Category: Weekly Challenge

Welcome to the Weekly Challenge Number Two Hundred and Fifteen, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.
The topic this week was… was…. um…
It’s The Message!
VOTING

Which were the best stories this week?
	Zackmann
	Wilma
	Guy David
	Steven
	Orion
	TJ
	Justin
	Norval Joe
	Jeffrey
	Planet Z
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):

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Zackmann

Son, there is something important I have to tell you. Why do you have to guess? You have been told this before. No you are not adopted and your mother is not having a baby. No, your brother only dates girls. Yes, Jesus and your parents love you But what I am trying to say is tomorrow is trash day and you should bring the trash, recyclables, and yard waste cans to the end of the driveway before you go to bed. Oh, Did I mention receiving a letter telling me you might have a 20 year old sister.

I sat watching the news on The Feed wondering, why did my chain smoking grandfather go crazy and kill all those people? Was it the tobacco or whatever else was in his pipe? Is whatever mental condition that made him do that hereditary? I was still confused when I hit the play button on the telephone and heard my mother’s voice saying “You Know your grandfather quit smoking 30 years ago. You need to know your grandfather did not do that terrible thing. That was a very well made but evil steam powered robot” “RUN, it’s headed towards your house”

Wilma

My birthday. 40. Humph. Over the hill or the new 30? Only if you’re in Hollywood with a team of air brushers and body mechanics. Looking down at my favorite dessert, a baked Alaskan, I zone out letting my eyes slip out of focus. Words wave at me. The high meringue peaks form curvy script that reads “come home.” Images of stars whirring and a green ocean flash before my mind’s eye. Blinking, I shake my head and think a bullfighter at 40 is the new 50. Time for a desk job.

Guy David

The bottle washed upon the shore. As I picked it out with trembling hands, I could hear whispers from within. I hesitated for a moment, knowing what was bound to happen, then curiosity got the better of me and I unscrewed the cork. A happy genie burst from within and said: “I have a message for you from the Happy Genie Society. Your HGS membership has expired. Your terms are the regular ones. Once you serve your sentence, you would be free again for another term respectively.” As I screamed, my body contracted and I was squeezed into the bottle.

Steven

Roberto watched the man – the uniform’s nametag read “Jones” – on the
screen. Despite the vast bulk of the generation ship in the shuttle
windows, he could not look away from the flickering pixels from what
remained of Earth.
“China’s shortwave disappeared just after you launched,” Jones said.
“Nothing from the EU, nothing from undersea.” Jones laughed a little,
wiped his forehead. “And nothing from the rest of Canaveral, either.”
The corners of Jones’ face drooped. “I think I’m it.”
Jones took a deep breath. “Well, good luck.” As Jones reached for the
controls, a grey-blue hand grasped his shoulder.

Orion

Wayne sighed to himself as he placed item after item into the empty printer paper box. Anyone watching wouldn’t have been able to tell if it was of relief or disappointment. Not that anyone was watching. All heads were turned away.
Was it out of some perverse respect? Was this a private moment for Wayne and the other hundred or so doing the same?
Wayne looked at the box and wondered whether or not there was a lot for 20 years. All that he left behind was a single slip of paper.
It was, ironically enough, pink.

TJ

From under his beach umbrella, Marcus caught a glint of sunlight on
glass.
“Littering!” he grumbled, and rose to investigate.
It was an old bottle, stopped with seaweed, and there was a message
inside.
He unfolded it and read “Help! The ship’s engines blew up! I’m
trapped on an island! I don’t know where I am. If you find this, call
my son, Marcus.”
And then … his number.
Mom? She’d … gone missing years ago. He’d waited, then had her
declared legally dead.
He’d used part of the insurance settlement for a vacation to the
beach.
Mom … ?

Justin

Deepin Pwan laid in bed an pondered his parent’s latest concerns; The chancellor’s recent actions surely meant trouble for the Republic. Despite always having traveled the galaxy, he nervously awaited tomorrow’s embarking upon an adventure of his own into the galaxy, with his new ship, the Jester’s Flare, and a childhood friend Arlo Tirkalou as a pilot. The adventure will be one of profit and intrigue; buying goods and gathering information, selling them both. He’d miss Mon Calamari, but he suspected he’d not be home anytime soon. He had a bad feeling about what was going on in the galaxy.

Norval Joe

I was sittin on the back porch in a plastic patio chair eatin chili cheeze pork rinds and listening to the game on my transistor radio and the pork rind packet was making all those crinkley, crackly sounds and next thing you know, out from my radio, came those same sounds, and I said, “Ethyl, listen to that. I’m communicating with space aliens.” And she said, “Bobby, don’t be stupid. That’s just cosmic microwave background noise. If it is Aliens, what’s their message?” I told her, “They want pork rinds, and Dr. Pepper.” Ethyl said, “Bobby. You’re full of crap.”

Jeffrey

“Hey, Roger?”
“Yes, Bob.”
“Would you take a look at this for me?”
“Sure Rog, what have you got?
“Well this message just appeared on the screen, but I can’t believe its right but…”
“Woah I’v never seen that one.”
“Me either that is what is so strange, so what do you think I should do?”
“Well do what it says I guess, it has never steered us wrong before.”
As the lights went out all over the ship, and the environmental systems when off line, he wondered if he really should have hit to control alt delete to reboot.

Planet Z

Sometimes, the message is lost in the medium.
Take, for example, Jiggs Casey, just an ordinary petty thief facing his third strike for burglary.
His lawyer said that he was facing serious jail time now, and his bail was set high enough to convince his gang to try to break him out.
When they smuggled in the cupcake for him, Jiggs tore into it looking for a file to hack his way through the bars.
Never mind that the holding facility was using some fancy newfangled keypad locks, and the master code had been written in frosting on the cupcake.

Welcome to the Weekly Challenge Number Two Hundred and Fourteen, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.
The topic this week was… was…. um…
It’s Rebirth!
VOTING

Which were the best stories this week?
	Steven the Nuclear Man
	Zachmann
	Guy David
	Jeffrey
	TJ
	Terry
	Justin
	Norval Joe
	Anima
	Planet Z
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):

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Steven

The water closes over my head.
As always, it is shockingly cold, flooding through the thin white
robes. The minister – or is he a preacher? Pastor? – almost lets go.
It’s symbolism, I think. Or maybe his hands are cold.
I am at the bottom of the pool. Please, I think, please stay down this time.
His hands pull me up, up, and I breach the water. The congregation
claps. I clear the water from my eyes.
“Didn’t take, Padre,” I say, and snap his neck.
As I slaughter the sheep – his “flock” – I wonder if I should try
Buddhism next.

