Pit Stop

A flying saucer speeds across the Solar System. It carries sports coach and twitchy traveller, Alioth, and his exuberant school football team, returning home from winning the county league. Co-Pilot Ymir tells Alioth to get them under control and adds they must stop to check a fault in the hyper-drive. The ship lands in an open-air football ground, but the kids are able to play under the full moon, almost as bright as day. Its magnificence calms Alioth's nerves. The 7-a-side teams draw 1-1 when Ymir announces the hyper-drive is fixed and everyone can board. Alioth heads for the steps with relief, but doesn't imagine in his wildest dreams what happens next. Context: Paul Hutchinson runs a group called 555 Challenge on FB. He sets a weekly challenge of '5's - 5 elements, 5 pages, 5 days. It's marvellous to practice writing on demand to a deadline. If you were wondering about the strange juxtaposition of elements in my story, this is where it comes from. The only thing I have to change is the mandatory dialogue line, which he takes from a published film and hence is copyrighted. In this challenge, we were set the line, "Why so serious?" (JOKER), and for which I substituted, "Ideal." I suggest making this as an animation in our new Covid19 normal. Besides, filming in the Solar System costs an absolute fortune and you can't get the insurance.