Justin’s Comments (group member since Mar 13, 2016)

Justin’s comments from the Science Fiction Microstory Contest group.

Quick question. Am I supposed to include the 4th law (Zeroth Law) that you've provided into my story or create my own 4th law? It is unclear to me. Thanks!

Good one Tom!

Yes, I need donuts now!! A great story Chris! Funny how ones we don't like ourselves are popular with others!

A Barter in Blackness

You know the old saying, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone?” Well, this is kinda like that – only waaay more serious. Like, end of the human race serious. Lemme try to explain. We were all just minding our own business without a thought about extraterrestrial life when – BAM! Aliens showed up.

Well, that smartened everyone up right quick and we forgot about bombing each other and put on a united front for the first time in human history. The United Nations gained in stature and authority almost overnight, and they were the conduit for all Earth communications with the aliens. That was for the best really, because we had some real pieces of work leading several of the more – strategic – countries. You know, the ones with nukes. Yeah. Best to have a global chorus to help drown out the ones who weren’t singing from the same sheet of music.

It all started nice and formal. The whole, “We come in peace,” routine. The Ysverttie established a mission at the U.N. and explained their predicament to a public hoping for new technologies, new medicines, and new opportunities in the community of spacefaring peoples the Ysverttie told us about. It seems good ole’ Earth had some rare elements they needed to help their folks back home combat climate change. They had the same environmental problems we did?! Go figure!

Oh we were more than happy to help in exchange for what the Ysverttie could offer humanity, but there was just one small problem. Their extraction techniques made our own strip-mining look like child’s play. Imagine gouges on the Earth deeper than the Grand Canyon, crisscrossing continents and wreaking havoc on agriculture, industry, trade, and oh by the way, the ability of Earth to sustain life after they got what they needed. So, the U.N. Inter-Planetary Relations Council politely and firmly told the Ysverttie to go pound sand – after which they promptly packed up their U.N. mission and departed. Or so we thought.

It was only a few months later that the general public finally noticed a significant dimming of the sun on a global scale, like during a solar eclipse. A few scientists had noted it earlier but were ignored as crackpots. However, when every Dick and Jane on the street noticed it – well, it was kinda hard to deny. Astronomers reported that a massive, disk-like structure was now at the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point and growing steadily in diameter. Hoo-boy, that was a real doosie for sure. If things didn’t change soon, we wouldn’t have to worry about global warming anymore, or anything else for that matter. We were going to all be frozen solid.

After emergency consultations, the U.N. Security Council (having dissolved the nicer-sounding Inter-Planetary Relations Council) voted unanimously to launch the nukes. All of them. Well, a few were held back for self-defense or whatever excuse the major nuclear powers gave, but in one instant nearly ninety percent of the world’s strategic nuclear arsenal was retargeted and fired at a single point in the center of the disk. It was really – it was really a sight to see. All those silos opening, missiles leaping out of the water from submarines. It was awe-inspiring. The combined power of those explosions would absolutely annihilate the alien structure and maybe take a few of them with it. Good riddance was the prevailing public mood.

The impact was as incredible as the pundits said it would be, but the result was not what we had hoped for. After all the nuclear energies had spent their wrath on the Ysverttie structure, it continued on its merry way through space, growing larger and cutting off the sun’s light and heat to our little planet. Upon returning to the U.N., the Ysverttie said that unless we submitted to their element extraction program, they would block all sunlight from reaching the Earth. The kicker was, they were happy to negotiate with individual nations for access to the sun in exchange for so-called mineral rights. Small openings could be opened in the disk that perfectly matched a nation’s borders. Those that allowed mining would see the sun, but those that did not were consigned to perpetual darkness.

Well, that was the end of the U.N. that day I can tell you. Countries were falling all over themselves to strike individual deals with the Ysverttie. Was it a good move? I don’t know, but please excuse me as I apply some additional suntan lotion…

(749 words in story) Justin Sewall © 2025
Reviews/critiques welcome

Another great story Greg! Congrats!!

Paula wrote: "Justin very kindly and wonderfully did a reading of five of my short fiction pieces for an ill friend of mine, and I can vouch for the professional quality and simple beauty of his readings. They a..."

Thank you Paula!

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if any of you would like one of your books turned into an audio book? I have produced many through ACX, but if you prefer a different platform, I'm happy to get a profile there in order to take your project. I do royalty share projects so there are no up front costs for you (unless you really want to pay me per finished hour and no royalties). I'd be pleased to submit an audition and would not be offended if you declined. You can hear samples of my work at justinsewall.com - but I'd rather audition by reading a short selection from the book you want produced. I did a book for Jack McDaniel several years ago, and I've come a long way since then in terms of audio quality and editing speed. Feel free to drop me a line here or through my website. Thanks for listening!

A great "crop" of stories this month friends! Nicely done! I just couldn't get it in gear, so I'm sorry there is nothing from me for June. I did vote though. Again, really a good group of stories. Great work!

I should check in more often! Here I was thinking it was fan fiction and now it's different. FAN-tastic!

Carrie wrote: "Justin wrote: "Jot wrote: "Happy Birthday, Justin"

Thank you Jot! It was a good day. I had a HALO LAN party at my house with my friends. It was a blast!"

So THAT sounds like an epic birthday!!"

Thanks Carrie, it absolutely was. Any day I get to play HALO with friends is a good day. :) Congrats on your story!

