Chris’s Comments (group member since Nov 04, 2015)

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

Carrie: Lol. That's too funny! :D

Right?

Carrie, I think that if you can add fantasy elements while still maintaining the overall scifi genre, that'll do fine. The story has to be sci-fi, of course, but there's nothing preventing your from mixing the genres if you'd like. I've actually completed a manuscript that combines fantasy and sci-fi fairly effectively. It CAN be done. So, If you've got a creative, new idea, I say go for it. :)

Science Fiction Microstory Contest (September 2016)
** CRITIQUES ONLY **
The theme* for the month follows this note from the competition's Creator/Director, Jot Russell:

To help polish our skills and present a flavour of our art to other members in the group, I am continuing this friendly contest for those who would like to participate. There is no money involved, but there is also no telling what a little recognition and respect might generate. The rules are simple:

1) The story needs to be your own work and should be posted on the Good Reads Discussion board, which is a public group. You maintain responsibility and ownership of your work to do with as you please. You may withdraw your story at any time.

2) The stories must be 750 words or less.

3) The stories have to be science fiction, follow a specific theme and potentially include reference to items as requested by the prior month's contest winner. The theme for this month is posted below.

4) You have until midnight EST on the 22nd day of the month to post your story to the Good Reads Science Fiction Microstory Contest discussion. One story per author per month.

5) After, anyone from the LI Sci-Fi group or the GR Science Fiction Microstory Discussion group has until midnight EST of the 25th day of the month to cast a single private vote to Jot Russell () for a story other than their own. This vote will be made public once voting is closed. Voting is required. If you do not vote, your story will be disqualified from the contest. You don't need a qualifying story to cast a vote, but must offer the reason for your vote if you don’t have an entry.

6) To win, a story needs at least half of the votes, or be the only one left after excluding those with the fewest votes. Runoffs will be run each day until a winner is declared. Stories with vote totals that add up to at least half, discarding those with the fewest votes, will be carried forward to the next runoff election. Prior votes will be carried forward to support runoff stories. If you voted for a story that did not make it into the runoff, you need to vote again before midnight EST of that day. Only people who voted in the initial round may vote in the runoffs.

7) Please have all posts abide by the rules of Good Reads and the LI Sci-Fi group.

8) Professional comments and constructive criticisms are appreciated by any member in either group and should be posted to the separate thread that will be posted at the end of the month and all voting is complete to avoid any influence on the voting. Feel free to describe elements that you do and don't like, as these help us gain a better perspective of our potential readers. Remarks deemed inflammatory or derogatory will be flagged and/ or removed by the moderator.

9) The winner has THREE days after the start of the new month to make a copy of these rules and post a new contest thread using the theme/items of their choosing. Otherwise, the originator of the contest, Jot Russell, will post a new contest thread.
______________________________

*Theme / Requirements for the August 2016 contest:

An alien plague (used in any manner you wish)

Must be SciFi

Must Include the following elements:

1. A tragic twist (cure, outcome, discovery...etc.)

2. A dragon (used in any manner you wish)

Science Fiction Microstory Contest (September 2016)
** COMMENTS ONLY **
The theme* for the month follows this note from the competition's Creator/Director, Jot Russell:

To help polish our skills and present a flavour of our art to other members in the group, I am continuing this friendly contest for those who would like to participate. There is no money involved, but there is also no telling what a little recognition and respect might generate. The rules are simple:

1) The story needs to be your own work and should be posted on the Good Reads Discussion board, which is a public group. You maintain responsibility and ownership of your work to do with as you please. You may withdraw your story at any time.

2) The stories must be 750 words or less.

3) The stories have to be science fiction, follow a specific theme and potentially include reference to items as requested by the prior month's contest winner. The theme for this month is posted below.

4) You have until midnight EST on the 22nd day of the month to post your story to the Good Reads Science Fiction Microstory Contest discussion. One story per author per month.

5) After, anyone from the LI Sci-Fi group or the GR Science Fiction Microstory Discussion group has until midnight EST of the 25th day of the month to cast a single private vote to Jot Russell () for a story other than their own. This vote will be made public once voting is closed. Voting is required. If you do not vote, your story will be disqualified from the contest. You don't need a qualifying story to cast a vote, but must offer the reason for your vote if you don’t have an entry.

