An Extract from This Month's Release: The Descartes 9 Windfall

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I've decided to celebrate each release with a series of extracts that run for the month it's released in. This month saw the second edition of 366 Days of Flash Fiction released. Links to the collection can be found at Books2Read at: https://books2read.com/u/b6MrN0

 

The Descartes 9 Windfall


Written on April 12, 2016, for the March 26 entry of 366 Days of Flash Fiction, this piece explores something of the dangers and unexpected bonuses of planetary exploration.


We were stranded on Descartes 9 for a week, long enough to find the treasure of a lifetime, and too short to collect it. This wouldn’t have been a problem if the planet wasn’t under an indictment for smuggling halakafta spores. The treasure was going to require some digging.

It didn’t take us much to convince the ship’s authorities we should be left dirtside, with certain compensatory equipment, until a quarantine ship could be found. Seems the inhabitants of Descartes 9 weren’t smuggling halakafta so much as being infected by it. 

Decontamination took weeks, but the fortunes we accumulated while waiting, they lasted us a lifetime.


Cover art is by Jake at JCaleb Design, and links to 366 Days of Flash Fiction can be found on Books2 Read at: https://books2read.com/u/b6MrN0

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