APRIL 2021 75-WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- VICTORY TO PERPETUAL MAN!

[Bren G]

What is Old is New Again

Cities. Thousands of them, glowed brightly in the night. Zeus stared contemptuously at them from the heavens. Science. Modernization. The scourges of belief.

“Father, we’re but a joke now. Relegated to horoscopes, scattered amongst the constellations that bear our names.”

“They’ve moved on Ares.”

“Shall I bring war then?”

Zeus pointed to something coming toward them. Fast.

“No. The wheel of time turns. They’ll believe again.”

A meteor the size of Manhattan hurtled toward Earth.

 

[Wayne Mack]

New Chicago

It was the last normal day in New Chicago.

The service drones left their charging stations and picked up breakfast for the many residents who did not deign to cook. The whir of electronic servants battled the sound of air conditioning compressors on the streets, but there were no human ears to hear the sounds.

Isolated strangers until the power grid failed, pale beings emerged with the task to build society.

 

[Dan Jones]

It's Up To You...

Mayor Rudolphini welcomed the Landers in Times Square, televised. Very open. Very American. Very stupid.

When one Lander tore Rudolphini apart on air I sighed, “If they can make it here, they can make it anywhere."

Our cells unlocked. Clever bastards! Sow chaos, reap power.

But they’ve miscalculated. We’re just cons, but even cons love home. I recall my stash of firearms in Harlem. If they're still there, start spreading the news… I'm leaving today.

 

[Parson]

A Mother’s Love and a City in the Clouds

Breanna had always dreamed of “Cloud City.” In her poor unsophisticated village “Cloud City” had seemed glamorous. So glamorous, she had run away from home to live there.

But tonight, again, she was sitting in an unglamorous bar looking for a trick. The City had trapped her.

Her Text-Com, bought for anonymity, pinged.

"It's my mom?!"

“Whatever you’ve done, whatever you’ve become; it doesn’t matter. I still love you. Come home.”

Her Mom's love won.

 

[Pyan]

Quercus perit...

There were brass bands.

There were dignitaries, from far and near.

There were the press, eager to seize the moment.

There was the City Mayor himself. The square was ringed by full seats, as the Mayor spoke a short but moving eulogy. After all, this was the last tree in the entire World-City. Afterwards, they all trooped off to the Official Banquet.


In the silence, the last chainsaw roared into life.

 

[Starbeast]

Film Noir & My Memoir​

Bipedal robot read aloud, "Unknown Planet. Underground City. Only Robots? 20th Year Anniversary."

"Very good, Bogart. Nice chapter titles.You may write my biography. I'll fill in the details about how beautiful the city is."

"Like paradise."

"Exactly, Bogart."

"The other droids and I, are thankful for your arrival. We had nothing to do."

"You've expanded the city, by adding classic Earth buildings."

"Like those old movies of yours. Retro Earth architecture."

"You're aces, Bogart."

 

[johnnyjet]

The Walls

When the storms came, the Watchmen called, "Put up the walls!"

Steel walls arose from the ground in a grid pattern throughout and around the city. Roofs unwound between the walls.

Within minutes we were locked tight in our city boxes, waiting for the storm to pass.

Sometimes it lasted days, each time longer.

Too long this time. Will it ever end?

The hum of the generators stopped.

I felt the walls closing in.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

A Tale Of Cities 2.0

Smart Cities had seemed a good idea in the early 21st century: collect and analyse IoT data; use the insights to manage operations efficiently. Utopia, right?

Initially, all ran smoothly: improved traffic flow; optimised use of utilities and services; better crime detection.

Better. Crime. Detection. The cities calculated the common factor: humans. Their conclusion: eliminate the common factor, eliminate crime. Hence the purges.

And now? Well, I'd better stop. My kettle's looking at me suspiciously.

 

[chopper]

Check The Scale On That Map


It’s raining outside. You’re bored? So, go see the neighbours down the Hall. Out this door, through the next one: bodega, yellow sky, honey winds. Or, next floor up: a lounge in lush pastures, or a library orbiting a G-class binary. Step to the commute, three light-years each way. Back before tea. The wonder’s a commonplace now – with wormhole Gate tech, the whole galaxy is your city. But it’s a beautiful neighbourhood.

 

[Mr Orange]

Better


Tika sat and dreamt of crossing the river to the shiny spires of North City for good. It was a corrupt, soulless place, but she could make it better. Make the Council treat South City as more than just a dirty slum. She could make change. She just needed crossover money.

Her Tab pinged.

