Forums → Art, Music, and Writing → Short Story Contest
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Rules:
1. Type up a short story of 500 words or less (I probably won't count unless it's really long).
2. It must be original (NO PLAGARIZING!).
3. It must be written for this contest, not one you wrote up earlier.
4. It must fit the contest theme within a reasonable degree of interpretation.
5. It must be submitted at or before 11:59pm AGtime on the deadline date.
6. One official submission per user per round. If you make more than one, denote which is the official entry.
7. The same user can't win twice in a row, but can enter for fun.
8. Nothing too gory/obscene.
9. No excessive foul language.
10. Have fun!
General Notes:
Make sure it's structured the way you want it to be before submitting to avoid repeats.
!!!Tab doesn't indent in the text box and can lead to accidental submissions!!!
Please indent paragraphs by starting a new line with enter, then spacebar 3-10 times (whatever you want, but be consistant)
Greater than and less than symbols can sometimes cut off your post.
Some characters/fonts are not recognized/accepted by the text box.
Theme and Due Date:
I (or future co-judges) will choose the theme and due date every week or two, depending on how popular this gets. If you're interested in being a co-judge, message me.
The current theme is: Sliver of Silver
Due: in one week - Mar 3
- 74 Replies
Nope. Not really. with 500 more words my idea could of been explained.
Just sayin', my dad figured it out on the first reading. XD
Okay...I'll prolly submit to this after I finish my homework...
and my story will probably be on the long side. 500 words isn't enough. ;3
Ahkay, finished my homework, so here you go.
The celings creaked. The walls creaked. Wrapped in a flex-weaver, Dyabella's bones creaked.
She'd died recently, and since she was the only one pouring energy into the walls -we couldn't, we weren't old enough- bad things were happening.
The ground was bleached, and the Nothing was seeping through cracks in the patched-over ground. The metal was straining and bulging, and we kept the lights off on those floors. We didn't want to see how bad it was.
I always knew it was a bad idea, of course, to even think about harvesting Nothing from the boils of the space waves that Seveseves gave out. Nothing burnt through everything, and turned it to more Nothing. Just because ACNRv13.5 could withstand it doesn't mean a mining platform in space could sustain it for longer than a decade. Two or three at most. At least, it'd have imploded and sent us swirling into a vortex right the moment it was built.
But now we're stuck. There's a suspicion that the shuttles had deleted us off their list, and we were abandoned out here to die around Seveseves, our gray sun. Tally and Riveryem didn't give up hope, but they're only youngers, so what do they know?
The Nothing eats away at us. Sometimes it forms a mouth and talks. We ignore it. The way were are in this place is the epitome of boredome. We're frozen and stuck in our routines. There's not that many rooms in the platform, and we've examined each one so thoroughly we know the distance from one room to anywhere in our respective footsteps. The talking makes it worse, though, so we stay higher in the platform. It's not worth going down to hear it gibber to your inner darkness.
i'm sitting, re-counting the number of specks embedded in the glass ceiling. Above the ceiling is a hologram of a blue sky. I've heard Terra had a blue sky. I'd wish I'd been born long enough ago to see it. The only blue we see now is the faded cadet blue of our uniforms, and occasionally the unnaturally bright food comes in some shades of blue.
I've always liked blue. I've even gone and looked up the names for so many different shades when we still had power to spare. Cerulean, indigo, turquoise, aqua...
The ground under me right now creaks, louder than ever. Tally sits up. "Where's Riveryem?"
I know. Riveryem was always the most bored, the one most likely to listen to the Nothing.
I know what he's doing.
By the time Tally and I run down the stairs, he's already done it. There's a big gaping hole in one of patches. Riveryem stands over it with the old emergency ACNR rod, looking crazed. "I've done it," he says. "I've fixed it all. I'm free."
Then the Nothing lunges forth in an empty, spewing fountain and eats the ACNR13.5, eats Riveryem. I see his demented, grinning face before his skin and blood and bones are melted. Tally runs away, up the stairs as the ground splinters into chunks, pieces whirling across space.
I'm balanced precariously on a few fading fragments of the metal. The bland void of the Nothing gobbles at my feet.
I know why you did it, Riveryem.
There's nowhere left to run. And all I see before I'm consumed are the slivers of silver, dancing as they're sucked down, down, down into the Nothing.
And I follow.
Devoidless is it about seeing crimes already perputrated and acts already commited
*sigh* 74 words over? Fine, then...I'll take some out...happy? 485 words. :P
The celings creaked. The walls creaked. Wrapped in a flex-weaver, Dyabella's bones creaked.
She'd died recently, and since she was the only one pouring energy into the walls -we couldn't, we weren't old enough- bad things were happening.
The ground was bleached, and the Nothing was seeping through cracks in the patched-over ground. The metal was straining and bulging, and we kept the lights off on those floors. We didn't want to see how bad it was.
I always knew it was a bad idea, of course, to even think about harvesting Nothing from the boils of the space waves that Seveseves gave out. Nothing burnt through everything, and turned it to more Nothing. Just because ACNRv13.5 could withstand it doesn't mean a mining platform in space could sustain it for longer than a decade. Two or three at most. At worst, it'd have imploded and sent us swirling into a vortex right the moment it was built.
