Science Fiction Microstory Contest discussion
APRIL 2024 SCIENCE FICTION MICROSTORY CONTEST (Stories only)
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Different Ballgame"Roswell is in that direction," said Fox. He was trying to adjust his bow tie using the rear view mirror of a large truck parked at the charging station. He therefore gestured with his head in an easterly direction, without using his otherwise occupied hands.
"I'm not looking for Roswell," said the diminutive figure standing behind him.
Fox glanced around for a brief moment. "Are you a cos-player, or a baseball mascot?" he asked. He paused, then began again, sounding apologetic. "Sorry, I just assumed you were heading for Roswell in that getup, but that's the wrong jersey for the Invaders."
"I'm actually trying to get to The Bronx," said the stranger. "Bit of a fender-bender though." He-- and Fox assumed it was a he from the low voice-- coughed, and then cleared his throat. "Pardon me," he said. "It's dusty."
"Bit hot for a full body costume," said Fox.
"Bit hot for a penguin suit," said the stranger, snappily.
"You got me there," said Fox. He moved his lips as if he’d been about to grin, but then had abruptly decided not to. "There is a clothing store and showers inside," he said. "Full feature truck stop."
"Thank you. I may avail myself later," said the stranger. "You mentioned Roswell before. Am I to assume that I'm in New Mexico?"
"Yes," said Fox.
"Darn," said the stranger, shaking his head. "Long way to New York."
"Indeed," said Fox. He finished fiddling with his bow tie, and began adjusting his collar instead. "Your auto is no longer drivable?"
"My--" the stranger paused, awkwardly. "Yes, my vehicle isn't going anywhere any time soon." He picked up an object that had been lying on the blacktop behind him, and waved it around in an explanatory manner. It resembled a rather dented hubcap. Assuming that damaged hubcaps glowed with lambent blue light, of course.
Fox ignored the Cherenkov radiation. "Bad crash, huh?"
"You know what they say," said the stranger. "Any crash you walk away from."
“That’s true,” said Fox, sagely. He’d become something of a connoisseur of arduous landings, in his current job.
“I was on my way to Yankee Stadium,” said the stranger, tugging at his jersey. “Always wanted to watch a game there. Life long dream of mine. Do you follow baseball?”
“It’s a bit like cricket,” said Fox. “But with more tobacco chewing, right?”
“Not exactly,” said the stranger. “I’d be glad to explain the rules of the game to you--”
"We're not heading East," said Fox, firmly, cutting directly to the essential essence of the matter. “Also,” he said, pointing at a diminutive convertible, parked at a charging station for smaller vehicles, nearby. “Only got room for two. I’m sorry.”
"Pity," said the stranger. His wrinkled, green face looked crestfallen, for just an instant. "Say, though," he said, hitching his shoulders and regaining some of his prior composure. He nodded towards the truck stop. "Do you think they have hot dogs with relish?"
###
RIDE THE RAINBOWTexas – near the Mexican border - 1860
Sebastian laughed as the angry slave hunter snatched the harmonica from his mouth. Right in the middle of his favorite Bach concerto.
“I can’t stand another sour note on that danged thing!” the straggly-haired hick growled as he threw the harmonica into the desert sands, kicking and swearing under the night stars.
“Now, was that nice?” Sebastian joked, his eyes tracing the milky way, bright and beautiful. “Music is just what a night like this demands! Now, where’s your gratitude for all life offers?” He chuckled as the hunter scowled, his rotted yellow teeth clenched in the soft starlight.
“You just shut your mouth,” the man grumbled, spittle dribbling down his beard stubble. “You’ve caused us enough trouble. I’m gonna laugh when they break your neck in the noose. Damn’ ablish’nists…all the same! Nigra-lovin’ trash!”
Sebastian laughed, playing with his hand cuffs. They were still angry that he’d gotten those runaway ex-slaves across the Mexican border, albeit at the cost of his own freedom. “That gallows is just a jumping off point for parts unknown, friend. Some find their freedom across that border…others at the end of a rope. But, the only real slaves are the ones like you who enslave themselves in their own misery.”
“Hey!” one of the other two hunters shouted, shuffling a grubby deck of playing cards in the light of the campfire. “There’s a damn’ ace missing! Who’s got it?”
“Oh, that’d be me,” Sebastian said, holding up the ace he’d lifted earlier and tossing it, spinning through the air, laughing as it shriveled in the fire.
All three hunters surrounded him. “You no-account…I ‘aint gonna wait fer no hangin’…” one of them said as he aimed his rifle at Sebastian’s head and cocked the hammer.
Sebastian smiled, looking up at the stars. Cleaner way to go than on the gallows anyway, he thought.
