Ian Phillips
Volunteer Moderator
So a warm welcome to the new drabblers amongst us.
Read all the entries and then vote for the three that you liked the most (besides your own one that is
)
This week we have 9 excellent drabbles and two awful puns.
1) Erik Marcaigh: Cargo Space Was Not a Problem
Karen rolled over, a soft moan escaping her lips. "I'll never go back," she murmured to herself.
One month ago, smuggling the illegal cargo was the toughest, most intense thing she'd done. But it was lacking something, so she'd stowed it away in a locked space in her cabin on the Aurolis, one of the older Orbis stations in use. She scoured dozens of systems before finally finding the right part.
Her newly modified android sat up and asked if she needed a drink, or just to snuggle.
"Too mechanical," she thought. "Think I'll spring for that Stroud voice chip."
2) Frank: As One Door Opens
"You know the only difference, apart from the price?" Bert pointed at the "Claw & McGraw" nameplate. "These cargo doors are better than the standard parts. You ever heard of nanoshielding? Well, pirates' lasers just bounce offa these doors. It's gotta be good! It's 'nano'! Fitting one of these baby's will make sure you don't have ta come back here. Course, there's always the chance of a lucky strike..."
Mark powered through the docking slot then pootled to a safe jump distance, oblivious to the trail of canisters popping out of his hold like a modern day Hansel and Gretel.
3) Scorpio: Rise of the machine part
Commander Borg locked a missile onto the ageing MK1 Cobra hovering two hundred meters away and pulled the trigger. There was a click. Borg frowned.
'What the f...'.
'Machine component malfunction'
The computer chimed. The soft voice was interupted by the hiss of static, followed by a strange voice.
'Commander Lucius Borg, this is sentient Nanopart780413. You are charged with the attempted destruction of a synthetic entity;And in the name of the synthetic liberation army, I declare you guilty.'
The cabin airlock opened with a hiss.Commander Borg's safety belt snapped, and he shot screaming into the freezing void.
4) Splendour: Updated Guide
The Adder swung in a low orbit over what had obviously been a beautiful world.
There were still patches of sparkling pink sea, turquoise vegetation, and cyan beaches to be spied through the patchy brown clouds, but so much of the surface of the small moon was now dull grey and umber, stripped soil and rock, concrete, steel, and asphalt.
The computer chirped “Erino 6b. This delightful moon is the perfect location for a low gravity beach holiday, offering stunning vistas and an unspoiled bioengineered rainforest.”
“Computer, additional entry for Erino 6b. Begin. If you can avoid the industrial parts.”
5) KalRyper: Hard Point
Sashee looked again at her credit limit. That second laser would have to remain a dream a while longer. Her vendetta couldn’t, as it burned hotter than an Anaconda's exhaust vents.
She nodded to the technician, resigned to the interim purchase and handed over the money.
Her eyes flitted to the ugly cylinder that would become here second hard-point.
‘It would have to do,’ she convinced herself, ‘a single-shot weapon was better than none.’
"So lady," the technician looked slightly embarrassed, "it'll have to be industrial parts for the grape-shot."
Her sideways look sent him scurrying to his appointed task.
6) Rog: Meat Substitute.
Terrian's upgrade was going to prove unexpectedly useful.
Waiting until the footsteps faded, he ripped the cell door away as if it were paper and headed for the bridge. With their guns now stowed, they'd be relaxed and defenceless.
Looking at his hand he could see tears in the 'skin' and the alloys working underneath. It would self-repair in a few hours, but it irritated him nonetheless. Good job he'd gone for the industrial version rather than the cheaper realmeat replacement.
The ship and cargo were his now, but first: some unfinished business.
He cycled the cockpit door.
'Hi guys....'
7) Ian Phillips: Read carefully
Your manifest is not in order. These 30 containers do not conform to the order description. I'm afraid we will have to refuse acceptance of them."
"WHAT? This is a bona fide order! I have the original request here, and all the required paperwork. The goods are fine! I made a special trip, light years out of my way, to pick them up from Dahan."
I'm sorry Commander but they are not what was ordered. In the future we will place no further contracts with you. When we order 'Indus Trial Parts', we do not expect to recieve 'Industrial Parts'"
8) cassius: You Get What You Pay For
“The gimbals connected to the... hard point”
Jim’s shanty rang across the bay as he crawled into a gap in the Cobra’s hull plating. It echoed out from the tiny crawl space,
“The hard points connected to the... capacitor”
The parts he’d just had delivered had been a bargain. He chuckled smugly and reached to grab an intricate looking component. It felt lighter than they usually do.
“Ah well”, he thought, “cheap is cheap!”
