The "Science Dude" over at the OC Register (a newspaper in Orange County, California) ran a writing contest this week and has just announced the winner.
The contest was to come up with a 500 word short story, starting with the sentence below:
"Eureka rose out of a thick cloud bank over Laguna Beach. British pilot Katherine turned to her German mentor, Fritz, and said, ..."
The winner definitely played up the British and German heritage of Katherine and Frtiz.
If you have your own thoughts on a good ending, just comment on this blog post.
Had a great flight in the Eureka today. Here was my alternate ending...
ReplyDeleteEureka rose out of a thick cloud bank over Laguna Beach, British pilot Katherine turned to her German mentor, Fritz and looking through the panoramic windows whispered “Where did the Golden Gate Bridge go?” Fritz, puzzled, added “I don’t even think we’re in San Francisco anymore. Check the GPS”. Katherine tapped the monitor a few times and in utter disbelief replied, “I’ve heard that ‘you travel in an airship, but you voyage in a Zeppelin’ but never expected this. Apparently, we are over Southern California.” Fritz, having flown many times over Friedrichshafen, Germany, had never experienced warp drive except in episodes of Star Trek. His natural concern was for the safety of his passengers. “All gages are nominal. There doesn’t seem to be anything else wrong with the ship. Let’s hope the passengers don’t notice and panic.” No sooner had he finished saying this, a tall white haired gentleman stood up and asked, “Do these windows open for fresh air? I have this thing about enclosed spaces right now.” Kat looked at Fritz, “I don’t remember the Vice President boarding this flight”. The VP then noticed something peculiar, “There are also two Huey gunships on our flanks”. To this, another passenger exclaimed in a heavy Austrian accent “Get to da choppah!!! I love dat line and so do my fahns.” Fritz didn’t remember any of the passengers boarding and asked him, “How did you get here?” The governator replied, “I got so much bawd press about my private jet that I decided to go green and fly in an ehship. I can only plawnt so many trees to cover my ahs”. As if things couldn’t get stranger, another tall, well dressed man stood up to straighten his suit. “I can explain all of this. Uh…I had this airship rerouted to Southern California to save taxpayer money. I figured it would be…uh…a lot cheaper to fly Airship Ventures than…uh…Air Force One. Those are my gunships…uh…now ordinarily, we would use jet escort but we needed…uh…something a bit slower. I’d appreciate it if you could take me to my Jay Leno taping…uh…and if we could buzz the deck of the Queen Mary on the way, my…uh…uh…helicopters can take some great photos of us.” Hearing this, another distinguished passenger, former head of the Zeppelin Company, protested, “Commercial Zeppelins were never intended for propaganda. With all due respect, I am going to have to deny your request, Mr. President.” Fritz and Kat looked at each, truly confused now, as she said “I thought Hugo Eckener passed away in 1954.” Fritz replied, “He did, but he never approved of anyone misusing his Zeppelins including you-know-who”. Without warning, another large cloud blotted out the sky above them as Kat heard, “Wake up Kat, our next tour is in an hour”. Standing over her to keep the sun out of her eyes, Fritz apologized “Sorry for interrupting a relaxing tanning opportunity but we need to prep the Eureka.”