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[EuchreJack]

What is this?
An attempt at writing.  I'm throwing out chapters as a writing exercise.

The thought exercise is: How to write a science fiction story without referring to space/star/future/laser/etc.  Hence the segments are abstract.  The exercise is to see how much can be written IN a sci-fi environment without explicitly referring TO a sci-fi environment.  Hence one story is unclear if this is a terrestrial ship or a space ship.
As I was writing the  segment, I decided to obscure/ignore gender in the same way.
As I was writing the  segment, I decided to avoid continuity, at least temporarily.  Does it come before or after the  segment?  Maybe it varies?

Apparently posting online is self-publishing, so I'm now a published author!  Yay!  Hopefully they at least gel into a flash fiction.

Prologue: In the past and future, people need stuff.  Sometimes other people have that stuff, and they pay folks to get them the stuff.  The stuff then needs to be transported somewhere, usually.  All hail the Stuff!  Stuff is super important, and worth exchanging for Other Stuff, like food, booze, and roof over your head.
...but you can't take Stuff with you.

[EuchreJack]

Chapter 
Four poor souls are having a drink in a bar.  Two of them have long hair, one is bald, one has a mop head haircut.  Two of them have black hair, one has blue hair, one has grey hair.  One is wearing a suit, one is wearing a jumpsuit, one in jeans, one in a skirt.  Drinks consist of...well lots of beer bottles, a half-empty bottle of whiskey, two half shots of Vodka, empty glasses aplenty.

Dialog...later.

[EuchreJack]

Chapter
The Ship careened to its destination.  Four poor souls huddled together, hoping to survive their journey.  Were they a group, or did they intend to depart once they reached the next stop? One of them presumably had some mastery over the Ship, whether as Pilot, Owner, Caretaker, Trustee, or Maintainer.

One of them was a fighter for hire.  Then again, statistically any group has at least one person that fights for money in one fashion or other.

Their gender? Did it matter?  After months of travel, they all sort of looked the same mangy sort.  Good food does not last long on such voyages and hygiene is atrocious.

But they were still alive.  Were there more when they left?  The Ship has a record but no heart to feel such losses.

[EuchreJack]

Chapter 
Our adventures are running and gunning away from pursuit.  They are traveling through a field of golden hay tall as a person nearing harvest with the tiny strands of green remaining.  The brown dirt under their feet is flying everywhere. Some pistols, some rifles.  The gunfire is drowning out the sound of cows chanting in the distance, smoke is starting to accumulate in the air.

BOOM...there goes a grenade someone lobbed.

"FUCK FUCK FUCK, KEEP RUNNING YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!"
They must be the leader!?  Well, they're leading the group away at least.
It seems they are more going away from the other unseen sounds of gunfire than towards anything in particular.

Keep running!  The black paved road is just ahead!  You can do it!

EDIT'ed to add description from my rural farm observations.  Good news: The smell of shit has faded by as you near harvest time.

[EuchreJack]

Chapter 

Someone is dead.  Nobody had enough money for a proper funeral, so the survivors are instead drinking their memory in a dingy bar.
The lighting is poor, the floor is dirt, the tables, chairs and bar itself are made of stone.  But the drinks are cold.
One patron asks "Are they really dead?"
They get the following response "I saw them fucking die, don't give me that crap!"

A bunch of glass ornaments are strewn around the bar, their origin unknown.

[EuchreJack]

Chapter 

"What do you do?"
"I find things"
"Why do we need that?"
"You need things to survive.  People pay to get things.  Things are not easy to acquire.  You need an expert."
"I dunno, we're pretty self-reliant."
"Let me ask you: Has anyone ever hired you because you had special skills? If not, we're done talking.  If so, you know the value of an expert."
"Fine, you can join us."

[EuchreJack]

Chapter 
"Shut up, I'm trying to work here"
A character was huddling beside a box with a lock on it, fiddling with it frantically.
It was dark outside and inside, except for the tiny light held by the character.
Others were huddled nearby, hiding as best as they could behind the desk and cabinets.
One window was slightly open.  A rope lay coiled up inside.

"How much longer is it going to be?"
"Longer if you don't shut up"

[EuchreJack]

Chapter 

"When are we going on the mission?"
"When Captain gets the details figured out with the Employer"
"But they've been talking forever!"
"Yeah, but the longer they talk, usually the more money we get."
"But I'm bored! We don't earn anything sitting here!"
"Sigh, why did I get assigned to babysit you?"
"Liar! I got paid to babysit YOU"
"Oh, of course.  Let's get some food."
"Yay! I want something spicy!"
"Fine, we're probably going to be here for a while.  Don't throw up!"

And so two of our heroes went off to eat while The Captain and The Employer worked out the finer details of the job.