6) To win, a story needs at least half of the votes, or be the only one left after excluding those with the fewest votes. Runoffs will be run each day until a winner is declared. Stories with vote totals that add up to at least half, discarding those with the fewest votes, will be carried forward to the next runoff election. Prior votes will be carried forward to support runoff stories. If you voted for a story that did not make it into the runoff, you need to vote again before midnight EST of that day. Only people who voted in the initial round may vote in the runoffs.

7) Please have all posts abide by the rules of Good Reads and the LI Sci-Fi group.

8) Professional comments and constructive criticisms are appreciated by any member in either group and should be posted to the separate thread that will be posted at the end of the month and all voting is complete to avoid any influence on the voting. Feel free to describe elements that you do and don't like, as these help us gain a better perspective of our potential readers. Remarks deemed inflammatory or derogatory will be flagged and/ or removed by the moderator.

9) The winner has THREE days after the start of the new month to make a copy of these rules and post a new contest thread using the theme/items of their choosing. Otherwise, the originator of the contest, Jot Russell, will post a new contest thread.
______________________________

*Theme / Requirements for the August 2016 contest:

An alien plague (used in any manner you wish)

Must be SciFi

Must Include the following elements:

1. A tragic twist (cure, outcome, discovery...etc.)

2. A dragon (used in any manner you wish)

Thanks so much everyone! I'm happy I was able to come up with something a bit new. Sometimes in sci-fi, it feels like everything's already been done. So I'm glad you liked it. :)

(Science Fiction Microstory Contest September 2016)
** STORIES ONLY **
The theme* for the month follows this note from the competition's Creator/Director, Jot Russell:

To help polish our skills and present a flavour of our art to other members in the group, I am continuing this friendly contest for those who would like to participate. There is no money involved, but there is also no telling what a little recognition and respect might generate. The rules are simple:

1) The story needs to be your own work and should be posted on the Good Reads Discussion board, which is a public group. You maintain responsibility and ownership of your work to do with as you please. You may withdraw your story at any time.

2) The stories must be 750 words or less.

3) The stories have to be science fiction, follow a specific theme and potentially include reference to items as requested by the prior month's contest winner. The theme for this month is posted below.

4) You have until midnight EST on the 22nd day of the month to post your story to the Good Reads Science Fiction Microstory Contest discussion. One story per author per month.

5) After, anyone from the LI Sci-Fi group or the GR Science Fiction Microstory Discussion group has until midnight EST of the 25th day of the month to cast a single private vote to Jot Russell () for a story other than their own. This vote will be made public once voting is closed. Voting is required. If you do not vote, your story will be disqualified from the contest. You don't need a qualifying story to cast a vote, but must offer the reason for your vote if you don’t have an entry.

6) To win, a story needs at least half of the votes, or be the only one left after excluding those with the fewest votes. Runoffs will be run each day until a winner is declared. Stories with vote totals that add up to at least half, discarding those with the fewest votes, will be carried forward to the next runoff election. Prior votes will be carried forward to support runoff stories. If you voted for a story that did not make it into the runoff, you need to vote again before midnight EST of that day. Only people who voted in the initial round may vote in the runoffs.

7) Please have all posts abide by the rules of Good Reads and the LI Sci-Fi group.

8) Professional comments and constructive criticisms are appreciated by any member in either group and should be posted to the separate thread that will be posted at the end of the month and all voting is complete to avoid any influence on the voting. Feel free to describe elements that you do and don't like, as these help us gain a better perspective of our potential readers. Remarks deemed inflammatory or derogatory will be flagged and/ or removed by the moderator.

9) The winner has THREE days after the start of the new month to make a copy of these rules and post a new contest thread using the theme/items of their choosing. Otherwise, the originator of the contest, Jot Russell, will post a new contest thread.
______________________________

*Theme / Requirements for the August 2016 contest:

An alien plague (used in any manner you wish)

Must be SciFi

Must Include the following elements:

1. A tragic twist (cure, outcome, discovery...etc.)

2. A dragon (used in any manner you wish)

I agree! Nice job Jon! You were actually my number one vote this month!

Whoot! Thanks so much! It's always such a great contest. Every month there are so many great stories, so many awesome ideas, and so much terrific talent. I really do appreciate it it!

