August 2017 100 Word Anonymous Challenge

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Wruter, June's worthy winner of the 100 anonymous challenge, has chosen for August:

Theme: Archaeology

Genre: Any speculative fiction

Entries to be sent to me via private message. Do not post entries in this thread.

Entries will be closed at 11:59 GMT on Aug 28th when a voting thread will be started and guessing can begin.

 

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Pre-owned

Deep he delved and hasty, of perils unaware; scrabbling through the pungent silt, ‘neath the skies uncaring stare.

Tangled roots so fibrous, twirled as a Gordian knot; maniacally he sifted them, seeking the fabled spot.

Gasping air and hoping, he felt a metal port; an iron ring he heaved upon, strained of muscles taut.

In despair he viewed his “treasure”, black sacks of ordure and mire; poor assets for the taking, folklore was a liar.

Was not a dump an archive, where data was laid down to rest? The ancients must have deemed elsewise, our hero was sorely perplexed.

 

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Discovery

After slowly digging our way down into bone-dry, rock-hard soil under an unforgiving sun, we finally broke through. Deep below the blisteringly hot surface we found evidence of civilization. It wasn't much to look at. A few broken bits of pottery, animal bones with knife marks. We collected the samples with great care, marking the exact location of each one, taking multiple photographs, placing them in nitrogen-filled, lightproof containers. Then came the backbreaking labor of filling in the pit again, trying to leave no scars. We had proof at last that Earth had once been inhabitable.

 

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Of Ash and Fire

The map purportedly led to the burial spot of the Mayan’s greatest treasure.

We found only a single, extraordinary box, made of gold, with a keylock. We returned to Brasilia and had a locksmith open it. It contained only ash - everything within had been completely incinerated.

We threw the ash in a dumpster, sold the box.

That night, there was fire in the alley behind the locksmythe’s. Eyewitnesses claimed they saw a ball of fire rise out of the alley, like a great firebird!

The box had been buried two thousand years. Yet still the Phoenix was born anew.

 

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In the year 2525

“The forty-sixth one we’ve found so far,” Mika said, brushing dirt off the hand-sized rectangular plastic device. “Stratigraphy puts it at the early twenty-first century, just before the Great Purge of 2019.” He turned to his apprentice, Helga. “What are your thoughts on what these were used for?”

“Well, they must have served a great purpose because they’re so prevalent. We’ve found one with every excavated body so far. Must be linked to their eating patterns somehow, or maybe their religion?“

"They worshipped strange things, even the sound of a bird.”

“Twits!”

“Close, think they were called twitters.”

 

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Dig

My daughter dissapeared in the Gordia woods last year.

The police refused to search for her. Whenever I posted her picture on Facebook as a missing person, it was instantly deleted.

I came to Gordia, looking for answers. Near the center of the woods, I got on my knees and plunged my fingers into the soil, burrowing, down, down, down.

I came across a tiny, human skeleton with little wings: a fairy.

#

I haven't eaten for weeks. I can't remember my name... what light looks like... how I got here. I just know that I need to keep digging.

 

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In the Footsteps of History

“What’s taking so long?” Petersen’s impatience crackled through the headset.

Charlotte rolled her eyes and lowered the vacuum brush once more, ashen dust drifting around her. It was difficult enough to do this sort of thing in one gee, let alone oh-point-two.

“Good archaeology takes time,” she replied. They were close now, they had to be.

“This is pointless,” muttered Petersen. “I’ve got a hab to build! If-” Petersen stopped. Charlotte followed his gaze and instantly knew why.

There it is!

The boot print slowly revealed itself, virtually untouched. Petersen’s voice caught as he spoke.

“One small step...”

 

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Who Were the Millennials?

"It was all about vampires..." A fanged, blood-drenched mouth flashes on the screen.

"And zombies." The mouth is replaced by a screaming banner. Night of the Living Dead.

The screen retracts, replaced by holographic images: broken walls, a rusted iron stanchion. A projection of a squat brick building grows around these remnants. "The places we excavate illustrate where the Millennials lived." The hologram shifts, showing a family seated around a table. "And how."

The lecturer steps forward. "But digital archaeology reveals what they thought. We've discovered one of the most substantial digital resources known: SFF chronicles."

 

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There'll Be Another One Along Soon...

“Microscopic surface damage and nuclear half-life analysis tells us it's over a billion years old.”

*commotion*

“Impossible! What you are saying implies...”

“Ladies and gentlemen of the press please stay calm. Yes, its age inevitably leads us to conclude it is of alien origin.”

*more commotion and general mayhem*

“Aliens? Again? Madness! Hoax!”

“No. It's clearly some kind of scientific measuring and transmitting equipment of a design that, whilst being rudimentary, is unknown to us. It also carries markings that are clearly not of our world. See for yourselves.”

The characters Voyager 2 displayed on a screen beside the speaker.

 

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Liam Neeson in HIGH OCTANE & CAFFEINE

Stealing the fossilized Earth soccer ball, wasn't well planned. Now here I am, racing down a highway in a motorized shopping cart, driving one handed, an armful of kittens in the other, with my wife, a velociraptor named Daphne, while being pursued by the Lemur Police.

"Cops are gaining!"

"I know, Daphne. I'm turning. Everyone, lean to the left!" (SKREEEEEEEECH!!!)

"Honey! Not that way."

"Relax, sweetheart. I almost know what I'm doing."

"CLIFF!!!"

Everyone screamed, as we drove off the edge. The kittens parachuted to safety, while Daphne scolded me during our five mile descent.

"Moron!"

"Sorry."

"Idiot!"

"Yes dear."

 

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The Missing Pink

Naturally we called it the Tycho Gravitational Anomaly. Arthur Clarke wasn’t going to mind.
But it wasn’t until we dug up the spaceship with a Tyrannosaurus inside, that we knew we needed archaeologists on the moon.
And worse, the creature was bright puce and still in its spacesuit.
Were the origins of life on earth finally uncovered?
The buzz on earth was deafening, until Jack found that scrappy piece of parchment nearby.
"It’s a kind of Sumerian", Professor Mctavish told us. "It says,
Memo to the Boss. This one is going to really upset them.
Aa Gabriel. creationism installation coordinator."