We had three winners last week, who gave us three topics! I chose "Taking Stock", Ian Phillips chose "Joy", and once Sneevus woke up, he chose "Asleep at the wheel". Let's see how this week's entrants do...
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 infect the world with our drabblings!
Remember, the winner(s) of this week's Drabble Contest get to choose next week's topic. They also get to wear the Drabble Crown for a whole week.
_________________________________________________
01 - Frank - The Self-Self-Referential Title
The pirates stole Joy's cargo while she slept at the controls of her Anaconda.
They were jubilant. One pirate smiled as he petted a cow, "We managed to cover all three topics within the first sentence."
"It has left us a few words short of a complete Drabble though. So far we have only got 56."
"It's that lazy old codger Frank. He can't be bothered coming up with any more story."
"Oy Frank! Get the finger out. We need more words here!"
The demands of the fictitious pirates fell on deaf ears. Frank had fallen asleep at his keyboard.
_________________________________________________
02 - Ian Phillips - Sudden Death, just when you need it.
Relentless pusuit had finally driven him past his limits and exhaustion took over. Slowly the driver slumped forwards, asleep at the wheel whilst the SRV raced onwards.
Determinated the hunter followed the now controlless vehicle, eager to conclude the chase. Soon
a canyon barred the way but there was no sign of any deviation from the SRV as it barrelled onwards.
Taking stock, the pursuer raced to a vantage point and watched the inevitable wreck play out.
The flash of the explosion as the SRV hit the ground brought a corresponding surge of Joy as he witnessed Simoof's sudden death.
_________________________________________________
03 - Edith_The_Hutt - It seemed like a good idea at the time...
I don't know where I found them on my GIMPP run, I was barely awake at the time. They were just there when I emerged, four octagonal ships off my starboard bow.
For an hour we sat there looking at each other before I decided to make a run for it. As the drive charged I dropped one, I mean, it's a Proliferation Project, right?
They must have followed me back. There's something in the metal which makes them... happy I guess you could call it. Now they want more, a lot more. So: how many Hutton Mugs are left?
_________________________________________________
04 - moose666 - ****le bells
GASP!
"Ah, you're back Simoof"
Simoof blinked wearily, taking stock of his situation through the fug of post-mortem confusion.
"Kow, what's going on?"
"We're stopping mister Winnard" kow replied.
"Why?"
Wordlessly, Psykokow passed over a poster. In lurid Christmas colours, it said:
"WANTED: Singing santas, Bring musical joy this Christmas! Applications at London relay, Epsilon Indi"
"Oh bloody hell" said Simoof. "It'll be like *that* karaoke night at the Thargoid and Fer-De-Lance again!"
"We could have stopped him earlier, but you were asleep at the wheel!"
"Dead at the wheel" retorted simoof, "He must have shot me before heading off!"
_________________________________________________
05 - Alien - A Woolcott Family Christmas
Simoof was taking stockings down when Psykokow came in.
"You broke it."
"All I did was waggle it."
"You pulled on it too hard."
"You told me to. You said you'd enjoy watching me waggle it."
"I never said for you to be that rough with it."
"Did you try Septual Protection?"
"Yes I turned it seven times."
"Maybe you made it too tight?"
"It was you with your four skins that did it!"
"If I want to buy four paintjobs at once I will. Anyway, I really don't see what that has to do with me breaking your joystick."
_________________________________________________
06 - AliJax - Time to Celebrate
She sniggered at the fate of 'The Glorious Shoelace' "now to get the loot".
'The Middle Finger' although was battered had enough capacity to scoop up the beer. Joy-Joy the Pirate started taking stock of the cargo she’d hauled in, and as she’d done several times before decided to give it a little taste with view of the ‘Pilates’ Nebula.
'Ri-hoopy' beer is an exquisite strong brew with depth and taste, the first didn't touch the sides (she blushed florid) as she promptly collapsed asleep at the wheel in the chair - four Anacondas appeared on radar and flanked in formation.