Job – 3658K1LL

Name – Councillor Monerlie

Loc. – 2200 The Avenue, North City

Rem. – 10,000CRED

Tika smiled and tapped accept. That would help.

 

[chrispenycate]

Urban diaspora

On legs, wheels, tracks and even floats,
The Mobile city voyages across deserted land.
Its passage 'cross the wilderness promotes
A breadcrumb-trail of living contraband

And ev'ry pssing year , a sessile suburb settles
Selecting geographically optimum position.
A seed, self pollinated , no pistils, petals,
Foundation for population's ambition

Disseminated across wilderness
Colonists selected for transportability
The city generates replacements from excess.
A trail of townships with tradition of mobility
Society's prime recipe for stability.

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[bingsubb]

Hunger

The city was deserted, yet evidence of the lives it had held remained. An overturned bike, a high heel shoe. Warm, wet moss enveloped metal and brick and asphalt in blankets.

A rat emerged from a ruined storefront, keeping close to the wall in a bid to remain unseen. It could not. The moss under its paws split open, like the maw it was, and the rat was gone.

The city hummed, sated once more.

 

[Hugh]

Capital Reaction​

I recognised him immediately: definitely humanoid, but green-skinned with those large multifaceted eyes, chittering away and gesticulating to the heavens.

I’d read about these appearances. In Times Square he’d been shot within five minutes. In Moscow they’d “disappeared” him almost as quickly.

Here in Connaught Place, New Delhi, a crowd had already gathered and had festooned him with garlands of flowers while clouds of incense billowed. People were cheering. My heart swelled with pride.​

 

[mosaix]

SIM Cities.

Jake dragged the cursor around creating ‘First City’. Houses, shops and factories sprang up. Tiny figures walked the streets and, when he zoomed in, Jake could see other figures through windows - working, playing, eating.

One figure sat at a screen and Jake was sure it was creating houses, shops and factories. Second City? He wondered, smiling. Jake hovered the mouse. ‘Kevin’ the label read.

Elsewhere another cursor on another screen hovered. ‘Jake’ the label read.

 

[Valtharius]

On the Shores of Tranquility

Humanity's richest and most eccentric inventor was on the screen, speaking to us.

"I know you're all wondering where, why, and how you were brought here." Guglielmus said "The how is a little technical, but the where and the why are simple. I have brought you to humanity's first self-sufficient lunar settlement. The reason why of course is…"

Now his smile filled the screen "I didn't want to get lonely in the big city."

 

[G.T.]

Ozymandias

London to Rome, Hong Kong to New York. I am a traveller to these antique lands. There, the broken face of Big Ben stares across the dried-up river. Here, the head of Lady Liberty, putrid water gently lapping at her scarred face. How the mighty have fallen; victims of success, just not their own.

In time, all cities die. Beyond the edge of these ancient wrecks, the plagued and rad-blasted lands stretch far away.

 

[Elckerlyc]

It's Recreational Hour!

“History vids? Sure. We sell, for instance, vids about cities.”
“Sit T’s?”
“C-I-T-I-E-S, cities. Ancient urban agglomerations. Millions of homes, with open air spaces allowing for unhindered intermingling by the citizens.”
“Fascinating. What happened to those cities?”
“They disappeared during the Age of Lockdowns.”
“Age of what? Locks?”
“Ah well, you should just watch the vid!”
“Fine, I’ll buy. You may charge Pod B1845GT3, level 483 Under, 645112th West Corridor, Conglomeration Central-Anglia.”

 

[Sinergio]

PREFERENCIA

Los habitantes quedaron asombrados al ver los enormes barcos sobrevolar los edificios más altos de la ciudad, y en lugar de aterrizar en un espacio abierto, continuaron y descendieron sobre el mar.
La explicación llegó telepáticamente. Los delfines informaron que los extraterrestres consideraban que las criaturas más evolucionadas del planeta eran aquellas que vivían libres en el océano y no aquellas que pasaban sus vidas encerradas en esas sombrías madrigueras.

 

[Ursa major]

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The City and the City​

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The City of Dreams was dismissed as a fairy tale… until rumours spread: of it being on a distant world; of a means to get there.​

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The Tyrant demanded to go there.​

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Xanditgro, his Chief Scientist, reluctantly agreed: “I can try creating a portal to take you there.”​

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He did.​

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The Tyrant stepped through. “What’s this?”​

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“One of your prison cities,” said Xanditgro, still in the Palace, “where they have nothing but dreams. Enjoy yours….”​

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[Ursa major]

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