Treasure Final Poll

[Velox]

Vote here for your favorite Treasure story. Please MAKE SURE YOU READ ALL ENTRIES BEFORE VOTING.Voting begins now and will end on June 23rd at 11:59 PM EST. The entry with the most votes will be the winner of the Treasure theme and will then be either judged or polled against the winners of the other themes.

1. The Only Object of Value “When the time comes, do whatever you must. Find It. Never surrender It. It is the only thing that can ensure your survival. Always keep in mind: It is our most valued possession and our greater treasure.” Anna ran. Anna ran and ran, out of breath already, pleading with herself not to let fresh memories overwhelm her. The mansion was large, and she knew her way better than her pursuers. Even then, she could hear the crashes that the invaders caused. She tried to block it out. “Find It. Find It.” Anna repeated this aloud, over and over. She needed this, a goal. It was not a matter of finding It. She knew what It was, and where It was. She knew It was what they wanted. She also knew the men would stop at nothing to get it. It was invaluable. Even as these thoughts occurred to her, she remembered, how just minutes earlier, dissidents broke through the estate’s security. She remembered how these men shot down her parents. She remembered how her own bodyguards had barely managed to ensure her escape. She didn’t want to remember anymore. Anna came to a tall, gold-rimmed mirror. As quickly as she could, she undid a complicated lock, and the mirror slid away smoothly, revealing a cold, sterile-looking room. Dashing in, she slid the mirror back. Inside, Anna saw a familiar laboratory, the location of the most valued object in the world. It itself was just across from her, a small rack of open test tubes containing a fluorescent liquid. It was the family’s treasure, the thing that separated them from the dissidents. In reality, it was a vaccine. Anna wanted to smash it. She knew her family would still be there if it wasn’t for the vaccine, but even as she thought it, she knew it was not true. It had not been long before Anna’s birth that a massive epidemic struck Earth. Millions upon millions died. After some time, a few scientists managed to isolate the virus and create a vaccine, but instead of presenting it for widespread distribution, it became a sign of the elite. Anna’s family was wealthy. They had gold and jewels, all the treasures imaginable. It all became worthless; the vaccine was the true treasure. The wealthy and healthy could easily overpower and oppress those of less fortunate families. With so many deaths, those of the higher order knew that society could not keep functioning for much longer. In their avarice, however, they did not care. Anna was young. She knew not of why everything happened. She only knew her family had something others needed, and that it had resulted in the death of people she loved. Crying silently, Anna slumped in a corner of the room, hugging the family’s coveted treasure tightly. A wild shot broke through the mirror door. It was a careless move: a door of fragility protecting a treasure. A young boy, not any older than Anna, entered the room. His appearance was unkempt, his eyes red from crying. Surely one of his family had the disease, or perhaps him. She’d seen people like him in the outside. He would not, could not stop now. Her family was wealthy. They had gold and jewels, all the treasures imaginable. But it was the vaccine that they desperately needed. The boy lifted his gun. ** That night the men who invaded the estate reprimanded a young boy savagely. He had found the vaccine, but in his carelessness, sullied it with blood. It was no longer any treasure worth retrieving. -------
2. Stepping Off the Pyramid “It’s been an honor rowing with you seniors, and I wish you luck with your future endeavors.” We locked eyes and smiled at each other as Connor said this, and I hope my tears were intermingled with sweat dripping from my forehead. “And it was the most fun I’ve ever had on a boat.” He and I were not close friends in the past three years, but maybe we grew closer in the past months- fighting, winning and losing together. Even though we came in dead last, the entire team was looking at each other like we were winners. It was a long rhode, I thought. But it was worth the travel.The true victors of the race lay in the shade not ten feet away, resting for the finals in a few hours time, but they didn’t have the sense of triumph in winning the fights that our boat did. “It’s nowhere near over for you,” my voice broke the moment of awe of the four seniors as I indicated him, the lone junior, Justin, Jake and Pat, even Will, the alternate who stood on the outside of the circle. “You guys have another year- most of you even two- to do even better than we did today. Half the boat will remain after we seniors graduate, and you’ll do amazing things together.” Next to me, Coach shifted in his seat, and I could feel his mind buzzing for next year’s team in the group of men that sat before him. “It was never the way I imagined it would end, but I honestly wouldn’t have ended it any other way.” It was all a pyramid, just like coach said, all the way back in September. A hard hike to the top, but the brief time spent viewing beyond the apogee was worth it, as we stepped down from such great heights, back into the shade of the giant. I stepped off with my only medal in the past four years, the medal that everyone else on the team received time and time again for three years, and that one victory was my treasure. The loss of this race wasn’t the worst- there were so many lost in the past, and I won the race I wanted most. The smiles on our faces in the newspaper cover shot were some of the happiest I was in all four years of high school. This may have been the peak for the seniors, but I suspected that Coach was simply laying a base for the underclassmen. I flashed a grin across the circle at Pat. The most polite and deserving kid was worried all season that he would lose his seat, and here he was, after the last race, earning what he deserved all along. Jake didn’t live up to his brother… yet. His time lies in the future. Why reach a prime so young, and then realize for the years to come that he’ll never be better? Picking ourselves off the grass, we gathered for one last team chant. We were headed home, to the beaches, where all the other teams would be spending hours of traffic getting to their vacation homes later. A sly grin came on everyone’s faces as we all realized it, and one other thing. We were free from crew now. The summer is ours. -------
