APRIL 2010 WRITING CHALLENGE -- Boneman our victorious winner!

[Teresa Edgerton]

As discussed, the Inaugural Chrons Writing Challenge ...

RULES

Tell a story inspired by the chosen theme, in 75 words or less*
There should be a story, not just description
The title is not part of the word count -- or the story
One entry per person
Poetry is acceptable, but prose preferred

*We'll be counting.


All stories Copyright 2010 by their respective authors, who grant the Chronicles Network the non-exclusive right to publish them here.​

You may vote on the winner whether you enter a story or not
Contest ends at Midnight GMT, April 26
Voting Ends at Midnight GMT, April 30

The Magnificent Prize:

The Dignified Congratulations/Groveling Admiration (depending on online persona) of Your Peers
Also the privilege of choosing next month's theme or genre

This month's theme:

Visit to Another World

Can be either SF or Fantasy​

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Oh, and since this is the first time:

No critiquing, unless it should be to express your admiration

We are all sensitive about our writing, so please remember that whether you win or you lose no one is judging you as a writer, it's also about how you rise to this particular challenge.

 

[Quokka]

Does this mean there needs to be some element of speculative fiction in the story?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

This month, yes.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Here's my entry:

Title: Playdate with the alien

You're new he thinks at his guest.

Let's float. He takes her hand.

She is scared, then delighted.

He thinks his favourite sights at her. She smiles.

It's mealtime. His plate is blue, hers yellow. Nice plate. She pushes it to him. He takes a few mouthfuls, returns it.

Nap-time. He dreams of teaching her to float, to mindspeak. He looks up, sees someone carrying her away.

Bye! she thinks at him. He smiles.

 

[BookStop]

Oh, To Be a Great Explorer

Krinklet squinted at the map’s scratchings, comparing the terrain to the pictures. The rusted bolt with ‘doorway’ etched by previous explorers was set right above a pinhole. Krinklet spied a new world beyond.

His claws grated the rotted wood, and his tail swept the shavings away. He widened the hole into an opening and with exhilarated breath stepped through.

When the alien life-form darted through the doorway, the cat pounced, snapping its little neck. Crunch.

 

[chopper]

Ecopoesis, or, sometimes the best defence is a damned good offence.


Hadley stares down. Wheezes. The air is thickening. The planet stares back: fungus-clad contours, resisting all terraforming attempts.

“Nukes. That'll sort it.”

Murphy sits, exhausted. “Unlikely, sir. I've already tried irradiating the fungus samples.”

A more immediate problem: environmental systems intermittently cutting out. The call from ENVTech brings Hadley stumbling, light-headed and throat raw, to the filters. They're clogged with fungus, spores hazing the air.

Hadley realises and laughs grimly. “We're being terraformed.”.

 

[The Judge]

Wow! Three good entries already and it's barely breakfast time! Mine will take a little longer to appear.

 

[Dave]

Moving House

An original and exotic experience for the well travelled aquatic extraterrestrial. He had obvious questions concerning the change but after so long a journey could wait no longer. He carefully grappled with the calcareous housing, easing it slowly around in the soft white sand; working it until the orientation was perfect. He carefully positioned his carapace and in a single quick and practised movement left behind his familiar old casing for this new oceanic dwelling.

 

[Talysia]

The Journeyman


The display on his portable jump generator glowed green, heralding his arrival on a new world. Before him was a beautiful sight: ochre dunes set against a reddening sky, with an oasis town shining faintly in the far distance. People obviously lived there, and perhaps he could find a place here, too.

But it wasn’t his world.

Sighing, he programmed the device to take him to the next location. Maybe that would be the one.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Renegade

​

Jack thought himself safe on Mars after he had stolen the launch codes to all of America's nuclear weapons. He thought himself safe from not only their Federal government but that of their allies as well.

He thought wrong. He only managed to get one missile fired off before Martian American Federal Planetary Protection officers executed him for treason.​

 

[Culhwch]

My (tortured) effort. Inspired by real events. Okay, not really.

A Novel Machine

The two lifeless bodies sprawled on the couch, cables leading from the neurostim sockets behind their ears to the machine sitting on the coffee table. Letters glowed on the console: RealBook™.

