July 2015 75-word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO DG JONES!

[Mad Alice]

Lady's Choice

She was absolutely sure she was screaming.
Lost in the exploded ship's debris.
Oxygen running out.
All she could see was what she lost.
Hearing voices.
Taunting her with it.
No! It was madness!
She must focus on now!

She calls us madness.
All we are is time.
Those once futures you threw away.
Choose.
Lady, why keep returning to the only once you don't survive?

Now back to that once, the lady was dying.

 

[Zoe Mackay]

Bearing Gifts

“Welcome to the Galactic Civilisation!” they announced, when their ship arrived.

We celebrated, marvelling at the technology they brought. Cars that hovered. Limbs that re-grew.

We were grateful, of course. At their suggestion, we changed our society. Our children were educated in the Civilisation way, our government re-structured.

But they took more than they gave. Mining. Buying. Stealing. Those who went off world came back … inhuman.

Galactic Civilisation? It would be a good idea.

 

[Ihe]

FOOLED ONCE...

This next story involves hermaphrodite wizards and maser cannons.
No, it doesn't.
Shame on me.

 

[Germinad]

Play dead, that's what I do. Lay in wait, for a chance to run. He hit me hard, but not hard enough.
I hold my breath; he relaxes. I want to be free, but I have to be smart. Wait… He thinks I'm out of it, that I'm helpless. Good.
He's breathing hard, while my little breaths escape unnoticed. He's calling them now, calling for back-up. Now I can run! I run him right through!

 

[Dan Jones]

Go Softly, My Dear, Go Softly

I cradle my injured wife amongst the city’s rubble. Overhead the ominous silhouette of an Imperial Warbird hovers into view.

“What’s that?” She winces, trying to sit up.​

“Shh, don’t speak, sweetheart. It’s an Allied Transporter. We’re saved!”​

She smiles weakly, and I tearfully sweep the hair from her beautiful face. By the time the Stormtroopers abseil down and train their weapons on us, she’s already drifted off, and I thank God for small mercies.

 

[A. Fare Wells]

Enlightenment

The prophets foretold that young Andolin Leigh would never share in their enlightenment. She could go through their initiations, but never would she sit in the circle of knowledge. Andolin, however, envisioned a different future, for she had a secret.

The East Sage had given her a potion from the old world and assured her it would guide her toward the enlightenment she sought.

The Olde called that potion, Bourbon.

 

[Cascade]

The Dating Game

“May I be frank?” She asked

“Please do,” I replied.

“You are somewhat shorter than I anticipated.”

I nodded.

“And older, and heavier and more bald upon your scalp, but...” and here she paused, “I suspect less bald upon your shoulders”.

I nodded again, sipped my drink and smiled at the stunningly attractive 9 foot blue succubus who had swiped right on my Betwixter profile.

“What can I say. It was an older photo”.

 

[Remedy]

You Have the Conn

“Another one, sir,” Dunhurst radios my quarters.

Following him to storage bay four, sleeve to nose, I peer into red-stained horror.

“Seal it. Keep it quiet.”

“Sir?”

“Do it, man. Morale can’t afford this. He must be stopped.”

Faithful Dunhurst escorts me back to my quarters. The crews’ faces flicker before me.

Who? WHO?

***​

Sleep arrives reluctantly. Mind clicks. I’m famished.

My door errors.

Dunhurst’s voice crackles the intercom, “He must be stopped, sir.”

 

[Mr Orange]

Excerpt from The Unexplained Evacuation of the SEU Heavenly Maria, by G. Hatfield-Krysa


Transcript of uncorrupted portion of Captain's e-log:

...they’re back, outside. All 865 colonists still in locked stasis...

...don't think I can fight them off this time...

...computers going haywire...

...contacting me...


Burnt scraps of paper found on Captain's console*:

They want the colonists...

...let them have the stasis pods they will let me live...

...going to...

...fight them...

...can't...

...let them have the pods...

...God forgive me.

Capt. J Krysa


*order assumed as shown

 

[johnnyjet]

The Robot's Answer

"The President and seven others are dead."

"Yes."

A bright light bathed the robot's emotionless face.

"You are head security robot?"

"Yes."

"You made the final clearance call?"

"Yes, after analysis of my drones' reports."

"Yet three gunmen attacked the entourage."

"Yes."

