May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- DEO and TJ Share the Win!

[HareBrain]

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, May 23 2013​

Voting Ends at 11:59 pm GMT, May 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:​

LEGACY​

Genre:​

Science Fiction or Fantasy​

This thread to be used for entries only. Please keep all comments to the Discussion Threadhttp://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/foru...-seventy-five-word-writing-challenge-may.html.​

 

[Perpetual Man]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

Look Upon My Works...​

My only son, I am dying as well you know.

Look beyond the window at the Kingdom of Forever Summer, fields of golden corn, meadows of green and see it now.

Orchards scorched by the breath of dragons; people put to the blade by orcs and goblins.

I invited them here.

I know you poisoned me for my throne you little turd, so this I bequest to you.

 

[Boneman]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

The One True Gift
​

She left me everything.

My children, my memories, the paintings of her that adorn the castle walls.

I hear her laugh sometimes, echoing in the glade where we met, where we loved, until the day the Unicorn returned to claim her.

For two score years the Kingdom prospered.

Now my son is King, fae blood runs true in him.

I seek the Unicorn she promised would take me to her - the final legacy of love.

 

[Luiglin]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

You will not want

You will not want for food ... the hydro-farm will provide.

You will not want for help ... Huey, Louie and Dewey will always be there.

You will not want for teaching ... Mother holds all within her infinitymem banks.

You will not want for friends ... for they travel with you.

My love and your future is my legacy that I give to you, my daughter.

Love, Dad.

- card taped to cryogenic compartment 0501, Nu-Earth Ark.

 

[Bowler1]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

Legacy Systems

Old robots move to intercept, rocks and clubs held ready.
Pristine target acquired.

# # #

ButlerBot’s alarm calls are sharply cut off;
Arms ripped from its plastic sockets;
Legs follow, coming free with audible pops;
Circuit boards wrenched out and wiring left hanging;
Memory cards snatched and batteries grabbed;
Rusty robotic hands fight over the spoils;
Mugging terminated.

# # #

Old robots trundle off, squeaking, limping, obsolete and barely functional.
Upgrade... or die.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

Braving the New World


My father was a worker -- I wake at dawn and toil to dusk.
My mother was a thinker -- I read the land and map the way.
My grandad had a poet's soul -- I gather rosebuds while I may.

My sister was a gard'ner -- I plant my seeds and reap their fruit.
My brother was a preacher -- I thank God for His mastery.
The warheads took the world -- They cannot take my history.

 

[Starbeast]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

The Nephew's Inheritance From the Late Baron Bloodstone​

"Glad we're finished with the estate papers to this accursed mansion."​

"The Baron was evil."​

"Let's all get in the car quickly."​

"AIIIEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeaaaaaahhHHH!"​

"Master Bloodstone!"​

(the men returned) "We heard a scream!"​

"My uncle left me a mountain of old comic books. I shrieked in excitement."​

"We thought monsters got you." (they laughed)​

"No. They're my friends." (points) "The creatures and I haven't eaten. I'm so glad you're all here. Please join us, as dinner..."​

 

[subtletylost]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

A Beary Great Love


It was golden brown. All that would be left of her in the world.

She spent her whole life on it.

Gathering materials, sewing, waiting.

The time came. It was the least she could do for her only daughter.

"Mommy, don't leave me."

"I have to. But, Beary will take care of you, now."

Her final breath drew near. It was a tough effort to breathe life into the bear she worked so hard on.

 

[EloiseA]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

Post-Digital Legacy



Back in the grim spring of 2019, you gave me five dream tickets. One for each year spent together. Then you left.


1 Accessed Pluto's Phantasmagoric Phractal Dream Sequence. Mashed up five years of passion with cybernetic verve


2 Stalked your neural pathways. Blip, blip. Honey, I'm home!


3 Hacked into your dreams, a telepathic shadow


4 Lucid dreaming! Redirected the flow of propulsive desire. Your engine or mine?


5 Consensual hallucinations mean never having to detach again. Ssssss...

 

[ratsy]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

Live On

Dr. Sato wiped the sweat off his brow with his sleeve. He took a deep breath as he looked at his completed project.

With trembling hands he pushed the final memory drive into the silver man.

