Saturday Centus (Page 7)

I know, I know. A day late. Yesterday was a pretty busy one, though, so I didn’t get around to mulling over this week’s prompt until late, and I didn’t start writing until this morning. So here it is. I stuck with science fiction again. The best SF stories, for me, are still about what any good story is about: people. Anyway, here it is, with the prompt in bold. “Your purpose on Mars?” asked Martian Entry Agent Miguel Martinez. “Work,” James Nelson replied. “None on Earth. There is on Mars.” “M-hm.” Agent Martinez finished searching the Nelsons’ baggage. JamesDown the rabbit hole….

Wow, did I ever have a struggle with this week’s prompt. Seriously, this was hard — much harder than the awful dog photo of two weeks back. I didn’t really set out to approach these in the general way that I have, but each time out I’ve tried to take an “off-kilter” interpretation of the prompt, and this was no different…but this week, no good alternative presented itself to me. I kept running through all kinds of possibilities, and no dice; I feared that I’d have to play this one straight. Heck, maybe that would be a good challenge forDown the rabbit hole….

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 ofDown the rabbit hole….

It’s that time again! One thing I didn’t realize, in my last few weeks’ entries, is that the word count limitation on this weekly micro-fiction bit of fun actually doesn’t include the writing prompt itself. Now, that may not seem like much — this week’s prompt is only seven words — but when such a strict word-count limitation is imposed, word choice becomes a premium. I’m really enjoying doing this thing every Saturday because it’s really good practice: it forces your hand, really, in choosing words for effect. You only have a hundred words to work with, and in theDown the rabbit hole….

I’m kinda late with this, but no matter. Here are the details, and the prompt appears in bold in the story. I went ahead and did SF again. Sue me! Agent RO-9 shone her light around the cavernous space they’d just unearthed. “What is this place?” “A storage facility,” Agent ZX-3 replied. “For what?” She moved a pile of rugs and found an enormous box beneath, which she opened. “Look here!” She lifted the stack of letters from the ancient chest. “Letters?” “All twenty-six,” RO-9 said. “Numbers too.” She held up a giant numeral 7. “Weird, eh?” ZX-3 only shrugged.Down the rabbit hole….

So this week we’re back to 100 words on Saturday Centus, and we’ve got a writing prompt that is, as readers will attest, right in my wheelhouse. We’re to write SF (which Ms. Matlock claims to hate; why, I don’t know — good SF is wonderful!), using the prompt Beam me up, Scotty. (She spelled Scotty with -ie on the end, but I corrected it. I still have Geek Cred to maintain, you know.) Here’s my entry. So I see dis green girl, sittin’ at de end of da bar, right? And she’s kinda cute, not ugly or nothin’, soDown the rabbit hole….