_________________________________________________
07 - Erik Marcaigh - Twas the Night Before the Festival of Joy
Commander Midden glared angrily over at his hired hand, MrMogadon. Their Corvette was dead in the water, the nearest Fuel Rat was a week away, and they had to get their cargo of gifts and soup stock delivered within days for Zeesee's Festival of Joy.
"Your job is navigation, which includes making sure we have the fuel," screamed Midden.
"Sorry, Sir. Fell asleep after the Janx and chocolate Hobnobs. Didn't sit well, it did."
Engineer Simoof came forward, "Sir, I may have a solution. That's no ordinary soup stock."
Midden nodded, "Right! It's Thai King stock! Fill up the tank!"
_________________________________________________
08 - Splendour - Trancendence
The clatter of the prayer wheel turning woke Joy with a start. The ship had already started its planetary approach and the ride was getting bumpy.
Meditation was dangerous when exhausted she thought ruefully, checking her link to see how much she had missed. She'd only been out for an half an hour, she hadn't missed her chance.
Retrieving a sleek metal case from the base of the wheel, she snapped it open and started to assemble the Meson Rifle. Taking the stock reverentially she carefully bolted into place mechanism, barrel, sights, and stabiliser.
Remlock fitted, she left the cabin.
_________________________________________________
09 - STRONTIUM DOG - three empty bottles and asleep at the wheel
captain grim decided to get some R&R by taking one of the SRV's out for a spin
"captain i have taken a inventory check an our cargo is short of a few bottles of rum" his trusty scared lieutenant said over the comms"
"ARRR twas I" replied the captain.
" its all part of the gravitational muscle rebuilding exercise i require to keep you lot on your toes out there!" he replied whilst bounding an impact crater
" onllly a good ddddrive semmmms ttttta do the trick fa me ma harttttty's yo ho!"repiled the captain barely able to contain his joy!
_________________________________________________
10 - MrMogadon - Failure to Launch - Not in Anyway an Autobiographical Tale
This was it. This was actually IT. At last. Thank you [insert-deity-of-choice].
No longer young, he’d been secretly worried that he’d missed his chance. But, joy, this was actually going to happen, to him. Tonight was that special night
Taking the stock to the cooker, he prepared the gravy and then served up a delicious 3-bird roast dinner. No starter, but he’d planned for a selection of cheeses to follow; with finally strawberry cheesecake for dessert – if things got that far, which in fact they didn’t.
He’d fallen asleep at the cheese wheel, whilst waiting for Horizons Beta to launch.
_________________________________________________
11 - cleonymus - It's not a meal without sauce.
The firm of Sleep Slumber and Slurp had undertaken the challenge. The managing director, Alan, had pulled rank for the honor of driving to the final destination.
He was now delivering the liquid cargo to the planetary dock. He had carefully unloaded it, being careful not to spill any, and was now maneuvering0 the SRV across the pockmarked surface.
The holiday would not be the same without gravy, and to make the gravy an urgent call had been made for the final liquid ingredient.
His chest was swollen with joy. They were taking stock with A. Sleep at the wheel.
_________________________________________________
12 - Simoof - The lonley trial of a Hutton Trucker
The commander sat miserable, head buried in his wrinkled hands.
He peered lornfully through his fingers as his Python was locked down. 2 weeks enforced vacation they called it.
His debtors would not be taking the same vacation.
All he did was knock some free sidewinder into the toast rack after a long haul from Hutton.
Fell asleep at the wheel the footage had shown.
He had not felt Joy for a long time. Maybe it was overdue.
Picking up a dataslate he fingered through his inventory.
A.I. bots for every occasion.
"James", "Janice"... "Ahh, here she is"... "Joy"
_________________________________________________
13 - Listeri69 - Asleep at the wheel
'So lets get this right you were in the Alpha Centurai system when you started'
'Yes'
'And you say you went the wrong way?'
