Born Again

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the line: "I'm not riding in that thing"

Born Again

“I don’t care what you say, I’m not riding in that thing,” Stella crossed her arms in defiance.

Joshua stood there; a blank stare on his face. This had never happened before. Granted, this was his first day on the job and sure, he hadn’t bothered to study “the pitch” so this may have been partially his fault.

The Big Guy wasn’t going to like this. He liked things perfect.

He pulled the wadded instructions from a fold in his clothing and glanced to see if there was anything there that could help.

Point number one: Never let them see what they will be riding in.

Okay, so he’d messed up that part.

Obviously, he was going to have to wing it.

“Stella, everything that I’ve heard about this trip makes me think you will enjoy it immensely.”

“Humph,” she replied. “If you want to go, then go. You can have my spot.”

Joshua gave that one a thought. If the Powers-That-Be found out that he’d screwed up, then it might be a winning strategy to elsewhere when that happened. Still, he’d just gotten here and he’d heard the food was spectacular once you graduated beyond apprentice.

He looked at the video projection on the wall. It showed a man pointing to the “vessel” as he said, “Enjoy your trip as your sleep and dream your way to a brand new life.”

That didn’t sound half- bad.

“Did you even bother to look at the brochure?” he asked pointing at some handouts on a table.

“Yes, and I’m telling you that there is no way I’m going to spend the next nine months crammed into a slimly womb or whatever you called it.”

Joshua shrugged. He stepped through the entrance portal himself thinking, “Someone is in for a BIG surprise.”

Word Count 300