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Weekly Contest #371
The night pitched over the road that burrowed through Wyoming’s interior. Ethan drove under the midnight oil, hoping to reach Cheyenne before morning, aware that his aging figure would give out if he never stopped to rest. He switched on the radio, hoping for lively music to stir him awake for the next few hours; instead, he came across a news report on a heated escalation abroad. He promptly switched it off, yawned, and refocused on the dotted lines rolling underneath the cone of lights. Perhaps it would have been all the wiser had he taken...
Weekly Contest #234
Slowly, Alec Brumberg waded through the dust. Days came and went since the last bit of debris trickled down like acid rain after long episodes of shaking and rumbling. The powder caked everything below in what looked like a winter wonderland. Outside, he instinctively knew it was no different. His stomach groaned without end, and if he didn’t find any food soon, he was certain to waste away like the rest. Finally, a shaft of light split the shadowy depths from whence he clawed his way. The path to freedom was ob...
Weekly Contest #215
“Are you sure this is the right address, Tiff?” Freddy asked as he pulled into the weather-worn driveway at the discretion of his wife. “I know Deborah's family recently moved, but I don't remember anything about remodeling an old house.” He gazed at the tattered edifice with a degree of consternation. It stood as black as night, casting its own shadow in a self-contained space. The groves surrounding it were in an equal state of neglect with overgrown trees and weeds sprouting through the cracks in the pavement. “We...
Weekly Contest #213
The last dab of paint finalized the oil on canvas, at least in part. Excel-354 held his joint to his chest plate while using the other hand to couch his angular chin. The pose he rested in looked odd, something of the uncanny valley, but it came naturally to him, reflecting a human quality that he hoped would also reflect in his work. Contemplating, his mouth twisted into a quizzical crook.“Hm. Does it look brighter to you?” he asked without breaking posture.Sunday, the maid who was on one of her weekly visits to the esta...
Weekly Contest #211
The door blew wide open, the blast hole serrated and peeled. “Go! Go! Go!” he shouted. The infantry followed orders and slipped through the smoking orifice. They were pitched into the blinding darkness with the exception of a thin shaft of light from outside. The night blindness was no longer relevant when they switched to infrared in order to pick up any heat signatures, friend or foe, abounding in the zone of action. There had to have been at least a few survivors, but Keller was ordered by the general to find one ...
Weekly Contest #192
Tarl kept climbing. He was used to the added twenty percent of gravity on Sediment, even though it sometimes took a toll on his hamstrings later on. The treasure he sought was not only worth the trouble, but a lot more valuable than the time lost on a few days of leg recovery. Platinum, and lots of it from what he was told, was an element forged in the collision between two neutron stars. It was too rare in the galaxy to pass up, but then again, so was another life-bearing planet out past the 14 Cancri system. One p...
Weekly Contest #189
The conjuror sat upright against the bay window that framed him into a profile as dark as the rest of the room. Beside his chair lay a book still warm to the touch after use, and it was one he kept in his possession for occasions like this. He stood up, his features almost indiscernible before the window where the light cast from the street below was the only source splitting the pervasive darkness. The room was unlit, dissuading midnight pedestrians roaming the streets from looking in, as the conjuror had planned. Af...
Weekly Contest #186
Prologue From the depths of ancient star clusters to the far-flung galaxies at the edge of the cosmos, I, Lord of Creation, He Who Causes To Be, shall make this universe my mercy seat, a residence without restriction to a single place, to be a life among fiery births and contortions in the fabric of space itself. Omnipresence is a state of being no mortal sentient can enumerate or calculate with any tangible result. Time is never the essence; I can see the temporal continuums folding in and out of themselves like an ever-revealin...
“Hey, Burt. Guess what?” “What is it, Bart?” “I was down by the pier having a casual smoke and, in the bay, was a crate I found lapping against the waves. Curious, I fished it out––don’t ask me how––and opened it with a crowbar I happened to find along the quay. And of all the things in the world, do you know what I saw?” “Gosh, Bart. What did you see?” “Nothing!” “Nothing?” “Nothing. Zip. Empty air. So, after groaning a long-winded show of frustration, I kicked the crate back into the bay, went to t...
Weekly Contest #184
“Looks like the gig is up for us. This little sprite had a lot of gall. He found the glitch, and we’re at a loss as what our next move should be. Certainly, we can’t bring harm to him, given he’s so young and innocent. But he knows the morbid truth and we can’t sit idly around twiddling our thumbs at such a breach.” “They’re sprites, simulated protocols fer God’s sake!” Xuan was only twelve, but that didn’t stop him from turning every little thing upside down to see what it was, or how it worked. He never sto...
Manny Ormann, Director of National Intelligence, watched the mannerisms of the President. Her decorum was off kilter, as if she was stuck on a feeling she couldn’t shake. Her hands fidgeted away behind the podium, so Ormann was unable to see what she was doing, whether she was handling something or was simply restless He waited for her to start, perplexed at what was vexing her since he submitted the daily briefing. “You know,” she began, now visibly irritated, “since I’m now in charge, things should be going the way that b...
Weekly Contest #182
The skyline arched from the ground all the way up to spear the sky. The afternoon sun blazed its ivory crown over a cityscape of spires, needles and transport lattices, topping them with a creamy glare. Tiny specks of airborne thru-lanes thronged the high tiers far above and near-surface pedways below. Tariel swiveled his eyes up and down as he glanced through the lensed windows, searching for a momentary escape from the escalating anxiety wracking his conscience.“So,” the tone of the city Commissioner pierced the room, “tell ...
Weekly Contest #174
“Did you see that?” “Let’s see,” the director said, drawing out the long ‘ee’ vowel. “An anomalous source of gravity outside a galaxy with no perceptible source… Hm. I’d say you hit another patch of dark matter.” Dr. Cassius Langdon twisted his mouth slightly, cogitating. “Considering observations over the past three months, there’s been a noticeable uptick in the gravity in these specified areas.” “Uptick? You mean there's a density of matter that's una...
Weekly Contest #173
What looked like a human was seen flying through the skies of Tuscany. Local vintners battening down for the season witnessed the phenomenon up close as the suspect wantonly scoured through the vineyards before taking off into a steep trajectory. Baffled, they swore it was a prepubescent youth shouting with glee as he yawed through the snowclad fields. Young Niccolo Sabbatani ran down the narrow steps stripped with a rug that dampened the hardwood reverb. It was Christmas morning, and the sun was barely ...
Weekly Contest #172
The sound of drumming fingernails rattled through the assembly room. “This could spell trouble,” the Prime Administrator said under his breath. He stared out the window toward the planet in question and shook his head in distress.“Fellow praxeologists,” he continued, facing back toward the panoply of committee researchers from cultures spanning the galaxy, “I’m afraid we’ve come across a potential impasse. If said inhabitants,” he gestured toward the window, “barring their fickle behavior, find a way to escape their planet and...
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