Welcome to your weekly dose of gripping reads. Some stories are so good you can't put them down... until you've read 100 words
Well done to Flexibast. By the standard of your past Drabbles it was obvious you'd soon hit the bulleye. His chosen subject this week is A Dangerous Situation
Psykokow hosts the Abraka-Drabble live reading show and comedy hour at 7pm GMT, Fridays on...
HUTTON ORBITAL RADIO! http://streaming.radionomy.com/HuttonOrbitalRadio (audio only)
LAVE RADIO! http://laveradio.com/ (audio only)
TWITCH! http://www.twitch.tv/psykokow/ (audio & visual)
and will also be uploaded to his You-tube channel & anywhere else he can inflict the world with our drabblings!
Please vote. And a warning to all of the contestants don't vote for yourselves. Anyone caught voting for themselves will be put into a dangerous situation.
01 - cleonymus - The Last cargo run
one zero one one one
one zero one one zero
one zero one zero one
one zero one zero zero
one zero zero one one
one zero zero one zero
one zero zero zero one
one zero zero zero zero
zero one one one one
zero one one one zero
zero one one zero one
zero one one zero zero
zero one zero one one
zero one zero one zero
zero one zero zero one
zero zero one zero zero
Cleonymus, eyed the control panel on the high explosives.
The digits changed every few seconds.
He wondered what they meant.
02 - Technotrout - Asking for it
He timidly entered the room and found it filled with experienced space pilots, some looking friendly, others sporting rugged and dangerous looks, that gave away years of experience travelling the galaxy. He was obviously among peers in this group. The debate started and with some candidates more well spoken than others, he thought it safe to share his views. To his relief he got a few nods and thumps up. But then he spoke against another candidate and the room went quiet. As he stepped back, he was sure he heard the buzzing of personal lasers charging. Time to leave.
CMDR Technotrout
03 - Futuristic Kung Fu - The Hazards of Stupidity
"Run for your LIVES!!!"
A huge, black Imperial Cutter slammed into the ground at more than 500 metres per second, exploded in a big ball of fire, sending flying shrapnel everywhere, a Corvette quickly followed suite. It had started a few months ago, when thrill junkies with too many credits had thought it would be a good idea to try and land as fast as possible on a planet with almost seven times as much gravity as Earth. Another Cutter came rushing down, managed to stabilize a few meters above the ground, then went crashing down like all the others.
04 - T.j - A situation most dangerous. or get the bleep machine ready.
His nerves jangled as the realisation hit of what was about to happen.
A bead of sweat ran unto his eye, it stung painfully.
He winced again at the thought of what he was about to say.
He sent a desperately hopeful prayer to any deity that might be listening.
Fat chance of that he thought.
'Please Lord take me now. I can't face what's about to happen.'
Resignation descended and he cleared his throat and spoke the fateful words.
'And now over to our guest Drabble Host......'
The galaxy held it's collective breaths.....
Simoof took the Microphone with glee..
05 - Darkoba - Five-hundred metres below the surface of the Sound
I watch barbed creatures swim around the ship, while Jones works on the electronics. The not-sharks seem attracted by the ship’s lights. One glides up to the canopy, prods it; the canopy creaks.
External pressure on a 1G planet, nearly 55 atmospheres; here is only 0.25G. However, 14 atmospheres outside a canopy designed to keep the pressure inside is not an ideal situation.
Jones muffled voice:
“Try powering up the auxiliary unit.”
I press a button. A whine drops in tone into silence. A pause, some grunting.
“Try again.”
This time the whine continues. We start a dangerously slow ascent.
06 - Frank- A Farewell to Childhood
She stomped her feet. "I DON'T WANNA get the operation!"
Her mother was an imposing figure. She looked down on her daughter with an expressionless face. Such a precocious child. She doesn't know what dangerous situations she may face after she leaves home. She needs to face those situations calmly and collectedly. She needs to be prepared. "All your sisters have had the operation."
"When they got back they were... different. I don't WANNA be different." She cuddled one of her mother's legs. "I'm scared"
"Don't worry dear." her mother chirruped soothingly, "After today you'll never fear anything ever again."