'Well I thought it was the right way'
'When did you realise you were going the wrong way'
'When I ran into you about five mins ago officer'
'this is the Rang Gongs system over 1000lys from Alpha Centurai''
'you were taking this stock to hutton you say'
'I think this one has had a little too much 'joy' over the holidays'
'im not buying it he's a filthy pirate'
And thats when they killed Simoof
_________________________________________________
14 - Sneevus - Going for the triple
Well the Hutton Orbital nav lock explains the snoring I could hear from my hiding place.
Nice antique rifle next to the pilot, though. This is gonna be fun.
Just need to relieve him of this...
Sword this time.
"Wakey, wakey!"
"Wuh...? Don't move or I'll shoot"
"Hi."
"What do you want?"
"Your ship. My question is; Remlock or escape pod?"
"Screw you!" Predictable click. "What ...?"
"Interesting weapon that, energy cell in the stock." Which is why I removed it.
"Son of a-"
"Not so hot on the manners, eh? New question then, Remlock or sword?"
I love my job.
_________________________________________________
15 - insanephoton - Out in the black
The sound of snoring tells me that Alicia has fallen asleep. Gently I move her hands from the controls before taking over. We've been pushing hard to complete the sector survey. Just one more system after this and we can head home. It's been an amazing journey. There have been highs and lows but most of all it's brought us closer together. Ok nothing more here, time for the next system.
The honk of the ADS wakes Alicia. Groggily she checks the system map. A deep silent pause is followed by an excited squeal for joy. there's an Earthlike World.
_________________________________________________
16 - Galactic Midden - Intern reporting for duty
Ed peeled his face off the blood crusting on the steering wheel, incoherent he mumbled "wobble where's this hidden base bobble?". He wasted precious moments restarting the SRV before noticing the mangled dashboard and shattered canopy. A voice intruded, "... compromised, life support failing" desperately he activated canopy repair and webs of crystalline cement sealed the impending leak.
Hours spent crawling the enormous flat lands of Dustbowl had exhausted him. Taking in his surroundings Ed suddenly realised he'd rolled downhill. "Down? Hill?" As vision returned and starlight crested the horizon joy lit his shiny little face, for there it was, Truckhaven.
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 infect the world with our drabblings!
Remember, the winner(s) of this week's Drabble Contest get to choose next week's topic. They also get to wear the Drabble Crown for a whole week.
_________________________________________________
01 - Frank - The Self-Self-Referential Title
The pirates stole Joy's cargo while she slept at the controls of her Anaconda.
They were jubilant. One pirate smiled as he petted a cow, "We managed to cover all three topics within the first sentence."
"It has left us a few words short of a complete Drabble though. So far we have only got 56."
"It's that lazy old codger Frank. He can't be bothered coming up with any more story."
"Oy Frank! Get the finger out. We need more words here!"
The demands of the fictitious pirates fell on deaf ears. Frank had fallen asleep at his keyboard.
_________________________________________________
02 - Ian Phillips - Sudden Death, just when you need it.
Relentless pusuit had finally driven him past his limits and exhaustion took over. Slowly the driver slumped forwards, asleep at the wheel whilst the SRV raced onwards.
Determinated the hunter followed the now controlless vehicle, eager to conclude the chase. Soon
a canyon barred the way but there was no sign of any deviation from the SRV as it barrelled onwards.
Taking stock, the pursuer raced to a vantage point and watched the inevitable wreck play out.
The flash of the explosion as the SRV hit the ground brought a corresponding surge of Joy as he witnessed Simoof's sudden death.
_________________________________________________
03 - Edith_The_Hutt - It seemed like a good idea at the time...
I don't know where I found them on my GIMPP run, I was barely awake at the time. They were just there when I emerged, four octagonal ships off my starboard bow.
For an hour we sat there looking at each other before I decided to make a run for it. As the drive charged I dropped one, I mean, it's a Proliferation Project, right?
They must have followed me back. There's something in the metal which makes them... happy I guess you could call it. Now they want more, a lot more. So: how many Hutton Mugs are left?
_________________________________________________
04 - moose666 - ****le bells
GASP!