The blaze of light overhead was like a new dawn…a soft blue/silver burn as something like a ball of heavenly fire crashed in the desert, tossing up a geyser of sand as the blue fire burned low and faded.
“What in hell?” one of the hunters whispered in fear. “What in tarnation was that?”
“One a’ them meteors I heard tell’a, I reckon. Look…w-what’s that??”
Sebastian saw the massive dark shape making its way towards them from the smoldering crash site. Like an immense inky shadow, wisps of darkness writhing like the tentacles of some immense, nightmarish black squid. Multiple red eyes burned like coals in the darkness. The hunters opened fire, their eyes blazing in mortal terror as their bullets dissolved harmlessly into dust. The cosmic monstrosity changed form, fluid as a demon in a dream…talons, fangs…twisting serpentine heads. Sebastian watched with a mixture of awe and exhilarating horror as the thing eviscerated his former captors, tearing them limb from limb.
He stood as the thing approached him. His blood raced too rapidly to admit fear. Only wonder. Sweet, intoxicating wonder. The handcuffs turned to dust as he found himself in a ballroom, couples swirling to the music of a band. He found himself attired in a shining blue-white striped suit and top hat. The shadow thing transformed into a beautiful young woman in a ball gown. Her eyes sparkled like stars, her smile warm as sunshine. “You are as beautiful as a lavender twilight, m’lady,” he said with a bow and a flourish, a shower of lilies appearing from his doffed chapeau.
“Y’all say the kindest things, sir,” she said as the ball room became a lawn party under a sunny blue sky.
“Is this all a dream?” he asked, taking her graceful form in his arms.
“It’s all sub-atomic particles vibrating through quantum space,” she said as time and space danced to the silken tones of her voice, each timeline like a color of the rainbow, arcing gracefully across infinity. He saw negro soldiers marching to victory in blue Union uniforms. Decades flitting by as ships sailed the depths of the sea and rose above the clouds. Rockets rising on pillars of fire, carrying men to the silver sands of the moon…
“My ship will repair itself soon,” she said, multitudes of stars and galaxies swirling around her like sparkles of her jewelry. “I’d love your company.”
He smiled, kissing her hand. “You honor me, madam.” He rode the rainbow of time with her as her ship rose like a silver phoenix.
Mod
©2024 by Jot Russell
Earth was dying, at least that what people had been saying. The waters of Borealis continued to recede, and our farms suffered. Even the beasts of the north had to travel closer to steal our livestock, until the first children were taken. It had been a year when Jessup was only three. My husband and three other fathers had tracked the pack north on a hunt, but were never heard from again. I had wondered off with a pitchfork several times under various paths, but there was no sign of my Jeremy and beloved son. Perhaps it was the loneliness of the anniversary that set me off once more.
The waters of Borealis were calm under the almost purple sky. Sol's reflection off the ocean was in near perfect form; presenting what seemed like its binary pair. I shrugged off the cold, the sound of distant beast packs, and continued along the distant shoreline. My fear kept telling me to head back before the true cold set in, but the sight was intoxicating and somehow subsided the emptiness.
The horizon's false pair became one with its reflection; slowly squashed into a diminishing disk. The faint image of the sun was weak enough now for me to stare down. In one last bright shimmer, I squinted, puzzling at the sudden sparkle. Even as the sun disappeared below the water, the sparkle remained and grew stronger. I took a step closer to the water's edge, overcome by curiosity. And then it became clear; a shiny object...with form...structure; was it a flying machine, headed directly toward me? 'What could fly like a bird?' I thought. But it wasn't. In an instance I realized it was not flying, but falling.
The object hit the water, turning the calm sea into a 20 foot wake. I turned and ran, but it was too late. The last thing I remember was being tossed like a child's play toy within the wall of water.
**
The pain in my head woke me. I groaned and tried to rub my head, to no avail. My other arm and legs also failed to move; even a gentle wiggle or head shake resulted in the lack of motion, without any sensation of being held. I tried to speak, but my jaw failed to respond. Was I even breathing...I couldn't tell. All was dark and I could feel my consciousness fading again...
**
...There was a bright light, and I lifted my arm to block the light. 'My arm?' A wave of relief washed over me as I moved my body without restriction. "Where am I?"
A shadowy figure approached. There was a deep, odd voice with separate words that followed after. "You are on my ship."
"A ship...on the ocean?"
"Not an ocean of water, but space."
I struggled to get up, "What do you mean?"
I opened my eyes to the shadow as he spoke, again with words that seemed to echo after his dark and forbidden tongue. "Let me show you."
The creature had a human looking face, but his form was short with an extremely stocky gate. As I looked him over, the room turned to night with the stars all around us. Ahead was a brilliant one that I knew to be Sol.