07 - moose666 Into the lion's den - Fuel Rat edition
"Ratsignal, Ratsignal, this is not a drill."
Two cobras took off, and began sauntering towards the exit.
"So, where are we off to this time?"
"Still looking, the system name is a core sector one, so shouldn't be far"
"Ok, can you remind me to ge.. DIVE DIVE DIVE HIT YOUR BURNERS PILOT!"
The two ships shot out at high speed, narrowly avoiding being pincered between a T9 and the toast rack
"Jesus christ, that was a little too close."
"Tell me about it, you're gonna have to wait a while to change your shorts, its a code red signal"
08 - FelixBast - A man walks into a space bar...
When he walked into the bar, Felix immediately recognised Psykokow.
Seeing him in person, The Kow's face reminded Felix of something he couldn't quite put his finger on.
He knew well the reputations of the others that sat around the table, but the one he feared most was Listeri69.
Rumours said, if you crossed him you were whisked away to a place called Winnards Hole and never heard of again.
Sudden realisation hit Felix.
“He looks like a potato!”
There was a loud scrapping of chairs. The group stood and growled at him.
Wait, had he said that out loud?
09 - Simoof - Situation Sarcastic.
"Ship Released"
Pressing thrusters his ship floated free of the pad.
He lowered his landing gear and powered towards the slot, being careful to align his ship.
He boosted through and was clear.
Waiting for mass lock to clear he targeted the next system for hyperjump.
This was with no doubt what being Elite-Dangerous was all about.
He knew the rules, but from boredom he created a tense situation
It's a dangerous thing he had done.
Time was running out for him.
He hoped the next station had a doctor who knew how to remove the frog from his .
10 - Listeri69 - On the verge of Supernova......
Psykokow minced down the hallway like a man squeezing an envelope in his crack.
Stopping in mid step, closing his eyes trying to defy gravity, it had been touching cloth when he'd left al-din.
The curried sprouts, tasty, cheap but a really bad idea for Hutton tucking.
The feeling abated, he started to walk from the knees down, only to feel a small air pocket in his onesie.
Then the tell-tale sign of something warm, dripping on his leg.
Running from the ankles now one last door he thought ...Occupied... Occupied..
Cubicle three? he couldn't go in there.... could he?
11 - Miss I Le Mans 24hrs - obdurateness
Alexi's gun let out a short charge of beam energy, from this close the blood made polka dot patterns on her face and the surrounding bulkhead.
"I'd like to say it's been a pleasure..."
She thumped the gun into the Imperials faintly beating heart making him wheeze and cough...
'Finish me' he gargled through his own blood
"I've got hours..." she whispered into his ear "A dangerous situation for you, wouldn't you say?"
Alexi turned away "What's yours is mine now" she fired
Bored with her plaything she'd set her sights on a new larger target, more revenge...
The Empire.....
12 - Erik Marcaigh - Shoehorn THIS!
"It was the oddest planet I'd ever landed on," stated Kow. "It was colonized by the Danes from old Earth."
"That's a term I'd hadn't heard since my Ancient History lessons," noted Frank. "What did you do there?"
"A bit of trading. Seems they like Asian frogs, so I brought several tonnes with me. It made the merchant happy, so we went on a tour of some of the inland seas. They were recreating one of their raids on a Viking settlement around 800 AD. We piled in a boat and a Dane rows us, sitting you on Asian frogs."
13 - MrMogadon - First Impressions are Important
Stepping carefully over the bloodied body of an aging miner, Ling Chih looked at the crumpled business card in her hand.
Enoki Porcini (Owner)
Fun Guys Bar
Portobello Station.
..then up at the garish, orange neon sign.
This was the correct address.
Ling smoothed her dress and pushed open the door.
Inside was dark and humid.
“You the new dancer?” a repellent, sweaty tub of lard leered. Lips moist, hands rising bustwards, fingers twitching.
“No!” she replied kicking him in the jewels, “I’m the new manager. Get Porcini”
“Well”, she thought “meeting the staff went better than expected”.