"Ah, you're back Simoof"
Simoof blinked wearily, taking stock of his situation through the fug of post-mortem confusion.
"Kow, what's going on?"
"We're stopping mister Winnard" kow replied.
"Why?"
Wordlessly, Psykokow passed over a poster. In lurid Christmas colours, it said:
"WANTED: Singing santas, Bring musical joy this Christmas! Applications at London relay, Epsilon Indi"
"Oh bloody hell" said Simoof. "It'll be like *that* karaoke night at the Thargoid and Fer-De-Lance again!"
"We could have stopped him earlier, but you were asleep at the wheel!"
"Dead at the wheel" retorted simoof, "He must have shot me before heading off!"
_________________________________________________
05 - Alien - A Woolcott Family Christmas
Simoof was taking stockings down when Psykokow came in.
"You broke it."
"All I did was waggle it."
"You pulled on it too hard."
"You told me to. You said you'd enjoy watching me waggle it."
"I never said for you to be that rough with it."
"Did you try Septual Protection?"
"Yes I turned it seven times."
"Maybe you made it too tight?"
"It was you with your four skins that did it!"
"If I want to buy four paintjobs at once I will. Anyway, I really don't see what that has to do with me breaking your joystick."
_________________________________________________
06 - AliJax - Time to Celebrate
She sniggered at the fate of 'The Glorious Shoelace' "now to get the loot".
'The Middle Finger' although was battered had enough capacity to scoop up the beer. Joy-Joy the Pirate started taking stock of the cargo she’d hauled in, and as she’d done several times before decided to give it a little taste with view of the ‘Pilates’ Nebula.
'Ri-hoopy' beer is an exquisite strong brew with depth and taste, the first didn't touch the sides (she blushed florid) as she promptly collapsed asleep at the wheel in the chair - four Anacondas appeared on radar and flanked in formation.
_________________________________________________
07 - Erik Marcaigh - Twas the Night Before the Festival of Joy
Commander Midden glared angrily over at his hired hand, MrMogadon. Their Corvette was dead in the water, the nearest Fuel Rat was a week away, and they had to get their cargo of gifts and soup stock delivered within days for Zeesee's Festival of Joy.
"Your job is navigation, which includes making sure we have the fuel," screamed Midden.
"Sorry, Sir. Fell asleep after the Janx and chocolate Hobnobs. Didn't sit well, it did."
Engineer Simoof came forward, "Sir, I may have a solution. That's no ordinary soup stock."
Midden nodded, "Right! It's Thai King stock! Fill up the tank!"
_________________________________________________
08 - Splendour - Trancendence
The clatter of the prayer wheel turning woke Joy with a start. The ship had already started its planetary approach and the ride was getting bumpy.
Meditation was dangerous when exhausted she thought ruefully, checking her link to see how much she had missed. She'd only been out for an half an hour, she hadn't missed her chance.
Retrieving a sleek metal case from the base of the wheel, she snapped it open and started to assemble the Meson Rifle. Taking the stock reverentially she carefully bolted into place mechanism, barrel, sights, and stabiliser.
Remlock fitted, she left the cabin.
_________________________________________________
09 - STRONTIUM DOG - three empty bottles and asleep at the wheel
captain grim decided to get some R&R by taking one of the SRV's out for a spin
"captain i have taken a inventory check an our cargo is short of a few bottles of rum" his trusty scared lieutenant said over the comms"
"ARRR twas I" replied the captain.
" its all part of the gravitational muscle rebuilding exercise i require to keep you lot on your toes out there!" he replied whilst bounding an impact crater
" onllly a good ddddrive semmmms ttttta do the trick fa me ma harttttty's yo ho!"repiled the captain barely able to contain his joy!
_________________________________________________
10 - MrMogadon - Failure to Launch - Not in Anyway an Autobiographical Tale
This was it. This was actually IT. At last. Thank you [insert-deity-of-choice].
