through the night to finish up. I knew that it would take more than that. But I kept going, thinking she was working under your orders. We worked for three days with no sleep to speak of. Anyway, I must have fallen asleep right as we were beginning to test the batch. That’s when she stole the seeds and all of my notes. I woke up, they were gone and she was gone. When the seeds hit the open air, they burst open and scattered the spores just like we had discussed. I guess they passed that part of the test.”
“Doctor!”
“Well? It’s true! The whole city outside the lab is still asleep isn’t it?” He gasped and laughed as he suddenly realized that meant the spy was asleep too.
kph 7/7/10
Word count: 298