SEPTEMBER 2020 75-Word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO MOONBAT!

[Danny McG]

They only fade away

She whimpered as she listened to the increasingly hysterical clamour on the television.

It stopped suddenly, SIGNAL UNAVAILABLE, then a brilliant glare from behind her.

She gaped in horror at the mushroom clouds rising.
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(10,000 years later, SFF Chronicles forums):

Mosaix, “it’s getting monotonous nowadays, only us left”

Chrispenycate, “ 'He' was online this morning, rummaging about in a 2006 post”

BAYLOR: “Here’s another revived thread for you, gents”

 

[Hopcyn Miller]

Wayvestream.

Xandra pulled back hard on controls, blinded by the seething whiteout.
Bursting out of the condensate layer, the ship skimmed low and fast.
“Incoming!” Tyler cried.
Multiple plasma fire exploded around them. The dark wing of the bounty hunters emerged, accelerating fast.
With steely determination, she looped and back-tracked the small ship forcing their pursuers through a criss-cross of contrails, edging ever closer to the mountain island protruding above the sea of mist.

 

[C.C.]

Parallax

“There is no cloud,” said Dyson.

“You seriously don’t see the huge, white, fluffy, object in the sky?” asked Triana.

“No, and stop taunting me! I requested a clear blue sky for the simulation,” responded Dyson as he turned his back on his sister.

“Well, then you need to fire someone.”

Dyson spun around and was facing Triana within seconds, “Stop Triana! You know how important this is to me!” he shouted squeezing her shoulders.

 

[Wayne Mack]

The Last Cloud
​

The thin grey cloud of dust flowed out in a circle. The sun shined down on the white surface and black shadows. The sky above was black with white stars.

The grey cloud was not strong and did not blot out the scene. It was merely thin and wispy as the hard edged vehicle fired its rockets to return to space. Slowly, the cloud fell back to the moon. December 14, 1972.

 

[Marvin]

Humanity’s Enemy No.1

Nervously Frankie turns me, looking for deadly gaps in my ‘Hazmat’ suit.

Some way from the compound, depressingly, I can see a black haze in the distance.
Engulfed minutes later, the visibility is terrible and work near impossible.

Previously carrying only disease they managed to kill countless millions of us.
Now they come direct to feast, endless swarming clouds of mosquitoes.

The deafening whine of infinite wings almost covers the sound of ripping cloth...

 

[CHB]

„How did they get inside the system?“ The Client asked and Damian gave ihm one of his forced, patient smiles.

„Well, you use no secure system, Sir. What you got there is a basic firewall, without any second layer of defense.“

„So they can simply come in here, hack a drone and kill twenty of my employees?“

„Yes, obviously.“

„But who pays for this?“

„I would call my lawyer and sue the cloud services.“

 

[GalaxyWolf118]

A Face In The Clouds

Rosie loved clouds, she spent the whole day watching them, but she felt like something was watching. One day, she went to her favorite spot, she looked at a cloud surprised, it wasn't normal, it was shaped like... a face!. Luckily she had her phone, because she immediately took a picture then ran back home. When she arrived, she showed it to her mother, who smiled then said, "looks like grandma is watching you...".

 

[johnnyjet]

The Cloud-Weavers of Canopy

Canopy was a world of clouds and deserts.

Xenobiologists studied Canopy's amazing life forms, especially the cloud-weavers, mountain dwelling bird-like creatures who weaved clouds into beautiful, precise patterns.

The purpose remained a mystery. A form of communication? Messages? Or art for art's sake?

The team left Canopy, still perplexed by the cloud-weavers, who continued to weave stunning sky tapestries, as a side effect squeezing much needed rain onto parched land below.

 

[-K2-]

Gravity Lord

I’m peerless, Tarik gloated, master of G-pilots.

Each slight motion of his sinuous dance affected the skimmer’s field. He leaned into the pull till it transitioned to a push and surfed the wave. Every atom attracted and repulsed—terrain, buildings, plants, rain, and even bugs—demanding his precise adjustments.

“Perfect. I am magnifi—” Tarik cartoonishly slammed against the windscreen at the ship’s abrupt stop.

“Nuts,” he squeaked, sliding down, “forgot clouds.”



K2

 

[telpereon]

Nue World

"Betteredge, please listen!! There is no time!"

Static breaks across the link.

"..mountains protect us! They protect us from the weather and waters that surround us on this world. They are a wall, a protector..."

Hash pops machine gun through the link followed by static.

