Gentle Giants

The world got a brand new kind of pet

Superintendent Roberts sighed and rubbed his eyes. When he had first taken this position with the Metropolitan Police, he had expected long hours, he had expected the demands of his position. What Roberts had not expected was the spike in crime since he had become Superintendent nor had he expected the sheer amount of paperwork that came with it. The usual was to be expected case notes for every case, personnel files. However, then there was everything else, legal claims, human resources reports and good lord the damage reports! Roberts sighed and picked up a damage report from one of those cases. Robert winced as he saw the figure and quickly put it back into the stack of paperwork that seemed to be destined to bury him.

There was a timid knock at the door, “Sir?” Roberts sighed as he recognised the voice of his assistant. “Come on in Sam,” Roberts grunted, and Sam shuffled into the room. Sam had recently qualified and was assigned to be Robert’s personal assistant. Roberts looked at Sam who stood awkwardly staring at him. Sam was all long limbs, curly ginger hair and the innocent face that would not be out of place on a twelve-year-old. London’s streets were going to eat him alive. “What is it Sam?” Roberts prompted and the young man seemed startled at the question. “Oh well um it’s happened again sir,” Sam stammered, and Roberts felt a frown furrow across his face. “What’s happened again Sam?” Roberts asked and Sam winced at the use of his name. “It’s got stuck again sir,” Sam muttered, and Roberts sighed as he put it together. “Where this time?” Roberts asked leaning back into his chair and closing his eyes for a moment. “London Bridge Superintendent,” Sam reported, and Roberts sighed and got to his feet. “My fair Lady… Get my coat Sam we need to go to London Bridge.”

 The normally crammed London streets were eerily clear as Rogers and Sam made their way down to the bridge. Rogers sighed as he saw the incident unfurling. A few months ago, the world had changed. Across the globe colossal beasts had forced themselves out of the ground and from depths of the oceans. Mighty titans that rivaled even the tallest buildings that humanity could craft.  When they first appeared, the world had ignited in panic. Every military in the world had been on standby as the titans had approached major cities. The panic had changed to fear as humanity became very vividly outclassed. Bullets bounced off their hides, missiles were swept aside by massive claws and any flame that was aimed towards the titans was just used as fuel to warm themselves. The only option that was left was the nuclear one. Rogers grimaced as he remembered the Nevada incident. Three nuclear bombs dropped on one beast and the beast had won. After that humanity seemed to have accepted their fate and waited for the beasts to tear them apart but it never came. Instead they just roamed alongside humanity as if they were some form of companion to humanity. As they proved peaceful the sightings were treated less with worry and more acceptance. Until they arrived in cities like London, then they became a nuisance. Even then as the years passed humanity learnt how to tame and dissuade the great beasts. Rogers sighed as he saw the familiar sight of the Beast of Britain with its head stuck across London Bridge.

This particular creature was known as the Leviathan, but Rogers knew it by another name…. “LEVI!” Rogers bellowed at the creature, “What are you bloody doing you eejit!” Rogers stopped walking as he drew close next to the giant’s eye. The gargantuan creature gave a happy groan and the bridge tremble as the beast wagged from side to side, as if it were a great dog wagging its tail as its master came home. “Woah girl woah!” Rogers shouted and he stumbled forward falling against the beast’s snout. Rogers hands felt the wet leathery skin and he sighed heavily as the beast gave a mournful crooning as if it were apologising. “I know you don’t mean it girl” Rogers said as he rubbed Levi’s nose. She was a mighty specimen resembling a great long necked lizard. Her neck was the size of three buses long in length. Her scales were an inky black but had glittering shades of blue and green in contrast. She could stand tall on two muscular hind legs but from what Rogers and Sam had seen she much preferred to run around on all six of her legs, making her faster than any train on land. Sam smiled as he remembered when Levi had run alongside a train bound for Glasgow. Everyone had laughed at the sight until she had accidentally derailed it with a swipe of her massive tail.

Rogers regarded her with thought as he stared at her. She had great amber eyes that Roger swore were filled with all the kindness and innocence of the world but a deep sorrow as if she knew how dangerous she was at the same time. Levi had cost London billions in damages in the months she had made the city her home. She slept in the Thames and boats would crash into her sleeping form. She would come onto the city streets and cause multi car pile ups as she pulled herself up onto land. She would climb the highest building, her claws smashing and bending metal as it was paper. Even her roars would cause glass to shatter anywhere in a four hundred metre radius. The hospitals of London were pushed to maximum when that happened with the sheer number of bystanders who had been caught in the crossfire. Yet despite that Rogers could never bring himself to sign the authorisation to bring in the sonics to move Levi away from London. As he was thinking Levi gave another soft croon and Rogers sighed, “You’re not making my life easy you know that?” He asked and the lizard blinked slowly.

