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    Clash of Cultures
    Clash of Cultures
    Clash of Cultures
    Ebook143 pages1 hour

    Clash of Cultures

    By Felix Pleșoianu

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    About this ebook

    Five stories, five protagonists, a common theme: people from vastly different civilizations suddenly must live together and learn how to survive now that their worlds are touching. Will they find common ground despite starting off the wrong foot, or are they doomed to remain wary and fearful of each other?

    This is my second attempt at a short story collection, containing some of my newer, better works:

    - Peripheral, a cyberpunk epistolary novelette about a rich teenager in hiding on the edges of a near-future society that's falling apart;
    - Parole Planet: a spoiled teenager is sentenced for a crime he commits on a distant planet with strange people and customs... that will slowly change him;
    - Collectivity, where two galactic civilizations based on antithetic principles narrowly avoid mutual destruction, thanks to a young soldier with empathy;
    - Distant Encounters: on a lost colony recently rediscovered, some people will kill to maintain their power now that the starships are returning;
    - Second Contact: the inhabitants of a lost colony in the middle of a civil war meet their distant descendants, who are no longer entirely human by now.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFelix Pleșoianu
    Release dateFeb 6, 2016
    Clash of Cultures
    Author

    Felix Pleșoianu

    Felix is a life-long geek and speculative fiction reader. Always wanted to write as well, which is exactly what he's doing as of late when he's not making videogames or digital art.

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      Book preview

      Clash of Cultures - Felix Pleșoianu

      Clash of Cultures

      Felix Pleșoianu

      Copyright 2016 Felix Pleșoianu

      Smashwords Edition

      Table of Contents

      Peripheral

      Parole Planet

      Collectivity

      Distant Encounters

      Second Contact

      About the author

      Connect with me

      My other books

      Peripheral

      Hi, mom.

      I've got to type this in 'cause my roommate is sleeping. He says we don't have the bandwidth for video here anyway. They're really low-tech, you know? They make their own power and capture rainwater. It's never enough to go around, but that suits me just fine. It tastes awful. They even warned me not to drink straight from the tap. Wish I could send someone to our favorite store for a bottle of soda, but they'd be arrested. And I can't go because I'm supposed to be hiding.

      As if! A white face around here stands out like Slender Man at a gay parade. I was afraid to go out by myself at first. Did you know the police never come to this neighborhood? How can anyone feel safe like that? Then again, the first cop who saw me would probably ship me right back to dad, and we'd be back to square one.

      When did the world become so complicated?

      Did I tell you about my roommate? His name is Marius, and he's the landlord's son or nephew or something. Everybody's somebody's relative around here. And there's dozens of people just in our building. Marius says we're lucky it's just the two of us in the room. I don't see why. The larger buildings have been abandoned ever since the city stopped pumping water this far uptown. There's plenty of empty apartments to go around. But even the homeless would rather sleep in tents along the main street, where the farmers pass on their way to market. Marius took me there in the morning when he went to trade with them. I had no idea it takes so many people to feed a city. Guess industrial farming really died with cheap oil, like Professor Vultur said. They sacked him for saying that, too.

      You know what else I saw this morning? Cyborgs. At least they had to be, with those eyes that sometimes glow and circuits tattooed all over. Creepy-cool. Didn't think I'd ever meet one. I mean, we buy contraband from them, like 3D printers, but they're supposed to live far from the big cities because what they do to themselves is illegal. Then again, who's going to notice if a few of them lurk around the periphery? They can probably hack drones just by looking at them. It's the rest of us who have to work harder at tricking cameras. Marius taught me how to cover my face and disguise my gait. It's kind of fun, too. But please don't ask me to attach a selfie.

      I'd better finish this up. Sun's coming down, which means we can go out again, and there's always work to be done. Wasn't supposed to tell you this, because you're paying them a lot of money to keep me here, but I can't sit around all day doing nothing, especially with no TV and no fiber. Besides, it's good to feel useful, not just a trophy.

      Love,

      Florian

      Mom,

      I'm so angry right now. Somebody stole my running shoes. It was too hot outside to wear them over the day, so I left them in the hallway with everyone else's. In the evening they were gone. It's pretty obvious who took them, too -- there's this Gypsy girl who comes over all the time. I wish they'd just lock the doors. Sort of watching each other's back sounds nice if you're one of them. Oh well, sandals it is tonight.

