APRIL 2020 85-Word Story -- VICTORY TO MOUSE!

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A Garden in the Cells

The auto-door slams, locks; the sound reverberates hollowly within the steel room, after which there is only a black silence. My social implant removed, along with myself from all society, I inhabit but seven square feet. And my own head.

Dread fills the vacuum of my voided mind like a gas. No connections, no contact. What now?

Time stretches, desolate hours pass. Until... something sparks within me. A light increases in my mind, illuminating an inner landscape.

In the barren cell, another world blooms.
 
Excursion

“Questions? Anyone? Okay: five minutes to portal. Stretch your legs. Eat nothing. Yes, there’s a test later.” The class groaned, dispersing.

Evelyn wandered furthest. She’d spotted a growth earlier: green with red blobs. Gruesome. She prodded it, fascinated.

Eventually, a boy found her.

“Evie? It’s time.” They ran.

Back to the clearing and the pad. There was the teacher, counting heads.

Pausing.

Frowning.

A beep, and the pad was empty.

Evelyn stared at it, then the boy.

“What are we gonna do?”

Adam shrugged.

“Dunno.”
 
We will always have dreams.

He could hear doctors discussing calling the family. Time to consider turning off the machine before one remembered there was no family.

It didn’t matter, the machine was nothing; he wasn’t really here but somewhere else.

Beautiful autumn sunshine, no aches or pains with faithful companion alongside. Children’s laughter filling the air. He hadn’t felt this young and happy in years, wasn’t sure how Major was here, he'd buried him 20 years ago.

No, he didn’t need the machine.
 


Some things never change….

“Excuse me, is this the way to the Temple?”

“kylvhrrr ilyiurrv ydtytrrt.”

“Excuse – me, – is – this – the – way – to – the – Temple?”

“kylvhrrr ilyiurrv ydtytrrt tykygbrrf.”

“Excuse ---- me, ---- is ---- this ---- the ---- way ---- to ---- the ---- Temple?”

“kylvhrrr dtkuluirrl yitrrf jiuiplrr.”

“I don’t know, Mabel, they just don’t seem to want to understand plain English.”

“Try again, Harry, speak slower this time.”

“I’ve had enough, Mabel, anyway, those tentacles are giving me the creeps. Keep a good grip on your bag, and let’s head back to the hotel”.
 
Circulus Ignis

They never learned how it had happened. One moment, it was another deathly cold winter day.

The next? A sudden flash, and it was summer. There were still soldiers in red encamped near their refuge—but soldiers of Pompey the Great, not George of Britain.

When Caesar met their general, drawn by tales of their marvellous weapons and ingenuity, he offered a proposition:

Reform this ancient Republic, and in it build their new. Make it truly a thing of the Senate and People.

Washington agreed.
 
Observation: Great Plague, London. Mission Ref 209-B. 08-15-1665.

After the customary disorientation, Masie opened her eyes. Pudding Lane, if she was not mistaken. Perfect, she could document Farriner's bakery, which would be ashes in a little over a year.

Masie gagged. Oh my word, the stench. That was wrong; being incorporeal, she should be unable to smell her surroundings.

Any why was that little girl looking at her? How could she see even her?

Masie quickly squeezed the return button.

Or would have, had she been able to feel it in her palm.
 
Lost in Infinity

I exist in parallel synchronisation. My sense of self has become existential, who and what I am has been lost from my perception. I am my own memory, my own reality.

Supercharged meta-phasic rays tore my singularity apart, creating a multiplicity, a slice of personality materialised on countless worlds, I perceive everything, a cascade of imagery, physical and metaphysical, Observing life: an abundance of variety, unseen, unimaginable.

I see all and cannot tell.

I am seen by all, they cannot hear.
 
Funhouse

"Nothing was there before!"

Rows of block houses surrounded their ship. No sign of life.

Captain Raker led a search team cautiously into one building's open door. Each found themselves separately exiting another building.

He called, "Back to the ship!"

Each step toward the ship took them farther away.

He collapsed against a building. This madness was drawn from childhood funhouse memories. Perhaps this planet was accommodating their deepest longings. If that were true, where were the monsters?

Then he heard the distant roars.
 
And then I woke up.

I hated it. I wanted to be back in the world I had left. Where dreams came true, and everyone was so happy.

I willed myself to return there. Closed my eyes, clutched at the images that dissipated like smoke in the wind.

I tried not to toss and turn, knowing my frustration would drive them further away, like it always did.

The deep breathing and progressive relaxation did absolutely nothing.

I sat up, defeated.

And then I woke up.
 
A Magical Story


"Prince Rupert, it is time to confront the might of the Wizard's Council!"

The mages enter the tower, ready for the final battle.

The crystals topping their staffs start to glow, building their eldritch power.

Rupert draws his sword and......



"JOHNNY! Put down that darn book. Supper's ready!"

The Prince wakes up in a foreign room holding a fantasy book in his hands. Something is horribly wrong. He is in a child's body.

Back at the tower, Johnny is having a blast with the sword.
 
“The Carnival Sign”

“WIN AND CHANGE YOUR WORLD!”

