Science Fiction Microstory Contest discussion
Please help me in congratulating Chris Nance, Champion of the Science Fiction Microstory Contest
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What? Holy cow! This month had such great stories, I'm shocked. Thanks so much! :)
This election was rigged, rigged I tell you!!! I demand a recount!! There were hanging chads!!! Dead people voted!!!Oh wait, wrong vote!
Congratulations Chris! Great story and nicely done!!!
Congratulatons Chris. You wrote a good story.
Thanks again, everyone! November's theme is up! :)
Chris,See if you can move the threads for November 2016 to the top of the list. Right now, they're showing up in the middle of page two on my Goodreads list of topics.
Thanks!
-C.
by Chris Nance
“You can’t hide forever!” he shouted, his deep Drexarian voice echoing through the fractured, empty corridors. Thankfully, I could tell from our concealed position, inside the ducts of our downed cruiser, he was moving steadily away. S’rephia and I were both exhausted, having evaded for days. Even so, I was determined to kill that sonofabitch.
Our ship must have been attacked, dropped from space, and the two of us should’ve have been killed, if not for our stasis pods. Every other member of our crew, the soldiers assigned to ensure our arrival at the peace conference, was dead. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a single plasma weapon in the wreckage, so we were basically defenseless.
Her hands were trembling and S’rephia’s deep lavender eyes were wide with a primal terror. I couldn’t blame her. She was totally out of her element, after all. She’d grown up in a palace full of servants, her every need attended to…the favorite daughter of a wealthy Drexarian Raja. Me? Well, I was just a grunt, a gunnery sergeant in the Aegis Marines. I was from Kentucky. She definitely wasn’t.
“Let’s move,” I whispered but she was too petrified. So, I brushed the long silken hair from her face and kissed her softly. “Do you trust me?”
“More than anyone.” Her tensions seemed to ease.
“Well, we can’t stay here. I have an idea, but I’ll need your help.” Hesitating, she reluctantly agreed.
We crept from our shelter and eased down the hallway toward what was left of the bridge. I powered up the drive systems, which was sure to draw some attention. I had to be quick. “Take this comm. When I give you the signal, hit this button here.” She understood but when I pulled away she wouldn’t let go. “This will only work if the timing’s right.” I stared squarely into her eyes. “I’ll be back. I promise.”
“You’d better.” She pulled me close and kissed me deeply before letting go.
“Hey jackass! Over here!” I charged from the bridge, certain to make as much noise as possible as I rushed into the open, clearing the wreckage and passing the ship’s main thrusters. Then he found me, standing near the tree line at the edge of the impact crater. “Come get me!” I taunted and he charged right at me without any consideration it might be a trap. “Now!” I shouted but nothing happened. “S’rephia, now! Hit the drive!” Still nothing. “Shit.”
I fled into the jungle and caught him off-guard in the dense brush, knocking his weapon away. His claws were ready but I was done running. A lucky swipe sliced me across the arm so I returned a solid blow, shattering his jaw. He wailed then launched into me and we rolled into the brush, clawing and punching. Then, a shimmer just out of reach was sufficient motivation to leverage him away. I grabbed his lost pistol and one shot was enough to put him down.
“S’rephia!” I broke into a run when there was no response, charging back the bridge only to stop dead in my tracks as my heart nearly stopped.
“You see, I can lure you out, just as easily,” Jacob Mellows sneered. His pistol was pressed firmly against her temple and she was restrained by the neck.
“I take it the tracker was yours?” I stared unfazed into the eyes of the most famous arms dealer in the galaxy, trying not to reveal my anxiety. “Selling arms to both sides then?”
He shrugged. “It’s a pretty good gig as long as the war keeps going. I mean, the two sides were absolutely invested in destroying each other. Who knew an impossible romance between a dirty grunt and an alien princess could end it all.” He pressed the barrel in. “Way I see it, I could kill both of you now, or kill one of you and use the other as a bargaining chip. Now, which one is more valuable?” He turned his gun toward me. “Sorry.”
Instantly, his body stiffened and eyes went wide. A reflexive blast grazed my leg which burned like hell but wasn’t deadly. S’rephia retracted her spinal barbs and Mellows slid lifeless away. She ran into my arms. “Are you okay?” I ran my hand down her back. “That’s a pretty cool little trick.”
“It’s a little embarrassing, using them in such a way.”
“I think it’s kind of sexy. Now, let’s see if one of these assholes has a ship.”