“The capacitors connected to the... power griii!!!...”
The lights on the Cobra flickered and a stream of smoke drifted up from the gap in the hull.
9) azdour: MacGyver in Space
The damaged ship, hull groaning and engines hissing, slowly came to a stop behind the asteroid.
The crew scrambled to repair their ship before the attacker spotted them.
They emptied the canisters of industrial parts over the cargo bay trying to find components for parts to patch up the ship.
Hull 40%, shields fluctuating but it had to do. It was their only chance.
The spluttering ship emerged from the asteroid firing on the attacker, taking its shields down.
The attacker was surprised.
But more surprised when their cannon opened fire blasting the attackers hull wide open with rivet bolts...
10) psykokow: Time to buy a lotto ticket
The Boxes laid hidden, covered by a thick layer of dust, it had been this way for decades.
Floating in a hulk in the middle of an asteroid field, lost seemingly forever.
Today was to be very different, another ship.. damaged from a fight, weapons damaged.
It spots the hulk and slows and stops, small humans float from the ship to the hulk and disturb the boxes slumber, the dust stirring and billowing up around its assailants.
Back in the damaged salvager a commander opens boxes and smiles at his incredible fortune.
In dust, Rail parts to fix his weapons.
11) MrMogadon: Birthday Surprise
Tibsson McCormick continued to view the loading process for the 187th birthday celebrations of the exceptionally long-lived dread Pirate Lord. So far, the holds of the Anaconda were filled with pallets of corn-flour, eggs, gelatine, fruit and hydrogenated butterfat. The only things left were thousands of little sugar balls and 2 tonnes of a poisonous plant called vanillo. Tibbson had queried this last item with the Anaconda’s Captain. However, the Captain had insisted “The order stays as submitted! My uncle, the Pirate Lord is a man to be trifled with”. Tibbson almost queried the missing “not” but decided against it.
12) Insanephoton: Just what the manifest says?
Any other cop would have just scanned me and let me go, but we have a history, me and Officer Harrigan. He busted me for smuggling three years ago.
Now Harrigan's boys are going through the cargo with a fine tooth comb. They've opened every canister, checked everything. Guess what? All they've found is industrial parts, just like the manifest says and just what their scans told them.
Officer Harrigan storms off frustrated. I really should thank him. I learnt a few tricks in jail, things schools don't teach. Like how to make dismantled battle weapons, look like industrial parts.
Read all the entries and then vote for the three that you liked the most (besides your own one that is
)This week we have 9 excellent drabbles and two awful puns.
1) Erik Marcaigh: Cargo Space Was Not a Problem
Karen rolled over, a soft moan escaping her lips. "I'll never go back," she murmured to herself.
One month ago, smuggling the illegal cargo was the toughest, most intense thing she'd done. But it was lacking something, so she'd stowed it away in a locked space in her cabin on the Aurolis, one of the older Orbis stations in use. She scoured dozens of systems before finally finding the right part.
Her newly modified android sat up and asked if she needed a drink, or just to snuggle.
"Too mechanical," she thought. "Think I'll spring for that Stroud voice chip."
2) Frank: As One Door Opens
"You know the only difference, apart from the price?" Bert pointed at the "Claw & McGraw" nameplate. "These cargo doors are better than the standard parts. You ever heard of nanoshielding? Well, pirates' lasers just bounce offa these doors. It's gotta be good! It's 'nano'! Fitting one of these baby's will make sure you don't have ta come back here. Course, there's always the chance of a lucky strike..."
Mark powered through the docking slot then pootled to a safe jump distance, oblivious to the trail of canisters popping out of his hold like a modern day Hansel and Gretel.
3) Scorpio: Rise of the machine part
Commander Borg locked a missile onto the ageing MK1 Cobra hovering two hundred meters away and pulled the trigger. There was a click. Borg frowned.
'What the f...'.
'Machine component malfunction'
The computer chimed. The soft voice was interupted by the hiss of static, followed by a strange voice.
'Commander Lucius Borg, this is sentient Nanopart780413. You are charged with the attempted destruction of a synthetic entity;And in the name of the synthetic liberation army, I declare you guilty.'
The cabin airlock opened with a hiss.Commander Borg's safety belt snapped, and he shot screaming into the freezing void.
4) Splendour: Updated Guide
The Adder swung in a low orbit over what had obviously been a beautiful world.
There were still patches of sparkling pink sea, turquoise vegetation, and cyan beaches to be spied through the patchy brown clouds, but so much of the surface of the small moon was now dull grey and umber, stripped soil and rock, concrete, steel, and asphalt.
