Planet in Apparel

This is a story I wrote to commemorate my Mom’s 3 year survival of breast cancer. I am always looking for comic relief.

Planet in Apparel

Once upon a time…this is a fairy tale and that’s how fairy tales start…there was a beautiful planet named Jeanne…This is kind of a sci-fi fairy tale…It had rivers, valleys, oceans, plains, foot hills and snow capped peaks. It had countries, provinces, cities, villages and happy inhabitants…Okay; it’s a socio-political, sci-fi, intrigue, conspiracy, action, fairy tale.

Everything on planet Jeanne was going along great. Oh there was the occasional strife between villages, causing everything to cramp up and come to a screeching halt. Once in a while main shipping channels would back up or there would be a runaway barge. There would be a lot of grumbling and growling, but then things would get moving again or back under control. For the most part…The planet moved happily in its orbit.

One day, the province of Laverne, a rather hilly region, was besieged by a terrorist cell. No one knew where they had come from. Aliens certainly, but it was clear they had only one motive. Seek and destroy. Take no prisoners.

Laverne was a peaceful province. It had some defenses, but could never fight a threat like this alone. Its sister province, Shirley, also rather hilly, was consulted. They were already fighting an impending natural disaster called gravity. They suggested a planet wide conference be called, experts from all corners, experts from other planets. A coalition was formed.

Surveillance was the first order of business. You must know your enemy before you can defeat it. Intelligence Agents moved in. High tech gadgetry and drones pinpointed the exact location of the terror cell. The bad news…It was growing. A plan was formulating. Action needed to be taken.

All of the governors and leaders knew it would not be an easy battle. Things like this demand great resources. A date was set. They must strike quickly before it infiltrates and spreads!

With pin-point precision, and weapons of mass destruction, the terror cell was extradited, to where is a government secret. A decision to err on the side of caution was made. Ground forces and special ops teams would occupy Laverne province, seeking and eradicating any sleeper cells. Everyone expected this to take some time.

Laverne’s citizens were quite shaken, but there was only minor collateral damage and no civilian casualties. They began to rebuild immediately. The coalition had made sacrifices together. There had been a planetary plague of sorts, sickness throughout. All parties involved had felt the blow. The entire global economy was weakened. But slowly it would recover and be stronger than ever before.

So like I said, this is a fairy tale. They all have happy endings. There has been no further evidence of terrorists. Laverne is fully recovered; however the tell-tale signs are apparent in the scars upon her landscape. Much has been learned from this experience, and planet Jeanne has issued an alert to her 4 moons and their satellites. Be on guard always to live happily ever after.

Copyright Gina Thomason 2009