The inquisitor drew close.

"How do you explain your incorrect assessment?"

The robot touched its head. A viewport opened.

"My brain, subcontracted to a foreign manufacturer, determined it was a correct assessment."

 

[holland]

Mind Tricks

Billy lost his breath and just stopped running as he turned the corner in an alley.

“Freeze!” the cops yelled as they caught up, their guns pulled.

Knowing it is over, Billy said jokingly: “I am not the man you are looking for”.

“He is not the man we are looking for”, one cop repeated, and they started running again.

Billy just stood there, having no idea what just happened.

 

[ratsy]

Fated to the Throne

People always told me I looked like the King. I was whisked away by rebels in the middle of the night.

When the time came, I was brought to the castle through the gallows. I saw him hanging by a rope, casually swinging; head snapped sideways.

The one I had replaced myself with years ago.

I couldn’t believe my misfortune. Fate had me as King for the second time in my life.

 

[HazelRah]

iBelieve in a better future

“Jenna and Debby have one.” Elena whined, pulling on a strand of hair impatiently.
“They just seem dangerous. Man shaped robots to do your laundry… Should have been called iHousemaids not iBelieves… What a stupid name.”
“But Dad…”
“We’re not getting one Elena, that's enough.” He turned to face the window while she stormed off. His eyes shone red briefly then returned to normal, indicating the start of a new program.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Cuckoo

The covered auto-gurney crashed through the medbay doors, its cold cargo rocking from the impact.
‘Where was he... apprehended?’ the Viceroy asked.
‘Synthetics: Attempting to sabotage the stasis tubes,’ Sentinel 5 replied.
The Viceroy’s sensors rotated to look at the stellar uterus from the viewport, smiling as the seedship accelerated safely away; the blue marble would soon be colonised.

But:

Was that the flash of the seedship jump drive or an explosion?

 

[Brian Rogers]

G(deceiver)OAT

The King looked over his domain.

“It’s like I’m God,” he thought to himself.

Those desires got him in trouble before, but the humans had no hope to defeat him.

“If I whisper in your ears long enough you will believe anything,” he mused, reminiscing over past victories.

“When I convinced your ancestors they could be just as smart as God it was my first and still greatest accomplishment. You foolishly still believe that one.”

 

[DouglasMann]

"So what did you tell them?" Zignar asked as their ship pulled into the spaceport.

"I said we were going to eat them."

"Gryvar, you're the worst."

"It shut them up. You're the one who gets headaches when they scream."

"Us eating humans," said Zignar with a shiver. "What a horrid thought."

"I know," said Gryvar. "They won't know what him 'em when they get sized up for the slave auction."

 

[Twistedlemon]

Wailing erupted from below. The sound drew in the weary traveler.
Curiously, he peeked down. A small mass tried to crawl up the slope.
He slide towards the hysterical toddler.
The bait grinned devilishly and exploded into ash.
"Nick Slick!" He cried.
Dark laughter encircled the sinkhole, the sides sprouted white-hot flames. He looked down. The Samaritan was embroiled by the raging inferno and became dust. His soul was dragged down the Devil's Millhopper screaming.

 

[StilLearning]

60 seconds with... Cthulhu

The reporter wasn't quite sure who’d set this phone interview up, or why; "...uh... for the record: In sunken R'lyeh does dead Cthulhu lie dreaming?
"No. I'm not dead. I'm not dreaming. Are you not busy exterminating life on this planet? I'm standing next to each and every one of you"

... the reporter awoke. But, for the rest of his life, whenever he wrote on something especially grim, he would glance around and shiver...

 

[Glen]

Oranges and...

“Oranges and lemons…”

I sing the nursery rhyme from the book that introduced doublethink:

“I owe you five farthings…”

believing contradictory views simultaneously.

“When will you pay me?”

If I recognise the dark entity behind me it will have power over me. To escape I must believe it does not exist…

“Here comes a candle to light you to bed…”

…that I am alone…

“…here comes a chopper to chop off your head!”

 

[Moonbat]

A Confession​

My ideas are great but my writing skill average. I'm often incapable of fully expressing an idea within the word count. It's frustrating when you can't complete a challenge. I have an idea based upon the most famous deception known to computing. I just can't seem to tell it in the few words available.



MP778 was confident it had passed as it turned off the lights in the Turing test room and powered down.