No longer young, he’d been secretly worried that he’d missed his chance. But, joy, this was actually going to happen, to him. Tonight was that special night
Taking the stock to the cooker, he prepared the gravy and then served up a delicious 3-bird roast dinner. No starter, but he’d planned for a selection of cheeses to follow; with finally strawberry cheesecake for dessert – if things got that far, which in fact they didn’t.
He’d fallen asleep at the cheese wheel, whilst waiting for Horizons Beta to launch.
_________________________________________________
11 - cleonymus - It's not a meal without sauce.
The firm of Sleep Slumber and Slurp had undertaken the challenge. The managing director, Alan, had pulled rank for the honor of driving to the final destination.
He was now delivering the liquid cargo to the planetary dock. He had carefully unloaded it, being careful not to spill any, and was now maneuvering0 the SRV across the pockmarked surface.
The holiday would not be the same without gravy, and to make the gravy an urgent call had been made for the final liquid ingredient.
His chest was swollen with joy. They were taking stock with A. Sleep at the wheel.
_________________________________________________
12 - Simoof - The lonley trial of a Hutton Trucker
The commander sat miserable, head buried in his wrinkled hands.
He peered lornfully through his fingers as his Python was locked down. 2 weeks enforced vacation they called it.
His debtors would not be taking the same vacation.
All he did was knock some free sidewinder into the toast rack after a long haul from Hutton.
Fell asleep at the wheel the footage had shown.
He had not felt Joy for a long time. Maybe it was overdue.
Picking up a dataslate he fingered through his inventory.
A.I. bots for every occasion.
"James", "Janice"... "Ahh, here she is"... "Joy"
_________________________________________________
13 - Listeri69 - Asleep at the wheel
'So lets get this right you were in the Alpha Centurai system when you started'
'Yes'
'And you say you went the wrong way?'
'Well I thought it was the right way'
'When did you realise you were going the wrong way'
'When I ran into you about five mins ago officer'
'this is the Rang Gongs system over 1000lys from Alpha Centurai''
'you were taking this stock to hutton you say'
'I think this one has had a little too much 'joy' over the holidays'
'im not buying it he's a filthy pirate'
And thats when they killed Simoof
_________________________________________________
14 - Sneevus - Going for the triple
Well the Hutton Orbital nav lock explains the snoring I could hear from my hiding place.
Nice antique rifle next to the pilot, though. This is gonna be fun.
Just need to relieve him of this...
Sword this time.
"Wakey, wakey!"
"Wuh...? Don't move or I'll shoot"
"Hi."
"What do you want?"
"Your ship. My question is; Remlock or escape pod?"
"Screw you!" Predictable click. "What ...?"
"Interesting weapon that, energy cell in the stock." Which is why I removed it.
"Son of a-"
"Not so hot on the manners, eh? New question then, Remlock or sword?"
I love my job.
_________________________________________________
15 - insanephoton - Out in the black
The sound of snoring tells me that Alicia has fallen asleep. Gently I move her hands from the controls before taking over. We've been pushing hard to complete the sector survey. Just one more system after this and we can head home. It's been an amazing journey. There have been highs and lows but most of all it's brought us closer together. Ok nothing more here, time for the next system.
The honk of the ADS wakes Alicia. Groggily she checks the system map. A deep silent pause is followed by an excited squeal for joy. there's an Earthlike World.
_________________________________________________
16 - Galactic Midden - Intern reporting for duty
Ed peeled his face off the blood crusting on the steering wheel, incoherent he mumbled "wobble where's this hidden base bobble?". He wasted precious moments restarting the SRV before noticing the mangled dashboard and shattered canopy. A voice intruded, "... compromised, life support failing" desperately he activated canopy repair and webs of crystalline cement sealed the impending leak.
Hours spent crawling the enormous flat lands of Dustbowl had exhausted him. Taking in his surroundings Ed suddenly realised he'd rolled downhill. "Down? Hill?" As vision returned and starlight crested the horizon joy lit his shiny little face, for there it was, Truckhaven.
