Keith had definitely heard that name before.
Drake
.
If he wasn't mistaken, Drake was quite a popular musician. Not that Keith had ever listened to his stuff, but he heard people on earth talking about Drake when he returned to earth.
This Drake was definitely not a local act at your...
When the robotic voice stopped speaking a warm voice came on. This second voice was too warm and cheery. It was obviously AI generated or pre-recorded.
Keith sat back down on the ground. He was used to sitting on the tiles now. They wouldn't be letting him go anytime soon. Actually...
I think it's strange. That what interests me most these days has nothing to do with anyone in my actual life. That the figure that pulls my strings most is a man named Keith. God I don't even know his last name....
"You've broken our trust Keith." A alien like voice spoke from no where in particular a bright light flashed down at Keith. He was tied to a metal chair sitting in a concrete room. Two electrodes were placed to his chest. He was sweating profusely.
The guy got up the next day. Fast he always liked getting up fast he'd tell people its when he had the best ideas. Early and right away. He go around with his notebook while he made his coffee or while he made his toast.
Keith lay now on the bathroom floor. Why was he here again? He didn't know, nothing made sense to him in this made-up world. For a long time he thought the world was fair. When he was young especially. Even after his mom moved away, and there was all the...
After the diner Calvin went for a drive. Thought about what
Imogen Howe
had told him. A man named Keith has been missing for three days. He lives in California. She's not sure if that's where he was born or lived his whole life though. But he has been up...
Keith, his mom, and his brother moved away from the
ghost town
before Keith hit middle school. Thus Keith never really knew what it was like to grow up there. He thought you didn't really know what a place was unless you went to at least middle school there.
The only other time Keith felt like this was when he was younger, before
Spacecity
even before highschool. He had just moved into a new house with his Mom and his brother. It was weird, different than where they were before. Where they used to live a lot of kids...
Up in
Spacecity
Keith had worked more hours a week than he had ever done on earth. Yet it never felt like he was working. Each working day felt like he was just 'being'. Doing something he would normally do had he had the day off.
Keith’s head was hurting. The lights came on and he’d cover his eyes. A buzzer rang and a door opened and shut. But he didn’t move. Soon he could smell it emanating taking over the whole space. Chinese food. What the fuck he thought, but he went close to inspect...
At the
McDonalds
they still spoke with the accents. Just in case the bug was in their phones. Or some other smaller thing on their clothes. Something they couldn't even see. They...
They somehow ended up leaving the
McDonalds
at the same time. They hadn't said much to each other. Only the comments about that particular McDonalds being oddly good compared to the rest. So it wasn't like they were having a conversation as they left. They walked in silence. Threw away...
Keith's apartment was the second story of a mixed commercial/residential brick building on a moderately busy part of town. The town wasn't big. The strip he lived on sat mostly empty past eight, unless there was some significant event taking place. Most of the foot traffic came during the day....
He continued to lick his ice cream. He couldn't just move away. That would be awkward. But he gave no sign that he wanted to chat. He hoped she would get the message and sit someplace else on her own accord. But she stayed put. Kept glancing over. Keith tried...
The man drove without the radio. Years up in space will do that to ya. Or at least did to him. Enjoyed the silence. Not really silent since the car made noise. The engine's hum. The tires on the asphalt. But no music needed.
Imogen Howe
gas
Spacecity
Jeannie Hammond
Ivan Babikov
Georgie Wilcox
Subaru
gas station
Imogen Howe
was exiting the zone. For five hours she had driven nonstop. The same ten songs playing on repeat. She had felt like a machine the entire time. There was nothing that was going to stop her. She passed by each car smoothly. Hit no potholes. Hardly touched the...
Because she coudln't find any info on
Spacecity
, she wrote about it in her
notebook
. Simple statements like "Spacecity... what is it. What do people do up there. Did people really live up in space for that long?"
That's what
Imogen Howe
did when she couldn't find information to...
The feeling didn’t leave her in the car. As the door shut she felt like she wasn’t alone. She checked the back seat nothing but her lone bag, had it been moved? She had her phone clutched near her chest, and backed out turning around towards the road. Her lights...
