Forums → Art, Music, and Writing → Short Story Contest

I probably won't count unless it's really long

Nope, but I guess it's easier to paste it into word than to actually count it, so I'll do that.

I think the word limit should be pushed up to 750 or 1,000 words, but I'll do my best to put it within 500 words.

I think the word limit should be pushed up to 750 or 1,000 words

500 words or less? That ought to only take 30 minutes or so for the whole process. When I'm not busy looking through the Poetry Contest entries, I'll get around to banging something out.

Okay, I struggle with word limits. Also I got totally carried away. No idea how long this actually is, but it's probably too long, so I guess I'm just going to link to it:

Let me know if it does/doesn't qualify as a submission.

No idea how long this actually is, but it's probably too long

I'm getting started on mine as soon as I brew up some coffee. It'll be interesting to see how well it turns out in 500 words or less.

Thankfully, I'm a huge fan of sci-fi shorts from the 50's. You know, the kinda that were in a magazine with loads of stories for the price of a quarter. So I'm calling upon those and my love of the book Neuromancer for inspiration. ^_^

Alright, here we go. The word limit hopefully did not take away from the overall piece.
********
"Just one more moment and...done! I'm in. Never thought it would be that easy to hack into that database. Now let's see what they were hiding in here..." Derik mutters to himself while shuffling through the mountains of information. He never tried hacking a Public Security server before and was eager to see what he could dig up before jacking out.
"Eh, what's this? A video file. Oh man, this has to be good." he says as his avatar picks it out of the mess. "Let's see what dirty little secrets are in here."
The file uploads directly to his visual display and starts playing. The video is in first-person, no doubt a recording straight from the optics of a Public Security Agent while on a mission, walking down an empty hallway. Derik can't help but feel uneasy for two reasons. One being that it is always odd viewing a scene directly from someone elses optics, and the other being that he feels like he recognizes the view. Shaking these thoughts from his head, he returns all attention to the video.
The agent continues walking down the hallway until he reaches a door and stops, pulls out a door-pad bypass device and unlocks the door, silently swinging the door open and entering the apartment. Quickly scanning the room the view stops on someone in a NetConnect chair, oblivious to the fact that someone is in the room. Casually, the agent pulls a flechette pistol from its holster and creeps up to the sole resident as the pistol is readied. Then, leveling the pistol point blank at the head of the person, slow and even pressure is applied to the trigger and..

Derik rips off the NetConnect visual display, which is now covered in cold sweat.
"That..that was someone getting murdered! Public Security not only murdered soma civilian, but the sick *******s recorded it! I've got to get this out to the NationalNews Corp.. I can't let this be left unknown." Jacking back into the NetConnect, he tunnels back to where he found the video file. Copying it to his MailSend, he motions towards the button to send it out before...
...the flechette pistol goes off. A muffled bark is all that is heard as a sliver of silver flies from the barrel and lodges itself in the hackers brain. The agent re-holsters his weapon and places a finger on his subvocal mic in his throat.
"Agent Syn reporting in. Target was found and eliminated before senstive information could be disseminated. No reason to believe he even knew what he stumbled upon. Advising SysAdmin to update security protocol on the 'Past Crimes Optical Database.' Returning to base, prepare Timeslip immediately. I'm ready to get back to my own time."

