April 2016 75-word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO MOSAIX!

[TheDustyZebra]

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

NO links, commentary or extraneous material in the posts, please -- the stories must stand on their own
​

WHEN WRITING YOUR STORY, PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS A FAMILY-FRIENDLY FORUM

All stories Copyright 2016 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, April 23, 2016​

Voting Ends at 11:59 pm GMT, April 28, 2016


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 next month's theme and genre



Theme:

Outsiders

Genre:

Science Fiction or Fantasy



This thread to be used for entries only.

Please keep all comments to the DISCUSSION THREAD

We invite (and indeed hope for) lively discussion and speculation about the stories as they are posted, so long as it doesn't involve the author explaining the plot.


** Please do not use the "Like" button in this thread! **​

 

[Luiglin]

White room

They scratch and push at my wall, seeking a weakness, a route in.

I'm not sure how long I can keep them out.

I'm not even sure who or what they are.

Cowering, I hug my knees tight and pray to a God that I don't believe in.

Their whispers are seductive, words unintelligible but tone and nuance obvious… let us in.

-

...test subject 936: partial success... high psy rating... resists contact... mind locked out

 

[Cathbad]

Superiority

I never expected this. At Millen Prep, I had been the BMOC: Sports hero, perfect grades, loads of friends.

Here, I am all but shunned. Remembered only by the bullies who knock the books from my hands as I walk the halls between classes. Or by the girls, who point at me and whisper to their friends. Then they burst out laughing.

It’s hell, being the Simpleton. The Weakling. The only human at the Academy.

 

[Ashleyne]

Gregory

They never tret Gregory the same, not after Mrs Liddington. I was in that class. I saw things... a girl in nursery school shouldn't know what insides look like. He clapped his hands, and Mrs Liddington was all over.

He was too young for the courts to handle.

He stayed in his house for 40 years. Now his daddy's dead, we see him down the shops now and again. We try to stay away.

 

[nixie]

Watcher​

In the shadows, the watcher dwells, he sees everything, knows all. The lost heirs, the missing relics, he could tell us where they are. When evil threatens he knows the source before others are even aware. He comes to gatherings, accompanies us on quests, a silent presence in our midst but always on the outside never truly one of us.

 

[Droflet]

The Freak

A stranger in a strange land. That’s me.

When I crashed on this planet the locals dragged me from my wreck and patched me up.

Too far out for rescue, so I settled in and tried to assimilate into this vastly different culture.

Been here three years now, and the loneliness is slowly killing me.

They make a grand effort to adapt, but sadly can’t get past the fact that I have only one head.

 

[StilLearning]

Suit-less
Words written in the lunar dust.... airlocks opened but no space suits used... strange footprints.

Some kids said: “There's an outsider here.”

Hope (age 8 and 3/4), born here on Armstrong lunar base, knew that was silly: A few seconds outside, un-suited, was safer than a few seconds underwater.

When someone finally noticed it was Hope’s handwriting… true, she became queen of the base’s kids.

But there were too many tears from Mum.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Atonement


Is someone knocking?

No-one ever calls. Ha! Abandoned Moon Command. No-one knows I'm here.

Hang on, it is knocking. A rescue party? Who's there? I can't open the hatch--

Wait! Don't leave me.

Please don't go.

I've been alone for so long.

I miss Earth's blue and green; so much prettier than the mass of grey it is now.

From the console, my desiccated body reproaches me – I should never have pressed that red button….

 

[Shyrka]

From Realms Afar

“They come from beyond,” said Lothat. “No one knows where.”

Kreld looked at the motionless figure and squinted. It was a female, as far as he could tell, in some sort of trance. It wore a mismatched set of armour, a riot of colour.

“Even their words are strange,” Lothat continued. “Bizarre noises no elder has ever deciphered.”

“It uttered some sort of incantation before...?” Kreld asked.

“Yes. It sounded like ‘ay eff kay’”

 

[chrispenycate]

Guardian

Compete with hedgehogs for my food
Eschewing blame, nor pardon
The pampered indoors see me 'crude'
My terrortry the garden.
The youngsters play, lawn-leap with growls and snarlings,
But dusk sees their retreat within, my little darlings

Torn ear. from combat with a stray
Who tried to share my saucer;
I'm still here, he is long away.
Relentless barrier enforcer.
The foodbowl impacts doorstep, where is
My daily offering of broken fairies.

​

 

[Perpetual Man]

On a Blood Red World

BREAKING NEWS: MARTIAN DOME RUPTURES IN CLASSROOM. 27 CHILDREN DEAD.

“please…”

How could they survive, our precious sons and daughters?

