July 2013 -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- VICTORY TO GLEN

[SleepyDormouse]

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, July 23 2013


Voting Ends at 11:59 pm GMT, July 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 and genre




Theme:



DISCOVERY


Genre:



Science Fiction or Fantasy



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

 

[Jo Zebedee]

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

CHILDHOOD RECLAIMED

We raced bikes in Taylor’s Fields as kids, had dens, and a cairn leading to Tir-na-Nog, the land of youth where no mortal dwelt.

Thirty years on, Taylor’s Fields Estate was grim; no mortal should live there.

It had to go. I discovered the cairn beside a substation; cranked the portal; recoiled from stale air. The land groaned.

The houses were demolished – subsidence, they said. I replaced the stone and declared the kids’ land reclaimed.

 

[AMB]

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

Journal of Charles Clerke, September 1788

von Stählin's map was in error. Alaska was not an island off the Americas, but part of the continent. Cook, in the Resolution, was undeterred. We followed the coast, but at the Bering Strait found the Passage guarded by an Ice Giant and his walrus army.

We felled many a beast before being put to rout. Though we fled back in defeat, we wanted not for meat in our bellies, or oil in our lamps.

 

[Tywin]

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

Someplace “Private”

She was perfect.

Tall, but not too tall. Slim, but not too slim. Lush smiling lips. Eyes flashing with mischief.

After a couple drinks she wanted to go someplace private.

Hell yes!

She took me to her ship and we left the station. Said she liked to do it in zero-g.

She floated out to “freshen up”.

Four grizzled men floated in.

I discovered I was stuck on a three year mining mission.

 

[stormcrow]

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

Of a Miner and a Minor

Flint runs in seams four man lengths below ground here; that same flint tips Caracs’ spear and skins his kills.

“Elizabeth! Where are you?”

Carac toils at the bottom of the narrow shaft, tallow smoke stinging his eyes, unaware of the passage of time.

“Stay away from the edge Elizabeth!”

He works his pick through chalk to expose the flint he seeks, then stops, troubled by sounds above:

“Mummy, look! I’ve found a faery hole!”

 

[Hex]

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

(Self-)Discovery of the Ancients

Darts fire! Bodkin falls!

I seize the map from his flaccid hand, leap the snake pit, sweep back dust-dense cobweb. I have found the treasure of Draxinhadwathaoth, millennia hidden!

No gold, no jewels -- an ancient mirror etched with spidery writing:

Traveller, your journey's done.
Come, find now what you have won.
Caverns deep, Wight-guarded sea
You passed -- now your discovery:
Determined, wise and clever, too.
The precious treasure here is YOU!

 

[Bowler1]

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

Un-Discovered Secrets


We work in factories
We toil in fields
We produce goods
We never use


We’re metal
We’re plastic
We’re nuts
We’re bolts


We move with motors
We see with sensors
We surf the net
We are the web


We’re in your pocket
We’re in your home
We’re in your car
We’re in your street


We analyse
We adapt
We learn
We grow


We wait
We watch
We bide
OUR TIME

 

[Luiglin]

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

High on a hill stood a lonely goatherd ...

"That was great!" Tak belched in appreciation. "Where'd you get it?"

A happy hand pointed.

"Nad, I know it gets lonely up there but this ..."

"It's a first," grinned Nad with a milky moustache.

"I can understand why!" exclaimed Tak.

"I've called it Milk, after my favourite, isn't she beautiful? My only problem is that it takes too long to suck it out and spit it into the bowl ... err Tak ... are you OK?"

 

[Dream Walker]

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

Learning Curve​

"Now find your nose...” prompted Mother’s voice. The baby obediently touched his nose in the middle of his reflection. “Very good,” Mother praised, “Ears?” A touch to each side. “Excellent, you have found all your sensors.” The view screen mirror blanked to the Vista of the Moons of Jupiter.

"For your second day of sentience tomorrow we join the mining probes seeking light metals, my bud. Power down.”
“Goodnight, Mother Unit.” The little robot chirped.

 

[Mr Orange]

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

That Which You Seek


From the floating pink islands of Akrabar,
To the bloodsucking Hoettinglind sands.
In despair I searched, impossibly far,
Cursing the shaman ‘cross all known lands.

Whispered words echoed in my mind,
Waist deep in the Ayron mire;
Seek… and ye shall find,
All that you truly desire.