Carrie, thanks so much for your critique and I'm happy you enjoyed my story. I'm already at the word limit and might have to figure out a better way to explain that the leviathan actually ate the aliens the humans found in the monster's stomach, devouring whole cities at a time. I think perhaps the story may still be a little vague in that area.

The Leviathan

A mechanical whir preceded a whistling hiss as atmospheres equalized. I could feel my hands shaking, anxious to even step aboard…though I suppose ‘step aboard’ wouldn’t exactly be accurate in this case. The military had been sitting on their little discovery for almost two decades. Originally a pet project for a handful of scientists with the highest level security clearance, it suddenly became a larger operation. At least that’s what I’d learned.

The reinforced hatchway slid steadily to open and a soldier in light fatigues was there to meet me. “Dr. Foster?”

I hoped my nerves didn’t show. “Yes, that’s me.”

“Welcome to the Leviathan. I’m Colonel Nelson. You’ve been briefed?”

“A bit,” I explained. I’d received the classified information via physical courier while vacationing on Europa, unusual in this digital age of instantaneous communication. I suppose it ensured the encrypted dossier reached my eyes only. Of course, the most shocking revelation in the dozens of files was that we weren’t alone in the universe and I was about to step into the literal carcass of an impossible creature, the floating exoskeleton of a spacefaring monster. We’d discovered it by chance survey, drifting amongst the countless tons of icy debris around Saturn. Now, it orbited beneath a synthetic cocoon of plasteel and tech, sequestered away. Curiously though, after everything I’d read and learned, I wasn’t sure at all why they needed an anthropologist.

Colonel Nelson was my escort as we proceeded inside the skull. It smelled old, not rotten or foul like you’d expect of a decayed corpse, but sterile and dusty. There were teams everywhere, moving this way and that, some of them scientists, marked only by their blue fatigues, the same I’d received with my invitation.

“Colonel, why am I here?”

“The simple answer is that you were the closest,” he replied. “At least close enough to shuttle you in quickly. The more complex answer is that you have a disappearing specialty and increasingly rarer expertise.”

“You do know my specialty's anthropology, right? Studying ancient civilizations and stuff? I mean, I kind of feel like you’ve got the wrong guy.” Then, we rounded a junction and I was suddenly awed. “Holy crap,” I marveled at the massive cavern, the petrified interior of the monster’s hulking carapace. Artificial lighting stretched its entire length and teamed with activity at every level, some personnel working weightlessly while others were bound by the gravitational deck plating of their workstations.

“Until recently, you’d be right. We’ve got experts from every specialty you can imagine – physicists, zoologist, neuroanatomists…”

“So why me?” We stepped aboard a small shuttle which drifted away into the expansive void. “It seems like you’ve got all the minds you need.”

“Not quite, Dr. Foster.” It was a short trip to the next dock. “This way.” He led me though another corridor built of plastic sheeting over an aluminum frame and handed me an environmental suit.

“You’ll need this.”

“I will? Honestly Colonel, what’s this all about?”

He didn’t answer and zipped the helmet in place, escorting me through a cleanroom where great effort had obviously been taken to ensure full containment. Another whir and hiss and we stepped inside. “Welcome to the stomach.”

To say I was astounded crossing the threshold would be an understatement, the least of which was the tremendous plastic dome towering twenty stories above us. More striking was what the dome contained: the shattered remains of a destroyed civilization. Ruined structures and crumbling walls obviously fabricated by a thinking hand now laid in fractured heaps, the space overflowing with devastated debris.

My first awestruck step met a crunch and I discovered the floor was layered with countless old bones most of them mashed into little pieces. Then, I literally stumbled upon a curiosity both amazing and terrible, hefting it with both hands. It was obviously a skull, some pieces of bluish flesh still clinging to it and three empty eye sockets staring back at me. The nasal cavity seemed set into the forehead and the mouth, if that’s indeed what it was, seemed almost too small for any sizeable bite. “Colonel, why am I here?” I asked again, now with more dread.

“Seventeen days ago, we discovered an anomaly in our long range scopes. It was one of these colossal space monsters headed directly for our system with unclear intentions. Now, we need to know who these people were, if they were the ones who killed it, and how. You have three weeks.”


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Way to go Jack! Your story was excellent! :)

The Lab

“Shit, what did I touch?” I exclaimed as a series of hovering alien symbols began cycling in front of me.

