December 2022 -- 75 Word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO MOSAIX!

[johnnyjet]

Corpus Derelicti

Faint signals from the Forbidden Sector led us to a derelict alien vessel.

Within, hundreds of humanoid skeletons littered every corner. The sight was unnerving. With no signs of distress, we wondered what happened.

In a room full of disks, we found a device to play them. Without comprehending the language, we followed their visual history.

On the final disk, they initiated mass injections, putting them into deep sleep.

The skeletons began to stir.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Simply Drifting Apart

My own children rarely speak to me when we're in the same room. Charlie is in his iBubble playing
non-contact video games, while Lucy is putting together a personal mental concert with the help
of brain plugs. The barriers are not physical, but mental--emotional. I try to inspire conversation,
but they don't even look at me. I read a book and cry silently. And when their work is done, they
coldly power me off.

 

[sule]

Commanding the Air

Sky-bound fortresses, barbed and bristling with barrels pointed outward, aiming at everything - and nothing. They glide through the grey above; no challenge, no countersign.

Two castles collide passively with a thunderclap. Metal and rock shear from their shells, raining softly on a land of steel bones and long shadows.

A flock of birds shimmer from airborne nests of wire and cloth, feathers afire in the dying light; the enduring masters of this striated sky.

 

[chrispenycate]

The Butterfly Effect​

Changes hardly noticeable; if you weren't a historian, you'd miss them.

Politicians, inventors, lottery winners, sportsmen, achieved a little differently from memory. Change reaching further past, morals skewed, laws mutated.

Nothing to be sure about until the moon landing's two months early.

I'm music, so the wrong bands sang wrong words over different chords, but you may have taken different busses or inhabited modified houses.

Born to change, what to do if change mutates?

 

[Astro Pen]

The Loneliest Visitor

The lumbering figure in the bulky spacesuit emerged from the murky cloud. Drifting across the ocean floor on the slow current. His claw occasionally brushed a small rock and gave his limb the illusion of life.

He had been dead for 600 years.

Neutral buoyancy kept him upright. This time the earth’s Gulf Stream was carrying him toward the ice cap. Soon he would be frozen into the ice, immobile. A hiatus from his meandering.

 

[Starbeast]

My Latest Book​

“Drifting? What’s your new novel about?”

“It’s an autobiography.”

“Something for your fans.”

“I explain where I got inspiration from. My early life of traveling from planet to planet hauling minerals in space transport ships gives a person plenty of time to think. Strange stories from other pilots helped too. I added a few short stories in the later half of the book.”

“My favorite book of yours was, The Beatles vs Jack the Ripper.”

 

[Parson]

Parson and the Gospel Bus Dilemma

Confused, Parson asked: “How can I get a flying bus for less money?”

The salesman smirked. “It’s simple; you trade that rough riding Greyhound for the Zoom-3 and eliminate your taxes.”

“To eliminate taxes, I have to declare that God only speaks to his children in the stratosphere. That’s false.”

“The truth doesn’t matter. …. It’s a system question. ….. Catch my drift? …. You want a smooth ride, right?!”

“Yes, but the road to destruction is smooth.”

 

[paranoid marvin]

Ad Astra

We tango in the starlight, beneath the glass-domed observation lounge. They say a captain should go down with his ship; this captain has no choice, the power failing before our escape pod could activate.

As the starcraft's orbit decays, it won't be much longer now. My wife, my darling, we've drifted apart over the years; but I'm so glad we're together at the end, and that you saved the last dance for me.

 

[Iwroteathing]

CHASING MARS​

Bloodthirsty reptilian time-travellers from Mars, they come and go. Until they don't.


Turns out the methane-folk of Venus can be condensed into a fluid more flavorful than ours. My scaly timelord told me, as he enjoyed my red stuff one last time.


They apolgised for any inconvenience, sending humanity back to before they invaded.


We declared war on Venus the next day...


And the day after that...


Until ours is the cream of the crop-circle.

 

[therapist]

Double Edged Sword

'Your condition is called "Neural Drift." Your brain receptors pick up emotional signals from loved ones.'

'You gotta fix it.'

'Most patients consider this a blessing.'

'I’m guessing most patients don’t have a daughter who truly hates them.
Knowing she hates me was hard enough. But now her hatred lives inside me.
And it's not just a general feeling of hatred, it’s hatred towards me, forcing me to hate myself.'

'My advice? Get a dog.'