“Yeah, right!” thought Zach sarcastically. But he picked “A Duck for A Buck” anyway.

“Grand Prize!”

Stunned, the carnie’s eyes went wide. “Here’s your bear. Good luck!”

Chuckling, Zach headed for some food. Unfocused, he tripped bashing his head on Sue Brown’s table.

Sue helped him up. Before the medic was done patching his head, he gave her the bear and she gave him her number.

Later, head still hurting, he called Sue. They laughed about that sign; for years.
 
The Visitor


After the stress of the landing, I felt it best to rest before making contact, so slept.

In the harsh light of a new sun, I make the necessary checks.

Instruments: Wait, the monitor is blank. Ah, a loose cable, that’s all.

Instruments: Good.

Power: Good.

Air: Good.

Structural integrity: Good.

It’s time. I click the access button.

AHHHHGGGGG!

My eyes are blinded by the sight before me.








CHRONICLES
SCIENE FICTION & FANTASY COMMUNITY
 
The Comforts of Home

What did I come in here for?

The kitchen, lined with empty marble counters, gave no answer. Through the window fat white clouds sat in a pale blue sky.

Blue sky? This isn’t home…

Memories came flooding back.

The crash landing! Chameleon protocol! I have to find the bridge, override the computer’s defenses!

Ch’yyr raced from the kitchen and into a cozy sitting room. They felt woozy for a moment and shook their head to clear it.

What did I come in here for again?
 
Drop Zone

Hendrickson eyed his away team with a sense of foreboding. They looked nervous and this place was no picnic.

“I'm not going to pull punches. It's tough out there. Foul atmosphere, rough surface. And hostile, very hostile. But stick together, look out for each other and we'll come through.”

Kitted up, they moved to the exit and then out into the bright light.

Ninety minutes later they trooped back in punching the air.

“A goal up against the Treens after the away leg! Get in!”
 
The East Side of Seventh

Tap, tap.
“Welcome to New York,” said Gene choking down his anger at being treated like a goldfish.
“Salutations, this place new.” Tentacles wavelled.
“Yeah?”
“Forgives? Knowledge requirements available?.”
“Pamphlets to the right.”
“Standard knowledge sheets? Gratitudes? Additional knowledges? Central Movement Station co-ordinates?” Olfactories pufflefumed.
“You kidding? Take the shuttle. Watch the glass!”
“Forgives? Golgofrenx Ynugsuk locale known?”
“English only, mac.”
“Many forgives? Gratitudes. May your sex-wibbles be moist and rigid,” Bugligkik seeped many-hued.
Gene wiped slime from the counter. “Frickin’ tourists.”
 
What Happens After

I never admitted I was afraid.

Nothing more could be done, they said.

The disease was merciless.

*

I opened my eyes on a twilit void.

Alone.

*

Oddly, the touch wasn’t startling.

No; just a welcome memory.

Tail curling around my calf, he brushed by. He stopped and looked up, green eyes brighter than they’d ever been in life.

I wasn’t alone.

I smiled. ‘Hey, buddy.’

He purred, and walked on ahead.

There was a light, in the distance.

No longer afraid, I followed.
 
Decaying Worlds


Come visit our world of enchantment
For reasons I will now explain
Our mountains are all made of chocolate
Our lakes filled with finest champagne

You'll slalom down ski slopes of ice cream
On pistes of which flavour you choose
You'll bask on our beaches of sherbert
And swim in our oceans of booze

Come visit our planet of wonder
But harken, remember one thing
On our world that your sweet tooth is craving
The man who's a dentist is king
 
The Baffling Travels of a Hapless Commuter (Pt I)


Yawning I selected ‘work’ and entered the Hypergate. Traversal began, but sanity ended.
A wind started to blow, carrying a voice like a horn. I WILL SUFFER NO MORE PESTS CRAWLING THROUGH MY BACKYARD. BEGONE!
The wind swelled to a hurricane, lifted me up and blew me backwards, out of the Hypergate. I landed flat on my back, next to a flamingo; clearly I wasn’t back where I had started, just moments before.
“Artful arrival, Mr. Gulliver!” The flamingo curtsied, “We were expecting you.”
 
In the depths of the Amazon river

As the boat returned, the tour guide lectured on Amazon folklore, exulting the Boto, the river dolphin who, transformed into man, takes a maid to spend the night.

Later, at the hotel bar, a handsome man charmingly approaches her, motioning to the riverbank. She hesitates, briefly, then follows him.

The moon shines full and her heart races as the young Amazonian embraces her. Not fear, anticipation. For he was not the Boto, but she was Iara, warrior mermaid who lures men to the river depths…
 
Fairest of All

Flickering candlelight glinted off crystal chandeliers. Rainbow shimmers danced across the ballroom, each finding its partner among beautiful bodies twirling to a music she could not hear.
On a pedestal sat a pair of iron shoes, red hot though the wearer was long gone. This was a world of huntsmen and apples, of happily ever after.
“Enough.” The ballroom faded.
Infinite worlds, infinite possibilities. Surely some must favour her over the girl.
She tried again.
“Mirror, mirror…”
 
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