“Sam” Rogers barked, and Sam slowly crept towards the Superintendent and the creature. “Yes sir?” Sam said nervously. “How long until the cranes can be brought here?” Rogers asked as Sam pulled out his phone and began tapping away. “Um they’re saying that they should be here in the next five minutes sir.” Sam replied and Rogers patted Levi on the snout and moved away. “Ok Sam here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll get the cranes in place and we’ll have a crew of volunteers to help push herself free. If we do that, we should keep her calm enough to free her without destroying the bridge.” Rogers ordered and Sam began tapping up his orders. “Right awa-” Sam began but was interrupted at the screeching of metal and stone. Clearly Levi had other ideas as she had begun to stand up fully. “No Levi no!” Rogers screamed as Levi placed two forearms onto the road that ran across the bridge and another set of arms clamped onto the bridge towers. Levi gave a great bellow and began pushing against stone. “RUN SAM!” Rogers ordered and the two ran towards the street as metal wires snapped and stone walkways crumbled. The bridge gave way in a huge crack as Levi pushed herself back her great neck extending into the sky. Taking a deep breath Levi let out a bellowing roar as she fell backwards into the water.

“God damn it,” Rogers muttered as he watched her swim off out towards the British channel. “You couldn’t wait for five minutes!” Rogers shouted at the retreating hide of the giant sea creature. “Sir do you believe that thing cares?” Sam asked his voice sounding tired. Rogers looked at him and kicked a stone in anger. “No Sam I bloody well don’t. Let the media know what’s going on, will you?” Rogers sighed dusting off his shoulders. Sam pulled out his phone and started tapping in numbers, rogers looked away and watched as Levi submerged herself into deeper water. Behind him Sam swore loudly. “Something wrong?” Rogers asked and Sam shook his head. “They already know sir. They’re running headlines saying ‘London Bridge has fallen down’” Sam noted angrily as he put his phone away. Rogers sighed, “Oh my fair lady.”

Reviews

[JayG]

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• I've been writing for years and finally built up the courage to actually share a bit of it.

I know how you feel. I’ve been there. And I applaud your decision to do so. But I am afraid I’m not going to make you happy, because you face a few problems that, though not of your making, are getting in the way of transferring the story in your head to the head of the reader, intact. And the big one is kind of an “Oh damn…you have to be kidding me,” kind of a problem.

The good news is that it’s not related to talent or how well you write, and can be fixed. The bad is that’s not as simple as a list of “Do this instead of that,” items.

Here’s the problem we all face: In school we worked hard to learn a skill we call writing. And because our teachers placed no limitations on its usage, and didn’t mention other approaches to presenting the information, we naturally assumed that the term “writing” in the name of the profession, Fiction-Writing, referred to that skill. It doesn’t. And why it doesn’t rests in two facts.

First, the entire purpose of public education, from its beginning during The Industrial Revolution, was to provide industry with a pool of potential workers who possess a set of useful, and predictable skills that those employers need. And what kind of writing to employers primarily need? Reports and essays, which explains why you worked so hard on perfecting your ability to write them. Think back to what percentage of your writing assignments were for fiction. Damn few, right? Lots of book-reports, but no books. And if we were actually taught the techniques of writing fiction, wouldn’t most new writers be teenagers and new grads?

Second is that all professional knowledge is acquired IN ADDITION to the schooldays skills often called, "The Three R's." And since writing fiction is a profession, that means we leave our school years exactly as qualified to write fiction as to perform oral surgery.

That lack is fixable, of course, but remember two things.

First, is that since the day you were able to read for yourself you've been selecting fiction that was created with the skills the pros take for granted. So you expect to see those skills in use in what you read, just as people expect to see it in yours. No way around it, and no shortcuts, other than not to waste time seeking one.

The second is that acquiring those skills, as in any other field requires study and practice.

Offsetting that is that if you’re meant to write the learning will be fun. And if it’s not? Well, you’ve learned something important, and can act on it. So it’s win/win. Right?

The help you need is easy to find. There are articles online. Those in my own writing blog, for example, are meant to give a feel for the issues a hopeful writer needs to look into. There are writers retreats, workshops, conferences, and, the local library’s fiction-writing section is filled with the views of pros in writing, publishing, and teaching.

You can even download a very good book on the nuts-and-bolts issues of creating scenes that sing to the reader from the link below.
https://b-ok.org/book/2476039/ac87b9

So…was this what you were hoping to see? Of course not. Who would? But while it isn’t what you wanted to hear, it is what you need to know, so jump in. If nothing else, once you master the techniques of fiction the act of writing it is a LOT more fun.

Hang in there, and keep on writing.

Jay Greenstein
https://jaygreenstein.wordpress.com/category/the-craft-of-writing/the-grumpy-old-writing-coach/