14 - Splendour - Battlefield promotion
As the battered Python brought its full firepower to bear on her already depleted shields, Jan killed the flight assists and threw her Vulture into an evasive tumble. Beams flashed either side of the ship, then splashed against the fading blue bubble of protection. She pulled out of the spin - directly into the path of the incoming Python. Shields flared and failed, the shock of impact, the scream of metal and polymers warping and tearing, dazzling sparks. Blackness.
The wreck of the Python slowly receded as the Vulture rebooted critical systems.
“Communications online. One Message received, ‘Right On Commander!’ ”
15 - Ventura_ - The Suspect
Lying back on his bed looking at the ceiling, Matt was thinking what got him into his current living
arrangements, this is a dangerous situation. There were gaps in what he could remember, but the
stranger that was in his ship could be named John smith or Mr Tree for all he knew.
Looking at his monitors, Investigator Bob Jolly was watching the suspect. One of his officers
walked in. “Sir, the statement from Mr Chafing”, Bob read the report and smiled, “get the suspect
into interrogation”, he ordered “We have information to extract”. The officer left bob still smiling.
16 - insanephoton - Contacts
Julia shuiddered. The silence of the ship was eerie. People say that there is no sound in space, but any spacer will tell you that ships are usually alive with noise. This ship was a derelict. The lights from the other members of the investigation team probed the darkness.
What they could see was strange and unfamiliar. This was an unknown design, possibly not of human origin.
Suddenly the suit radio crackled to life.
'Boss, we've got company!'
'Who is it Simpkins?'
'Dunno boss. We've got two contacts staying just out of range'
'Okay sit tight we're heading back now'
17 - Edith_The_Hutt - Big trouble in little Hutton.
A wild eyed eight foot tall maniac pinned Simoof to the wall, and growled with a breath stinking of dead rat and ethanol: "Tell me brother, have you paid your dues?"
Simoof smiled, stared right back and replied: "Yessir! The check is in the mail!"
Both of them grinned, "Good film"
"Yeah"
The bar cheered and welcomed their fellow trucker. The fat tourist laughed and banged his mug on the bar.
The truckers winced. The mug cracked. The gin leaked. The tourist didn't notice; not until the bar fell silent, not until Simoof quietly walked over and locked the door.
Well done to Flexibast. By the standard of your past Drabbles it was obvious you'd soon hit the bulleye. His chosen subject this week is A Dangerous Situation
Psykokow hosts the Abraka-Drabble live reading show and comedy hour at 7pm GMT, Fridays on...
HUTTON ORBITAL RADIO! http://streaming.radionomy.com/HuttonOrbitalRadio (audio only)
LAVE RADIO! http://laveradio.com/ (audio only)
TWITCH! http://www.twitch.tv/psykokow/ (audio & visual)
and will also be uploaded to his You-tube channel & anywhere else he can inflict the world with our drabblings!
Please vote. And a warning to all of the contestants don't vote for yourselves. Anyone caught voting for themselves will be put into a dangerous situation.
01 - cleonymus - The Last cargo run
one zero one one one
one zero one one zero
one zero one zero one
one zero one zero zero
one zero zero one one
one zero zero one zero
one zero zero zero one
one zero zero zero zero
zero one one one one
zero one one one zero
zero one one zero one
zero one one zero zero
zero one zero one one
zero one zero one zero
zero one zero zero one
zero zero one zero zero
Cleonymus, eyed the control panel on the high explosives.
The digits changed every few seconds.
He wondered what they meant.
02 - Technotrout - Asking for it
He timidly entered the room and found it filled with experienced space pilots, some looking friendly, others sporting rugged and dangerous looks, that gave away years of experience travelling the galaxy. He was obviously among peers in this group. The debate started and with some candidates more well spoken than others, he thought it safe to share his views. To his relief he got a few nods and thumps up. But then he spoke against another candidate and the room went quiet. As he stepped back, he was sure he heard the buzzing of personal lasers charging. Time to leave.
CMDR Technotrout
03 - Futuristic Kung Fu - The Hazards of Stupidity
"Run for your LIVES!!!"