He pointed behind me. "You are from there."
I turned and gazed in owe at the red and blue ball a few inches wide beneath a faint purple sky. It took only a moment to realized it was shrinking into the distance.
"Earth," I whispered.
"Well, you might call it that, but we call it Mars. To us, this is Earth." He extended his short arm toward what must be the bow on this unseen vessel. There was the crescent form of a marble, but its color and brilliance were all too familiar. "Ocean!"
"Two-thirds of it, yes. But like I said, its name is Earth."
"We are going there?"
"That's right."
**
We docked with a larger spinning station, floating far above the blue waters of Ocean.
When the door opened, I gasped, "Jeremy!"
He returned my embrace and settled by nerves.
"Jessup?"
He sadly shuck his head.
"Why are we here?"
"Because our world is dying."
I shred a tear at the thought.
"They have a larger transport planned, but we will need to convince our people."
"Our cities?"
"The Oceanites will provide doom structures to contain the atmosphere that is slowly being stripped away, for those who choose to stay."
Wish upon a star…Camp Sunrise had the required horses and canoes and crafts. It also had Morphine IVs and defibrillators hidden in the cabins. Instead of an ambulance on call, this place had two parked behind the dining hall.
“What do you have? How long do you got?” Adults never asked, but here, the campers were very direct. They just didn’t have time to beat about the bush. The consensus in the Mustang cabin: None of the four children would outlive an average hamster.
Tom, sitting on the steps below the Mustang logo, watched Suzie head off to the dining hall. Once she was out of earshot, he said “I’ve heard the youngest don’t know.”
Kim said, “Oh, she knows. She asked me ‘Does it hurt a lot to die?’ last night. She asked her mother, but her mother just started crying.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her how peaceful my grandmother’s death was.” She fought back tears. “She was eighty. Suzie’s eight.”
Later that night, Kim smiled as she watched wonder on Suzie’s face. A shooting star streaked across the sky. “Can I make a wish?” Kim held her smile and nodded. She was afraid to speak. Some wishes don’t come true.
--
K’ttal barely cleared a mountain and dropped into a valley looking for a landing spot. All he saw was trees. Lots and lots of trees.
The ship shattered hundreds of them before coming to rest. The ship fared better than he expected. Him, not so much.
--
Stuart came running over the hill. “Hey guys! You gotta see this.”
“Wait up,” called Tom. He picked up Suzie and Kim followed. A short hike later, they saw scattered tree trunks and branches. Following a rut in the dirt, they found something large and metallic.
Leaning against the ship was a little green man.
Tom, thinking it was some kind of fake display, walked over to the alien but stopped dead when it raised an arm. Suzie walked over, too. She stood next to the alien, almost exactly the same height and took his hand. “Don’t stand so close. You’re making him scared.”
Kim looked at her quizzically. Suzie tapped her head, “He’s talking to me. He needs our help.”
They sat there for a while listening. The wind in the trees, birds in the distance, until they all could converse telepathically.
It was the ultimate irony: All his technology could not save him. If he could repair his ship, it could repair him. But he was too weak to repair it. Neither had enough of an unknown energy source. So, K’ttal explained…
Tom hung his head. “He understands. Life Force – Life Energy – is the one thing we can’t help him with. None of us has enough to make a difference.”
Suzie, looked around as if counting, then said, “Not one. All of us.”
A moment of silent conversation then Tom spoke, “She’s right. If he takes a little from each of us, it could work.”
Stuart jumped in, “I hate sitting around waiting to die. Even if it cuts my time short, I don’t care. I’m in.”
One by one, they took the alien’s hand and watched him grow stronger. Suzie fell into a deep sleep and Tom, once again carried her back to camp. The trip back took much longer as they had to stop every few minutes to catch their breath.
An exhausted Tom pointed out, “Nobody died.” But it did take three days for them to recover enough to sneak back to the clearing. The ship and alien were gone. Only a deep gouge in the earth remained.
They turned to head back to camp when a glow formed in the middle of clearing. They watched, transfixed, as it solidified into the alien. He spoke aloud this time, “I wish to express gratitude.”
He shook each person’s hand, holding it for a dozen seconds before letting go. When he got to Suzie, he hugged her, holding her gently as a hazy mist enveloped them.
He stepped back to the center of the clearing and vanished.
Suzie ran all the way back to camp with Tom, Stuart and Kim hot on her heels. They didn’t stop to catch their breaths, they didn’t even slow down. That night, the IVs sat idle as they slept through the night.
Kim, pain free for the first time in months, drifted to sleep, thinking maybe, just maybe, a little girl’s wish could come true.
