I like how you opened up with the Indian and wine stuff. India is something that’s not as familiar to us so it’s good to get us into that before jumping into the science stuff. It’s true I was thinking “so when’s the alien robots going to come in?”, but that thought was replaced with “even if it doesn’t leads to some science stuff, I still would like to see what these people go through and what story might unfold”. Also I was reading it while thinking, “is Rob the consultant on this one?”

The man tried to hide the secrets, but from the scented soap, woman on the earbud and the auction page, we can all tell that eventually the cat would be out of the bag. I really like the emotions that each character is going through. I like the characters’ reactions to the carrying of the bag thing, and I didn’t expect it to come back in the end and be important, but that was an “aha” moment for me when it was brought back. And that “We are having a romantic moment. Go away.”moment was simply precious.

I think this is definitely one of my favorite out of the stories by you that I’ve read.

As for the flash version, I only skimmed it because it’s getting late. Of course it’s less polished and since it’s short, it’s more things crammed together rather than a story unfolding. It’s amazing for something finished in such a short amount of time though, but needless to say, the published one was better.

Again, loved the story! =)

But the logistics of a weather ‘futures’ market and how that impacts on individual farmers could make for an interesting story too. Though, being a fan of a good Shiraz, I do prefer the final version.