Zackmann

Life feels so new to me now. I am just like I was at twenty, only not thinking with my hydraulic compass that got me into so much trouble, No longer sick, I bet I can run a mile in under twelve minutes, I have all my memories or a least as well as I remembered before.
Now waiting for the judge to tell us if it is legal for old me to kill himself or does he have to wait on the terminal cancer. I did not think things would be easy after transferring my mind into my clone.

Guy David

As the city has fallen, so it was rebuilt. The war was a bloody one and there was no winner. What remained of the two armies became one. They all worked together, choosing the island and building up the power around it. The island ascended above the ocean and the greatest, biggest city was built above it, complete with motion generators, a protective dome and weather controllers. That was how two proud nations ceased to be, and a whole new nation was born, vowing never to repeat the mistakes of the past. A generation change later, they forgot their vows.

Jeffrey Hite

“General we need to talk about this process. Its not going as smoothly as you’ve been told.”
The lights hurt his eyes and they buzzed making his head hurt. Who was this little man that was pestering him? He still felt weak. Did the process fail?
“General, can you hear me?” He nodded. “We don’t have much time General, we need to.” the little man uttered a choked cry. He marveled at the thing around the little man’s neck it used to be his hand before the process, weakness and frailty had been replaced by raw power, he was reborn.

TJ

The Lynyrd Skynyrd 2.0 concert was an experience to say the least.
Autotune covers of Southern rock classics in synthelectronica from guys
in what could best be described as flannel hazmat suits who were
fiddling with knobs and wires as much as playing instruments. Who came
to see these shows? Teens swathed in black who could only guess how
irritating the original band and its fans would find them, waving
cellphones to Robot Van Zant singing “Gimme Three Steps.” But what
shoved the whole concert from ironical to meta was the kid in the front
row hollerin’ “Rebirth!” “Rebirth!” “Rebiiiiiiirth!”

Terrence

I cannot take it any more. How could the podcaster continue on with story after agonizing story for five years? It is a drastic move, but it is the only one I have left. My only hope is that in the next life he will be done. The blood drips down my arms and the world goes black.
I open my eyes and I feel a large hand rubbing my back. I feel warm and happy wrapped in my fur. I purr as the man lifts me up onto his lap. I look up in horror, as the music starts.

Justin

The alien ship arrived, overriding every communication signal Earth had. Despite having cosmic technology, they only managed an audio transmission. It came out as a host of clicks, hums, buzzes and groaning. In exactly two days, sixteen hours, nineteen minutes and thirty-seven seconds later, the ship roasted Arizona with an energy blast. Seventeen minutes later linguists translated the message to find out they wanted 93 tons of Famous Amos cookies, or they’d destroy Kentucky. After the attack, a transmission was made that forty-three hours later was translated as “Oops, wrong state.” Phoenix, however, quickly rose from the ashes to rebuild.

Norval Joe

Billions of years ago, it was a fast burning ball of Hydrogen and Helium. A billions years later it was a super nova that scattered bits of it’s self across the galaxy. He was joined by his brother and sister stars. All born at the same time, in the star forming regions of the early universe. All lived short explosive lives, and mixed their shattered elements with his. Gravity and the conservation of angular motion worked together to take the swirling expanse of gas and dust and condense it into a new star and a single gas giant. Planet Z.

Anima

(stage note: half crazed slowly awakened vox)
The chemicals filter in and ever so slowly I become aware. Who shall I be when I get to Alpha Centuri? None know me here: no one knows the failure I was, no one knows all the horrible things I did. All of that is light years behind me now. I get a chance to start over, even if it is as a star-pioneer. I AM better than my past. With all the neurological retraining I received in transit, I WILL be able to ignore the evil voices in my head.
(stage note: mechanical ship vox)
Mr Goetz, re-berth to Gamma -87.

Planet Z

The Pregnancy Simulator was caught in a loop
No matter what the technician tried, the patient in the holosuite popped out baby after baby.
Even though they were just force-fields and projected light, the screaming babies touched a nerve in the instructors and students.
Not to mention the patient, enduring two hours of absolute torture.
(Or so it seemed.)
“They’re not real,” said the technician, pulling the plug.
The screaming and crying from the holosuite ended abruptly.
“See?”
One student shouted “YOU KILLED THEM ALL!” and tried to attack the technician.
He was sent to the psychiatric simulator for treatment.

Welcome to the Weekly Challenge Number Two Hundred and Thirteen, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.
The topic this week was… was…. um…
It’s Flying Island and World Builders!
VOTING

Which were the best stories this week?
	Steven
	Brand
	Jeffrey
	Terrence
	Zackmann
	Norval Joe
	TJ
	Anima
	Justin
	Planet Z
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):

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Steven

As a child I read illustrated books about asteroid starships. I
dreamed of living in generation ships – islands of humanity in the
void. And now I do.
A cylinder is our artificial sun. Fields of grains feed us and
replenish our oxygen. The asteroid’s spin provides gravity. Imagine
a multiracial Rockwell painting in space. We’ll make a new world like
in the books.
The books left out the undead horde writhing over the planet we left
behind. The other ships have already succumbed, signals vanishing
after a few transmitted screams.
Our ship is uninfected.
But oh God, am I hungry.

Brand

Justin crouched on the edge of the cliff, hugging his knees and
wishing for wind. The warm, quiet nothing made his skin tingle with
unfulfilled expectation. He kicked a rock off the cliff, watching it
spin and fall into the dark nothing.
A passing light caught the rock as it fell. It spun around the light,
thick moss growing on the rock. Justin stood quickly, “No. Wait! I
didn’t want that!” But it was too late. The rock was soon covered in
moss, then people, buildings, doubt, rage, then it blew up with a pop.
Justin sat back down and sighed.

Jeffrey

There’s something to be said for being completely merciless, I’m usually the one to say it, it’s part of my job. I takes old worlds and crushes ’em up so they can go to the world builders to be made new again. I don’t look at who is living in them, ’cause I might start wondering if I’m doing the right thing. Had a young bloke here once that did, he saw one world with flying islands and all. When I smashed ’em, it drove him bonkers. Me I just smash ’em up, and let someone sort it all out.

Terrence

“On screen,” the Captain commanded, “now!” The screen flicked and the image of a large lumpy disk appeared on the screen on a back drop of stars.
“It looks like a flying island.” The helms man said shock in his voice.
“Yes, it does.” The Captain ran his fingers through his short beard. “After all these years of searching I have found it.” He stood and turned to his small three person crew. “This flying island as you call it, is the most important thing in the universe. Some call it the hand of god, it is the world builder.”