“Hold on,” Marie replied, punching commands into her own virtual data pad. “I’m not sure you really touched anything.” She peered into the illuminated screen, studying the numbers from the algorithm that was able to loosely translate the crooked icons into English. “It looks like a countdown.”

“A countdown to what?” I wondered.

“I’m not sure but this is the most amount of data we’ve ever been able to get from these systems. Its progressing down through a series and my programming is associating these symbols to specific numbers and correlating them to words.” Then, a new alien message paused in front of us.

“What does it say?”

“It says…‘sending’,” she explained and the countdown resumed.

"Well, what the hell is it sending and to whom?” I asked, the message flashing again as the alien numbers continued cycling down.

“Honestly, I just don’t know,” she explained, typing data into her computer as fast as new information would come in. “We’ve been studying this site for a generation and have never been able to get this much at once.”

“So, this is how you choose to spend your vacation?” I joked.

“Hey, it’s better than sitting in a lab,” she replied. “Besides, someone’s got to do it. I mean, a place like this is so heavily classified that we’re not exactly overflowing with xenomathematicians. There’s maybe a half dozen people in the whole world who could even remotely decipher the code here.”

“I get it. But you passed up a two week paid vacation to Olympus Mons to sit in a dusty old cave in Peru and stare into a datapad. I mean, this old underground city’s probably thousands of years old. It’s not going anywhere.”

“Millions actually,” she clarified, never taking her gaze away from the streams of information. I knew she was in her own zone because she suddenly clammed up, focusing wide-eyed on the data surging across her display.

“So what is this place?” I wondered and she ignored me. “Um, hello?”

“Huh? What?” she finally replied and smirked. “Lieutenant, you’re here to defend the facility, not ask questions.”

“Blah…blah,” I mocked. “I’ll let my men worry about that.”

Marie looked up from her screen, if just to act the part of the professor. “We’re not exactly sure. All we know is it’s alien…and extremely advanced. Way more sophisticated technologically than we are now.”

“This place is huge. Why’s it underground?” I asked.

“I have a theory,” she said. “I actually submitted it to the Agency but never heard back.”

“Yeah? So what’s the deal?” I ran my hand along one of the dusty panels.

“I think it was some sort of hidden lab,” she said. “I mean, we’ve discovered all sorts of things…examination tables, clean rooms, refrigeration chambers, scanners, dissection equipment…”

“Wait a minute,” I suddenly stopped her with some concern. “What the hell were they dissecting?”

“Who knows!” she said with an excited chuckle. “This place hasn’t been used in over a million years!”

Then, the alien display froze and an alarm sounded on her datapad. “What’s happening?”

“The countdown…it’s stopped.” She punched commands into the interface, studying the readings feverishly. “It says, message received.”

“What does that mean?” I wondered and systems all around us began to activate, jumping to life. Old dormant consoles flashed alive with otherworldly symbols and charts and diagrams displayed all over the room, a lightshow of information. A display of the Earth materialized and alien coordinates pinpointed locations around the globe.

Marie marveled at the information pouring in nonstop. “There are dozens of facilities like this one hidden all over the world!”

Unexpectedly, from an emitter in the center of the room, we found a familiar image circling on its long axis. It was obviously a human form, standing in anatomical position, alien icons and pointers scrolled over the body as layer upon layer of its structure was removed before the image would cycle back and begin again. “What are we looking at here?” I wondered but she didn’t answer. “Well?”

“I…I,” she looked up from her screen and was obviously shaken.

“Spit it out!” I demanded.

“You…you didn’t touch anything. The countdown started externally.”

“How?”

Marie paused before answering, terrified by a new discovery. “We must have hit ten billion people.”

“What does that mean?”

“This place isn’t a lab,” she explained. “It’s a slaughterhouse.”



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Congratulations Jack! :)

Heather and Justin, I guess I should clarify that I didn't really struggled with referring to a correct time stream but that the inability to use time travel definitely crimps your ability to do that. For without time travel from an established time stream, alternate history becomes relative. And given that this is an alternate history theme for a science fiction themed group, incorporating some sort of futuristic sci-fi element was a great challenge! I had quite a few ideas but couldn't get past the time travel dilemma for some reason. Maybe it was just my own personal roadblock.

