Aussie author Aiki Flinthart is a powerhouse of creativity – scifi, fantasy, writing advice – she does it all. Take a look at this cool little literary flash then click through to read her full works.
Infinite Monkeys
Something plucks at the edges of omniscience: an idea that won’t be banished, burrowing through space-time. The Being considers it. Hypothetically, it ought to work.
The Being snaps omnipotent fingers.
The Void fills with an infinite number of monkeys. They are capuchins. Because capuchins are cute and even supreme beings have their weaknesses. Each animal has a banana-yellow Olympic typewriter and white paper.
Driven by their reason for existence, an infinite number of spindly fingers peck away at an infinite number of black plastic alphabets. Courier-font letters appear, as meaningless as their typists’ existence. What little space remains in the Void fills with the clickety-clack of metal hitting rollers, and the deafening ding of the return lever.
Or it would, if there was any air. But the Being brought the monkeys into the airless Void. So only soundless fury accompanies the threshing of arms and the jiggling of bony elbows.
Within a very short time, as far as it is possible to measure time in this timeless place, the capuchins notice the lack of oxygen. Their toothy mouths stretch into silent grimaces. Their doe eyes blink, roll and widen. Their skinny chests collapse.
They die, still valiantly poking at the keys.
Their last, sporadic movements—in keeping with new laws of physics—push some of the limp little forms closer together. Tiny gravity-wells form, dragging other bony bodies and yellow typewriters near. Spaces appear in the mass of fur and metal. Groups form. Gravity increases. The deepest figures are crushed. More are drawn in. Local clusters grow into giant balls of pulverised monkey. The process accelerates, sucking gobbets together, ever-faster; spinning, smashing.
The largest reaches a gravity-threshold.
And implodes.
Monkeys, typewriters and paper vanish soundlessly into a vortex, which gathers speed and power, engulfing everything. Crushing and tearing limbs and keys into unrecognisable pieces, the Hole sucks infinity into its maw.
The Being looks on, intrigued.
All matter disappears. The last little clump of fur and the last, fluttering piece of paper vanishes into roiling blackness. All that remains of infinite monkeys, is their dark absence in the mouth of nothing.
Then, in an indescribable explosion of incalculable energy and light, the Hole spews forth all it consumed. Everything that was, is chewed and spat out into what is and will be.
Now the Void fills, not with monkeys, but with monkey-matter. In its tiniest forms it spins into emptiness. It scatters with all the energy of its source, but with less purpose and less need for air. Spreads, clumps, spirals, and condenses into nascent stars.
The Being raises metaphoric brows and sits back to watch what will happen. It is patient. This is far more amusing than monkeys typing nothings in the hope of something profound.
Some fourteen billion years later, the Being looks down upon one, insignificant, monkey-matter planet on the outer spiral arm of an ordinary galaxy.
And laughs.
The Bard lives.
The infinite monkeys achieve their purpose.
Copyright © 2020 by Aiki Finthart, All Rights Reserved.
Aiki lives in Brisbane, Australia, home of many bitey animals – which shows you she likes to live dangerously. She has 13 published sci-fi/fantasy novels. She’s had stories shortlisted in the Australian Aurealis Awards, and top-8 in the Writers of the Future (USA) competition, as well as published in various e-mags and anthologies. When she’s not running a full time business or writing, she does fantasy-approved hobbies such as martial arts, archery, knife-throwing, lute-playing and bellydancing. Sometimes she even sleeps.
Her favourite book written to date is “Blackbirds Sing” a historical fantasy tapestry novel made up of 25 interwoven short stories, each of which is written from a different, early-Tudor woman’s point of view. And each of which advances an overarching narrative – a plot by the Yorks to kill Henry VII. So challenging to write. https://books2read.com/blackbirds
When not writing or stabbing things, she’s often found at writers conventions giving workshops on writing fight scenes. If you’re an author, check out her non-fiction book on the subject: “Fight Like a Girl: Writing Fight Scenes for Female Characters.” Because women are not men with mammaries. Women approach, handle, and respond to violence differently and it’s important to portray that correctly. https://books2read.com/girlfight
Find Aiki here: www.aikiflinthart.com
Or on socials – always @AikiFlinthart
Shel Calopa 
Leave a Reply