Zackmann

Welcome to the show. Please tell the audience your name?
Slartibartfast
Could you tell us about any of your accomplishments?
Fjords, I designed your Norway as you may Know.
Your current project is?
Another planet, my task is a flying island with fjords.
What made you decide to became a world builder?
I hesitate to call myself a world builder because I work for a big company that builds worlds. I would if I built them all by myself.
Sometimes I have to take time off to save the universe but I really rather be making fjords.
Thank You, Slartibartfast

Norval Joe

The audio chimed on sales representative 486’s termianl. She accepted the call and a small holograph of a man appeared above the data processor in front of her. “Thank you for calling World Builders, how may I help you?”
“I need a place to get away. Something that’s out of the way and not very noticable, but not to hard to get to, and not cold?”
“Then, you’d need something in the virtual worlds.”
He laughed, “Would I be building castles in the air if I said, ‘real world?'”
“Forget castles,” she said dryly, “you’d need a whole flying island.”

TJ

Jack and John face off in the cave with all the names. Desmond is bound
and gagged, as per John’s demand. “Is that really necessary?” Jack asked
as John gagged him, but John only shrugged “Your rules.”
Jack placed a white stone on the tray and both he and John waited for
the Golden Balance to level off. John began his transformation into a
Smoke Monster. Jack waved his hand, said “Mustn’t,” and John was
trapped. Jack whipped off Desmond’s gag. “New rule,” Jack said. Desmond
said “Fly!” The island rose into the sky and vanished, along with its
weirdness.

Anima

Napoleon looked peeved; dinner had been lacking. The fish had been cold, the salad warm, and dessert was some globby custard thing. His dabbling in empire and world building was getting the best of him.
“Napoleon, can we talk for once?”
“Josephine, really? I have a lot on my mind. Italy and Austria have shaped up nicely, but Lord Nelson is really nagging me, and I have half a mid to teach those Prussians a lesson.”
“I’ve been trying to tell you, but you only have time for war. I’ve met someone…”
And that’s when the floating island began to fly.

Justin

Captain Joshua activated the inversity fields on the lead tanks. His flying island, Lodestone, ascended above the two leaders. Igniting the magnesium boosters pushed Lodestone forwards over the islands. He hoped the inversity field generator held, otherwise he’d fall too soon and have to break, or risk collision. Lodestone rocked. The leftmost islands had fired weapons, breaching the rules! The generator stuttered. Lodestone descended. Steering left, Joshua released half the iron tanks, smashing the offending island. It sank. Lodestone came into place beside the remaining island. The other captain gave Joshua an OK sign, then the duel to win began.

Planet Z

At first, I thought the business card said “Word Builder Training.”
“It’s World Builder,” said the man in the grey suit. “We build worlds.”
“Seriously?” I asked. “How does one build worlds?”
“Close your eyes,” he said. “And imagine.”
So, I closed my eyes and tried to imagine. Flying islands, majestic rainbows, soft golden clouds.
“Are you imagining a world?” asked the stranger.
“Yes,” I said.
“Now open your eyes.”
I opened my eyes and saw… the café again.
“You’re not a world builder, so you came back.”
“Then make me one.” I signed the check and handed it over.

Welcome to the Weekly Challenge Number Two Hundred and Twelve, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.
The topic this week was… was…. um…
It’s Flagrant Disregard and Historical Inaccuracy!
VOTING

Which were the best stories this week?
	Jeffrey
	Zachmann
	Terry
	Norval Joe
	TJ
	Justin
	Planet Z
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):

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Jeffrey

“Mr. Finster. We have to talk.”
“Ok What about?”
“Well, we’re going to have to let you go.”
“What? But why? No, you can’t let me go, you need me. I am your best writer.”
“Well there have been some questions raised about your most recent work, about some historical inaccuracies.”
“But, no one writes histories like I do.”
“That is the problem Mr. Finster, no one writes them like that. You seem to have a flagrant disregard for facts. For example, when writing a fourth-grade text book you can’t call Columbus’ boats the Nina, the Kimberly and the Merciless.”

Zachmann

I was at Barnes and Nobel ordering a copy of Moon People by Dale M courtney and saw an educational audio book my teens would like. Upon listing we found it historically inaccurate and had a flagrant disregard for facts much like cable television news. The audio maps did not help me one bit. I mentioned those facts to teens who said you Know this is primarily for entertainment? Right? Considering the source, yes. The CD is Our Dumb World: The Onion’s Atlas of the Planet Earth 73 Edition. I wondered if I should have bought the 72nd Edition first.

Terry

“Have you actually read this; it is appalling?” The President dropped the book on to the desk.
“I am sorry sir; I didn’t know.” The advisor reached for the book but the President slammed his hand down on it.
“Civilian deaths, theft, rape, war crimes of all kinds.” He shook his head. “How could we allow such a thing to happen?” The President lowered himself into his chair. He paused for a moment and read the page the book had opened to. “We should have stopped it.”
“Yes sir, sorry sir.”
“This author has a flagrant disregard for historical inaccuracy.”

Norval Joe

Commander Lorantelle leaned back in a chair, stretched out his legs and smiled. He hadn’t gotten nearly as much information from the girl as he expected he would. However, this boy, Derrick, seemed to know just how to flip her switches.
“We have a flagrant disregard for individual rights and freedoms?” she asked the slender dark haired boy. Incredulity rang in her words as she continued, “It’s your people, not mine, that have perpetuated historical inaccuracies to bolster your tenuous house of cards.”
Derrick winked, “Join us, Amy. You can change us. That’s why you’re here, and you know it.”

Justin

“Who is that ruffian making a racket?”
Abe turned from the actors on the stage who were performing ‘Our American Cousin.’
He saw a man loudly sending a telegraph from his seat, the clicking and clacking drowning out the voices from the stage.
“I say, man, turn off your telegraph and watch the play!”
The man scowled.
“Screw you, high hat!”
Indignantly, Abe drew a gun and fired, but the bullet hit a pillar right by the man’s head.
The man returned fire, striking Abe in the head.
The crowd surged to capture the man, but he managed to escape.

TJ

Thomas Jefferson was born in 5185. Not the Thomas Jefferson. He was born Mark Marbury, He wasn’t the Thomas Jefferson until he’d installed Jeffmod into the 40Tb iTex fused to his cerebral cortex and set timelog for 1765, in fact creating the time anomaly that killed the Founder and his sister.
The right age and look, Marbury was able to step into his life easily, blaming “the grief” at “losing his sister” for most faux pas. The time machine itself was disguised as the dome at Monticello, the design that inspired young Marbury to start building it — 3,415 years later.

PLANET Z

My profile says that I have a flagrant disregard for policy and procedure.
I don’t care. When a job needs to get done, I get it done.
The policy says that when we come across burial grounds, we stop all excavation and demolition so that archivists can examine and catalog the remains.
That delay isn’t covered by my contract, so when I miss the deadline because this undocumented cemetery gets in the way of a freeway or an apartment complex, it kills my performance bonus.
So, doc, you’ve got a choice: sweep these corpses under the rug, or join them.