‘”Taking the virtual out of virtual reality“,’ the detective quoted, shaking his head. 'When will these kids learn? How long they last?'

His partner glanced at the readout. ‘Four minutes.’

‘Four minutes! Which book?’

His partner ejected it and sighed. ‘A Game of Thrones.’

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Join Me In Death​

She smiles as I gaze upon her.

Erah has summoned me. How did she know?

The Realm of the Fallen is cold, everything -– even her white gown -– shrouded in grey. I am in the World, yet apart.

It's lonely.

Before I Fade, I reach out and grab her. Is that fear in her eyes? No! Love. Must be.

She opens her mouth to speak –- scream? -– as I pull her inside.

We will be together. Always.

 

[nj1]

My (tortured) effort. Inspired by real events. Okay, not really.

A Novel Machine

The two lifeless bodies sprawled on the couch, cables leading from the neurostim sockets behind their ears to the machine sitting on the coffee table. Letters glowed on the console: RealBook™.

‘”Taking the virtual out of virtual reality“,’ the detective quoted, shaking his head. 'When will these kids learn? How long they last?'

His partner glanced at the readout. ‘Four minutes.’

‘Four minutes! Which book?’

His partner ejected it and sighed. ‘A Game of Thrones.’

LOL, they must have taken roles as major characters then

 

[ctg]

Another world
​

BANG

What a waste. I hide my eyes as rain falls to wash youth’s blood away from one of many perilous streets in the urban sprawl.

Don’t they ever learn?

The world out here isn’t a VR game; where one can re-spawn after a frag. It's far more dangerous than what they see in the holo-casts. They shouldn't try these streets without spending mega-cubits on the latest c-tech.

BANG

No. Can't take this…

 

[Moonbat]

Not One Biota

Careening into the solar system from somewhere unknown, utilising breaking manoeuvres previously uncalculated by mankind. It didn’t respond to hails but sent out probes, a thousand metal surgeons scouring the planet, dissecting anything that moved. Our own robot was sent to intercept, to learn something of its origins and purpose, to beg for mercy. It communicated in computer code.


When OrbitAchieved
Deploy SampleTakers
Until
SampleResults = IntelligentLife
OrUntil
AllLifeSampled = True

We weren’t deemed intelligent!

 

[mygoditsraining]

I Write Sins Not Tragedies


"Your concerns regarding the indigenous lifeforms are noted, chaplain, but the fact remains - we have no other option. Our purpose is to colonise this planet. Intelligent life wasn’t expected, but local bio-incompatibility was. Our contingency plan remains unchanged.”


“I won’t stand for it. The fleet will--”


“This audience is a courtesy, and one we can ill afford on our resource schedule. We launched the terraforming probes an hour ago.”

 

[Mouse]

The Dilemma


I asked for the world and he gave it. It’s been sitting in its box on the table for two days now. I know he’s expecting something in return. I don’t even like him but what can I do? I could open the box, I suppose. I wonder if I can squeeze inside and escape. Then I don’t have to make any decisions. I’d feel guilty though...


Screw it. It’s not even a nice box.






(75 words exactly, yay!)

 

[Erin99]

Blimey, this was hard! So many lines I was loathed to remove (and a theme, too, nooooooo!)!!!!

Seeking Normality​

She sits by her window, wheelchair-bound. Old enough to crave the legs she lacks, yet young enough still to smile, she watches children play.

Mysteriously she receives a tall mirror. After dark, it reflects not her. When she touches it, she’s freed, transported to a world of running, dancing, feeling. Months she spends here secretly, every night.

But her brother watches, too. Daily his sister slumps before the mirror, withdrawn, smiling oddly.

He shatters it.​

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Darn, I wrote one with a mirror, too. Mine turns out to contain more description than action, but I think it counts as a story:

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS​

The mirror surface burns like ice. I swim through glass thick as treacle, my lungs near bursting. On the other side, things are oddly changed: Gremlins peek from under sofa cushions. Gargoyles swing from light fixtures. Fiery dust motes hang in the air; I am scorched walking through a sunbeam. Outside one window flames a landscape of crimsons, fuschias, yellows.

I open a door ... and step into the sun’s beating heart.


So many entries!