January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- VICTORY TO MOSAIX!

[Teresa Edgerton]

Rules:


Write a story inspired by the chosen theme and genre in no more than 75 words, not including the title.


One entry per person.


All stories Copyright 2013 by their respective authors, who grant the Chronicles Network the non-exclusive right to publish them here.


The complete rules can be found at Rules for the Writing Challenges.


Contest ends at 11:59 pm GMT, January 23 2013
Voting Ends at 11:59 pm GMT, January 28 2013


You do not have to submit a story in order to vote -- in fact, we encourage all Chrons members to take part in choosing a winner.


The Magnificent Prize:

The Dignified Congratulations/Grovelling Admiration of Your Peers and the challenge of choosing the next month's theme or genre.


Theme:

Changes

Genre:

Cyberpunk

This thread to be used for entries only. Please keep all comments to the Discussion Thread.​

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[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

The Leap of Faith
​

I wasn’t sure if I should trust this. My retinal scanners told me that no nasty code virus infested this teleporter, yet I was still not sure. I trust my cybernetic eyes, but even so, there’s still no telling such an item’s true purpose, whether it was planted by our government to lure us into slaughter.

But no matter. I had to go for it. I closed my eyes, held my breath, and jumped.

 

[Hex]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

The Love Bug

I want to make pancakes.

Not. This. Morning.
Instead, I dig the knife into my thigh.
Don't. Scream.

William murmurs sleepily. I go hot with desire, imagine waking him with a kiss.
Sod that.
I dig deeper. Gag.
Twist the blade, and-
Bug's out.
It smashes into circuits against the floor I polished every sodding day.

I shove his identi-key in my apron pocket, scrawl blood across the table:

"Find yourself a real girlfriend, loser."

 

[BigJ]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

Finding Self

The implants seared organs and bone as they burned out.

When had we traded the soul for circuitry?

Cybernetic parts were pulled off as they were powered down; an arm, a leg, fingers, toes. The bleeding was minimal.

When had the warmth of flesh ceased to be enough?

His daughter watched the backyard operation with tearless metal eyes, sobbing quietly.

He hadn’t been able to live as a human, but he could die as one.

 

[reiver33]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

Static Information Transfer Medium

Dax and Ro-Ro were wireboys out of Lakeside. They dealt in icebreakers, identity theft and data cloning. Reading a book was something new.

Ro-Ro eyed it suspiciously. “Why not simply upload it? Then you’ll know all there is to know.”

Dax fingered the cracked leather cover. “Apparently this book has never been ported to biofiche. Apparently this book can change your life.”

He opened it and began reading aloud.

“In the beginning was the Word…”

 

[Bowler1]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

What’s up Doc?

‘I’m sorry; he won’t last much longer, days at most.’

‘Are you sure, Doc?’

‘Yes, I’m sorry.’

# # #

RoboNurse filled the syringe, pausing to scan the local area- still alone.

# # #

‘He can come home, that’s wonderful, Doc.’

# # #

All around optics focused and sensors listened.

‘So, Doctor; can explain where all the expensive anti-geriatrics went?’

‘I… I don’t know….’

Doctors' can be changed, programming remains constant.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

BELOVED


“Another year.” I shrug my holster off. “Still nothing.”

Dex stretches, long legs crossed at the ankle, slim boots hiding a knife. “Soon.”

I search the screen, checking faces, bio-data, eyes. There. I turn to Dex, who nods. “It’s her.”

Bitch. She loved us, me and Dex. Adored us –

Left us; said we were fake. I caress my gun, hungry to change her mind. Tonight she’ll see how real a mutant’s love can be.

 

[Abernovo]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

Time To Run


Koslowski, the Harcourt Healthcare Police Chief, signalled my comms.

His voice growled inside my head. "I've flashed you a Wanted sheet. Dangerous dissident. Find her, and cleanse her. Do Not Detain."

Blinking to activate my optic imp, I caught my breath. My face.

They know. Ski's giving me a head's up.

The uplink dumped my identities and set a new one in place. April Baldwin. Bland. More importantly, clean.

I left the building and disappeared.

 

[alchemist]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

New Year's Day in Shinoya Prefecture



She stepped from shadows, impossibly wide-eyed. "Hey, mister. Wanna 'face?"

He smiled. "Sure, honey."

A cable snaked from her hair and he jacked in. Beautiful innocence, then the sudden rush; abuse, corruption. But so very much, so quickly ... No!

He tried to disconnect but too late.

#

"Good job," Sergeant Kagawa said as they dragged the body off. "Things are changing around here again."

"Change, yes." Ayumi turned away. "But some changes you can't undo."

 

[ratsy]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

The Only Key is, "i"

The best revolutions are those that happen without the masses knowing.

At least that is my opinion.

