Author’s Note: If any of you are wondering why these stories are being posted instead of the next chapter of Bedlam, please see the update on my profile.

As for the stories themselves, I think they demand a little explanation. These stories are the result of a “game” which a friend and I came up with. It’s almost more of a writing exercise than a game, but it’s still rather fun. The original idea was to come up with a few random items, and then to write a story incorporating them. With the first few stories we also imposed a genre restriction. Writing these stories wasn’t meant to take long (we took somewhere between a half hour to an hour for each and I don’t think any of our stories went over two pages). A definite ending wasn’t required either, just write until you either finish or don’t feel like writing any more. After they were done, we shared them and talked about them: what we liked, what might happen next, etc. It was a surprisingly fun game, which forced us to write about things we’d have never thought about otherwise.

I liked my stories so much that I decided to put them on Fictionpress. A number of them could turn into full length stories, but don’t get your hopes up. For the moment they are read-as-is. Feedback would be appreciated however. And I highly suggest that anyone who enjoys writing should grab a friend and try the game for themselves. :)

And if anyone is curious, the friend I played with is FireKitty in my favorite authors list. I’m hoping she’ll post some of her own, so you can compare our twisted minds, but until then you might consider reading her Fateful Kiss story. It’s good, but don’t get your hopes up for an ending. I’ve been bugging her for a year and she still hasn’t finished it. But who knows, maybe some reviews will get her moving. Did I mention that World of Warcraft is an evil addiction? :P

Session 1, Story 1 of the Writing Game: Space Odyssey

Random Things to Write About: Neptune, strawberries, music

Genre: Sci-Fi

About this story: This is definitely one of the stories that should be continued, and I’m sorry for the cliffhanger, but it was obviously heading toward a far longer story, so I just decided to stop there. I hope you’ll enjoy it anyway.

Dun, dun, DUN-DUN

I could hear the theme from 2001: Space Odyssey playing in my head. I couldn’t believe how far we’d come. Sure, reaching Neptune may not sound like such a big deal when humans are already reaching into the depths of space, but for a farm kid who had never left Mars, the sight of the swirling blue planet was breathtaking. For the first time, I understood the awe of the ancients when contemplating space.

“Strawberry,” my mother called suddenly from the across the observation deck. “Hurry up; we’re getting close to the warp launch. Everyone is supposed to be in their cabins by then.”

“Alright, alright,” I grumbled, hating the nickname I had been cursed with because of my love of the expensive terrestrial fruit, and hating the backwater paranoia which I was sure marked us as the country hicks we were.

I suddenly heard a snicker behind me, and with a sinking feeling I turned to see who it was. My fears were confirmed when the sight of a tall, lanky boy with dark hair and eyes came into view. My family had only been on the cruise ship for two days and Keenan Sartos was already the bane of my existence. A year older than me, and a well-traveled, extremely rich Earthen city dweller, the boy seemed to have a great disdain for my family and its working class background.

His cool voice set my teeth on edge as he spoke, “Yes, Strawtop, run to your room before the warp jump blows you away.” I hated his nickname for me even more than my mother’s. So what if my hair was a bright, wavy blond? It still didn’t look like straw. Much. And he didn’t have any right to make fun of me and my family like that. This was the first vacation we’d ever been able to afford. I could still remember how excited we had all been at the idea, my little twin brothers practically jumping off the walls of our house when my parents told us. My family definitely retained their excitement, but the same could not be said for me, and Keenan Sartos was the evil mastermind behind my growing displeasure.

I was about to give a sharp retort when my mother called again. “Sascha, come on, we were supposed to meet your father and the boys ten minutes ago. You can come back after the jump if you want to.”

I saw Keenan’s face light up in amusement at the thought of me staring out of the observation glass like a bumpkin. I couldn’t help my fascination; space was just so marvelous and this was the first time I had ever really seen it. So, rather than listen to his ridicule, I turned away then intending to join my mother where she now stood at the entrance to the deck. It struck me that Keenan and I were the only two still on the deck; it really was getting close to launch time.

I had made it only halfway across the deck and Keenan’s laughter was ringing in my ears, when a shivering rumble passed through the ship. In disbelief I watched the shield doors slide closed, door which were only meant to shut during warp launches. They cut off sight of my mother and effectively trapped Keenan and me inside the observation room.

I turned back to Keenan expecting to see more ridicule for my stunned reaction, but he looked as confused as I felt. With a frown he strode to the door, and feeing foolish, but for some reason too frightened to care, I followed in his wake. I could here a muffled banging coming from the door, which had to be my mother on the other side, but no words could penetrate the thick steel. Keenan poked at the controls on the wall for a bit, then stood back with an unsettled look.

“It won’t open,” he said into the sudden silence as the banging outside finally stopped.

“What do you mean ‘it won’t open’?”

“I mean it won’t open,” he snapped back irritably. “The shield doors aren’t supposed to close until five minutes before a jump, with all sorts of safety precautions to make sure people don’t get caught on the wrong side. But for some reason these closed early and now they won’t open.”

“Then what does that mean will happen when…” I couldn’t finish the thought.

“Jumps are pre-programmed into the course, they’re virtually impossible to stop. If we’re still here when we launch into warp…” he turned to stare out of the foot thick glass which protected viewers from the vacuum and radiation of space, but which would never offer enough protection from the matter distortion of warp jumps. He didn’t need to finish his sentence; I knew exactly what was going to happen to us.