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Weekly Contest #346
On the telemetry console aboard Orbital Station Asteria, a valve indicator flickered for just a second. On Earth, a monitoring computer in Houston logged a transient pressure irregularity in the maneuvering system of the attached exploration craft Aurora. The computer flagged it as a curiosity. No alarm sounded. Up on the station, Commander Elena Markovic floated beside the hatch, checking the tethers on a supply pod. “Ready to detach?” asked Flight Engineer Daniel Cho. Elena glanced out the viewport. Earth hung below them like a luminous ma...
Weekly Contest #343
From: Arthur Bellweather To: Lionel CraneSubject: Delivery Schedule Dear Mr. Crane, I note with some confusion that the shipment promised for Monday has failed to materialize. While delays do occur, I had not anticipated that your firm would redefine Monday as an abstract philosophical concept. Please advise. Regards, Arthur Bellweather •••••• From: Lionel CraneTo: Arthur BellweatherSubject: Re: Delivery Schedule Dear Mr. Bellweather, Your impatience is noted. The shipment was delayed due to unforeseen logistical complications, a phenomenon...
Weekly Contest #340
When Comet C-103 Atlas/Rahi passed within one hundred thousand miles of Earth, it granted stargazers a rare, special treat. The Comet’s path took it between the Earth and the Moon, and had a strange, iridescent glow. Its tail shone with a peculiar greenish blue hue, and was close enough to our planet to interact with our atmosphere. People and partiers gathered on rooftops with binoculars, telescopes and hot cocoa. Influencers live-streamed. Amateur astronomers expounded with self-proclaimed authority. News anchors used words like spectacula...
Weekly Contest #338
“Honey, could you do me a favor and run down to the basement and get me a bottle of pickles from the pantry?” A sudden surge of anxiety rose in Carl’s innards. “Why,” he thought, “after so many years, could this still be a problem for me? After all, I’m 35 years old, married, successful, athletic, and in the prime of my life.” Carl allowed his mind to float back into the distant swirling darkness of the past, ruminating quietly about a sad moment in his childhood. He took out his diary, a journal he had kept since early adulthood. He opened...
Weekly Contest #337
Behind her, the planetary lander crouched on its five sturdy legs, its hull reflecting Saturn’s distant glow like a dull eye. Above them, huge Saturn covered a third of the sky, its rings laid out like the most spectacular diamond necklace one could imagine. Commander Lia Ivers stepped onto the dry ground, which felt pale and granular, like powdered bone, crunching under her feet. Everything was quiet enough to hear your own heartbeat. “Tripod’s stable,” said Lieutenant Malik Chen through comms. His voice, always calm, had the faintest trem...
Weekly Contest #335
The Silence Between Seconds Dr. Helena Arendt had always believed that time was less a river and more a lattice. She envisioned threads stretching in every direction, waiting for the right resonance to pry them open. After thirty years of theoretical physics, collaboration with the most brilliant minds, many sleepless nights, and one miraculous breakthrough involving quantum-entangled chronons, she finally had a machine that could do it. The device was quite large but its appearance was misleadingly simple. It consisted of a dark, vault-like...
Weekly Contest #334
It was the most successful and watched television program of all time. Every Friday evening at 8 o’clock, half the country and viewers from around the world came to a standstill, as millions tuned in to root for the contestants. But, in a rather sick and disturbing way, the viewers were not necessarily rooting for them to win. The rules were quite simple. It was gambling taken to the ultimate level. The potential reward was spectacular: $50 million was the top prize. However, the potential downside was equally spectacular. Each hopeful playe...
Weekly Contest #333
Bucky McKeever was sick and tired of not having it all. Everywhere he looked, he saw men living large; high on the hog, if you will. As a low-level manager at a large investment firm, he was surrounded by the high-voltage energy of day-trading and financial wheelings and dealings. His boss, Mr. Jonathan Stevens, a man of only 35, was already a multi-millionaire; a graduate of Wharton Business School and a mergers and acquisitions expert, he could earn more in one deal than Bucky made in a year. Bucky McKeever developed a plan to remedy this...
Weekly Contest #330
Evan Sanderval was not accustom to keeping secrets, especially from his closest friend, Robert. Together they survived engineering school - the caffeine shots, the failed prototypes, the long nights arguing about whether consciousness could ever be simulated or reproduced. Their camaraderie was as strong as between two Army buddies. So when Robert detected an unusual tone in Evan’s voice on the phone, he immediately arranged a meeting for a talk over coffee. They sat by the café window, where the late afternoon sun spilled like honey across ...
Weekly Contest #329
Ethan Valentine was polite, gentle, sweet, and almost invisible in a crowd — which suited him just fine. He worked quietly at the lower level of his family’s company, Vale Diamonds, though few people knew his last name was associated with the one engraved on glittering storefronts across the world. His father, the company’s founder, had overseen the growth of his business into a global powerhouse. And he reveled in teaching the business to Ethan from the ground up. Ethan wanted someone to love him — not the name, not the fortune, not the pro...
Weekly Contest #281
I have been a prisoner in this camp for more than one year. Many of us have died, mostly at the hands of our captors, but some from disease and trauma. Somehow, I have survived, but it hasn’t been easy. They beat us mercilessly today with leather straps. At least four men surrounded us and whipped us. They yelled at us, “Move, you stinking beasts!” They made us run into a wooden structure, then locked us in. I was afraid they would light the structure on fire with us locked inside. But whipping is not the worst. One of the men used a red hot...
Weekly Contest #267
(This story contains issues of health, including HIV infection.)There is a well-known aphorism warning people not to get sick just before or during the July 4th weekend. Why, you ask? Because July 1 is the day each year that a new crop of interns takes the reins of medical management in the hospital wards throughout the United States. Yes, they have completed medical school, and yes, they are bright, industrious young doctors. But they lack one indispensable quality: Experience. Of course, there is ample oversight. The prior year’s inte...
Weekly Contest #263
Billy Matthews was a delicate child. Thin of build and sensitive of soul, he was just the kind of young person sought by bullies. And, as one would expect, bullies did find him. His tormenter, Scott Russell, was a hulking, aggressive boy with a huge chip on his shoulder. With the advantage of having older and younger brothers with whom to fight and play, his personality, confidence and physical skills were forged into a powerhouse. Boys like Scott tended to be charismatic as well, attracting a coterie of followers who feel empowered by being...
Weekly Contest #260
Jack stood on the subway platform awaiting his express train. It had been a long, arduous day at work, as usual, and he could think of nothing else but getting home to his loving family, having a warm supper and a good night’s sleep. His wife, Jill, despite being loud and shrill, was always there to greet him with a hug and kiss. And his three daughters, eleven, thirteen and fifteen, despite often sounding like a gaggle of honking geese, were always happy to see him. Leaning against a subway post, he allowed himself to drift into ...
Weekly Contest #194
As luck would have it, the cocktail party brought together two masters of the English language. On the one hand, Arthur Lambert was a highly respected professor of English and creative writing. On the other hand, Tom Salinger was a well-known and celebrated author of short stories and novels.Professor Lambert approached the famed author and introduced himself.“Hello, Mr. Salinger. I’m so happy to have the opportunity to meet you. I’m a great fan of your writing. In fact, I use your writing in my graduate classes as a...
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