Alan could keep the cafe running while she was gone. He'd know how to run the place for at least a few weeks. So she didn't need to get back anytime soon.
But she would need to withdraw cash before alan locked the account. She didn't expect him to do that....
At the coffee shop he hoped Mari would be there. Knew she wouldn't. She probably lived someplace further out. Probably didn't make as much as Jackie. Maybe Mari lived out in Queens or Long Island. The people in this coffee shop looked hip and rich. A world Joey didn't belong...
Jackie didn't say much. Even thought Keith knew there was more. She had always been private. There was once she let Keith into her internal world. They'd spent the night together, before
Spacecity
and all of that. It rained hard while they were walking home so they were cold, she...
Keith had never observed anyone who worked at the
Empire State Building
.
Growing up,
New York
felt like the center of the universe. And little Keith could not imagine a world where everybody in New York didn't work in the Empire State Building.
Starvation. That's what people on the other side of the world faced. Keith read about it everyday in the news. He read a physical
newspaper
everyday with a
cappuccino
. Somehow K Man the barista convinced him to order a tall black.
The news felt less enjoyable alongside this abomination of...
First she was anxious to come up with something to say. But then she came okay with this. She would be okay not coming up with something to say for years. Whenever it was that she finally figured out how to reach out...
She started watching Keith, like how she used to watch the others. First it started just searching for his name. Keith, then his last name Rawling. That didn't turn up much, some weird
Facebook
profiles but nothing else. Then she looked on
LinkedIn
there nothing.
It had been the whole time. "We didn't start the fire". When she first heard it in high school. Her civics teacher told her what it meant. And it felt so true.
Marianna was bold in expressing her opinions. That history had always been violent. She would...
This was his first time at his sister's new place. It wasn't so new. She'd moved there two years ago. But he hadn't had time to visit. well that was a little unfair. He literally couldn't have come. He had been up in
Spacecity
the past four years. Now he...
The work wasn't chaos. In fact Keith liked it. There was some bitter that came with the new fruit. Nearly half his previous coworkers were laid off. And he was doing double the work as before. But he was barely doing anything before. So the doubling didn't affect him much....
Chewing through his bite, and his smile Keith's mind drifted a little. It felt like he was in
Spacecity
again, he looked back, it was sunny outside, he could see the street and the cars. Even sun poked through the window, not like the diffuse light of the uv lamps...
Keith had gotten into a new rhythm in life. A new era. His new era could be described by his new drink of choice. A cappuccino, an espresso with foamed milk and then more foam. This café he moved next to did them nice. Well he didn’t really go any...
Years later at a cafe, half a coffee on the table. His left thumb slid across the chin. Felt the stubble already comin in. Keith shaved every morning now. HIs coworkers from
Spacecity
might not recognize him if they saw him face on. The time that had past. The clean...
Chris could finally grow hair. Or it was the way he styled it now. What was it five years up in
Spacecity
and now he can grow a decent beard. Not like Keith's he was thinking. Always he compared himself to Keith. A habit that started the day he arrived...
Keith put in his pocket an old pocket knife he had from his past. Its origins were unknown. Maybe his dad got it for him, maybe but that was so long ago. Regardless the weight of it made him feel a little safer. He put it on his right pocket...
When Keith woke up he felt still drunk. Or more hungover, maybe anxious he wasn't sure. But when got up at the edge of his bed it seemed like water slowly sloshed around in his head. That Max guy can drink. He was trying to remember the acronym, mouthing out...
police
credit card
Spacecity
beer
Jim Beam
PBR
tallboy
In the alley of a no name city. No where you could get a direct flight to from a major city. There was a smell. In the heat of summer, it permeated quick and far. Someone reported it. The police arrived within an hour.
Keith scarfed down the first slice. Dipping it in ranch dressing. A staple sauce in the part of the country he was in. But never where he was from. He liked sauce. He bit into the Margherita hot. Piping hot, but it was good, the mixture of fats, and salts...
