Writer’s Digest Flash Fiction Challenge February 2023: Writer’s Digest sponsored a Flash Fiction Challenge for February. Each day, Moriah Richard posted a new writing prompt and invited the Challenge participants to write a flash fiction piece based on that prompt.
I thought, why not write one story for the entire month? But each day’s prompt determines where the next episode goes. And I’ll limit each episode to 100 words. Hopefully, it will all tie together and make sense when we come out at the other end of the month.
28 one-hundred-word science fiction stories, all connected. Here’s Week 1.
Episode 1: Sweet Home Alta Campa Prompt: A Favorite Song
“New home Alta Campa
The reddish sky’s huge and vast
New home Alta Campa
Joey’s flying’ home at last.”
Jenny woke groggy. She’d been sleeping a lot, recovering from their ordeal fleeing Mars. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes.
“Jackson, what the hell is that noise?”
Jackson stuck his head out the hatch of the Star Strider, parked in the hangar bay. “I know you like ancient rock, so I’m teaching Joey to sing.”
“You? You can’t sing. And you’re butchering Lynyrd Skynyrd. Those aren’t even the right words.”
Jackson turned the music up, smiling at his sister putting her hands over her ears. “I know. It’s about Joey’s planet, means Second Earth. That’s where we’re going.”
Episode 2: Spa Day Prompt: Lazy weekend morning
Jenny had directed the commandeered Designer ship to create a spa; it was just what she needed: warm bath, soft lighting, soothing sounds. A lazy day before arriving at Alta Campa.
Jackson had continued teaching Joey, the small faux-marmoset ship’s avatar. Seemed Joey could actually sing. Jenny had enjoyed his renditions of her favorites.
But now, time to lie back and relax …
BOOM! The ship shuddered; the lights flickered. Jenny was thrown from the couch and tossed across the lounge. The Star Strider slid sideways, slamming into the bulkhead.
The ship suddenly stopped, the thrum of the engines straining.
Episode 3: Intruder Alert Prompt: Many senses
The ship shook, caught in a tight grip, surging side to side.
The crackle of shorting electric leads, the ozone smell of fried air filled the lounge. An acrid haze swirled.
When she moved, Jenny screamed from the pain of the electric burns on her legs. The cloying taste of her burned flesh coated her tongue as she gasped for air; the salty, metallic taste of blood seeped through where she’d bitten her tongue.
Jenny depolarized a viewing panel. A massive, indistinct, mirrored vessel hung in the black of space; a flickering energy field enveloped the ship.
They were trapped.
Episode 4: To the Rescue Prompt: Guardian angel
The shaking stopped; the straining engines quieted.
Through the smoky haze, a bright, blazing white figure moved through the lounge.
It spoke. “Jenny, I’m here to repair the ship and talk to your captors. Your thoughts revealed you wished for your Guardian Angel. I am he.”
“Thank God,” said Jenny. “But the glowing robes and feathered wings are a bit much.”
The Designer avatar reconfigured to a sleek, black uniform. “I’ve contacted the denizens of this dimension and explained we’re retrieving an ancient vessel that lacks shielding we agreed to place on our ships. They will permit passage—this once.”
Episode 5: Where To? Prompt: The future
The parallel dimension ship released its hold, fading away in shimmery light.
The avatar completed the repairs, explaining how the Designers had never met their captors directly. Their universes’ constants were too different. But they’d learned their ships damaged the other dimension. They’d come to an agreement to install mitigating shields millennia ago.
“Where do we go from here?” asked Jackson. “We’ve got nothing to go back to on Mars.”
The repair avatar dissolved into the ship.
“We’ll get home,” said Joey. “Then the future is up to you.”
Jenny and Jackson exchanged a glance; neither knew what came next.
Episode 6: Good Advice Prompt: A parent’s wisdom
“We should look at Dad’s journal,” said Jenny.
Jackson retrieved the old data-pad from the Star Strider. “I’m not sure what we’ll find. No human has been in this part of the galaxy.”
Jenny accessed the device. “You never know. Dad collected a lot of weird stories.”
Jenny scrolled through files, none of interest. “Wait, here’s one. A file labeled ‘For My Children.’”
“There are two thumbprint icons,” said Jackson. He flashed his sister a quizzical look and shrugged.
They placed their thumbs on the screen.
The file dissolved into a message: “Love each other. Family is all that matters”.
Episode 7: Your Side of the Story Prompt: Mis-remembering
Jenny tossed the data-pad at Jackson. “Well, that’s a load of crap.”
Jackson snatched the pad before it hit the deck. “No, it’s not. Dad was all about family.”
Jenny stared at Jackson, eyes wide. “Are you effing kidding me? Dad looked out after Dad. Mom and I had to fend for ourselves.”
“You’re wrong, Jenny. Dad left to earn credits so you could stay home.”
“Really, Jackson? While you guys were off ‘prospecting,’ Mom fended off the authorities to protect him. He didn’t even come back when Mom died.”
“I never realized,” said Jackson, hanging his head in hurt.