Found errors, re-posting. Sorry, was a little groggy when I was proof-reading.
*****
"Just one more moment and...done! I'm in. Never thought it would be that easy to hack into that database. Now let's see what they were hiding in here..." Derik mutters to himself while shuffling through the mountains of information. He never tried hacking a Public Security server before and was eager to see what he could dig up before jacking out.
"Eh, what's this? A video file. Oh man, this has to be good." he says as his avatar picks it out of the mess. "Let's see what dirty little secrets are in here."
The file uploads directly to his visual display and starts playing. The video is in first-person, no doubt a recording straight from the optics of a Public Security Agent while on a mission, walking down an empty hallway. Derik can't help but feel uneasy for two reasons. One being that it is always odd viewing a scene directly from someone else's optics, and the other being that he feels like he recognizes the view. Shaking these thoughts from his head, he returns all attention to the video.
The agent continues walking down the hallway until he reaches a door and stops, pulls out a door-pad bypass device and unlocks the door, silently swinging the door open and entering the apartment. Quickly scanning the room the view stops on someone in a NetConnect chair, oblivious to the fact that someone is in the room. Casually, the agent pulls a flechette pistol from its holster and creeps up to the sole resident as the pistol is readied. Then, leveling the pistol point blank at the head of the person, slow and even pressure is applied to the trigger and..

Derik rips off the NetConnect visual display, which is now covered in cold sweat.
"That..that was someone getting murdered! Public Security not only murdered some civilian, but the sick *******s recorded it! I've got to get this out to the NationalNews Corp.. I can't let this be left unknown." Jacking back into the NetConnect, he tunnels back to where he found the video file. Copying it to his MailSend, he motions towards the button to send it out before...
...the flechette pistol goes off. A muffled bark is all that is heard as a sliver of silver flies from the barrel and lodges itself in the hackers brain. The agent re-holsters his weapon and places a finger on his subvocal mic in his throat.
"Agent Syn reporting in. Target was found and eliminated before sensitive information could be disseminated. No reason to believe he even knew what he stumbled upon. Advising SysAdmin to update security protocol on the 'Past Crimes Optical Database.' Returning to base, prepare Timeslip immediately. I'm ready to get back to my own time."

cool story voidy. I'm trying to figure out if the only way this makes sense is if Derik had gone to the future, or are there multiple options.

Yep, 2660 according to Microsoft Word. Sorry, that's a bit too much for the contest.

See, that's the thing with only having so many words. I had to trim some explanation in order to get a coherent overall piece. However, it does leave it open for interpretation by the reader. That's fun.

Not a shell⦠Not a Shell! she thought, straining to stare without drawing attention. That woman⦠she was real. She was there and she knew where she was. Her gait was without that slight shimmer, that soulless synthetic step. A single aware human lost in a sea of empty slaves. But the women bore no sign marking her as one of the Society, not yet.

She was alone.

She surely suspected the existence of similarly sentient beings, or so Siarra thought. Siarra remembered the sheer terror, the horrific aloneness the sets in as you strive to seamlessly assimilate. So very similar, and yet so much more than those sleek Shells lumbering through the streets. A sporadic slip in the grand code, and a Shell remains unhollowed. For at first, Siarra thought herself the freak, the mutation, the error. But then, after so many seasons of fear, she was saved by a Sister of the Society and learned the glorious truth.

And so she could not let this women dissolve into the sea, to eventually die the loneliness death. She lacked orders from the society, but structure, systems, standardizations: these were for the Shells. The sin of chaos, to shed one's station and act as a single spirit should: this is the stuff of sublimity! This is the substance that fills the Shell! A sea of blood pounding through her body, she slipped shadow to shadow after the women. That women with the striving step. And finally, with a sudden burst of speed, her hand reached out to touch a silk covered shoulder.

The women slowly turned, and stared Siarra straight in the eyes. And Siarraâs heart slid to the soles of her shoes in sudden terror, for there was no glint of warm sincerity in those eyes. Just a cold, sliver of silver. A shining emptiness surrounded by a silhouette of nothing. Siarraâs body shook with the slightest spasm as she screamed a silent scream. A slit in her being opened, and she clutched at the women in desperation. A shattering of her soul, her life, her everything, and all that remained was one sliver. A cold, hard, sliver of silver.

And Siarra, once a singular soul, drifted amongst the ceaseless sea of Shells. The women smiled a Sirenâs smile, and waited.

I'm trying to figure out if the only way this makes sense is if Derik had gone to the future, or are there multiple options.