He found
Georgio's
on the way to where he thought Max's was. He didn't want to get pulled over by the cops. So drove into the parking lot. He could hit the diner for breakfast the following day.
Right now he needed some meat, cheese, and bread to soak up the...
Keith hadn't heard about Max's place before. Outside of the bar it was still light, getting darker now, but a bit of light. To him right now it felt brighter than it should have been. He was still thirsty, probably needed like three waters. Some food would be good, he...
Did anyone like
IPA
s anymore? Before they shot Keith up into
Spacecity
they were still niche. During his enlistment they became the norm. And now people seemed to have been long fed up with them. Tired of pretending to like them. Pre Spacecity, Keith actually liked IPAs. The bitterness...
In his time back on earth he hadn't made a single friend. He didn't work. Didn't have roommates. If he wanted to he could avoid people altogether besides for his run to the grocery store. But it became clear to Keith that without any routine commitments like work or school,...
The
rain
pelted the asphalt and concrete. Keith tilted his head down, symbolically keeping himself dry. When the rain was lighter, tilting your head down could at least keep the rain out of your eyes and your face. Today it was meaningless.
Cars whizzed by. Sometimes they splashed water all over...
He drank the coffee after his meal. It reminded him of the
Spacecity
machine. Almost too perfect, like she knew how he liked it. The cappuccino he ordered was frothed and he dumped one sugar in. Sipped it. Perfect.
He wanted to tell her, tell her how it made him...
The ceramic felt warm against his palms. Warmed by the coffee. But his skin never touched the coffee. Instead the heat transferred through the burnt clay. Fire transformed. Forged something new.
That was why he couldn't feel any different up here in
Spacecity
. The cold. It stagnated you. Through the...
The best thing about writing together has been the different worlds and characters we've explored together. Like there's the story of Keith and Marianne living in space via
Spacecity
There's been Denver and Blue driving across the country in a
Hyundai
.
drewbaca_ and I joked how we would be doing this for decades. The story compounds in value over time becaues when you look back at it... it's not whether the writing was good or not that matters. But rather the fun and giggles and meaning had along the way.
PS this drew is different than the other drew drewb
Cal had a hard time getting there. I mean he had his van, but he hadn't travelled further than ten miles from his house in awhile, like 5 years. So he was worried, not about the travel, but more about what he'd find, and if he was honest with himself...
She was nervous to meet him. She wasn't even supposed to be alive anymore.
Her mom was gone. Keith was gone. She hadn't even known Cal that well. Short time they spent in
Spacecity
.
But now that the time has passed. She saw that she hadn't made many friends after returning to earth.
It was harder to make friends at this age.
So when an old spacemate reached out to her of course she was going to meet up.
She was still in
Gas City
. She hadn't planned to be here. Did she ever have a plan? No. But she had a feeling she was going somewhere. And it all made so much sense even though she didn't know the details. It wasn't supposed to be like this. She thought.
They were meeting at the diner that once had the perfectly cooked eggs. The cooks had changed long ago. Changed many times over. And the eggs were never cooked as well. She still enjoyed going there though. Fond memories. She hoped they'd never close down.
Cal. Would he show up on time? In space there was no place to go. So tardiness wasn't a thing that distinguished people. On earth. It did.
20 years from now Cal would be a different person. He would live on
earth
and he'd be happy. Different than he was now. Things he felt were so important to him he barely remembers, and things he now feels are important wouldn't have even crossed his mind back in ...
Spacecity
has come under scrutiny lately as multiple members of the organization have attempted to create a sort of union inside the floating space city, only to be met with SWATesque police force. A recent expose labels this semi-secret organization as an extension of the Blue Group....
Johnny Strong got up earlier than usual. The usual was 4 AM and then a couple shots of espresso. Getting his ass out of bed and taking the day by the neck. Choking it out!
But today he had to get up even earlier. New mission. Strong and his team would...
The HR guy had decided to re-bean the employee cafe. The decision was made after running the numbers. Seeing what the balance sheet would look like if Cal was to get on disability as well. The two of them. Cal and his friend Keith could begin causing a lot of...
