OK, we’ve got a more conducive prompt this week, thank God! Apparently Jenny Matlock selected a snippet from a song lyric. I didn’t bother listening to the song for inspiration, though — that’s what coffee is for! It’s inspiration in a cup.
But anyway, here’s my tale, which may well establish me as the science fiction geek of the Saturday Centus crowd. But I’m pretty much already a science fiction geek, so it’s fine by me!
Here’s my tale, with the prompt in bold.
James and William crouched on opposite sides of the open door to the control room of Mars’s mightiest battle cruiser. Alarms were still blaring; smoke choked the corridors. Martian troopers were searching for the intruders, to no avail. Two men, seconds away from winning the war for Earth.
“Before we do this,” James said, “I gotta say you’ve been a hell of a partner, man. I’d catch a grenade for ya.”
“OK,” William said as he tossed James a live grenade and ran away.
“Martian double-agent,” James said, stunned. “Son-of-a–”
Boom.
And Mars conquered Earth.
By the way, I’ve just figured out that Google Docs’s word count function somehow counts HTML tags as words! I always write them into my text, as is my habit for writing online, but I experimented a bit: I wrote the tale, checked the word count, then I went back and deleted the HTML tags (italics and bold, actually), and checked the word count again — which had gone down. Interesting.
Anyway, enjoy!
(And as always, or at least until I finish answering questions, Centus participants are invited to Ask Me Anything!)
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Hahahahaha ! Excellent tale & twist !!!
Ahhhh treachery and betrayal even in space, and a martian double agent, definately a concept I have never seen before. I have to say I love your sci-fi Centus!
Whoa! What a surprise ending!
Oh ye clever man! Wonderful! I absolutely loved this take on this week's prompt!
Mine can be found After the Silence
The Sci Fi in me loves this!!!
v. clever as always! i love sci-fi
michelle
I love it. I stuck with sci-fi too, but mine's not quite as explosive.
xoRobyn
Well played! What a great twist.
=)
You just can't trust those Martians, they're deceptive critters!
Good job!
Brilliant sci-fi take on this, Kelly! Isaac Asimov would be proud! I love sci-fi too and this was just awesome!
This was fun! I can tell that you liked this prompt. You did very well. I like the twist in the end, that the other guy turned out to be a double agent. Cool!
Personally, I hated this prompt and just had to do it out of a sense of duty (gotta do it, gotta do it…) I am happy that so many have been able to write interesting stories from this (in my opinion) difficult prompt.
You are not the only sci-fi-freak in the SC-gang. Check out Judie's (Rogue Artists) blog. There are several sci-fi fans among us. I am a newby to sci-fi.
Keep up the great work!
Best wishes,
Anna
Anna's SC week 42 Maisy-Jane
This was great! You've got to watch out for those martian double agents, they are sneaky little devils. Loved that you took this prompt in such a different direction. Kat
Funny as all get out with a surprise ending. And I love the thing about coffee being inspiration in a cup! I whole heartedly agree.
Oh this is great! I did however drink my coffee and listen to the song…for many times, and actually knew the song from work, and so I went another way with it!
Son of a BOOM! I love that!
I am totally going to find a way to call someone that sometime soon.
Still laughing over that.
Loved your little twist to this prompt!