The two friends, veterans of many battles, stood at the foot of the glass tower upon a strangely deserted street.
“We defeated Baron Dak-Tula and the Skorpi menace Flash, but at the cost of Mongo’s biosphere. Fortunately, Earth’s biosphere survived, though sadly, your race of humans were wiped out by a Skorpi induced plague. To our benefit, Zarkov created a space going ark to bring representatives of our races to your world in safety, though barely in time.”
“Thanks to you Prince Vultan, and your race of Hawkmen, we were victorious. It’s only fitting that, on behalf of Earth, I extend every courtesy to your Hawkmen and the rest of the brave races that survived Mongo. What is your wish?”
“Actually, this Burj Khalifa tower here in Dubai would make us a fine Aerie, Flash Gordon.”
I wrote this tale for the What Pegman Saw challenge. Thanks to Google maps, this week’s destination is the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai. The idea is to use the photo prompt above to write a piece of flash fiction no more than 150 words long. My word count is 136.
Originally, I was going to write about a group of robotic AI window washers forming a union to fight for better working conditions at their jobs cleaning Burj Khalifa, but then my wife sent me to the store and while driving, I started getting another idea.
Yes, I read the Flash Gordon comic strip every Sunday. They’re repeats and as far as I know, no new comic strips are being created for this franchise.
I had to look up the history of Flash Gordon at Wikipedia, which is where I learned that in his later history, Flash became an interstellar hero fighting the shape shifting Skorpi race. I created a situation where Mongo’s biosphere is ruined forcing a remnant of its many peoples to flee aboard a space ark built by Dr. Zarkov. They arrive on Earth, and while our world’s biosphere is intact, the Skorpi wiped out the human population with a plague. The disease has since run its course, so our planet is now the new world of the Mongoese refugees. Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, and Dr. Hans Zarkov are the only human beings left alive.
To read more stories based on the prompt, go to InLinkz.com.
Always up for a Flash Gordon reference. When I was learning to draw comics, Alex Raymond was a big influence. He drew great futuristic skyscrapers.
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Glad there’s another Flash Gordon fan out there. Personally, I liked Carmine Infantino’s buildings, especially in “The Flash” and “Mystery in Space.”
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Have you watched the old 1936 series that’s available through YouTube now? I like to go back and see the really old science fiction shows and compare them to today’s. And to be honest, I often get more enjoyment out of the ones from the 1930’s to the 1950’s than I do the really sophisticated ones today.
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I’ve probably seen some videos of those old serials, and yes, I do have a soft spot for the 1950s B scifi films.
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Loved this journey down memory lane of the comics industry. I used to have quite a collection of the old Flash Gordon comics. Loved the “Hawkman” and other creatures created in these early sci-fi comics. I’m sure this tower would make an excellent Aerie for them, too. 🙂 ❤
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Thanks.
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Like how you brought this to Dubai. Looks like a fine aerie to me.
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Prince Vultan approves.
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Wow! I agree with Princ Vultan and k rawson. I’d use that for an aerie anytime.
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The hawkmen…uh, hawkpeople will love it, Alicia.
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