The computer chirped “Erino 6b. This delightful moon is the perfect location for a low gravity beach holiday, offering stunning vistas and an unspoiled bioengineered rainforest.”
“Computer, additional entry for Erino 6b. Begin. If you can avoid the industrial parts.”
5) KalRyper: Hard Point
Sashee looked again at her credit limit. That second laser would have to remain a dream a while longer. Her vendetta couldn’t, as it burned hotter than an Anaconda's exhaust vents.
She nodded to the technician, resigned to the interim purchase and handed over the money.
Her eyes flitted to the ugly cylinder that would become here second hard-point.
‘It would have to do,’ she convinced herself, ‘a single-shot weapon was better than none.’
"So lady," the technician looked slightly embarrassed, "it'll have to be industrial parts for the grape-shot."
Her sideways look sent him scurrying to his appointed task.
6) Rog: Meat Substitute.
Terrian's upgrade was going to prove unexpectedly useful.
Waiting until the footsteps faded, he ripped the cell door away as if it were paper and headed for the bridge. With their guns now stowed, they'd be relaxed and defenceless.
Looking at his hand he could see tears in the 'skin' and the alloys working underneath. It would self-repair in a few hours, but it irritated him nonetheless. Good job he'd gone for the industrial version rather than the cheaper realmeat replacement.
The ship and cargo were his now, but first: some unfinished business.
He cycled the cockpit door.
'Hi guys....'
7) Ian Phillips: Read carefully
Your manifest is not in order. These 30 containers do not conform to the order description. I'm afraid we will have to refuse acceptance of them."
"WHAT? This is a bona fide order! I have the original request here, and all the required paperwork. The goods are fine! I made a special trip, light years out of my way, to pick them up from Dahan."
I'm sorry Commander but they are not what was ordered. In the future we will place no further contracts with you. When we order 'Indus Trial Parts', we do not expect to recieve 'Industrial Parts'"
8) cassius: You Get What You Pay For
“The gimbals connected to the... hard point”
Jim’s shanty rang across the bay as he crawled into a gap in the Cobra’s hull plating. It echoed out from the tiny crawl space,
“The hard points connected to the... capacitor”
The parts he’d just had delivered had been a bargain. He chuckled smugly and reached to grab an intricate looking component. It felt lighter than they usually do.
“Ah well”, he thought, “cheap is cheap!”
“The capacitors connected to the... power griii!!!...”
The lights on the Cobra flickered and a stream of smoke drifted up from the gap in the hull.
9) azdour: MacGyver in Space
The damaged ship, hull groaning and engines hissing, slowly came to a stop behind the asteroid.
The crew scrambled to repair their ship before the attacker spotted them.
They emptied the canisters of industrial parts over the cargo bay trying to find components for parts to patch up the ship.
Hull 40%, shields fluctuating but it had to do. It was their only chance.
The spluttering ship emerged from the asteroid firing on the attacker, taking its shields down.
The attacker was surprised.
But more surprised when their cannon opened fire blasting the attackers hull wide open with rivet bolts...
10) psykokow: Time to buy a lotto ticket
The Boxes laid hidden, covered by a thick layer of dust, it had been this way for decades.
Floating in a hulk in the middle of an asteroid field, lost seemingly forever.
Today was to be very different, another ship.. damaged from a fight, weapons damaged.
It spots the hulk and slows and stops, small humans float from the ship to the hulk and disturb the boxes slumber, the dust stirring and billowing up around its assailants.
Back in the damaged salvager a commander opens boxes and smiles at his incredible fortune.
In dust, Rail parts to fix his weapons.
11) MrMogadon: Birthday Surprise
Tibsson McCormick continued to view the loading process for the 187th birthday celebrations of the exceptionally long-lived dread Pirate Lord. So far, the holds of the Anaconda were filled with pallets of corn-flour, eggs, gelatine, fruit and hydrogenated butterfat. The only things left were thousands of little sugar balls and 2 tonnes of a poisonous plant called vanillo. Tibbson had queried this last item with the Anaconda’s Captain. However, the Captain had insisted “The order stays as submitted! My uncle, the Pirate Lord is a man to be trifled with”. Tibbson almost queried the missing “not” but decided against it.
12) Insanephoton: Just what the manifest says?
Any other cop would have just scanned me and let me go, but we have a history, me and Officer Harrigan. He busted me for smuggling three years ago.
Now Harrigan's boys are going through the cargo with a fine tooth comb. They've opened every canister, checked everything. Guess what? All they've found is industrial parts, just like the manifest says and just what their scans told them.
Officer Harrigan storms off frustrated. I really should thank him. I learnt a few tricks in jail, things schools don't teach. Like how to make dismantled battle weapons, look like industrial parts.
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