Carrie wrote: "OMG stupid autocorrect and of course the app won't let me go in and edit it so let's try that again....
thanks Justin!!"

Oh, no worries. I've been called worse. LOL! :) Thanks Carrie!

Tom wrote: "Happy Birthday, Justin - 'glad you're with us."

Thank you thank you!!

Jot wrote: "Happy Birthday, Justin"

Thank you Jot! It was a good day. I had a HALO LAN party at my house with my friends. It was a blast!

Tom wrote: "Excellent imagery and world-building, Justin. Good suspense and climax, too. (Best place to hide something is in plain sight.)"

Thank you Tom!

Croatoan

“Alright, you all have your designated sectors. Fan out and keep your eyes, ears and sensors open. The ecological survey team previously left here is two weeks overdue and it’s our job to find them. Remember, we don’t know much about the flora and fauna here, so assume everything is hostile and poisonous. Keep your tracking beacons on at all times and report in every two hours. Our launch window for the return trip is in exactly 30 days. If you’re not at the rally point for extraction, you will get left behind – no exceptions. Good luck and good hunting.”
***
I was three days out from my IP when I finally got a hit on the squawk box. It was pinging pretty solid, so I vectored my recon cone to intercept. From my seat in the cone’s glass dome, I could see everything in all directions. The views were stunning even in the deepening twilight. Immediately beneath me was a forest of tree-like vegetation that swayed drunkenly as the cone’s downwash swept over it. In the distance I could see lightning outline a ridge of mountains, while on one side of the cone, further away, was what appeared to be a vast ocean that glowed with bioluminescence.

As daylight faded, the pinging continued and increased in frequency so I hit the floods, causing the forest floor to writhe and scurry away into the darkness. I reported in and made sure my sidearm was fully charged. Slowly descending, I stayed just above the treetops, causing their frightened denizens to flee from my intrusion into their world. A small clearing suddenly appeared and at its edge sat a darkened lab module.
“Central this is Cone Two, I think I’ve found something. I’m preparing to land and inspect on foot – over.”
“Copy Cone Two. Proceed with caution.”
“Affirmative Central.”
I extended the cone’s landing legs and proceeded to land on the opposite side of the clearing. After flaring the engine to incinerate anything within a twenty-foot radius, I was down. I left the floods on, a barrier of light against the black.
***
After adjusting my rebreather, I slid down the egress pole and quickly dashed across the still smoking ground to the lab module. I pushed aside some vines already growing over the entry hatch and cautiously peered inside. Aside from a few leaves and dirt, the module seemed intact and its power cell still registered green. I found the master command switch and brought the unit back to life. Surprisingly, nothing skittered away as light flooded the pod and spilled out into the clearing.
“Cone Two report,” my comm badge crackled.
“Cone Two nominal,” I replied. “I’ve found a lab module but its empty and there’s no sign of anyone from the eco team. I’m going to check their logs and see if they left any indication of where they went.”
“Copy Cone Two. Upload to Central when complete. Out.”
“Cone Two confirms.”
***
“Survey Log - Day Three: Team Leader’s report. We’ve settled in and gotten our gear unpacked. Everyone is excited to begin cataloging the amazing species we’ve already seen just from our camp’s location. A side note, Specialist Andrews seems particularly irritable for no good reason. He says it’s nothing.”

“Survey Log – Day Eight: It’s incredible. The plants here are communicating through some type of bioelectrical signals. It is especially visible at night, when you can see wisps of electricity flashing between them. This discovery has been overshadowed by the disappearance of Specialist Andrews. He’s not responding on comms, so we’ve begun a search pattern that radiates out from the camp. Oddly, there is a new log at the edge of the clearing that was not there before. We’ve not seen evidence the plants here have locomotive power.”

“Survey Log – Day Twelve: Situation critical. Now Specialists Rashiv and Takashi are also missing, but I can’t get a signal out because someone has sabotaged the main transmission antennae. For safety, I’ve pulled the rest of the team back to our camp, where two more logs have appeared. Also, I’m afraid to report this, but I seem to have developed some kind of rash that is rapidly turning into a fungal infection that covers my skin entirely. I can’t scrape it off…”

“Survey…Log - - - - - Day… what… day is it? … Itchy … tasty…”

Cone Two finished downloading the survey data and stepped outside the pod. His path was blocked by several greenish logs.

They had faces…

(750 words in story) Justin Sewall © 2025
Reviews/critiques welcome

Great stories Chris and Tom! Tom, yours was scary! Even for a short story the terror was real.

Chris, nice to see you back this month! Great action! I liked the trap twist. The writing was tight and you kept it moving forward nicely.

Nice work guys!

Great story Carrie!!

Paula wrote: "Justin wrote: "Paula wrote: "Wow, Justin, what a story. Superb suspense and dialogue. Excellent story. And the jump-to ending does work--and is quite beautiful, and neither too long nor too short. ..."

Thanks so much Paula! I do appreciate it!

Jot wrote: "Waiting for votes from Carrie and Justin...and any other member who chooses to vote."

Voting momentarily!

Tom wrote: "Justin wrote: "Tom wrote: "Interesting concept, Justin."

Thanks Tom - hopefully that is a "good" interesting and not a "bad" interesting. LOL!"

It's a good one."

Thanks Tom!