Gabrielle Bleu
"You offer mere liquid as tribute to your conquerors?" The alien's lamprey mouth pulsated disdainfully at the carafe.
"This is Earth's most treasured beverage," Dr. Manjhi replied.
"Ha! A species that surrenders via doctor - a researcher! - would overindulge in liquids. No warrior's vigor."
But the research of Dr. Manjhi, allergist, might yet save Earth.
"Coffee's bitterness brings vigor," She said, like she knew. She never drank coffee; allergies.
The warlord sucked down lamprey sips.
His tentacles shuddered and coiled.
"What causes this? Poison?" The warlord spluttered.
He choked. He wheezed. He asphyxiated.
"It's the tannins," Dr. Manjhi murmured.
Gabrielle Bleu writes luminous science fiction and fantasy. Find more of Bleu's work at gabriellebleu.com.
I was a horologist before I was a diver. Once I maintained the guardian automaton; now I search for her pieces.
With her great golden gladius, the towering automaton protected our coastal city. Her internal gears whirred above murmuring waves.
Until the day those traitorous waves bore forth a conquering armada and their war kraken. Tentacles wrenched the guardian apart, her fragments falling into the ocean.
Always the caretaker, I dive. Again and again, until I find the central gear, that whirring heart.
Tenderly, I hook it with tackle and pull it to the surface. My guardian will live again.
Gabrielle Bleu writes luminous science fiction and fantasy. Find more of Bleu's work at gabriellebleu.com.
“Kid,” Camelia barked at the intern. “Helmet on!"
“But it smells,” the intern grumbled, donning the metal hounskull helmet and closing the pointed visor.
“No rookie mistakes today,” Camelia chided. They entered the cave to begin the bat inoculations.
The rookie gawked at the thousands of sleeping bats above. One dropped from a stalactite, small furry body shifting into the pale, bloated corpse of a man swooping towards the intern.
Thankfully, the garlic stuffed in his visor deterred the vampire.
"What’d I tell you, kid?” Camelia called. "It’s the vampire vaccinator’s motto: ‘In a bascinet, then the bats can’t get.’”
Gabrielle Bleu writes luminous science fiction and fantasy. Find more of Bleu's work at gabriellebleu.com.