A Candle in the Window - by Sven Pertelson

There is a candle burning in my window for anyone to see as they walk past. What message they take from it depends on them.

Galatea - by Sven Pertelson

How could I have not been attracted to her? She stood out from every other girl in the lecture theatre. Most of my fellow students, male and female, looked as if we had just been dragged unwillingly from our sleep, which was true for me, while others looked as if they had not had any sleep at all. She looked as if she was ready to walk down a fashion show cat walk.

The Caretaker - Part 2 - by Sven Pertelson

He headed towards the exit and heard it again. No doubt this time. But what was it ? …

He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising. The sensation that someone or something unseen was watching him from the dark module ahead. He took a firm grip of the torch, its weight was comforting in a primitive way, like a caveman facing danger. The thought made him give a nervous smile. Here he was a quarter of a million miles from Earth and his subconscious was still wired for dealing with sabre toothed tigers.

The Caretaker - Part 1 - by Sven Pertelson

The caretaker tensed as he heard the noise again. A soft sighing, like an indrawn breath. It seemed to come from the next module, Tulip, as he called it. There were 16 modules in all at the research station and each had a different picture in the central communal space. Each picture represented a season and there were four for each season.

Floating - by Sven Pertelson - (A 100 word story)

It is perfect. Floating all alone in calm waters, lit by golden sun. Not a breath of wind to ruffle the surface. I could stay like this for hours without moving a muscle.

Rosalie's Adventures in the Clouds - Part 5 - by Sven Pertelson

… “Curiouser and curiouser.” said Deety, “If you and Rosalie could excuse us for a few moments, we need to quickly dash back home, I think I may have left some cakes in the oven. We will be right back and bring some cake back.” With that Deety shepherded her family back into their continua craft, woke Gay , the craft's brain, and returned them to the time and place they had left moments earlier.

Rosalie's Adventures in the Clouds - Part 4 - by Sven Pertelson

Somewhere, some when, in a fictional universe far far away Deety Carter and her father, Jacob Burroughs were discussing just what constituted reality as they returned from an afternoon walk on the planet of Tellus Tertius. They were nearing the last bend in the road before they would enter the multicoloured confection of a building that they had been invited to call home by its owner Lazarus Long and his extended family.

Rosalie's Adventures in the Clouds - Part 3 - by Sven Pertelson

…“I'm not sure I can be described as a traveller. I do not know how I arrived here and have no way, I know of, to return to my own time. Perhaps I might better be described as being marooned in time.” . With this a tear formed in her eye and rolled down her cheek. The academic retrieved a smart clean handkerchief from the top pocket of his boating blazer and offered it to Rosalie.

Rosalie's Adventures in the Clouds - Part 2 - by Sven Pertelson

Rosalie clung tightly to her uncle's umbrella. She was falling! The mist surrounding her streamed past and the wind whistled in her ears. Suddenly the mist lightened and she emerged into bright sunlight.

Rosalie's Adventures in the Clouds - Part 1 - by Sven Pertelson

Rosalie Alice Pleasance St.Clair Appleton hated her first name, and was not too keen on some of her other names.. She really wished people would just call her Alice like her great-great-grandmother.

EV2 - part 2 - by Sven Pertelson

As he got back to his 4x4 John pulled out his smartphone, no signal. That was to be expected he was a long way from the nearest settlement. Back in 1989 cell phones were still confined to city areas and mostly were attached to cars as the batteries were too big to fit in a pocket. When he had first come up to Alaska the main means of mobile communication had been CB radios. There had been a few briefcase sized satellite phones, mainly used by big business. Well things had moved on, out of his other coat pocket he pulled his latest 'toy', as Martha called it, a Spot Global Phone.

EV2 - part 1 - by Sven Pertelson

The brown and white emulsion of oil and sea water swirled round the rock pool. Out to sea the slick stretched for as far as he could see. The very sight of it made him feel sick. He had stood on this same spot exactly 25 years earlier and wept as the oil from the Exxon Valdez had come ashore to ruin this pristine shore. Now it was happening again.

Lavender Morning - by Sven Pertelson

The scent of the lavender fields below rose in the morning air to surround the basket of the hot air balloon as it floated silently above the Provence countryside. The colours of the fields, the sky and the balloon itself were overpowering his senses. This he must remember so he could paint it.

Cold Fury.- by Sven Pertelson

The relief convoy will be reaching me at the Antarctic Astronomical Observatory, here at Dome C, in mid March when the six month long day ends and the six month long night begins. That means I have almost three months to plan my revenge on the swine that made a fool out of me.

In from the Cold - part 2 - by Sven Pertelson

Tom was frozen to the core by the time he had trudged back to his flat. He quickly hooked the video camera up to his laptop to download the footage and while it was working treated himself to a good hot shower. At least he had not drawn the night watch on this operation, no warm café for whoever had to spend the night watching the park.

In From The Cold - part 1 - by Sven Pertelson

From the warmth of the park café Tom could see the old tramp shuffling along towards the frozen pond and the shelter. All the paths to the shelter were pristine unbroken snow. No-one had been near the shelter today and as it had not snowed since yesterday sunset that meant it had not been visited over night.

Staring at the sea - part 2 - Sven Pertelson

Rob had regretted his joy at being alone on his boat only a week later. He had made good time through the Red Sea and had only made one stop at Port Sudan. The advice he got there was that staying close the the Somalian shore was the best way to avoid the local pirates. The tended to be looking for larger ships on the major deep water shipping lanes. It was pure economics, larger ships were owned by larger companies and these had more money for ransom.

Staring at the sea - part 1 - by Sven Pertelson

Rob stared out to sea. The pieces of wood floating in on the tide might be some of the wreckage of his boat. If it stopped raining he would go down the beach and see if he could drag some in and pull them above the high tide mark. They might come in useful, if only as fuel. For now he would stay as dry as he could in the makeshift shelter of leaves and branches he had made for himself after being washed ashore after the storm. How long ago was that? Two or three days?

Tidying up - Part 2 - by Sven Pertelson

Fast forward 2057 years.........

Gaius Cassivellaunus Svenius (known to most as GC) rose from his couch in the triclinium having finished his breakfast and strode through the atrium of his villa. He paused to pay obeisance to the Lares (family gods) by the vestibulum. He patted the head of the bronze figurine of the first Svenius. It was only appropriate on this most special day of the year to give the progenitor of his family some extra attention. If Svenius had not saved Gaius Julius Caesar from assassination by the vile Brutus and his evil conspirators on that long past Ides of March how different things might be today.

Tidying Up - Part 1 - by Sven Pertelson

Doctor Svenius leaned back into the seat of his top end Mercedes. This had been one of the most stressful days he could remember. He had faced difficult cases in his speciality before but never had he had to deal with an armed pregnant patient. That it had all ended peaceably and as far as he could tell happily did not relieve the stress. Before he left the car park he was going to close his eyes and relax before he faced the rush hour traffic.