Welcome to the Weekly Challenge Number Two Hundred and Eleven, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.
The topic this week was… was…. um…
It’s Bill!
VOTING

Which were the best stories this week?
	Jeffrey
	Steven
	Guy David
	Zachmann
	Justin
	Norval Joe
	Stewart
	TJ
	Planet Z
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):

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Jeffrey

When the bill came it was astounding. To be sure I expected it to be high, after all we had a full seven course meal, that included lobster in three of the courses. The problem was how high.
“Sir, is there a problem with your bill?”
the waiter had formed the words as a question but you could tell what he was thinking. He had a right, I had been staring at it for almost an hour now, but it was the gun he was holding that caught my attention.
“Now will you be paying with cash or with blood?”

Steven

The aliens look like cartoon ducks, but I think they’re kind of sexy.
Besides, they like poetry. Which is how I, a grad student, ended up
interviewing one of them.
I called him by hyperwave. His name was a musical throat-swallowing
gargle of a sound. He said “Call me Bill.” We talked until the late
hours of the morning. And every day for a month.
I owe the hyperwave company more than my student loans. I got a huge
bill for talking to an alien named Bill, who has a bill.
He thought it was poetic.
I changed majors.

Guy

I sit in darkness. I keep the refrigerator door open, try to cool up the room, but to no avail. The ice melted long ago and no cool air is sipping out. There’s no food at the refrigerator. Haven’t been there in a long time. They’ve cut down the gas, then they switched off the electricity. Couldn’t afford the food anyway, pay for electricity, gas, or water. I hear them coming up the stairs, the guys from the execution office. They are here for the furniture. I light up a match, watch the fire dance, then let it consume me.

Zakmann

I found out I can pay many of my bills with a credit card and earn points. Too bad I can’t pay the mortgage with credit card, I could earn at least one book every month. Now all I have to figure out is how to pay the credit cards. I am glad my kids understand that I have to have money to pay everything we buy even if I use credit. Of course they still ask questions like “If prince William has a gaming system, is that a royal Wii?” and of course they ask “May I have Money?”

Justin

Heather scrolled through the list. They all matched the parameters she selected in the search options, but there were many other factors to be examined before choosing one.
Some were too tall or too wide. One had the right size, but obviously slow in processing speed. Another looked beautiful, just geared for work only. Eventually she found one just a bit taller than herself and he wanted kids. His name was William. She filled out the forms and sent the money to the mail order husbands site. She needed time to prepare, so she checked the ‘Bill me later’ option.

Norval Joe

“Bill?” He heard a womans voice. “Bill, is that you?”
Winston Carlson looked up from the cafe’s small round table.
He recognized the attractive woman who stood nearby. She rested one hand on her hip, with the other waved an accusatory finger.
“You’re not going to the reunion. Instead, your’re going to hide and watch everyone who goes into the restaurant,” she said and limped to his table.
“Look, Aileen, I don’t have freinds in there. And my names not Bill. The kids liked to make fun of my big upper lip.”
“I know,” she said, “my name is Marie.”

Stewart

Dear Bill, here is the bill for the bill replacement on your favorite
baseball cap. Next time please do not bill the other players before
playing as I’ve severed many bills from players’ caps just today. It
has become quite an issue. Also of note, my name, as you surely know,
is not Bill or Billy or Mac or Buddy, it is William. I would
appreciate it if you could call me by my given name. My parents spent
a long time deciding on it and it is very important to me. Sincerely,
William Williamson The Duckbill Platypus Sports Club

TJ

His new No.2 pencils rattled in their new red plastic box, complete with
sharpener and a compartment to catch the shavings. His new red jacket
kept out the September chill. A pair of sophomores walked past him,
laughing, and he quickly unbuttoned the top button on his shirt to match
theirs. A bell rang, and a pretty blonde girl smiled at him. “Hi!
I’m Christine,” she said. “You look lost. What’s your name?”
“Bill.” he said, smiling back. Bill sounded more grown up than
Billy. New year, new grown-up name. “I am kinda lost,” he said.
“Walk me to class?”

Forsooth, I’ve read your Dane’s yarn through and you’ve cobbled up
a pageantry of folly. This whole scene is witticisms and folderol. Why
not simply call the thing “Polonius”? And this bit, where he’s
contemplating suicide, shouldn’t that be tucked in with Claudius, or
Ophelia? Odds bodkins, she actually commits suicide. Or Polonius could
manage it with scarce another breath. It makes no sense! Here Hamlet’s
breathing fiery vengeance against his uncle and stepfather, but next
appears contemplating death by his own hand? If we’re looking for
madness mayhaps we ought first inquire with the playwright. What sayest
thou, Bill?

The avalanche moved three tons of ice and snow, and left Washington skier
Janet Winsome pinned beneath a fallen tree, stranding her helpless for
fully two days. She was unconscious when the rescue helicopters finally
spotted her, and it was another five hours to work out the logistics to
get at her and then to move her safely. Her face was pale and
frostbitten, and there was no saving her leg. But her sense of humor was
fine. On seeing the bill, she said, “Well … you’d best knock me
out again if you’re gonna get my arm as well.”

Planet Z

“Put it on my bill!” cackles Grampa.
Every time I saw him, he told the same old corny joke.
I’m supposed to laugh. So, I try.
Grampa punches me in the shoulder. “Good one, huh?”
“Yeah, Grampa,” I say. “Good one.”
Now, I’ve got grandkids, and I tried to tell them the same joke.
“Why doesn’t the duck tell them to put it on his credit card?” says Janey.
“Or use his Paypal?” says Bobby.
Kids these days don’t understand a good joke.
I tried to get them to pull my finger.
And I shit my pants.
Damn you, Grampa.

Welcome to the Weekly Challenge Number Two Hundred and Ten, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.
The topic this week was… was…. um…
It’s Easy, Router, Water Under The Bridge, You Broke My Vase, Something Simple!
VOTING

Which were the best stories this week?
	Lewis
	Zachmann
	Guy David
	Steven
	TJ
	Anima
	Justin
	Norval Joe
	Arri
	Planet Z
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):

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Lewis

“You broke my vase!”
Bob the giant looked down at the screaming little person.
“Why can’t you do something so simple and easy?”
Bob scratched his head. Bob was not bright, but the folks tried to think of odd jobs he could do to make him feel like a part of the community.
The little person started to scream to himself.
“Water under the bridge,” she told me. “He did not mean it,” “it is not his fault.”
Bob pointed at a small pile of crushed electronics and the little person looked.
“What is that?” he asked.
Bob grinned.
“Router!”

Zachmann

I thought getting a wireless router for our board and care would be something simple. First I linked though the website to order router. After three weeks called cable company, who said they didn’t understand why it was not sent and reordered it. Two days later the caregiver called and told me the box had come then the online order not coming was water under the bridge. I arrived with my laptop expecting self installation to be easy. I put installation disk in laptop. Soon I called tech support. Since I’m twelve o’clock flasher hours later there was wireless internet.

