June 2018 75-word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO ASHLEYNE!

[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 2018 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, 23 June 2018​

Voting ends at 11:59 pm GMT, 28 June 2018​

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:

Scientific Innovation


Genre:

Horror



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, as long as it doesn't involve the author explaining the plot​

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

 

[D.A. Xiaolin Spires]

Tough (P)luck​

Eyebrow threading wasn’t on the top of the list, but eventually, the Autobot Revolution made its way into every sector. Pro threaders started getting pink slips.

Bots did an impeccable job. Perfect arches, more parabolic than McDonald’s signs.

Over time, these bots degraded. Company coffers bled red, failing to circulate updates. Eyebrows came out like lightning bolts, crooked, uneven.

After one session, Janice touched her eyes.

She blinked bald eyelids, bereft of eyelashes—and screamed.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Comparative Anatomy

Good morning, students. Today we have a very interesting specimen. Do not be frightened by its grotesque appearance. It cannot escape from its bonds.

Note that it has only two eyes and a mere four limbs, two for manipulation and two for locomotion. The loud sounds it produces come from an orifice that serves for both respiration and ingestion. It should prove a fascinating example of an evolutionary dead end.

Let us begin. Scalpel, please.

 

[Dave]

Silver Lining​

Intense UV radiation had kept little Tommy imprisoned indoors his entire life. There was no question; when offered revolutionary treatment that would allow him outside, the REFLECTO vaccine appointment was immediately booked.

Three months later, Tommy stood elevated behind the garden pond in full summer sunshine. His constant winning smile and fixed, open posture should indicate a more positive and confident mood, yet inside Tommy felt detached; disappointed, but resplendent in his immovable argentate shell.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Patent Pending

The patent application smells of mildewed basement. I examine CAD drawings suggestive of Hieronymus Bosch reimagined within mainframes.

A DVD labelled: Interconnected 3D Organ Printers, is attached, so I watch.

... Before soundproofed walls – beneath roaming, articulated arms connected to bloody tubing – two gurneys each bear half a man. Half of the same man. On one, he’s shredded and pneumatically transferred, on the second, he’s printed back into existence, screaming. ...

There’s no name on the application.

 

[Onyx]

Prototypography


“Engage warp.”

Sudden coronal mass at eight minutes: Disengaging, plasma boils away our Earth. My experiment plunges on unbidden, a pyrrhic triumph crushing the velocity limit and all life.

Eating the sun, snapped matter’s remade as distortion, deepening the acceleration pit.

Wailing stunned to silence - Centauri perverts and the collapse grows. Stars smear, ejecting us from a Milky Way empty of matter as the tsunami races ahead to engulf everything.


We fall toward inevitable darkness.

 

[Peter V]

Upgrade

Dr Zeller injects me as I take a last look at my despised, withered legs. I have donated heavily to receive this first whole body transplant.

A life support machine beeps as they wheel in my replacement body. To my horror it looks badly damaged. The man looks at me. Not brain dead!

"I offered more." He croaks in response to my rising terror. "Even half working, your body is better than this dying one."

 

[Danny McG]

Pull the plug

She entered her bathroom still shaking after the homeless man on the street.

His grubby handprints were down her bare arm and the unwashed smell lingered.

Her auto-maid rolled up attentively.

“Hot soapy bath and scrub me all over, don't stop until I'm totally clean”

Two hours later her dying scream faded as the robot continued to scour at her raw flesh, it's enhanced vision forever picking up microscopic impurities.

 

[Graymalkin]

Trial and Error

Chronstipation occurred shortly after mark IV went live.

Doctor Robertson began replicating, relentlessly occupying himself with arrested screams. The indestructible glass chamber soon populated with his reiterations.

When the team finally axed power, some were reminded of an old style jar filled with raspberry - dozens of seeds staring out, unblinking.

So they buried it. And now I have the privilege of testing mark V.

* Finds camera and smiles nervously.*

 

[Ihe]

Those Who Read, Write

Pauline's love overwhelmed me. She offered me her sensuous lips; her playful eyes; her most intimate places. Asked for nothing, unlike me.

Her participation had been crucial for my neural mapping project. In my ambition to read the human soul, I had flipped through her like pages in a coverless book.

Pauline also offered me her heart. People have become very giving to me lately.

I keep all her gifts in the freezer for now.

 

[D3athw4lker]

The Curse of Progress​

Humankind: the ultimate juxtaposition.

Gifted a paradise and the capacity to understand its secrets, they chose to simply better themselves, ravaging their world.

‘Progress,’ they claimed, emboldened by the lie.

Inevitably, they were forced to look to the stars for a new home. Escaping the husk of their planet, they were instantly reminded as to the cause of their innate fear of The Dark.

