The Archfornicator of Canterbury

24 Lake Waycanbayck

Archbishop Musilicus did not have to spend too long at the hospital. As he had no injuries except the loss of his hearing, and there was nothing that could be done about it, he was dismissed and sent home. Because his church had been blown to bits, he was able to devote his full attention to his favourite pastime, fishing.

The day was bright and sunny. The Archbishop was out in his boat on Lake Waycanbayck some thirty kilometers north of Nuevo Saunabad. The lake was known for its big pikes and generally as a good spot to catch a fish or two. A duck swam by and a dozen ducklings tried to keep up with their mother. Somewhere in the distance, a lonely heron was calling for its mate. The Archbishop was just about to put a fresh worm on a hook when suddenly the sun was obscured by something. He turned to look and saw a gigantic torus floating a few hundred meters above the lake. The torus was light gray and maybe a kilometer across. It remained stationary in the air, but rotated around its axis at roughly one revolution every five seconds. If the Archbishop hadn't been deaf, he would have heard a loud low-frequency hum.

Had the Archbishop been a religious man, he would have probably clasped his hands and prayed. He wasn't, so he was content to stare at the floating torus with his mouth open. It occurred to him that the flying object that he had not been able to identify could be an alien spaceship. That, or a promotional campaign by a really enterprising ad agency. Maybe it was an ad for car tyres, or something. Floatation devices maybe. Suddenly he felt a craving for donuts.

The Archfornicator of Canterbury by Olli-Pekka Rinta-Koski
is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.