A huge, black Imperial Cutter slammed into the ground at more than 500 metres per second, exploded in a big ball of fire, sending flying shrapnel everywhere, a Corvette quickly followed suite. It had started a few months ago, when thrill junkies with too many credits had thought it would be a good idea to try and land as fast as possible on a planet with almost seven times as much gravity as Earth. Another Cutter came rushing down, managed to stabilize a few meters above the ground, then went crashing down like all the others.
04 - T.j - A situation most dangerous. or get the bleep machine ready.
His nerves jangled as the realisation hit of what was about to happen.
A bead of sweat ran unto his eye, it stung painfully.
He winced again at the thought of what he was about to say.
He sent a desperately hopeful prayer to any deity that might be listening.
Fat chance of that he thought.
'Please Lord take me now. I can't face what's about to happen.'
Resignation descended and he cleared his throat and spoke the fateful words.
'And now over to our guest Drabble Host......'
The galaxy held it's collective breaths.....
Simoof took the Microphone with glee..
05 - Darkoba - Five-hundred metres below the surface of the Sound
I watch barbed creatures swim around the ship, while Jones works on the electronics. The not-sharks seem attracted by the ship’s lights. One glides up to the canopy, prods it; the canopy creaks.
External pressure on a 1G planet, nearly 55 atmospheres; here is only 0.25G. However, 14 atmospheres outside a canopy designed to keep the pressure inside is not an ideal situation.
Jones muffled voice:
“Try powering up the auxiliary unit.”
I press a button. A whine drops in tone into silence. A pause, some grunting.
“Try again.”
This time the whine continues. We start a dangerously slow ascent.
06 - Frank- A Farewell to Childhood
She stomped her feet. "I DON'T WANNA get the operation!"
Her mother was an imposing figure. She looked down on her daughter with an expressionless face. Such a precocious child. She doesn't know what dangerous situations she may face after she leaves home. She needs to face those situations calmly and collectedly. She needs to be prepared. "All your sisters have had the operation."
"When they got back they were... different. I don't WANNA be different." She cuddled one of her mother's legs. "I'm scared"
"Don't worry dear." her mother chirruped soothingly, "After today you'll never fear anything ever again."
07 - moose666 Into the lion's den - Fuel Rat edition
"Ratsignal, Ratsignal, this is not a drill."
Two cobras took off, and began sauntering towards the exit.
"So, where are we off to this time?"
"Still looking, the system name is a core sector one, so shouldn't be far"
"Ok, can you remind me to ge.. DIVE DIVE DIVE HIT YOUR BURNERS PILOT!"
The two ships shot out at high speed, narrowly avoiding being pincered between a T9 and the toast rack
"Jesus christ, that was a little too close."
"Tell me about it, you're gonna have to wait a while to change your shorts, its a code red signal"
08 - FelixBast - A man walks into a space bar...
When he walked into the bar, Felix immediately recognised Psykokow.
Seeing him in person, The Kow's face reminded Felix of something he couldn't quite put his finger on.
He knew well the reputations of the others that sat around the table, but the one he feared most was Listeri69.
Rumours said, if you crossed him you were whisked away to a place called Winnards Hole and never heard of again.
Sudden realisation hit Felix.
“He looks like a potato!”
There was a loud scrapping of chairs. The group stood and growled at him.
Wait, had he said that out loud?
09 - Simoof - Situation Sarcastic.
"Ship Released"
Pressing thrusters his ship floated free of the pad.
He lowered his landing gear and powered towards the slot, being careful to align his ship.
He boosted through and was clear.
Waiting for mass lock to clear he targeted the next system for hyperjump.
This was with no doubt what being Elite-Dangerous was all about.
He knew the rules, but from boredom he created a tense situation
It's a dangerous thing he had done.
Time was running out for him.
He hoped the next station had a doctor who knew how to remove the frog from his .
10 - Listeri69 - On the verge of Supernova......
Psykokow minced down the hallway like a man squeezing an envelope in his crack.
Stopping in mid step, closing his eyes trying to defy gravity, it had been touching cloth when he'd left al-din.
The curried sprouts, tasty, cheap but a really bad idea for Hutton tucking.
The feeling abated, he started to walk from the knees down, only to feel a small air pocket in his onesie.
Then the tell-tale sign of something warm, dripping on his leg.
