Gone Fishing - a flash science fiction short horror story by Rob Hopcott

The President of Earth glowered at the auto-cue and the television camera in the small Presidential Studio attached to the Presidential Palace besides the Presidential Golf Course which was where he should have been right now instead of reading ridiculous public service emergency announcements.

It was his day off and he reckoned that the world and its wretched public service announcements should wait until tomorrow.

Unfortunately, the world didn't want to wait and the World Parliament had prepared this announcement for him to read so he was glowering at everyone to show his displeasure.

The auto-cue started rolling and the President relaxed his scowling face and beamed into the television camera, exuding bonhomie to the billions who were watching as he read from the auto-cue.

Scientists are today investigating objects that are appearing across the world and which seem to present a degree of danger to anybody touching them.

Where these objects come from and where they disappear to when they are touched has not yet been ascertained. Any person identifying one of these objects should use the telephone numbers and contact details on their television screens at the end of this announcement.

World Scientists are advising that, under no circumstances should these objects be touched and to do so could be extremely dangerous.

Once one of these objects is identified, scientific experts and the military will place a cordon around the object while it is being investigated.

However, experience suggests that the object will soon disappear from within the cordon and may subsequently appear again nearby.

Although there is little information to corroberate reports, it is suggested that persons touching these objects appear to have gone missing. In short, the person touching it disappears with the object.

Unfortunately, these dangerous objects can often be very difficult to identify and are likely to appear to be every day objects to most people on Earth. In attempting to provide some guidance as to which objects are dangerous and which are not, the scientists are suggesting that the objects may appear to be out of place.

A heavy metal object that is floating on a pond would be such an example. A tree growing out of concrete would be another.

However there is no guarantee that objects will always have this incongruity and scientists are advising the general public to proceed with great caution, especially when at home where unfamiliar objects may be more easily identified.

The President of Earth leaned back in his presidential chair and gave his most reassuring smile.

Well that's it folks. Take care while we get to the bottom of this. You can be sure we are working on it hard. So bye for now from your President, goodbye!

The President of Earth slumped back in his chair and allowed his face to briefly assume the look of gloom and anger he had worn before going on air. He had agreed to one interview and one interview only about the public service announcement and that, as far as the President of Earth was concerned, was one interview far too many.

The red 'on air' light came on again and the selected television interviewer's voice boomed in the President's ear. It was a typically idiotic and aggressive question about the number of people who had disappeared and the length of time it was expected to sort the problem out. To compound the foolhardiness of the question, the interviewer even suggested that it was almost as if human beings were being treated like fish by some unseen hand, possibly from a different dimension.

To play for time while he thought of a way to avoid a straight answer, which was necessary because he had no idea of numbers or anything else, the President reached over and picked up a rather nice paperweight on the table that was sparkling under the bright lights of his Presidential Studio.

At that moment, billions of people across the world watched the President of Earth disappear from their screens.

Moments later, a television announcer appeared reassuring everybody that there was a technical hitch and normal service would soon be resumed.

Few of the billions watching believed the television announcer when he sarcastically suggested that the President had become suddenly indisposed and had perhaps gone fishing.

Most of the billions watching correctly drew the conclusion that, instead of going fishing, the President had been fished.

The End

All comments welcomed :-)

Bye for now

Rob
(Rob Hopcott - free online science flash fiction author)

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Have you ever thought how it would feel to be a fish? I'd love to hear your fishy thoughts :-)

This short flash fiction horror story about life as a fish is copyright Rob Hopcott 2008, all rights reserved. All characters and places in this short flash science fiction horror story about extra-dimensional fishing expeditions and other free on-line humor, short stories, flash fictions, science fictions, micro-fictions, sudden fictions, post card fictions or very short stories on this site, are fictitious and no reference is intended to any person or organization, living or otherwise.