They would be here soon. Dr. Sato's mind would be wiped clean, but now his memories would live on.

As the sirens closed in on his building, the metal man's eyes opened.

It spoke. "Father?"

 

[BetaWolf]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

The black panther leaps downwards from branch to branch until she is a few paces in front of me on the ground. A cloud passes momentarily in front of the moon. And in her place is a girl wearing naught but a smile.

"Now, now," she says, smooth as silk, "your mother sent me to watch over her only son."

I lower the airgun. "So what are you supposed to be, some kind of legacy?"

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

Rust


We were the first survey team on New Mars. Crimson sandstorms raged under scarlet skies. The planet's primary hung over our heads like a bloodshot eye. Hiroko touched her helmet to mine.

"The geoprobe results look strange. Nothing but ferrous oxide, in fantastically complex patterns. It's not a planet, Sasha. It's a machine. A very old machine."

I stared at this world that was not a world, and wondered when we would meet its makers.

 

[BigJ]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

Imperial

A young man stood tall, had demand for it all, but he’d hide his crime, and he’d bide his time. Trust to be earned, then morality spurned, galaxies burned as the page was turned. He left honour behind to conquer our minds, deceived us all to receive it all, put fools behind bars and ruled over the stars. A universe maimed, he staked his claim, so when the time came, you’d remember his name.

 

[Tywin]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

Some Perspective

“I sailed me all the seven seas in my day!”


The stranger edged away down the bar.


“They sing a song about me on an island in the southern gap, they sure do!”


“An island full a’ dwarves. I warshed up on the shore naked as the day I was born, and they was impressed by the size a’ my willie!”


“Should a’ had my Susan with. Would a’ showed her some perspective.”

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

M.A.D. Consequences
​

Earth, 2499, Anno Domini.

Two hundred years ago, the third world war began. Society was brought down by what was referred to as mutually assured destruction. After the nations collapsed, people began to fight for survival, scrounging, wearing bio-hazard suits with limited oxygen supplies. Our race is dying because of our idiocy.

A radioactive atmosphere and toxic food and water. That is our legacy, of your stupidity.

 

[RoninJedi84]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

The Thirty-Second Son​

I was the first.

Thirty-one generations passed. None embraced the Spirit. They toiled, they died, all for naught. A thousand years passed while the Power lay dormant, accepted by none. Our forebears perished in silence, affecting nothing, their souls without Reward.

I was the first.

Soon I must relinquish my Power, and stand alone within Ganeydn.

I was the first.

I pray, my son, I will not be the last.

 

[chrispenycate]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

Respect your elders

What did you leave, ancestor mine?
An atmosphere choked, dust and smog,
Oceans transformed to stinking slime,
For personal comfort and wealth.
So you could live high on the hog
You sacrificed descendants' health
Their livelihoods, mortgaged the lives
Of anything that still survives.
Activities that can't be linked
Never face judgement for your crime.
You, like rhinoceros, extinct,
Deceased before the dying time.
I trust you're proud, ancestor mine.​

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

The Last Sunset​

‘Mummy, will our star go never?’

‘Nova, little one. And, no.’

‘But their star did.’

‘Yes, it did. They knew they were ending, so they broadcast their genes to the universe. Their gift taught us how to rebuild all that once lived on that lost world.’

‘And the people?’

‘Maybe one day we’ll know which ones were the people, little one.’

We entered the Dead Alien World Zoo.

‘Mummy, I want to see the humans!’

 

[The Spurring Platty]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

Our Song

Varella led me from the village.

“Someone is about to become a man!” a voice shouted.
The crowd laughed, but there was no malice.

Hours later we arrived at a cave. The moon had reached its pinnacle.
“Prepare torches,’ she ordered. Silently, I complied.

Deep in the cave, elaborate paintings of men and beasts flickered in the torchlight.
She began to sing the history of our people and the figures danced to life.

.

 

[JordanSC5]

Re: May 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE

No Escape

I don't understand what is happening. I thought I could finally escape. I sit in my mother's old rocking chair and look outside to the explosions manifesting in the sky. The war is almost over, but the worst has yet to come. I pull open the desk drawer and pull out my father's old revolver. Maybe this time it will work. I put it in my mouth and fire.

I don't understand what is happening.