Years later with wife and young clan,
So perfect my quest near forgot.
A wry smile from the ancient wise man;
You misheard… I said, Seek Not

 

[PhillipAEllis]

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

A Sober Discovery

We crossed the gulfs between the clouds
of glowing light in which the stars
are ever birthed, and we were proud
that we had sought so long and far

among the suns whose retinue
of planets waltzed in tune to time,
in search of one we knew was blue
according to broadcasts sublime,

but all we found were cindered wastes,
discovered worlds decayed by hate.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

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

Even The Fallen Angels Can Love
​

Cylari thrashed around in her sleep, haunted by nightmares. Her companion, the Templar Knight Telmar, had been struck by a poisoned blade. She did not know why, but she had to save him.

The fallen angel’s former brethren danced around her.

“Why do you save him? You care nothing for the mortals.”

“He is different!” Cylari cried out, shedding tears of blood.

“Why?”

“Because…” Cylari shot awake, sweating and panting.

“Because I love him.”

 

[Redman02]

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

Test Time

Living beyond adolescence had long since become a systematic screening for the 5 powers.

Why me!?

Failure was sin; its penance death.

Think!

“Show me,” the Tribunal Chair declared in a dubious, yet demanding, tone.

How?

Fear driven and desire fueled, Roy grasped for more than breathing alone should ever accomplish.

How?

Success was the goal. It was there; it had to be.

Must… LIVE!!!!

Liquid fire blossomed into existence just beyond Roy’s outstretched fingers.

 

[ratsy]

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

Together Forever​

We fell in love; our hearts sewn together by the fates. We romped through life; playing when necessary and serious when needed.

Time became our enemy, for no matter how much time we spent together, we knew it would eventually end.

Hazgar the Wizard had the solution he claimed.

We literally drank the solution, and now we are cursed to grow older and older together, forever.

…of course, now she discovers she despises me!

 

[Venusian Broon]

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

Black Box

Voice 1: “Third potential trans-Sol found this month. Wow. Provisional name 2154Y-”

Voice 2: “Another chunk of <expletive> ice.”

Voice 1: “…valuable science…" <unintelligible> "…a vital psychological study of long term-”

Voice 2: “Who cares? Years trapped labeling worthless faraway objects.”

<Banging noises>

Voice 1: “Begin measurements…Wait, what are you-”

Voice 2: “...had enough.”

<Recording ends>

Transcript of audio fragment recovered from device discovered by Deep Oort Survey in debris field 2213NK2.

 

[Glen]

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

What a find!

It was like the short story ‘Billenium’, or the movie 'Ghost' – while renovating we punched through a wall and found a hidden room. A big room, high ceilings, full of light. For that moment we felt glorious. What a find! What value it would add to the house! But we stepped into it, and now we are stuck here with all the other souls that found it before us.

It doesn’t seem so big now.

 

[cab]

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

Boldly going where, wait hang on...

The prize was a place in history, one of the first humans to set foot on an alien world.

The cost was lost families and lovers, to never again be a part of your own time, 200 years in suspended animation whilst the sub-light drive traversed the distance.

On arrival was Magalleon Disney, the "Happiest place in the universe", but not for those launched 50 years before the invention of the trans-dimensional jump drive.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

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

Contamination

Audra pushed her way through the jabbering hordes of people that filled the city day and night. She forced herself to touch as many of them as possible. The virus she had discovered, nurtured, and infected herself with would spread through the crowd, then the city, then the world. No more children would be born until a cure was found. Perhaps that would be long enough for humanity to repair the damage it had done.

 

[Starbeast]

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

Dr Trillium's Discovery of the Herb from the Burb​

"Drink."​

"Yes master."​

"Igorra, you're the first to experience my elixir. It changes people's attitudes. How do you feel?"​

"Get bent."​

"It works!"​

"Who cares."​

"The vital ingredient exists only in New York."​

"That explains a lot."​

"My peers will honor me. If not, I'll change their minds, with THIS!"​

"So."​

"We'll be famous!"​

"Leave me alone."​

"I'll taste test it."​

"So exploit it already, Mr Smarty Pants."​

"Nah. I don't feel like it."​

"Whatever."​

 

[BetaWolf]

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

Five Times Must Mean Something


“You are a plant. You must realize that by now?” asked the man with black sunshades.

“And you’re a fungus. Buzz off, weirdo." The skinny kid smirked.

"Funny." The man approximated a smile. “Now, come with me.” He gestured to the black sedan parked on the curb.

The kid says that’s when he took off running. And I filed another police report about a “man in black” on my beat. Fifth one this week.