      Marius is calling me outside. Gotta finish this later.

      Back. What a night. Biking through parts of the city in the dark is like riding through a ghost town. There's no public lighting anymore, and you can't do much to avoid potholes when you're pulling a big-ass trailer behind you. We went down Linden Ave., then north across the river. Funny how century-old apartment buildings still stand, even deserted, while much newer shops and such are a pile of twisted metal already. It all looks quaint and mysterious from a limo by day, but when the wind is blowing through grass as tall as you are while dogs bark in the distance, and you only see shadows...

      Anyway. I got nervous when we turned right at the overpass. The village guards know me from the time when dad was taking me to visit grandma. But we didn't go that far.

      You know, it's funny. All those times I sat on grandma's porch, looking towards North Village Business Park, telling myself I'll work there as a lawyer one day, and never went close enough to notice those gleaming towers are only half completed. Another thing you don't see from the back of a car. We pulled into a driveway that led around the back to where the dumpsters were. Marius handed me a baseball cap with LEDs all over.

      What's this? I asked.

      Infrared lights. Blinds the cameras.

      I kid you not, there were cameras pointed at the platform. Had to force myself not to look at them. We could end up in prison for dumpster diving. Well, he could. I'm rich. You get the idea.

      What about the security guards?

      He snerked. Who do you think tipped us about those?

      There was a bunch of big flat packs leaning against the bins. Had to look from very close to realize they were solar panels. That's when my coin dropped. Professor Vultur taught us that everyone pays lip service to recycling, but in practice they throw out goods with even minor defects. That keeps the suppliers in business, the workers busy and the economy rolling. Do you suppose he was being sarcastic?

      Long story short, we loaded everything we could on our bike trailers. Had to leave behind the best stuff, too. It's not like we could have come with a truck, even if there was one available. Too conspicuous. I was jumpy enough already; a close thunderclap nearly gave me a heart attack. Did I mention the thunder? Between that and the cold wind, we didn't exactly need to see the weather forecast. Thought we were hearing steps all the time, too, but nobody showed up. Must have been a loose banner or something.

      I was sweating bullets by the time we left. Just the recipe for a cold. Marius kept telling me to move faster, and damn it, I was trying! We pedaled like maniacs until the office tower was out of sight. Now it was all a race against the storm.

      Or rather, it would have been, if the bridge across the river hadn't been blocked by ambulances and fire trucks. You know that stretch is supposed to be a favorite of drag racers. And we had to go really close to the whole light show so we could turn left into an alternate route.

      Luckily, that's when the rain started. There's no way anyone saw us through that.

      I thought it had been spooky on the way in, when the moon was high and I knew the places. Ha! We were rattling down a narrow street, through a torrent of water, ruined factory buildings on either side poised to come crashing down on our heads whenever lightning flashed. Can't have been longer than two klicks, but at the time it seemed more like twenty. We did come to the other end, just as the downpour eased up, and Marius pulled over next to a barrier of shrubbery, broken fence and barbed wire.

      What's wrong? I asked. It sounded awfully loud. He just groaned and tried to dismount.

      He couldn't.

      With some help he managed in the end, gritting his teeth and favoring one leg. The capacitors on the bike headlights were already winding down, but you couldn't miss the gash on his calf.

      Let's get you inside, man.

      It's dangerous, he protested.

      I know.

      "No you don't. There are things in these ruins."

      Like what? Come on, you have to sit down.

      It wasn't hard at all to find a hole in the fence, and the nearest building no longer had most walls, let alone doors. The trick was to find a corner where the ceiling didn't leak too badly. There was a lamp post right outside; by how pale it was, nobody had cleaned the solar panel in years. I took out my own torch.

      Now let's see that leg, man.

      Marius snorted at me and rolled up his pants. They were already torn lengthwise, so that was easy. Less fun was that his sock was swimming in blood.

      You're not getting home like that. Better call your parents.

      With what? I don't have a mobile.

      ... You don't?

      What are you, five? You need ID to get one. 'Sides, how'd you like to be tracked 24/7, wherever you go?

      He got me there. That's why I left mine with you in the first place.

      So what do we do?

      I don't know... He sounded really scared and in pain. I sat next to him, 'cause my legs were about to give. And that's

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