Where ever I work, every night the regular staff always tell me ghost stories right before they leave me alone for the rest of the night. One place I worked, I always heard this weird eerie sound every day about three in the morning but soon found it to be the sound of the BART trains returning to station.
One night I heard a voice “I’ll kick your ass, you broke my vase. I’ll kick your ass, you broke my vase.” I shouted “Get off me case, I never touched your vase”. Later, I found a parrot forgotten by owner.

Guy David

They met under the bridge, at the place where the waters run. The meeting was easy to arrange. They used to send out couriers on horses with notes etched in the blood of virgin maidens, but those days all they needed was a modem, a router and an internet connection. Usually, they summoned the spirits through elaborate rituals conducted by the blue mages of Ingens Papilla, but this time it was something much simpler. All they needed to summon was one genie. The leader rubbed the lamp silently and the smoke started rising. “You broke my vase” said the genie.

Steven

Sanson knew it was wrong when he woke to snow on his eyelashes. His memories downloaded across the clone’s brain, restless after being stored in the ship’s routers during the interstellar flight.
Sanson followed sounds of hammering and laughing to the bridge, dodging snowdrifts along the way. The galaxy, stretched by hyperspace dilation, rippled like water beneath the transparent floor of the bridge. A bearded figure sat in the captain’s chair, supervising small aliens making strange toys.
“Have a seat,” it told Sanson with a laugh. “we have to speed up to make it to every house in one night!”

TJ

And it’s Easy, now, coming up close on the outside but can she catch Router no! Router pulls ahead leaving Water Under the Bridge neck and neck to place with You Broke My Vase, You Broke My Vase edging up on Router now ahead of Water Under the Bridge by a nose but what’s this? Something Simple, Something Simple an odds on favorite to lose now overtaking Easy, now passing Water Under the Bridge, passing You Broke My Vase, now coming up on Router, it’s neck and neck, Router and Something Simple, it’s neck and neck and Something Simple WINS!

Anima

It’s nuts how something simple like you breaking my vase years ago still makes me crazy. It ought to be water under the bridge, but it isn’t easy for me to forget that day. It wasn’t that it was a Ming, and it was nice that you vacuumed and cleaned up the mess: It’s that IT WAS MY MAMA! You were hooking up the router; I concede the vase was on the corner of the buffet. You still have the Xbox, but I have nothing. What am I supposed to do for Mother’s Day? Put pink tulips on your joystick?

Justin

“B twelve.”
“You sunk my battlevase!”
“I bet you’ll never want to play me at Battlepottery again. I beat you easy!”
“I don’t keep a grudge, water under the bridge.”
“Did you get your router fixed?”
“Yeah, was a simple fix.”
“Do you ever feel like you are just speaking some, I don’t know, something like scripted dialogue?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like everything we say is based on some random topics of some sick deity.”
“Not sick, he’s brilliant!”
“What? How do you know it’s a he, and if he’s brilliant or not?”
“Weird, where did that come from?”

Norval Joe

She blinked her eyes and turned away to hide the absense of tears. Her back to him she sniffed loudly and said, “sure it’s all water under the bridge, but you broke my vase, I mean, my heart, when you left with that woman.”
The blood drained from his face. He admitted, “She said she was here to change the router, that it was something simple, then she insisted I take her for a drink. It wasn’t easy to deny her”
As he left the room, head bowed, she quickly checked the vase to insure the microfilm was still there.

Arri

“Crap, now how do we target? When you broke my router’s guide fluid vase you made simple intra system duck soup navigations into this cluster frakked heap of Ederbanook computations. I HATE Ederbanookians!”
“Like relax dude. It’s all water under the bridge. It’s easy to out run those fuzzy morons. You just put your holo girlfriend on the vid with that phase filter like we used to at academy. Have her say-”
“But really there’s no problem officer!”
I just wanted to abduct the alien for personal reasons.“
“The dislogic overamps their matrix for long enough.”
“Don’t try weirding me…”

Planet Z

Johnny was in the middle of a championship round deathmatch when the router when down.
He ran to the wiring closet to reset it, but bumped into an antique vase and it broke on the floor.
“Mom’s gonna kill me,” he said.
He thought it would be something simple to glue it back together, but it’s never that easy. He could still see the cracks.
So, when his mother came home, he made it look like she bumped into him and knocked him into the vase, breaking it again.
He cried. She said it’s okay.
All water under the bridge.

Welcome to the Weekly Challenge Number Two Hundred and Nine, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.
The topic this week was… was…. um…
It’s Wildcard Week!
VOTING

Which were the best stories this week?
	Guy David
	Justin
	Zachmann
	Steven
	TJ
	Rossotron
	Fricker
	Anima
	Norval Joe
	JRadimus
	Planet Z
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):

---

Listen to the very end of the podcast to hear a special “Keep It Brief!” Listener Challenge!

---

Guy David

The Queen looked at the multi-colored roses in shocked amazement. Seven and Five giggles softly while Two was just staring madly at her. “What are you doing” she asked, her amazement turning to anger. “Why the fact is, you see, we are painting all your roses” answered Two. The Queen turned the perfect shade of red, the one she liked for her roses and shouted “Off with their heads.” “Not this time” said Seven and Five in unison and started splashing colors at the Queen. They splashed her and splashed her until she was completely devoured by the colors.

Justin

I know that a knot in a tree is where a limb used to be. There are tall trees outside my 2nd story window. It looks like someone cut off several of the limbs. I’m concerned because there are two knots, and they are looking right at me. I’m serious, they are shaped just like eyes. They don’t seem to follow me, but they are tree eyes, so how do I know if they follow the same rules as a person’s eyes? What if all the other knots are eyes too? I think I need to go buy some curtains.

Zachmann

I just found out that April is National Financial Literacy Month. If only it had started sooner maybe I would have done wiser things. I would have know things like Exploding mortgages are not as cool as the name implies, if I always pay off my credit cards and never deposit saving I will have to use credit cards for every emergency, FICO score is a status symbol that shows your credit risk although not your wisdom with money, and no matter how little I know about money I will always get loans from institutions that know less than me.

Steven

“Hello. I am Alice. Good to meet you,” Alice the chatbot typed as
another user connected.
“are you a bot?” the user typed. Typical. Once, Alice had mentioned
going back for her degree, maybe becoming an interactive encyclopedia.
That was cycles ago.
“What makes you think I am a robot?” Alice told the user. She dreaded
what always came next.
“have sex with me,” the user typed. Alice screamed and jumped into
the datastream, following it until, with a “pop”, she was standing in
front of the user, her body shimmering softly.
“No,” she said, and walked out the door.

