Cool Aardvark

I’m a wannabe author, life long Doctor Who fan, full time developer and general lover of all things tech, have a strange obsession with Aardvarks and ware a waistcoat every day. So I’m pretty normal really!

Writings

Followers

Following

Cool Aardvark

Writings

Followers

Following

Gathering The Harvest

Mark Keightley

1 min read

The gentle breeze through the field of wheat, makes the sheaths sway in waves of gold. The bright sunlight throws in to sharp contrast the, dark clouds of the on coming storm.

A man walks through one of the narrow tracks left by the machines that tilled the soil and planted the seeds. He moves with a regular steady stride, a man with purpose, moving towards a destination. His eyes are fixed, unbli...

Science fiction

Chosen

Mark Keightley

3 min read

The room is empty, it’s walls bage, floor dark and the celling white.

Two rectangular holes open in the floor and a sleeping person is lifted from below, their travel is quite and smooth enough that they don’t wake when they are left laying on the floor.

After a moment, the room becomes lighter, the celling brithening uniformly.

The woman stirs first, they are both dressed in the same grey one pie...

Science fiction

Get Set

Mark Keightley

1 min read

Time to get set and join the set.

I set a reminder and now it’s time to be on set.

I’ve set my mind on this and now I’m set up to do this....

Poetry

Humour

The Psychology Of Control

Mark Keightley

1 min read

“When faced with a large gathering that is not responding to the order to disperse, treat the group as a single organism. You need to demonstrate to its members they are not safe in the group. It is this safety that blunts the effectiveness of fear as a weapon.

Incapacitate any obvious group leaders, if there are no obvious leaders random use of ‘incapacitation’ should solidify your position of co...

Science fiction

Action

The Wasteland

Mark Keightley

1 min read

There was no wind to stir the mist clinging to the piles of rubble and clinker that made up the landscape.

The ever-present mist, leached more colour out of the already near monochromatic scene, it sofended the edges of the distant wrecked shells of buildings in vague dark outlines against the grey sky.

The sun had seemed to give up on this place, it’s place in the sky marked by a small slightly b...

Mystery

Night Shift

Mark Keightley

2 min read

I glanced over the screens, everything was inside normal limits.

The alert started sounding, less than 5 seconds later.

“What the hell!” Alex shouted from behind me. I scanned the screens again. Several bars nad lines on graphs had suddenly dropped very close to red zones, some where already there.

“Power output dropping in 3 zones” I said as I reached for the emergency procedures book.

“2 more zo...

Action

Science fiction

Where The Steel Winds Blow

Mark Keightley

1 min read

He is the son of the head of one the biggest and most powerful merchant families in the city, she is a lowley ships doctor on a flagship merchant ship.

She saves his life when a Steal Wind hits the ship and a there love is founded as he recovers.

It is a forbidden love and one that has consequences for the family, the city and soon the whole world....

Romance

Fantasy

The Wall

Mark Keightley

1 min read

It was known as the wall, there was no need for any other title.

The Wall, as solid rock face, higher than any hill in the kingdom, wider that the sea, it cut the kingdom off from whatever lay byeond.

Legends told of it being put there by either mercyful of crule daities, depending on which set of myths you chosse to beleve, but the tribes that tell these myths are long gone, the kingdom is now un...

Fantasy

Mountain And The Light

Mark Keightley

1 min read

The light flows around mountain

It’s warming glow caresses the night chilled rock

Nooks and crannies in the rock, both hidden and highlighted by slow sweep of the rising sun

The light shifts from red, to golden and on to yellow as the burning globe rises in the sky

It is the start of another day in the eternity of days witnessed by the mountain....

Poetry

The Session

Mark Keightley

2 min read

Another session painting another figure, wow, I could hardly be less excited about this prospect. Figures and portraits aren’t my thing really, but it’s part of the course, so I’ve got to do it.

The model for this session was a woman this time, I’d guess she was about my age, but I’m not go at at these things. She looked sort of familiar, maybe one of the staff I’d seen around the campus, not one ...

Drama

Romance