Justin, I think your theme for this month was excellent in that it made me think outside the box a bit! So, thanks for that!

Anyways, I really, really appreciate both your compliments with regards to what I ultimately came up with. This is such a supportive group!

The Chronicle Mathematica

Whoa to the world, our beloved Earth! For the fate of man, be it marvelous or wretched, is a mere byproduct of tragic history. Surely the plagues, starvation, suffering, and death are an aberration, a side effect of man’s unnatural quest for power and control. At least I have learned as much.

Of course, there was a time when I would have thought the idea ungentlemanly, any suggestion that man could not command his own fate. But then, I was a younger lad, not yet introduced to this very tome, this Chronicle Mathematica…the pages from which you now read. I have come to understand it has no author, other than addendums by great leaders of history, a volume born of time itself. Discovered by chance in an age long forgotten, it details a true and accurate course for mankind’s endurance, meticulous equations so profound that even the slightest deviation promises destruction. For providence’s sake, my name is Benjamin Franklin and this shall be the last entry before this world’s end.

The skies have turned to soot of late, men driven to madness and panic. I fear the passages of Revelations now bear fruit. Though I had never put much credence to Armageddon, in my time I have never witnessed days such as these. From coastal waters to unexplored Appalachian peaks, furious tempests shake even granite foundations. In younger days, I once tested the heavens but these bolts are truly unmatched, storms setting whole cities ablaze, winds sweeping fertile lands bare. Most tragically, there are lost friends…acquaintances I cannot seem to remember through this paradox, though I try.

We Freemasons, and other fraternities long expired, have defended this ancient knowledge since the dawn of time, honored to count the greatest among us, DaVinci, Sir Newton, General Washington. Truly, scholars have exhausted millennia deciphering the mathematical code contained herein, mapping the secrets hidden in the numbers, a pathway that ensures the future of men. I freely admit there have been calamities along the way: the burning of the Library at Alexandria, the fall of Rome, the rise of the Dark ages, and we must never forget the sacking of Atlantis, a paradox so great, it swallowed their civilization whole. Still, all were preventable had we not strayed, yet none were so tragic as this end of times.

Regrettably, this is a maelstrom I fear we cannot weather, a storm born of surrender to King George. My heart knew it was a mistake even then, though louder voices prevailed. We were destined for greatness and I dreaded the price of deviating from the Chronicle’s plan. What once was a dream of thirteen colonies against the tyranny of a monarch has now led to the end of the world. Why? Because men were destined to be free. Whilst the pathway promised the greatest civilization the world had ever seen, via our unified colonies, we became prey to fear. Even so, I shall not shun my culpability in this disaster, for I should have been a more ardent voice in a sea of great men. Ultimately however, amongst the bloodshed and corpses, we capitulated to the empty promise of peace, an armistice that was, in fact, a lie. I barely escaped the King’s redcoats with my life and my limbs and this Chronicle Mathematica.

Alas, I await the end, retreated underground as a footnote to history, jotting these last days by quill and by firelight, a final addendum to the Chronicle. Thankfully, the end of this age welcomes renewal, for the equations also detail a rebirth, again and again, until the frailty of men can unravel our petty differences, forgive our neighbor, and abandon our fruitless pursuits of power.

I gain solace, at least, in my own caveat joining the other cautionary tales of notable figures. Ramses II, Augustus Caesar, Charlemagne, and even DaVinci offer their own laments to future generations, fortune willing. I hesitate speculation at the tragedies that befell their own civilizations in their own desperate times. Hopefully, our repeated admonitions of a world gone wrong will ring true with a new prosperity of men.

If, by fortunes mercy, mankind rises once more, guide our future generations rigidly along the pathway outlined herein and thrive. Do not succumb to fear. Do not become a victim of time…

**********

In a dusty cave, at the edge of tomorrow, the light breaks through the smallest of cracks, the sun hitting the pages of an ancient tome for the first time…or the last…


747 words

Boy, I've struggled with this month's theme! I've had a difficult time (get it?) wrapping my head around an alternative history that, lacking time travel (or alien intervention), can't refer to a normal time stream as a reference. All that and it still should still embrace the science fiction genre? Whoa! At least I finally think I have something worth submitting. Not my finest work, especially compared to the one's I've seen, but I've got a couple of weeks to work on it.