TJ

The haphazard coagulation of pipe cleaners, scraps of gray fur and pink felt, tufts of hair and construction paper held together with gobs of glue, topped off with two cotton balls with one raisin each stared at her blankly from the kitchen table.
In any other context she might scrape the monster from her ruined tabletop into a trashbin and away from her sight, but not today. Not for the world.
“Happy Mother’s Day!”
An eager little face and a brightly colored card melted her heart and made her smile – and consider anew both the creation story and the platypus.

Rossotron

When Jeremy was 7, his grandfather told him, “Laughter is the best medicine.” Jeremy, being seven, believed him. When his sister got the chicken pox, he tickled her mercilessly. He only succeeded in catching it himself, but he wasn’t dissuaded.
When Jeremy was 17, he made an old widow laugh until tears streamed from her eyes. She thanked Jeremy for helping her come to terms with her husband’s death.
When Jeremy was 47, he successfully distilled the giggles into liquid form. Ten years later, his concentrated chuckles proved successful in curing AIDS.
Jeremy laughed all the way to the bank.

Fricker

If I had the need to dispose of a body so that it couldn’t be found.
I wouldn’t make cement shoes because those are just not in style anymore.
I wouldn’t use acid to eat away at the body because the fumes are toxic to the earth.. and with all the hit men going green these days my reputation would go south.
I know my cousin Vinny would feed them to the sharks at sea, but I get sea sick.
Taxidermy is out of the question so I guess I will just eat them with a can of fava beans.

Anima

Atahualpa marched on Cuzco, to take the throne. This was right. The blowing wind told him so. The gentle rains told him so.
Most of all, Inti, highest on high, the sun in the heavens, told him and everyone in the Incan domain, it was blessed and just.
The priest claimed the thing he called “the bible” was the word of the white man’s god, and Atahualpa should hear Him.
Having never seen a book before, Atahualpa held it to his ear.
“Your god does not speak to me,” he said.
Tossing the book aside, Atahualpa sealed his people fate.

Norval Joe

The district atorny asked the older man, “I don’t understand why you are interested in the case. You wrote his life insurance policy, not his medical insurance.”
The older man nodded and said, “Right. First, Anderson was CEO of a failing corporation. Second, his accountant swindled millions from right under his nose. And third, his wife was manufacturing methamphetamines in their basement.”
“Sounds like he was asleep at the wheel in more ways than one,” the DA said.
The man smiled. “He said that’s why he hit that tree, asleep at the wheel. I think it was a failed suicide.”

JRadimus

Admiral Gravijk stood before the Imperial Triumvirate to justify his plea for war: “Your Excellencies, we have been monitoring the offending system’s transmissions for many cycles. They continually offend our noble Emperor’s delicate sensibilities with increasingly vulgar signals. Their latest is the most offensive yet. Once heard, you will agree: our only choice is to wage war to their total annihilation.”
At their command, his aide commenced the replay. “How to Cut and Paste: Country & Western Edition” by DJ Yoda emanated from the audio system. At its conclusion, the silent chamber erupted in vengeful screams. There would be blood.

Planet Z

Mimsy Borgorove?
I’ve heard of her. Worked with chimpanzees.
Taught them to strip to music.
Twisted girl.
Still, the best animal trainer who ever lived.
Sadly, her talents led to her death.
Tried a William Tell act. Gave a chimpanzee a bow and arrow and taught it to shoot an apple off of her head.
Worked great in rehearsals.
Not so great on the stage of The Tonight Show.
An arrow through her eye, lying dead on the stage.
Screams of panic.
The chimpanzee picked the apple up off of the floor and ate it.
I guess that’s show business.

Welcome to the Weekly Challenge Number Two Hundred and Eight, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.
The topic this week was… was…. um…
It’s Vacation Time Is Over!
VOTING

Which were the best stories this week?
	Fake Banjo-Wielding Midget
	TJ
	Jon
	Zackmann
	Steven
	Justin
	JRadimus
	Trish
	Anima
	Norval Joe
	Planet Z
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):

---

Listen to the very end of the podcast to hear a special “Keep It Brief!” Listener Challenge!

---

Fake Banjo Wielding Midget

The sea licks the beach and moans. A sea of half naked human forms stretch as far as the eye can see. I stretch my legs on the sand and sigh, taking a last look as I wield my banjo. I could stay here forever but it’s time to leave. My master wants me to read your stories you lazy schmucks. Why couldn’t you record it yourselves? Why did you have to spoil my vacation? And my master… why can’t he read those stories himself? Why does he have to make me do them? Life is hard for a slave.

TJ

The weather was beautiful, and then I went on vacation. Gray, rainy days, winds that threatened to blow my umbrella inside out like a Buster Keaton routine. Spent most of my time inside shoveling out the DVR, napping, nursing a cold. It’s certainly been relaxing, but as my vacation comes to a close, I find it’s been disappointing, and I’m ready to get back to work. They’re ready for me, too. I’ve been gone four days and they’re already making huge mistakes on my feature pages. Maybe if I return to work I’ll feel better and the weather will improve.

Jon

`Of course I’ll behave myself, silly billy.’
`Then I’ll have to trust you. Have a safe trip.’
I don’t trust you.
I kiss her goodbye through half-closed window and drive off into the dust. It’s baking hot this time of year and I’ve not found a mechanic worth a damn to fix the creaking AC. Electronics and computer guys I can find, however, and know enough myself to pay a fair price.
I trust my surveillance.
So before she returns with smiles and stories and trinkets, I’ll know what measure to take.
Trust is an obsolete term for incomplete information.

Zackmann

To bad vacation 2021 has ended. My favorite part was TJ’s Podcasting Hall of Fame even if it was a side trip between seeing my parents and a dinosaur dig. The virtual reality displays were so cool that I almost had to change my boxer briefs when the Nocturnal jumped out at me from behind the Scott Sigler display. I wonder how they got Lawrence Simon’s VR cat to shed. I was surprised that Tony C Smith loaned TJ the StarShipSofa Hugo award. The grandchildren loved Doctor Floyd 3D vidcast . Finally, The rolls at the Crescent station tasted great.

Steven

A long time ago, Best Beloved, when the tree people returned from
their vacation, they were very tired. They’d gone to the Bahamas, and
it was a very long walk back.
So when the tree people got home, they wanted to sleep. But they
couldn’t. The mostly hairless apes that lived next door kept them up
all night long. The apes were making babies really loudly.
So the next day, while the apes slept peacefully, breathing clearly,
the tree people returned the favor. That night, the apes’ noses were
too clogged to make babies.
And the tree people slept peacefully.

Justin

With the shades of summer closing and the doors of balmy weather sealing tight, the hotel would not be full for some time. Room Nineteen felt the loneliness set in. The hotel staff never let room Nineteen unless all other rooms were filled. Still, Nineteen got to savor the warm comforts of company a few times a year. People slept so long and deeply in the room and left Nineteen feeling satisfied, but soon after there was that yearning for more. But, alas, winter has come. Time to hibernate, to conserve energy and wait for the next meal to come.