Running from the ankles now one last door he thought ...Occupied... Occupied..
Cubicle three? he couldn't go in there.... could he?
11 - Miss I Le Mans 24hrs - obdurateness
Alexi's gun let out a short charge of beam energy, from this close the blood made polka dot patterns on her face and the surrounding bulkhead.
"I'd like to say it's been a pleasure..."
She thumped the gun into the Imperials faintly beating heart making him wheeze and cough...
'Finish me' he gargled through his own blood
"I've got hours..." she whispered into his ear "A dangerous situation for you, wouldn't you say?"
Alexi turned away "What's yours is mine now" she fired
Bored with her plaything she'd set her sights on a new larger target, more revenge...
The Empire.....
12 - Erik Marcaigh - Shoehorn THIS!
"It was the oddest planet I'd ever landed on," stated Kow. "It was colonized by the Danes from old Earth."
"That's a term I'd hadn't heard since my Ancient History lessons," noted Frank. "What did you do there?"
"A bit of trading. Seems they like Asian frogs, so I brought several tonnes with me. It made the merchant happy, so we went on a tour of some of the inland seas. They were recreating one of their raids on a Viking settlement around 800 AD. We piled in a boat and a Dane rows us, sitting you on Asian frogs."
13 - MrMogadon - First Impressions are Important
Stepping carefully over the bloodied body of an aging miner, Ling Chih looked at the crumpled business card in her hand.
Enoki Porcini (Owner)
Fun Guys Bar
Portobello Station.
..then up at the garish, orange neon sign.
This was the correct address.
Ling smoothed her dress and pushed open the door.
Inside was dark and humid.
“You the new dancer?” a repellent, sweaty tub of lard leered. Lips moist, hands rising bustwards, fingers twitching.
“No!” she replied kicking him in the jewels, “I’m the new manager. Get Porcini”
“Well”, she thought “meeting the staff went better than expected”.
14 - Splendour - Battlefield promotion
As the battered Python brought its full firepower to bear on her already depleted shields, Jan killed the flight assists and threw her Vulture into an evasive tumble. Beams flashed either side of the ship, then splashed against the fading blue bubble of protection. She pulled out of the spin - directly into the path of the incoming Python. Shields flared and failed, the shock of impact, the scream of metal and polymers warping and tearing, dazzling sparks. Blackness.
The wreck of the Python slowly receded as the Vulture rebooted critical systems.
“Communications online. One Message received, ‘Right On Commander!’ ”
15 - Ventura_ - The Suspect
Lying back on his bed looking at the ceiling, Matt was thinking what got him into his current living
arrangements, this is a dangerous situation. There were gaps in what he could remember, but the
stranger that was in his ship could be named John smith or Mr Tree for all he knew.
Looking at his monitors, Investigator Bob Jolly was watching the suspect. One of his officers
walked in. “Sir, the statement from Mr Chafing”, Bob read the report and smiled, “get the suspect
into interrogation”, he ordered “We have information to extract”. The officer left bob still smiling.
16 - insanephoton - Contacts
Julia shuiddered. The silence of the ship was eerie. People say that there is no sound in space, but any spacer will tell you that ships are usually alive with noise. This ship was a derelict. The lights from the other members of the investigation team probed the darkness.
What they could see was strange and unfamiliar. This was an unknown design, possibly not of human origin.
Suddenly the suit radio crackled to life.
'Boss, we've got company!'
'Who is it Simpkins?'
'Dunno boss. We've got two contacts staying just out of range'
'Okay sit tight we're heading back now'
17 - Edith_The_Hutt - Big trouble in little Hutton.
A wild eyed eight foot tall maniac pinned Simoof to the wall, and growled with a breath stinking of dead rat and ethanol: "Tell me brother, have you paid your dues?"
Simoof smiled, stared right back and replied: "Yessir! The check is in the mail!"
Both of them grinned, "Good film"
"Yeah"
The bar cheered and welcomed their fellow trucker. The fat tourist laughed and banged his mug on the bar.
The truckers winced. The mug cracked. The gin leaked. The tourist didn't notice; not until the bar fell silent, not until Simoof quietly walked over and locked the door.