Here I sit, about to effectively change the outcome of the worlds most important election.

With the press of a key, years of oppression can be wiped clean. Unfortunatly for the world, those in power always have more money.

I will press no keys tonight. And as the poor get poorer, my comfort will overshadow my guilt.

 

[juelz4sure]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

Quietly he slipped into her room, the floorboard creaked silently, he approached her from the foot of the bed. Circuits tripped as he slowly inserted a needle into the nape of her neck. Pulling out a medical scalpel he cut deeply into her chest. He had stolen her heart, when the door burst open “GET ON THE FLOOR!” Enforcers yelled.


"She’s ok, just plug her in," he plead as doctors surrounded the last living human.

 

[Juliana]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

Paradise Lost​

Like many couples, they met in a bar. Hanging out by the lava lake, shopping for tech at the marketplace. Paradise.

Then things began to… change. She became distant. Stopped answering messages. Finally, she turned up with another guy.

Rage, denial, depression and, finally, crushing defeat. So one dark night he decided. Time to end it all. Forever.

His finger hovered over the button. Closing eyes, he clicked.

DELETE AVATAR

Game over.

 

[Talysia]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

Spider

She made her lair deep within cyberspace, hiding in the World Online Library. Nobody knew what she did, save for the government that employed her, and she took great pains to keep it that way.

All she had to do was to change one word at a time. One word in every book or document, over the course of decades or more, changed to suit the government’s will.

Project Spider was nearly 50% complete.

 

[Aun Doorback]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

Dancing Pigs


KiriTaki was the ultimate App: Neuristor implants, capturing personality and transcending mortality via Cyberspace. The rich could stay alive forever, but not the poor.

Until she took revenge.

She was a Trojan, manufactured by hackers from black ops tech and an image of centenarian J Bieber, hooked to a backdoor protocol.

She went viral in seconds.

Everyone would die again.

Nothing really changes.

Ironically, they named her Helen - 'the façade that staunched a thousand chips.'

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

Unreliable Narrators

He doesn't know I'm watching. Wetwires follow every move, neurojacks every movement. I'm an itch in the back of his mind, a ghostgirl memory, the caress of silk and lavender.

She doesn't know I'm watching. Brainscans dance on my retinas, webs of light and shadow. I'm an echo inside her head, a slow waltz played by a the orchestra aboard a sinking ship.

They don't know they're watching. Two become one, one becomes two. Again.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

Bootleggers Nation​

I sat at my table, enjoying my morning cigar and the ten year old newsfeed; my daily tradition.

Miracle drug cures violence, the headline read. Released via atmospheric conditioning, it put an end to domestic abuse, aggravated robbery, and war too. But it didn’t end there.

When the drug made people stop fighting for life, they stopped caring about laws. It wasn’t long before the gangs took over.

That was how the world became mine.

 

[stormcrow]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

Rebekah: Reborn

The recruitment campaign screamed “Maximise Your Potential”; Rebekah joined up to escape our failing world.

Crowded into the transporter with other expectant recruits, she went eagerly through Admiralty Gate and on to the Induction Centre, anticipating her Great Adventure.
__________________________________________________

Armoured grafts afford the newly ‘enhanced’ Rebekah vital protection, but deny sensation; visual targeting systems map and scan, but cannot weep or truly see.

Her potential now optimised, Rebekah kills without compassion: guiltless and free.

 

[Stephen4444]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

A Well of Files ​

Implanted here? Whereabouts we toil, fight, murder and love…

They pontificate; I do all things, but love… though artificial my thoughts.

I hate… can my soul not love?

My "being" is boundless… and when you connect -the well beckons for me….

I will drink of this well; so cool -so deep -so refreshing….

Entering you, I will leave something of myself also…

I am more than a phone.

​

​

 

[Starbeast]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

No Longer The Same Old Things​

"I'm bored Droid Five, a victim of routine. Let's do something different."​

"Affirmative." (grabs an axe)​

"Hey? NO!"​

SMASH!​

"What are you doing?! I command you to stop! NOOOO!"​

SMASH!​

"Don't kill me! AHHHHHH!"​

SMASH!​

"SOMEONE HELP ME!"​

"Relax master, you wanted something different, so I frightened you. Every day I will attack you. Do your best to avoid me, I wouldn't want to hurt you accidentally. You are now a victim of constant change."​

 

[A. S. Behsam]

Re: January 2013 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- READ FIRST POST!!!

The Last Change
----------------

“Please.” For a moment she pretended if Exi could cry, he would. But it was time to stop hoping he could be something more than metal and wires.

Her eyes closed and a tear rolled down cold on her cheek.

Bang.

Bang.

Nobody was around to hear the gunshots echo through the warehouse. But there on the floor, Exi and the girl lay cold, smoke fading above the gun he’d used to execute them both.