Day 131 Writing Short Stories

Dune

The sand waves swirled underneath his aircraft, lifting dust up in the air. The dune was bigger than he had initially thought. He was here to survey the ground and assess it for company development. The planet could be turned habitable. There were signs of rich mineral veins to justify the terraforming. Thus far, he had seen no intelligent lifeforms to make it a code violation.

He recorded a feed of the dune on his live map for the company executives. He landed his aircraft on the sand and stepped out to take ground measurements. The ground trembled from the seismic activity. He made sure it was that, making his scanner detect any biological activity. At the last planet, a huge earthworm that had sharp teeth had almost swallowed him whole. He sighed when his reading came up empty.

The dune could be turned into a nice little resort for the executives. He marked the spot and the suggestion and moved on.

The planet’s dry and acidic air could be altered with the cultivation of the plants that were already growing on the planet. He wasn’t that keen on altering the planet’s ecosystem with Earthbound plants. It was easier to alter the genes of the native flora. He knew that not everyone agreed with him. They wanted to sneak in something familiar. He had to remind them of the old bunny lore and how it wreaked havoc on Earth, and not even centuries of active eradication changed the initial harm.

—

I don’t know how to end this one. So, I leave it here.

Monologue

I’m supposed to write a stand-up comedy monologue. I draw a blank. Not knowing even where to start. It feels like the writing gods are telling me that I have no funny bone in me, that I’m stuck with the boring things like collapsing societies, injustice, the fall of democracy, and the war for our minds and souls. The little things that seem to make everything so cheerful and us humans no better than… there’s no comparison. Ants, that might be the closest thing to humans, but even they don’t create nuclear bombs, concentration camps, and social media.

Of course, it could be the fact that I have hit my head hard three times in a span of three weeks. So, I might have lost some executive functions. The third must have taken all the humor out of me. My husband can attest to that. He has been gearing up to fortify his desk of solitude. Maybe a fourth hit to my head will loosen me up a bit.

Lucky

A prompt about an incompetent agent who is lucky beyond normal, succeeding in their missions because of that. This prompt has been seen and done before. There are movies about it. And there’s nothing funny about them.

The Prompts are from the book A Year of Creative Writing Prompts.

Still in an odd mood. Not sure if the outside world exists. It’s like I’m in a cocoon where time has ground to a halt, and I’m trying to figure out what to do. It’s the end of the second week of my sick leave. Three more to go. It feels so odd just to be. I could get used to this. My cocoon of inaction. Okay, I go out to run or walk every day, still.

What the writing gods give, they can take away. My mind didn’t sparkle the way it usually does when I’m writing something good and exciting. There was just a dull ache. I have to sacrifice something to the writing gods. Open to suggestions.

Thank you for reading! Have a day full of wonder and luck ❤