But now we're stuck. There's a suspicion that the shuttles had deleted us off their list, and we were abandoned out here to die around Seveseves, our gray sun. Tally and Riveryem didn't give up hope, but they're only youngers, so what do they know?
I'm sitting, re-counting the number of specks embedded in the glass ceiling. Above the ceiling is a hologram of a blue sky. I've heard Terra had a blue sky. I'd wish I'd been born long enough ago to see it. The only blue we see now is the faded cadet blue of our uniforms, and occasionally the unnaturally bright food comes in some shades of blue.
I've always liked blue. I've even gone and looked up the names for so many different shades when we still had power to spare. Cerulean, indigo, turquoise, aqua...
The ground under me right now creaks, louder than ever. Tally sits up. "Where's Riveryem?"
I know. Riveryem was always the most bored, the one most likely to listen to the Nothing.
I know what he's doing.
By the time Tally and I run down the stairs, he's already done it. There's a big gaping hole in one of patches. Riveryem stands over it with the old emergency ACNR rod, looking crazed. "I've done it," he says. "I've fixed it all. I'm free."
Then the Nothing lunges forth in an empty, spewing fountain and eats the ACNR13.5, eats Riveryem. I see his demented, grinning face before his skin and blood and bones are melted. Tally runs away, up the stairs as the ground splinters into chunks, pieces whirling across space.
I'm balanced precariously on a few fading fragments of the metal. The bland void of the Nothing gobbles at my feet.
I know why you did it, Riveryem.
There's nowhere left to run. And all I see before I'm consumed are the slivers of silver, dancing as they're sucked down, down, down into the Nothing.
And I follow.
I have only written a few short stories before, so this may not be the best. Also, I did my best to fit the theme, but I am not quite sure what the theme is. It should fit, comparing this story to other entries. Also, it is loosely inspired by the sci-fi movie Forbidden Planet.
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âKrall come over here! There is something that I would like to show you!â Shouted Morpius, as the last bit of sunlight passed over his shoulder. Suddenly, an array of noises came forth from Morpiusâ suit. The âlowVisibilityâ feature activated releasing a burst of light that filled the recently entered space. Morpius looked around, his face filled with exhilaration and contemplation. In the distance Krallâs footsteps could be heard and soon the two were standing side by side.
âMorpius what is this? Iâ¦It...Itâs amazing!â âYes, amazing.â Morpius calmly replied. âWhat is this?â Krall responded more enthusiastically than before. âDo you see what lies before you Krall?â Unsure if his eyes were missing something, Krall rubbed them and then stared more intently into the space that encompassed him. âIt appears to be an enormous cache of some sort. But of what is it?â âExcellent question Krall. As you know, I am an intergalactic explorer. It is my job to remotely gather information from distant planets with the use of drones, robots, and other technologies. However, on occasion it will be deemed that a live crew be sent forth to the planet under observation. One month ago this planet was marked stable and given clearance for live exploration. That is when my crew and I set off. Upon arriving on this planet we quickly set out for known ruin locations. This was one of the most impressive sites.â Krall, hungry to know about the cache, seized Morpius, shook him, and roared, âThe cache! Stop rambling and tell me about the cache!â
The shaken Morpius continued, âThis is a cache of alien technology, resting in the ruins of a warehouse or possibly a factory. These machines are powerful and have a great variety among their kind. Pods and pads, desk-fit and lap-fit. Even some fit for its extinct speciesâ ear! The technology is not as advanced as ours, but it is still impressive. With only one of these machines large calculation could be performed and complex games could be played. These artifacts were also once used for communication and leisure. Almostâ¦â âSimilar to technologies used at home!â Krall interjected, bursting with awe. âYes Krall, like home, but hopefully not to the same end.â Morripusâ face fell and he continued, âAlmost all of this entire species was reliant upon this technology, but only few of them understood truly how it worked. Sadly, even fewer knew the manufacturing process. It appears that many of the species were simply not willing to expend the effort to fully understand the technology. The species assumed they lived in a golden society, but it was rather a society of silver. So, the species fell. Too lazy to understand their own machines, themselves, and the world around them, the increasingly dull masses handed their power to the intelligent few and those few lead the masses to complete destruction. They were once many, but now all that remains are these ruins, this sliver of silver.â
Judging should be up around Wednesday night. Just so you can start writing early (but not submitting until the next round is officially started), the next theme will be Ample Answer.
Not sure yet. If I do, I'll announce it when I post the judging.
I'll wait until the judging to see if the word limit is increased before writing another story. Just so that I know what I am working with. ^_^
the posted story are pretty good
i think the judge will have a hard time to choose for the winner.
i would do something but...
2 days over the deadline, and what is silver of silver?
It's sliver of silver, like a very small piece or shard of silver. I made the same mistake though at first. For soem reason, the incorrect, silver of silver reminded me of of was "O Captain! My Captain!" from "Dead poets society.
I got unexpectedly pounded with homework, so judging is postponed until the weekend. The next round will have an 800 word limit, just so you can get started early. The next theme is Ample Answer.
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