Nice job, Justin!

Accused
by Chris Nance

Swayed by a promise of a peaceful galaxy, I was a fool. And for too long I was their Champion, granted powers and abilities unimaginable on Earth…a tool of the Assembly of Benevolent Lords. What a joke! Sure, it was only because of them that I could do anything at all, but I’d become slave to a syndicate of nobles…herald to a lie.

“Tyson Braddock! You stand accused,” the Arbiter declared from the darkness above me. “Present the charges!” Each of the twelve Primes sat atop their own lofty, shadowed pedestals while I stood shackled under spotlight. To think that I’d one sworn fealty to these devils!

The clerk stepped forward, a timid, yellow creature with huge obsidian eyes. He trembled with datapad in hand, likely terrified at accompanying me, their traitorous Champion, atop the dais. “Tyson Alexander Braddock, First of Earth, you are hereby accused of treason, insubordination, and murder. How do you answer…”

“Guilty,” I interrupted confidently.

The Assembly instantly broke into debate, stunned at my immediate declaration of culpability and eager to get to my sentencing straight away. “Order!” the Arbiter declared as the klaxon thundered.

“Arbiter,” a softer female voice asked. “If I may?”

“I yield to the Prime of Candora.”

Arlarem, Prime of Candora, was my sole ally in the Assembly. She exuded a kindness the others lacked and was my original sponsor, my only regret in defying their will. Even so, it had to stop. I had to stop. I wouldn’t kill for them anymore. “Tyson, you’ll not even defend yourself?”

I allowed my anger to settle. After all, my beef was with the rest of these assholes and not her. “There’s nothing to defend. I’m guilty as sin,” I confirmed. She secretly sympathized with my goals, outwardly lamenting my defiance while clandestinely supporting me. I hoped someday she’d join me. Maybe it was too late.

“But what you’ve done…” she noted. “In the history of Champions, none have ever defied us. None have ever...” She trailed off. “Was it worth it…the Assembly forces you killed?”

“To save billions?” I asked rhetorically. “Look at all of you! You sit in your ivory tower atop your goddam pedestals, drinking wine and doling out fortunes…the masters of fates! Your own virtues are vice!”

“Silence!” the Arbiter demanded against the klaxon. “Such ingratitude! Such wasted potential! Of the millions screened, you alone, a pitiful Earther, survived the fusing process! You owe us! You belong to us! Instead, you chose...”

“To do what this Assembly wouldn’t! To save whole planets!” I interrupted. “I discovered your secret! You rule as Caesar on a gilded throne while the people starve…while they rot with disease. Still, they grovel for you! You have miracles here that could cure every ill, could feed every mouth, yet you keep it for yourselves and justify the class divide as fair payment, as extortion, for keeping the peace! Damn you!” I paused then added, “You are not above the people!”

“An irony, particularly for you.” He sighed, wearily. “Tyson Braddock, we sentence you to Erasure. Your existence will be stripped from this time stream and your planet will pay for your defiance. Order will be restored.”

“Arbiter?”

“Do have more to add, Arlarem?”

“If the council would indulge me, as Tyson’s sponsor, I should administer the sentencing…to restore my position.”

“That would be appropriate,” he agreed…and I knew I’d finally won her.

Arlarem’s slender, finely gowned frame descended into the light of the dais. She was as beautiful as ever, her flowing lavender hair shadowing the deepest twilight eyes. I’d loved her from the beginning. “It’s time,” she said sadly.

“Yes it is.” So, I began by breaking my shackles and stepping through their useless restraining field. Of course, they immediately panicked. In their arrogance, they’d miscalculated, for I’d hidden my true potential all along. I’d become even too powerful for them. My plan? Allow them to capture me. I knew the entire Assembly would be present for my execution, the sick bastards. The only variable, really, was Arlarem.

“Assembly of Malevolent Sonsofbitches,” I now accused. “I find you guilty of genocide, placing wealth over life, and sabotaging destinies to further your own. You’ve been very bad. Now, when my asteroids strike, try not to piss yourselves,” I said, though I suspect some of them already had. I turned to her, “Are you ready, my love, to change the galaxy?”

She kissed my lips softly and we shifted away as the sky began to fall.


748 words

Congrats Jeremy! Way to go! :)