Throughout millennia, it watched patiently from afar.

Now it could feed.

 

[Joshua Jones]

Silent Watchers

My, how humanity has grown! Not 40,000 of their years ago, they could scarcely use tools. Now, they have progressed through their stone and metal ages, mastered the atom, mastered their impulses, and taken to the stars. Their nests occupy a thousand worlds. We placed them in a safe creche, and they have emerged as beautiful children.

They are ripe for harvest. Their minds, once free of needless flesh, will make excellent ship control units.

 

[Calliopenjo]

Brand New Bug Spray

Brand New insect repellent. Works so well, you will not have any problems. Guaranteed or your money back.

Out of desperation, I needed to try this new bug repellent. I couldn’t leave. I had no more money.

It said to spray the room and leave for ten minutes. I returned after that and they seemed to disappear.

That was when things happened. Then I ran to my mirror. No! I turned into one of them.

 

[Cathbad]

Success​

“Success.” I remained calm.

“You’ve done it!” Colonel Matterson said enthusiastically. He stared at the lieutenant on the arrival pad.

“Teleportation! Achieved!”

The military men congratulated each other – and me. It was my baby.

Why didn’t I tell them? The ten million dollar bonus.

The creature on the pad wasn’t Lieutenant Thomas Richards, anymore. Something hijacks living bodies during teleport. Something evil, with murderous intents.

I just need to hide that fact a little longer…

 

[Starbeast]

100 Years of Nuclear Reactors​

After water levels rose, submerging large portions of continents, nuclear plants became abandoned. Water everywhere was contaminated, animals and plants died, humankind was next. Military bunkers were buried after earthquakes, God knows if they'll ever see light of day again. Survivors, like myself, await death by starvation in civilian bunkers.

Passing the time, I read about the first nuclear reactor that was built in 1942, Chicago. I looked at a calendar. "Happy Birthday......heehehehehe, AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAaaaa................"

 

[nixie]

Home Comforts.
​

"Sir the Home Efficiency Bot Report is in".

"Print it off"

*******************************
DAY ONE.
CHANGE BEDDING.......PREPARE FOOD.....LAUNDRY.... VACUUM.......DUST....GENERAL CLEANING.......RETURN OBJECTS TO RIGHTFUL PLACE.

DAY TWO.
PREPARE FOOD....VACUUM.......DUST....GENERAL CLEANING.....RETURN OBJECTS TO RIGHTFUL PLACE.

DAY THREE.
DISPOSE OF HUMANS.....DEEP CLEAN.

DAY FOUR.
VACUUM.....DUST.

CONCLUSION AN EFFICIENT HOME IS HUMAN FREE.

**********************************

"Press self destruct, fire property, we need to keep a lid on this. Back to drawing board".

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

Xenotransplantation

The 21st century saw the shortage of human organs as one of the biggest challenges to medicine. Research lead to animals becoming organ donors. No-one realised in future generations the animal organ donor's characteristics would start to emerge in the physical features of their human ancestors.

Human evolution had reached new heights.

Strains of humans were developing stronger than bulls, others faster than wildcats.

But when it failed and you were a pig's ancestor........

 

[s.d. Ervin]

NEOSCIENCE

"What that noise? Tuskcat?"
"No....There.....Manthing!"
"Where rock?"
"No....Him have stick. Where stick?"
"No....Look! Him have rock ON stick!!!"
"AAAGGGHHH! RUN! NOT DIE! RUUUUN!"
"Wait! My woman! What me do? Look...him swing rock stick wild! Woman his! AAAGGGHHH! RUN! NOT DIE! RUUUUN!

 

[Venusian Broon]

A class trip to the farm ​

Everyone peered at the herd through the high fence.

“They’re like grownups!” someone gasped.

“Butt naked grownups,” someone else added.

Sniggers.

“Quiet down,” Miss Torphin said. “Yesterday we learnt about the ruminant plague that wiped out farm animals-“

“So we cloned and genetically lo-bot-o-mised new ones.”

Miss Torphin smiled. “Excellent, William. Benefits are cheap organ transplantation, plentiful blood transfusion and…quality meat. Now, who’s hungry? Burgers for lunch back at the farmhouse.”

Everyone cheered.

 

[AstroZon]

Neocortex

When Ksenia awoke she was greeted by a nurse, "It will take a few hours for the anesthesia to wear off. Please, relax."

Finally Dr. Orlov came in. "Good morning Ksenia," he said. "Why am I here?" she asked. "We needed to check your neocortex development."

"What?" she asked. "Is there something wrong with my neocortex?" "On the contrary," he answered. "Your neocortex is quite healthy - and quite advanced. Exactly as we'd planned."

"Planned?"