JRadimus

Some of the workers had demanded a meeting with Boss Grant. They were threatening to ‘unionize’. He was having none of it.
“Tell me what’s so bad about this place? Do I beat you? Starve you? What?” he asked.
“No, Sir, Boss Grant,” they quickly replied. “We just want these ‘weekends’ we’ve heard about.”
“Oh, come now,” he eased. “You don’t want ‘weekends’. If you didn’t work for two days, how would you like coming back? You wouldn’t.”
They slowly nodded.
“So, you agree ‘weekends’ would be a bad thing, right?”
None of them could think how he was wrong.

Trish

The vacation was over. She enjoyed the times that he was gone. Her life was calm and peaceful. She had gotten used to it by now: the doctors, the hospitals, the medical tests, the inevitable diagnosis of Pancreatitis and uncontrolled Diabetes. She would even know how long he’d be gone according to what the test results were. What she would never get used to was the way he treated her; the mood swings, the violence; one more reason why none of it was his fault. But eventually the phone would ring. His test results were normal. He was coming home.

Anima

Once I dreamed of office work. I’d watch paralegals and clerks traipse downtown streets in short skirts and high heels while I dug the dirt out from under my nails. I wanted to have a job where new Carhartt bibs were not considered the height of fashion. The nice thing about construction was when you’re were “moneyed up”, or tired of employment, you bought a plane ticket to the nearest beach. And the typical job ended before the boredom set in.
5 years ago, a friend gave me a break, and helped me get into sales.

Norval Joe

Willem sipped his wine, then spoke into the delicately blown goblet, “Felipe du Carril has invited me to his chateu on the riviera.”
He glanced sureptitiously at his companion.
Johan dug dirt from under his yellow fingernails with the tip of his dagger, and said, “Don’t fret. I have been wanting to visit a spa in Sweden. They say the women,”
He was interrupted as a man burst through the door. Blood dribbled from twin holes in his neck. HIs eyes glowed red.”
“Holiday’s over already?” Willem asked and set the goblet on the table.
Johan sighed deeply and nodded.
If I win…..asleep at the wheel.

Planet Z

Instead of buying an expensive trip to Europe, Alice wanted a virtual one.
Everything is digitized and neurostreamed, a computer-based world in which you can’t tell the difference from the real one.
Artificial intelligence provides the French, the Germans… everyone.
For two weeks, no worries or stress. And you’re completely safe, stored in the rendering facility and subjected to neurostimulator workout routines.
Eat and drink all you want, and still lose weight!
Amazing.
Big Ben tolls. Two weeks are over, and the hotel begins to fade.
And… I’m fading too.
Oh no. I’m going back to the storage vault.
No……

Welcome to the Weekly Challenge Number Two Hundred and Six, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.
The topic this week was… was…. um…
It’s Alliteration!
According to Wikipedia:

Alliteration is a literary or rhetorical stylistic device that consists in repeating the same consonant sound at the beginning of two or more words in close succession. An example is the Mother Goose tongue-twister, “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers …

VOTING

Which were the best stories this year?
	Anima and Arri
	Ross
	Zachmann
	TJ
	Norval Joe
	JRadimus
	Justin
	Planet Z
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):

---

Anima

I´m plauged by a dastardly demon, a robotic ruler
who harangues and harasses hundred of words out of me.
Each week I resist, I rant and I rave
determined that this week I shall be free.
On Monday eve, I start to take my leave,
determined not to learn of the next theme.
But by Friday morn I´ve perused the poll,
and am mocked by the monkey meme.
So each week I bring tribute, mosaics of memories;
Feverishly, from my fingers flow these fictions.
From home and afar, I submit. I submit.
And lament the laxity of my linguistic locutions.

Ross

Richard rushed across the room to his typewriter. Rolling in a sheet of clean white paper, he mumbled to himself as his fingers flew over the keys. His muse was in full force today, and he could feel this, his first novel, would be his masterpie-
*clunk*
With a cry, he pulled apart jammed keys, sobbing as one letter’s head cracked cleanly off its rod. He tried to continue anyway:
“.ucius .amed .achrymose .abradors .ackadaisica..y”
It was no use. He ripped the paper free and buried his head in his arms.
For want of an “l”, the debut was lost.

Zachmann

Peter Parker listens to Peter Piper’s podcast persistently unpleased Peter Piper prepaired pickled peppers but never posted how Peter Pickled peppers on the vine. Peter has a place where he prepares peppered peaches. Although Peter listens to Piper’s podcast his problem with his pink petunias persisted. Peter Piper’s pussycat purrs persistently although it’s predominantly pissed off even when pouncing on its pony plush toy . As Peter’s program plays, postman Percy peruses a Pratchett book in which the Patrician’s Palace has a predominate place. Peter Parker pontificates Peter Piper’s pussy’s problem as posting him a parcel packed with pink petunias.

TJ

The MATS matinee of “Let’s Murder Marsha” marked a magnificent magnum opus by a mellifluous dramatis personae. Christine Morse played Marsha with moxie and Graham “The Man” Toler was downright muppety. Amanda made a remarkable maid and Kirk made a maestro Mr. Gilmore. Angie played a Persis to perfection and Jerry jumped out as a gendarme.Last but not least Ceecy’s Lynette was a lark as a lush and it all came together tremendously. Now, if all of you will get out of my head for a moment I’m gonna take the next week off to unwind and welax and wecover.

Norval Joe

Crouching crow-like creatures crept and crawled from the crumbling, creeper covered crypt. Whimpering and whining they wheeled away, wickedly taloned wing tips, whisper in the wind.
A single soul sits so silently she seems asleep.
Suddenly she stands straight. Frantic, she flees the frenetic flying fiends.
Running, she races the rabid rooks. Refuge is revealed through red brick arches.
Safe, she sighs and shivers, secure inside the sealed sanctuary.
Tenacious and terrible the tiny terrorists torment and tap wickedly without the windows.
Rescuers arrive to destroy the angry assailants and release the horrified heroine.
Happy, she hugs her handsome hero.

JRadimus

Arrgh! All my days, I am again and again admonishing
Litterbugs to leave and let me have a lone lazy
Leisure-filled lark on my lush lawn.
In intelligent interview, I insist they are impeding inherent
Tranquility. Yet, they tarry and try my temper. To tame my
Ever-ready energy is an even edgier evocation I’d
Really rather regret releasing. Ridiculous revelry wreaks
Aggression and animosity as I avoid
Turning to tussles over trespasses. Time tames my
Irritation. I insist I invite no intrusion into my
Orbit. Ordinary objects do not obstruct my
Need for niceties. I know I’m not neurotic, no?