A Doctor’s Work is Never DoneDoctor Jonathan Smythe stumbled out of the Staggering Nag public house. His performance was so nuanced and calculated, that not even the best of Scotland Yard, nor even Sherlock Holmes himself, would have deduced his lack of inebriation. Oh, there was the smell of ale on his breath from the one he allowed himself to enjoy at his usual back bench within the Nag, and the second he had liberally sprinkled on his greatcoat and scarf. But Smythe was decidedly, deceitfully, and devilishly sober as he made his way to London’s East End. Having sated one vice, he moved through the gathering fog to indulge another - one that burned hot within his breast. It made his fingers twitch in anticipation against the cold metal of the scalpel concealed deep within the right pocket of his greatcoat.
Quickening his pace, he skillfully avoided the roaming policemen who were oblivious to his very existence. But soon, very soon, all of London – and perhaps the world – would see the results of his handiwork. After many twists and turns in the ever-increasing fog, Doctor Smythe arrived at the parish of Whitechapel. There, he drew the collar of his greatcoat up around his neck and slackened his pace. Withdrawing a gentleman’s cane hanging from yet another hidden fold within his coat, he proceeded to stride confidently along the main street. It was feebly lit by flickering gaslight and populated by desperate women trying to carve out a meager living as vessels for men desperate for a moment’s use. Smythe was hyper-alert, salivating in anticipation. Everything stood out in sharp relief as his eyes refocused in the dim light. People seemed to move in slow-motion as apparitions in the mist that enveloped them all, muffled every sound, and in which Smythe swam as an apex predator.
As he approached one diminutive figure that swayed suggestively before him, the night was rent by a blinding light that tore across the London sky. An orb of flames passed directly over Smythe, shedding sparks that cascaded upon all those that walked the streets and alleys of Whitechapel. So great was the deluge that it was a wonder to Smythe that no fires erupted where the sparks landed. He followed its path, and like a moth to a flame, he found himself walking, then running, to see where it landed. It was not long before the sound of thunder erupted, shattering the weaker glass of many lesser buildings, and causing Smythe to stagger as it beat upon the very core of his being.
Undaunted he pressed on, sticking to the shadows and assiduously avoiding contact with the other nocturnal denizens of questionable character. Smythe felt this was an occurrence of great importance, but if pressed he could not say why other than to note he felt a certain pull deep down. Whether by fortune or fate he soon came across a great, steaming furrow, further hidden by the now full London fog. He descended into it and followed it until he found a massive cylinder with its nose buried deep in the earth. Despite the flames he had seen earlier, the cylinder radiated no heat, and as he drew nearer he could hear a sound like a sewer grate being dragged across cobblestones. Smythe searched for handholds but found none. How to get inside? As if in response, Smythe was suddenly surrounded by a column of blinding white light. He felt as if he was melting away into nothing until the light vanished and he found himself standing in a darkened, circular room covered with small flashing lights. A being with moist gray skin and large black eyes stood before him, and though it seemed to have no mouth, Smythe clearly heard a voice in his mind.
“Sorry about that old chap, but you appeared to be looking for a door, which my vessel does not have, so I beamed you aboard.”
“Beamed?” asked Smythe
“You know, teleported. How should I say it? Blast, your language is deucedly primitive. Well, never mind my good man. I was hoping you could point me to the nearest…alchemist. I’m in need of some special elements to fix my ship.”
“Elements? Like what?” asked Smythe.
“Gold, silver, metals like that. You do have them on this planet don’t you?”
“Oh yes guv’nah, we have those in abundance. I’d be happy to help you,” said Smythe, his fingers clenching the scalpel.
“Smashing! So what do I call you old boy?”
“Just call me… Jack…”
(750 words in story) Justin Sewall © 2024
Reviews/critiques welcome
Mod
First round votes:
Jeremy Lichtman => **Greg, Jot, Tom, Justin
Tom Olbert => **Jot
Jot Russell => Justin
Greg Krumrey => **Jot
Justin Sewall => **Greg, Lichtman
Paula Friedman => Lichtman, Greg, Jot
Finalists
Earth is Dying II by Jot Russell
Wish upon a Star by Greg Krumrey
Second round votes:
Jeremy Lichtman => ****Greg, Jot, Tom, Justin
Tom Olbert => **Jot
Jot Russell => Justin; ****Greg
Greg Krumrey => **Jot
Justin Sewall => ****Greg, Lichtman
Paula Friedman => Lichtman, ****Greg, Jot
Winner
Wish upon a Star by Greg Krumrey
The "human" part meaning they could be a fantasy type character such as a werewolf, vampire, or maybe just some strange dude like a circus clown.