The coffee was bitter Cal thought, taking another sip. Yeah what the fuck.
Spacecity
cafe was busy as usual for breakfast, Cal was trying to eat again, but a little less so he could lose back the weight non-suspiciously. The place seemed if Cal closed his eyes just like a...
The HR guy of
Spacecity
knew they had a problem. His name was Danny, with Keith retired and still living here it was fine, they could support that. And he had, special circumstances, there was even a doctors note. But Danny while he sitting and pretending to work, thought up...
The next day Cal waited for Keith to come out of his room. Usually Keith was up late. He'd been getting up later and later since he was retired. This morning it was particularly late. Cal believed Keith was finally dead. He didn't know when it would be polite for...
winter
arrived. Cal's first since leaving earth. Without the snow. It didn't feel like winter here in space. The only reason he even felt somewhat connected to winter was the calls from Marianna. She had moved to someplace where there was a lot of snow. She loved it. An ice...
He finally awoke. Realized that he had been dreaming. Dreamed that he was back on earth. The cold air of
Spacecity
washed over his skin. Rainforest elevator music played softly in the common area that connected his room to three others'. He didn't have a contagious disease so he didn't...
It didn't register that Keith was going to die. The doctors told him it was the perfect storm, his mother smoked, his dad drank, and he spent almost a decade in space. His body had tried to adapt to all these things and everything else Keith through at it, but...
No one replied. The face in the reflecting glass stared back. Marianna pretended she was the waitress at the diner. She liked talking to herself like that. Pretend that she was at the diner. She would say it over and over again. "Welcome to...
Chris sat on the end of his bed. The simulated window shown the earth, and was supposed to make you feel awe. Looking at everyone you
love
, and everything you know in one place. But Chris was just mad, all this shit he said looking at the view.
"What's it to you? What makes you think you know so much about another man's life?"
The bastard Chris was right. Cal thought he was close to Keith. So much that he'd decided that he ought to get Keith kicked out of his home. This was Keith's home in fact. Space....
The phone call ended up in Marianna hanging up on Keith.
It hurt him at first. But after a long coffee and a walk around the hallways he cooled down. She was right in some ways. That he was always making a big deal out of every little thing. That he'd...
Cal waited for another assignment. At first he thought about asking them immediately. Like Yo my guy disappeared can I have another. Then for some reason he didn't. He imagined
Spacecity
wouldn't care if he didn't have a guy. As long as he seemed to have a guy. He waited,...
The chances were slim. Considered impossible actually. To guess an
ethereum
or
bitcoin
address' private key. You could just guess numbers... because that's all a
private key
was. And if you got the right one then the
Blockchain
gave you access as though you were the rightful owner. Because to...
Keith when he was younger did stupid shit, not that he was stupid, just all the things he did were. If you added them up, and told someone objectively, they would think that was a bad kid. There was the codeine, and then pot, then the selling of both. He...
Chris shaved for the first time in five days. On earth he shaved everyday. Clean shaven was the way. He didn't look good in a beard. His was patchy. Looked like pubes. Unlike Keith who could grow a majestic beard. Cal was clean shaven. But Chris didn't know whether that...
What you having? A middle aged woman asked Marianna. She said it slow and drawn out. Different than people in
Spacecity
who were trying to be efficient.
Coffee I think, and uh. The flapjacks, and scrambled eggs.
Marianna thought about tell the lady, from her name tag Suzie, about how...
She knew the facts. They couldn't get her down there. It was easy getting people up. Getting people back to earth. Harder. Sarah didn't need to spell it out. Marianna's mom would probably be dead before they could get her...
The guy Eric was tracking then just moved across the country. His streaming data went up now too, and the days connected were even greater. Everything nearly 100% increase. What the fuck he thought to himself, what made him switch. He was writing a report all morning. In it he...
With his kids safely with this other man. The other man enjoyed time consuming content. Reacting to different videos and other peoples reactions. He sent a smiled emoji to things he liked, then a angry face to things he didn't all the while the kids were away he just reacted...
