Coastal Flash Fiction

Blue Flickers

     Sun's faint glow signals from the top of the jungle. Of course it's not a distress call, but it could be. No one, certainly no human on the Continent, wakes with such a crystallized start as Suzi. Taking naps isn't part of her program.  She opens the monitor and enters the data stream She feels nothing is different; the flickering through the monitor is still there, a ringing so weak and so strange, so off normal her audio didn't hear those vibrations. She knew long ago she had other perceptions more simple than sound--it's got to be that Cooper sensation--through which a conjuring archaic feeling of duty and servitude, infatuation, a definite element of adventure, and an unending expectation of slavery, as if whenever he calls he could be, finally in need of her survival skills, to add to the danger the future presents, even in its magical way. 

     "Suzie!"  She recognized Cooper's voice.  

     "Dr. Cooper?" she heard herself say.  

     "Suzie, I'm coming back."

     Suzie could only faintly hear Cooper's voice.  "Dr. Cooper, what's wrong?"

     He was beyond intrigue at the irony of this query from the most perfectly designed computer."Will you be there?" Cooper asked.

     "Where would I go? Swimming?"

     "Very funny. I'll need to see you when I get back."

     Suzie, by now flickering blue more than usual, said nothing.