And yet… we hear them, grey fingers clawing at the doors and windows, heart-wringing voices begging to come in.

Nothing human could survive that atmosphere; no lungs breathe that air.

They are there. Plaintive wails and oh, that infernal tapping.

What are they?

How long until resistance fails and someone opens the door….

“please…”

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Closing Time at the Everyone's Welcome Inn

“Wonderful lasagna, Rain,” the human says as he’s leaving.
She bursts with showers, soaking him. “Thanks...uh...sorry!!” Rain locks up, then sighs.
Integrated-insects Being plops on a stool, shedding beetles. “Helluva day, but – we’re closed tomorrow!”
“Huzzah!”
“What's everyone doing on their day off? Rain?”
“Coalescing into a lonely cloud. Interdimensional Portal?”
“Traveling, probably. Brain?”
“Just floating around home. Um...Rain? Drift over – I’ll read to you.”
“♫Brainy lo-oves Rainy!♫”
Brain blushes. “You guys.”

 

[farntfar]

Legal entry

“Stupid boy.They’re called outsiders because they lived outside the ship.
We’ve got the fuel and food for everyone, but we’re only insured for 10,000. We feed them and give them air, but they have to stay magnetically clamped to the outside.”

“Yeah, but I love her. I saw her through the porthole.”

“If someone dies, like Old Ned last week, one gets let in.”

“But it wasn’t her!”
Hell! Who can I kill next?

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

View from a Height

Rikki climbs the web of steel beams lining the interior of the city’s dome. Even with magnetic boots and gloves it takes her all day to reach the top. The cops are ready to take her away when she comes down. It’s worth it to take her first look outside the dome’s opaque ceramic walls. She thrusts her head through the tiny opening at the very top. Nothing but yellow sky above and skeletons below.

 

[Wruter]

The Outsiders

The image of the alien ship filled the bridge screen. It was a squat rotating cylinder, primitive and ugly.

"They're using centripetal force to generate gravity," the Helm Officer reported. "Rudimentary fusion thrusters only. No weapons."

The Captain sniffed. "Ridiculous. It must have taken them generations to travel from their home star."

"I'm monitoring their transmissions," the Communications Officer said. "They call themselves the humans."

The Captain flicked his tail thoughtfully. "Humans? They sound tasty."

 

[Dan Jones]

The Depreciation of Ploughshares

Arianna welcomed the crash-landed stranger to Utopia with garlands and kindnesses.

In return he curried her in her own lemongrass.

Everyone assumed Prison Planet released him.

Wrong. He’d escaped.

Last I heard he headed for the villages, dragging a machete fashioned from Arianna’s femur.

The tribes will be horrified when they learn I secretly kept my old ******* sword throughout peacetime.

But if I remember how to use it, they just might thank me.

 

[Highlander]

Mars1 mission

“You’ve come back!”

The thought materialised as the first Earthmen approached Mars.

“The prophecies are true. Speak to us” the voice said.

“How?” said the Earthman?

“Speak to us so we know who you are?”

“How?”

“They aren’t responding. They must be the Sirians come back to finish us off.”

“No – we are from the third planet. We didn't expect to find anyone living here!”

“Destroy them!”

“Noooooooo!”

Mission Control “Communication lost with Mars1”

 

[sinister42]

Ponyboy

Ponyboy glanced out the window. There were so many new skyscrapers that Tulsa’s art deco skyline was swallowed up.

He glanced down again. No new messages.

Maybe Darry and Sodapop didn’t make it. The sales guy had warned them of the risks, but there was no dissuading Darry.

So here Ponyboy sat, a hundred and fifty years from home, and alone in a way that nobody else on the planet could ever be.

 

[Ihe]

Selective Autism


Henry VI became king on September 1, 1422. That was—

“Tommy…hssssson? Doctor Foster ishssss here—“

That’s not mum.

…Sunday by Gregorian calendar; Tuesday in the Julian. The Gregorian—

“It’s alright, Mrshssss Mendez. The tests will—“

…calendar was introduced in 1528. Turkey was—

“Honey?” Mum caresses my face. “Are you lishsssstening?”

I see what happens if you listen… the last to officially switch to the new—

They keep trying to get in.

 

[The Big Peat]

The taproom fell silent as Butholf the Barbarian entered.

They stared at the tattoos, the beard, the arm-rings and the dented axe. He glared back and they buried their noses in scented hankies, hoping he was not here for them. He walked to the very back and sat opposite a lady, elegant in green silk. The patrons nearby moved, unwilling to anger the notorious killer.

“Bertram,” she cooed. “You need a shave.”

“Hello mother.”