Cal's childhood was different. His brother might have shined a bit brighter, tried a bit harder, but he was pretty quiet. When the family moved house his parent's very quickly got divorced. They stayed in the same town, but saw him a bit less. His parent's fought less so he...
Cal was getting up. He slept well up here. Everything was made for it, optimized and focused. The most important thing. Or one of them, as they would tell them. There was a hierarchy here, like on earth but it was to help them do the best work. But, unlike...
They put us two to a room. Optimally they would give each person their own isolation space. But they said people went crazy being alone. So they gave us one other person to be with. My guy was from the middle of nowhere.
Shawn was confused, or scared or something in between. The note told him to call a number, this number led to another department, and that department led him to a jet. This Jet would take him south from where he was.
When Walter talked in front of people most other things melted away, it was there he was fully present. However, when talking to the team now he only could think of the Blue Man. Where did he go?
One of the questions they got was what colors to use for the...
Marianna was anxious, and her heart beat she could feel picked up its pace. Last night Keith and her talked too late, and he told her all about what Cal and him did. How it seemed to really be making a...
Joey left the bar, a little sway in his walk. A bit sadder than when he started the night. Joey looked at his phone again no messages. There was some likes on a picture he posted. The first picture in awhile. When he was with Carianne she would tell him...
beer
friends
life
Suburban
Hyundai
cigarette
Spacecity
"I'd like a
beer
as well."
Denver raised his hand. It took ten seconds. His voice wheezed through the air. He'd taken his oxygen mask off. Marc Love had already gotten up but Denver swatted him away.
The waiter acknowledged the request. Gave the two younger men a look that asked 'is...
electricity
was free up here. They had solar panels facing straight out into the sun. And boy did the station eat up a lot of juice. So many computers and appliances everywhere. And the whole infrastructure that allows people to survive inside of
Spacecity
. the mechanism that taks the...
"Same." she smiled. Her
teeth
were a shade of cream. Not white like the toothpaste commercials. He thought they were perfect. They probably would've been blinding white years before. Before all this coffee up in
Spacecity
. Man didn't Cal wish he was...
Shawn could be heard from his office screaming. Fuck these Boomers! He smashed his keyboard agains the table and keys flew this way and that. On the national news was his mom. Talking about the Blue Man fucking murdering a girl. We had a plan. For so long they kept...
Made it. Not much to report right now. Warmer than I thought. The first night I had to sleep in isolation, so there now. Its fine so far, met some people on the ride up. The guy next to me was from Washington. The other guy from Miami. Though...
Susie drank a big cup of coffee. She didn't need it. It was already three. She usually didn't drink coffee after 1. Today felt different. Both her sons were out of the nest. One was way out west. Had been for awhile. The youngest was now in space. She was...
Before the arrival day Keith found it extra hard to sleep. He found his work book decorated in circles. He'd start day dreaming and just start drawing. When he was in school one of his teachers would call them grapes. He'd ask him how many grapes he harvested today. Oh...
People signed on for different term lengths. This meant you never could be sure whether someone was leaving earlier or later than you. Especially if you arrived around the same time. Keith had arrived six months after Marianna. When she shared eagerly that she'd be here for five years, he...
Cal wondered what to wear his first day. He knew he'd had to change. The brochure said everyone dresses the same in
Spacecity
. Helps people feel more together, united for the common good. Cal was sad about this. For the past almost three years he always wore blue socks....
On the third story of the infinity office, Shawn Samuels sat looking at the artificially maintained woods. When his friends saw his view, he self deprecated himself, saying that it was still a view of the inner part of the ring shaped office. The more senior people had views facing...
Cal could tell the difference. His friends said he was crazy. They would say no man, the Blue Man didn't die. Its still him, but Cal could tell the difference. I don't know man there is something about his eyes. There just different now. Like CGI. Or something, even the...
Keith was in the public space outside of Marianna's room. His other friend just left to bed, and left Keith to find his way back home. He stayed on the couch in the public space. Scrolling through the most recent new's on earth. Then to
Instagram
then to
TikTok
and...
Drew
Yours Truly
drewb