 

[mosaix]

Finally, A Purpose in Life

Outside, methane snow piled up against the door of the abandoned research station. “Lost, freezing, trapped,” thought Padre Antonio to himself, fighting the cold and the fatal desire for sleep. “Titan! Titan of all places! Why was I called here? For what reason?”

Then, a faint, crackling voice in his headset. “… explosion, lost power … orbit decaying … not long now … very frightened … can anyone hear me?”

“Yes, son. Padre Antonio here. I’m listening.”

 

[Aknot]

The Final Frontier?

I sleep as we leave our sun. The unforgiving nothingness turned into blissful ignorance. Generations are born and pass while distant stars come near and are left behind. I am adrift in dreams when galaxies no longer have names. When finally I wake, we are ann impossible distance away. The edge where the universe expands into the void that was before. My orders are to go on but there is a sign:
Warning! Under Construction.

 

[Al Dubs Creates]

Particles and Waves
Infinite lumens enveloped her as she closed her eyes, shielding them. Her nerves electrified with the feeling of particles acting as waves gently guiding her down the river of light. Already there was the absence of sound and scent. In surrendering sight as well, she could perceive the light through touch; a rare experience in which Estelle was fully immersed. No one from her planet had ever been allowed to ride the Lux Bourn.

 

[Shyrka]

Panspermia

Their destruction had been regrettable, she decided, but necessary. The once-promising species had reduced itself to bitter infighting as self-inflicted climate destruction ran rampant.

Rocky fragments drifted past, the planet’s pulverised remains tumbling in the void. Upon one, a colony of bacteria hibernated. It would suffice.

With a gesture, the asteroid’s course changed. It would take several million years, but there was another planet, third out from a yellow sun. Maybe this time…

 

[Vince W]

The Perils of Being a Wallflower

“Waddaya mean ‘I don’t get it’?”

“It’s not funny.”

“Not funny? Look, the guy just wants a drink. So, he…”

“I understand it. It’s just not funny.”

“You’ve no sense of humour you.”

“Whatever, can we get to the job at hand?”

“Fine. What’s this one?”

“Sol-3. Derelict planet. No intelligent life according to the Furxilik Scale.”

“Right. Can’t have derelict planets drifting about.”

Grrilil touched the button and Sol-3 evaporated in surprise.

 

[Bren G]

There is No Greater Love


Adrift am I, alone in in space,
Aboard my Killdeer ship,
My broken wing, a clever ruse,
On this ill-fated trip.

Adrift am I, in this cold place,
Of my own brinksmanship,
Their laser fire, I can't outrun,
Snips at my floating crypt.

Adrift am I, without your face,
To soothe Death’s sudden grip,
Go now with haste, the fleet is safe,
For me, there’s no roundtrip.

 

[Mon0Zer0]

Memory Full​

A hundred thousand deathless years I’ve drifted through space – long enough to deplete memory. New experiences overwrite old, everything becomes time soup.

From the fog, fragments emerge with nothing to connect them. A hand on my cheek. Two bright, shining eyes. Are these mine or something I watched in a holomovie? Why is the familiar so surprising?

In void space, it’s hard to know where boundaries lie. The drift continues.

Lost beginnings with no end.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

Breakdown

"Hello, you've reached the AA. What's your emergency?"

"Hi. I've been space truckin' for 2000 light years in my interplanetary craft and was about to re-enter Earth's stratosphere when my thrusters failed. Now I have no control over my craft. I'm eight miles high and floating in a most peculiar way, sort of sideways through time and..."

"Can I just interrupt, Mr. Spaceman? This is the Automobile Association. I think you need the Astroship Association."

 

[David Evil Overlord]

*David Attenborough voice* Once, these creatures would only emerge from their burrows in April.
Then, the warming climate drove them out of hibernation earlier and earlier. They became a common sight by Boxing Day.
This year, they have emerged on the 21st of December, a clear sign of the climate crisis.
*gestures at the herds of hot cross buns climbing the supermarket shelves behind him, and is buried in a drift of falling buns*

 

[Elckerlyc]

The Flood

We drift. The world is ocean now. Our homes became Pack, a fragile square kilometer of connected houseboats. Are there similar refuges? We encountered one, years ago. It was derelict, a floating graveyard. Survival prevails; we dumped the bodies and took what was salvageable.

We drift. The children never ask where to. They have no idea what is lost. Should we tell them? Should we ourselves forget?

We drift. There is nowhere to go.