"..utty was right! There are things in the..."

Static crests again but a rhythmic twittering surfaces as it dwindles away.

"...never should have landed here! Beware the clouds! Aiee!..."

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Challenge accepted.

"Oh, come on, it's a gift."

"Too obvious," Said B. "They'll all be doing it, SF, clouds and Venus, they couldn't resist."

"Yes, but most of the regulars have already committed, it’s too late for them."

“Well… You have a point there I suppose… Okay then.”

WAR​

The spaceship screamed though the Venusian atmosphere guns blazing.

“Take that you phosgene breathing pigs,” screamed Harvey, crack shot top gunner in the Earth Defence League.

…

 

[mosaix]

Waterfall

Terraforming takes decades, centuries.

Been on Mars all my life. Same as my grandpa and his before him.

Seen some strange sights in my time. It’s that kind of place.

But this was new. We ran. Fast. Fear does that.

“Calm down,” AI whispered in my ear. “It’s a cumulonimbus.”

“A what?”

“A cumulonimbus. It’s what you’re waiting for.”

“And that?”

“Thunder, lightning.”

“And this?”

“Rain. Enjoy, it’s your legacy.”

 

[Moonbat]

Cerebralnimbus


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[scarpelius]

Crybaby

"Crybaby, crybaby!"

They were laughing at him, flying higher than he could reach, slim bodies in wind. Teasing it was their game and he often burst into tears.

When he heard the same words coming from below, he decided to teach them a lesson.

***

The shaman came out of the trance and started to dance:

"Crybaby, Crybaby... hear my plea and come!"

Very soon the sky darkened and it started raining. The drought was over.

 

[Perpetual Man]

The Jupiter Jumper - or, there will always be Idjits

I can see the clouds, they’re beautiful like burnished copper, I’m travelling at 110,000 mph and getting faster. This is the point where I hit… retrieval.

I don’t.

This will give me something money can’t buy. I’ll go further than anyone else!

Through the clouds.

The pressure increasing around me, the first alarm sounds.

Diamonds clatter against the silver skin.

I think I have made a mistake.

I don’t want to die.

CATASTROPHIC FAILURE

 

[AMB]

The Land of Milk and Honey

It sounded like a lark: discover that land and live at ease thereafter, or profit from the story should we return.
Find it we did, and it was like nothing imaginable. Every step in that country was as walking through honey. Milk clouded our sight that we could not see the path.
Our feet eventually found their way free of the place; our sight had less luck. Cursed is the Land of Milk and Honey.

 

[Peter V]

Hell Rising

“Remember mama telling us Heaven was in the clouds?”

Lizzie regarded the uninviting mist below them. “She sure wasn’t talking ‘bout these ones. C’mon, don’t get too close.”

Jo followed her sister onto the path, nervously glancing at the roiling miasma; wishing there was another route to the sanctuary. Suddenly, a tentacle reached out from the mist, almost grabbing her.

Lizzie turned, swiftly thrusting her spear, severing it.

She scowled. “Soon, we’ll do the hunting!”

 

[Parson]

Toxsennak After Action Inquiry: Video Transcript: #37658​

“Sarg, Toxsennak is depressing! Clouds, clouds, and more clouds. My first planetfall and I can’t see three meters. I hear a stream. But I can’t see it!”

“McInnis, cool your jets. This IS what we were expecting.”

“Sarg, What’s glowing?”

(Video shows a glowing cloud descend and McInnis disappearing from the tac display.)

“MCINNIS, REPORT!”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“That’s McInnis’ last contact? Sergeant?”

“Officially, yes sir.”

“And unofficially?”

“Later we thought we saw something flash, “Jets cool, Sir.”

 

[JJewel]

Lauren awoke to a brave new day

She opened her curtains and chased the darkness away

The light-flooded in, the Darkness fled away

Wheel chair bound she to the garden found

Raising arms to the sky unbound

Calling down the sky calling down the clouds

Dance with me she asked them so

Just one dance before I to go

She raised her arms floating away

Lauren waltzed with the clouds on this new day​

 

[Elckerlyc]

The View

“I have a room on the 197th floor. But all I see are clouds!”
“We try to live up to our name, Sir.” The clerk winked and nodded at the hotel’s logo, depicting a tower rising next to and up into a mushroom-shaped cloud. “Perhaps a room on a lower floor?”

“Was the view to your satisfaction, Sir?”
“Certainly. Unsettling yet awesome.”
“I understand. The sight of London Crater can be very disturbing.”