sci-fi

Season 2, Episode 1: Putting on the Razzle-Dazzle

A impressionist image of a figure walking down a curved tunnel of trees. Across the top in yellow block caps, "DRABBLETOBER".

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober Season 2. This is episode 1 for the first of October, 2025.

Putting on the Razzle-Dazzle

by Elizabeth Guilt

"You do know what 'Resistance fighter' means?"

"Don't really need makeup, do we, lads?"

"Your eyeshadow's crap, anyway."

So she explained - skipping the details of light-reflecting concealers, shimmering contour powders, AI facial-recognition algorithms, and the limitations of Government surveillance systems.

"My camouflage makeup means cameras can't process my face."

They made her walk through the Authorised Zone and a camera pinged immediately. She was arrested, and imprisoned.

The Resistance fighters fell about laughing when she came back.

"You? Again?"

She stared them down.

"That was to make sure the Government believes it doesn't work. Now we do it for real."

If you've never heard of dazzle camouflage before, I strongly encourage you to look it up. It was used on ships and aircraft around WW1 and was designed not to hide them, but to make it hard to focus on them well enough to attack. Wikipedia has some great photos of lurid paint schemes.

Episode 14: "Like a Bear"

A impressionist image of a figure walking down a curved tunnel of trees. Across the top in yellow block caps, "DRABBLETOBER".

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 14, for Monday the fourteenth of October 2024.

Like a Bear

by Elizabeth Guilt

Good morning, welcome to Sicut Urso. You're right on time.

You've been eating well, I take it? What's that? Pasta for every meal? Ideal, sir, glad to hear it. Ha ha, yes, I'm sure you enjoyed it. But you took plenty of lemon juice too? Great.

Leave your things here, we'll keep them safe. There are fleecy pyjamas in your room.

Ah, I see you've found the bed. Another blanket? Of course. I'll pop a couple of spare pillows over here.

Ready?

Just one sharp scratch.

There, that's the shot done.

Comfy?

Excellent, sir.

We'll wake you in the spring.

I am not a summer person. I really enjoy snow, and frosts, and the lovely dark blue skies you get in the UK on winter afternoons. I actually look forward to winter, and the days when the air stings your lungs.

But I appreciate that's not for everybody.

Episode 9: "Set Fair"

A impressionist image of a figure walking down a curved tunnel of trees. Across the top in yellow block caps, "DRABBLETOBER".

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 9, for Wednesday the ninth of October 2024.

Set Fair

by Elizabeth Guilt

Ella turned her back.

"I'm not a child any more. I'm not stupid!"

Steve laid gentle hands on her six-year-old shoulders. "I know, love."

He stared at the horizon. In the milky light from the silica skymesh, the

podhouses soon shimmered into misty distance.

"It's true, though."

"It's not true! How would it get to the hydroponics?"

Ella kicked the polymer ducting, hard enough that the vibrations risked tripping alarms at the recyc. plant.

"Don't do that, Ella."

He didn't blame her. Even he struggled to believe that, when he was her age, water had sometimes fallen from the sky.

Episode 5: "It's Not The Labour, It's The Parts"

A impressionist image of a figure walking down a curved tunnel of trees. Across the top in yellow block caps, "DRABBLETOBER".

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 5, for Saturday the fifth of October 2024.

It's Not The Labour, It's The Parts

by Elizabeth Guilt

I waved as he disappeared. I held my breath.

He didn't come back.

I waited a couple of hours, but still no cheerful creak as he shouldered open the door, brimming with stories.

Perhaps things weren't as predictable as we'd thought. Maybe our calculations were off.

After a year, I had to know the worst. I thrust a spade between the roots of our old oak tree, riving the ground apart until I found the metal box, rusted after a century in soil. It was stuffed with letters. He loved me, missed me, but could not repair our time machine.

Episode 4: "New Tricks"

A impressionist image of a figure walking down a curved tunnel of trees. Across the top in yellow block caps, "DRABBLETOBER".

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 4, for Friday the fourth of October 2024.

New Tricks

by Elizabeth Guilt

Girls love a boy who's spliced in dog DNA. They can't wait to ruffle Hugo's fur, fondle his ears. Sylvie doesn't notice that the hand curled around the glass is too much paw these days. Doesn't see him when his money's run out, snapping and snarling over bones in the gutter.

"You'd look cute with a tail," she says.

"That's not for me," I murmur.

My changes are minute, easily hidden. Fly DNA for reflexes. Tarantula and scorpion for stealth and defence. Enough to pull off the deals to pay for more splices.

This isn't about girls. It's about survival.