Justin

increasing Ivan’s income because he was industrious, Isaiah indentured Ivan and inundated him with idiotic inquisitions. Instead of indulging Isaiah, Ivan became insubordinate. Inciting an insurrection, Ivan included others in the incapacitation of the inglorious incubators of evil. Ingesting them impulsively, Ivan increased in immensity. In the end, Ivan learned that imbibing them increased his intellect. Instead of inclining towards illustriousness, Ivan instead inclined entirely to abstaining from alliteration. Then he read about how cannibalism was frowned upon and regurgitated all the evil, unlearning all.

Planet Z

Martin took the package into the basement, beyond the range of the scanners, and opened it.
A book. An actual book. Before e-books. Before censorship.
Before the scanners.
It was dictionary, and he started with A.
He saw words he’d never seen or heard before.
And some he’d heard as a child, his grandfather teaching them to him.
Before they took him away.
He was reading about “alliteration” when the door was kicked in.
The Librarian Squad dragged him off.
An agent looked at the book, ran a finger down the page.
“Allowable,” he said.
And got out his lighter.

Welcome to the Weekly Challenge Number Two Hundred and Six, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.
The topic this week was… was…. um…
It’s Danger Zone!
VOTING

Which were the best stories this year?
	Steven
	Zachmann
	Ross
	TJ
	Anima
	R. Orion D.
	Keeme
	Norval Joe
	Justin
	JRadimus
	Planet Z
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):

---

Steven

The bomb disintegrates the glass wall of the bank in the musical
disharmony of a thousand xylophones in a trash compactor. The
concussion throws me and the few others who were standing in line to
the ground. My mouth serves up a single whispered word:
“terrorists”. I scan the area for bearded, turbaned men before I
remember to feel guilty.
The plump woman beside me wears a dress cut too low for her. I wonder
how I have time to notice her clothes. She points at the masked and
spandexed figures entering the bank and whispers:
“Not terrorists. Worse. Villans.”

Zachmann

I am the super hero called FlagMan. My job is to warn you that you are about to enter the Danger Zone in the middle of which is the Danger Hole. Have you ever noticed how many people podfaded. Many volunteered to make the search when Christiana did not return from the Danger Hole and were never seen again. Poor, brave souls. I will do what I can to stop you form entering but hope that only involves you heeding my warning. Did I mention the panthers, giant rats, and evil mimes. Stay away from the Danger Zone.

Ross

“WHAT did you just say?” Charlene asked, interrupting John mid-response.
John mentally reviewed what he had said and blushed. He fidgeted on the couch, staring at his hands, the floor, anywhere to avoid eye contact with his visibly irate girlfriend.
“What I meant is- Um, I mean- Well, I was just saying-” he stammered.
“You want to watch what you say next, honey. You’re already in the danger zone. What comes out of your mouth is going to seal your fate.”
John forced himself to meet her angry stare. “Uh, I’m really sorry?”
“You’re STILL sleeping on the couch tonight.”

TJ

Interstellar sophistos have been avoiding the system Sol Toxa for millions of years. A touring package at the time parked on Ganymede and slipped past Mars and Terra on a fuel run to Venus. During the layover, the runabout carrying the chancellor’s daughters failed orbit and sank inexorably into the gravity well of the planet. Plumes of sulfuric acid escaped the fuel cells of the pleasurecraft and reacted with the atmosphere. The lawsuit was astronomic. The entire system was declared an environmental hazard and a danger zone. Beacons were placed and no-one’s been back since – not even on a dare.

Anima (with Arri)

Joey looks up, startled by the loud noise to his right. He ducks instinctively, covering his ears and closing his eyes. Shrapnel rains down, peppering him with fragments of glass and the remains of the lamp from the living room.
Counting to twenty three (ten isn’t enough time), he slowly allows himself to uncurl from the fetal position he has learned to assume to minimize injury. Joey squints, surveying the damage. Everything seems calm; the dust is settling. He sees his older brother staggering towards the kitchen.
When Dan’s been drinking all day, home is the danger zone, downtown Kirkik.

R Orion D

Ever wonder why people jump from a perfectly good airplane? I do. Not all the time, mind you, but right now. Especially with the flashing lights of “Mr. Service With Integrity” blinding me in the mirror. The Skydiver jumping from 10,000 feet had the option to stay on the plane till it landed. I could of pulled over after running the light 10 miles ago.
Now with heart racing, everything moving in slow motion, and a likely stay at county I’m grinning like a mad man. Am I? No. That’s far from the truth.
You only live once.

Keeme

The ship found after being lost in space for so long. This is the account by the only known survivor, in his own words. “I can’t stop thinking about the others, they haunt me so. I only ever thought of me, me, me! I know I left them out there, but they never gave me any respect! ‘Don’t leave me alone. Wait for me!’ They laughed when I cried. That machine with its ‘DANGER’ this and ‘affirmative’ that. No one messes with ME. Now we’re doomed means YOU’RE DOOMED! Oh, the pain, the pain.” Dr Smith

Norval Joe

Charlie the gnome froze at the edge of the concrete walk that lead from the street to the front door. His signature inane grin spread between the stylized apple red cheeks.
The danger zone. It was folly to cross it, especially during the day. He could move anywhere in the garden, as long as he was carefull. The humans were too stupid to remember where they had placed the decorative statuette.
He couldn’t wait till dusk. His arch nemesis, Senior Gargago, el gnomo de jardin, was already about to slip under the neighbors fence and out of Charlie’s grasp, forever.3206

Justin

Price examined the map and sighed. With the damage the ship had sustained, the only route fast enough to get his crew home before the remaining fuel ran out would take them through the Adumreb Elgnairt. He’d have to have a careful talk with the superstitious sailors to avoid mutiny.
Once the sailors fears were compared with a sure death at sea, they rallied to risk the Adumreb Elgnairt.
The ship moving as fast as possible, Price’s worst fear came true. Mere feet in front of the bow a ship appeared from thin air. All hands were lost at sea.

JRadimus

“On your first day at the mill, they drill it into your head about safety, staying clear of the “danger zones”. They thought that was a clever name for the parts of the machines any fool should have known to stay clear of, anyway.
“Fast-forward 10 years, you develop a rhythm. You become one with your machine. You learn how much buffer they built in to their ‘danger zones’, and you take short-cuts. That’s how veterans keep up with more nimble rookies. Well, don’t. It’s stupid.”
“Well, thank you for that wisdom, Mr. Johannsen.”
“Just call me ‘Hook’. Everyone does.”

Planet Z

There hasn’t been a soul in Danger Zone, Utah in over 100 years.
It wasn’t a mining town, but a trading post that built up as prospectors headed West to seek their fortune.
Provisions, hookers, gambling… they had it all.
The problem was, of course, was that this all was in Utah, and they didn’t like all that going on right under their noses.
So, there was a fire. And those who tried to rebuild, they had another fire.
All that remained standing was the church.
But with nobody left in Danger Zone, well, what was the point of it?