3. Regular Maintenance The robot soldier’s eyes gleamed like tarnished gold in the dim artificial light of the laboratory. Professor Umbrant stared into them for a second after removing the cloth from the automaton’s body. The eyes were wonders, were they not? — optic sensors arranged in a similar array to the cone and rod cells in a human eyeball, connected via delicate clusters of wires to the robot’s CPU. In activation, the precise transmission of electrons would form a picture sharper even than the most high-tech cameras available could render. The only issue with this picture: They may never see the light of day. Scratching the white hairs on his chin, Umbrant sighed and began his regular cleaning and maintenance of the robot: a once-over with a damp rag; a slight polish to rid the metal of any smudges that could be forming; a slight application of oil to each joint in turn; and, finally, a quick CPU scan to ensure no damage to the robot’s A.I. The problem, he decided during the second task on his list, lay in politics. Semantics and ethics were tricky subjects to handle. You could have the soundest information in the world, but to communicate that information, it had to be arranged a certain way, worded in just the right fashion, to prevent the other side from twisting your words into something you never meant. Such was the issue with automatons in warfare: One side chose to emphasize the massive advantage of removing humans from combat, but the other protested that because America’s enemies still staffed organic beings, America’s own were required to understand the concept of mercy — something a robot could easily misunderstand. All this had occurred, of course, after millions of dollars had been spent designing a prototype robot soldier. Another skill politicians were required to possess was inexplicable timing. The worst part about the debate, Umbrant determined as he began to oil the robot’s joints, was in how both sides fought for the same issue. Life, everyone agreed, was a priceless treasure. There was no debating of that point. The argument — Arguments, plural, Umbrant corrected himself — lay in how to defend said treasure. Each side had its own fortress of reasons; each side could only scrape at the other’s façade. A stalemate, with people like Umbrant, people who engineered for a living, stuck in between. Freedom tasted sweet in dreams. Perhaps it would taste the same in real life would Umbrant live to sample it. The scan of the robot’s system revealed no viruses or other dangerous irregularities in its programming. Closing the laptop was met with hesitation; to leave the robot alone for another two months meant frustration all through that interval. To let such a precious creation as this sit in storage, whilst men died in war and the powers that be raged against each other in an argument no one could win, was an action unfounded on reason. This could be used, if not for war, for security detail, or for engineers to improve upon its design. Anything but this. Umbrant finally forced himself to close the laptop. The robot remained motionless as the cloth was again drawn over its features. It had been given an extra buffing so its metal exterior would take on the semblance of semiprecious metal; why, the old man didn’t know, for no one would see it any time soon. Perhaps he should have taken the time to examine the eyes. When Professor Umbrant turned off the lights and locked the exit, the room was again as silent as the grave. -------
4. Cinderella She spins and she sways To whatever song plays Without a care in the world And I'm sitting her wearing The weight of the world on my shoulders I am looking into baby-blue eyes, so big that that I can see my reflection, as I sit in the rocker and sing off key since mother is running late tonight. I smile my own goofy daddy smile into those eyes, and your toothless smile is reflected back at me. Beautiful, and I will remember it forever. It's been a long day And there's still work to do She's pulling at me Saying "Dad, I need you," I toss you over my shoulder and spin in tight circles, calling you a sack of potatoes. Your adorable giggles that melt my heart are intermingled with chattering words that you've only just learned. Too dizzy now, I set you down, and you amble over to your beautiful mother, your palm-sized feet leaving palm-sized indents in the grass. You are the most precious walkie-talkie I will ever have. Beautiful, and I will keep it in my heart forever. "There's a ball at the castle And I've been invited And I need to practice my dancing Oh, please, Daddy, please?" I stand, cheering at the top of my lungs, to your mother's embarrassment. She claps enthusiastically, but leans over and asks me what could possibly be so intense about pee-wee soccer. I shrug and cheer louder. You stumble over the soccer ball, which comes all the way up to your toddler thighs, and your peals of laughter warble through the air like butterflies. Beautiful, and I will love it forever. So I will dance with Cinderella While she is here in my arms And time passes as it does, with its own enigmatic manner. Time is callous, unyielding, and merciless, not bothering to stop for anyone or anything. It leeches strength from the very bones of the greatest of us, leaving frail shells spotted with age. Still, time is generous and compassionate, feeding life into the youngest and brightest of us, strengthening them and giving them wisdom. Helping them to grow up, flowing with just enough benevolence to let you live life to the fullest. The whole thing is beautiful, and it's the world we live in. 'Cause I know something the prince never knew Oh, I will dance with Cinderella The world we live in is so big, I can't fathom it. But my world is so small, but it's all that I can fathom. It is you, my beautiful daughter. I don't want to miss even one song 'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight It is you. Your smile, your laughing eyes, your hugs that you dive into with all your heart, the melody in your name, and the sweet sound of 'daddy' carried by your voice. It's what I live for, and what I treasure above all else. And she'll be gone... (Disclaimer: Lyrics belong to Steven Curtis Chapman.)

[fishers64]

I'm going for #1. Which was 1.

[Velox]

Voted for #4 because it is absolutely beautiful and amazing. It's definitely one of my favorite stories of the whole Flash Fiction Marathon.

[Nick Silverpen]

Voting for 4. That was beautiful How the heck did I make it to finals??

[Ballom Nom Nom]

Voted for entry number four.~B~

[Velox]

Polling period over; poll closed.