
There are engines under the floor. They thrum in constant labour, heating my house, cooling it, transporting us remorselessly into tomorrow. The floorboards vibrate with a subtlety I’ve stopped noticing.
Below the machines, I saw once, terrifying earth, as if we were just a thin cultivated film on the crust of the planet.
But below the soil, great furnaces burn, stirring molten rock into magnetic force. Beneath the machines are older engines. All the way down.
.
Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here

A version of the netherworld?
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Certainly in his tormented imagination
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Dear Neil,
This piece vibrates. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks so much, Rochelle
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An intriguing piece, I’d like to hear more about this place!
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It is everywhere. It’s beneath your feet
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Reminds me of something my four-year-old granddaughter said to me yesterday while we were driving. She asked if there was lava under the street. I tried to convince her that it was more like sewage and water pipes and electrical conduits, but she was convinced it was lava.
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Deep down, she’s right
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Some secrets are best left uncovered.
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Thanks for reading, Violet
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Sci-fi prophesy if there ever was. Good writing of a horrible future laid out before us.
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It’s just civilisation. Don’t worry
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So, that’s why my floor vibrates sometimes!
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Could be, unless you have amorous downstairs neighbours
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A whole other world making the one above it work. Nicely done, Neil.
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Thanks so much, Dale
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A study in geology. Fascinating story, Neil.
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Thanks so much, Will
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Did you consult with Dante on this one? Frightening and vivid.
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Thanks so much, Linda
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it’s really scary to imagine what lies underneath. we’ll never know until it’s too late.
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Molten rock
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Ooooooo I love it. I went up you went down. Still just as spooky. Great machinery under the floor. Great piece
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Thanks so much, Laurie
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I wonder if the Earth did not have a warm heart, how would humanity survive?
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And if that heart did not erupt catastrophically every now and again, the planet would be weathered down to a nub
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What secrets hide beneath that thin soil, the layers of near infinite yesterdays.
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Beautifully put
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those old engines are molten lava wanting to come up …
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Exactly
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This is quite a take on the prompt, Neil, much enjoyed.
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Thanks so much, Dahlia
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This is somewhat disconcerting.
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Oh good
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Mother Earth has a powerful engine. And if she didn’t have a molten core, we wouldn’t have a magnetic field, and we couldn’t live. Great writing.
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Thanks so much
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That’s deep. 😉
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Ha. I see what you did there
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