Science Fiction Microstory Contest discussion
Please help me in congratulating Chris Nance, Champion of the Science Fiction Microstory Contest
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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!
Congratulations, Chris.And to Jon, too, for a fine story.
I agree! Nice job Jon! You were actually my number one vote this month!
Congratulations! Really good story, Chris. I don't think I've ever seen this particular story told in anything I've read. It's a really cool twist.
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. :)
Good job Chris. Thanks for a well written, good story.John
Chris Nance
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.”