Welcome to Drabble contest. Please take part. All you need to do is read the 15 stories below. There are all great stories and worth more of a read than this post you reading at the moment. In fact just stop reading this now, and go direct your eyeballs to those stories
insanephoton managed to win most votes last week. He got to set the topic of this weeks contest. "Trick or Treat"
Below where you're looking are the stories, all short and wonderful. Above where you're looking are the voting options. You get to tick three boxes. The results are revealed on Sunday night. The winner chooses the topic for the next week. Wash, Rinse, And repeat.
The only rule is DONT VOTE FOR YOURSELF! Anyone caught voting for themselves will have eggs and toilet paper pelted at them.
Psykokow's reading of the Drabbles www.twitch.tv/psykokow Friday at 7:00 BST
is bound to be a Halloween Special. I don't know if that'd make you want to watch it, or want to avoid it.
01 - T.j - Trick.....but no treat.
Kow bounced with excitement, his playdoh neck bolts wobbled.
'I love Halloween!!!' He giggled, his green face illuminated by the airlock light.
He held a plate of deep-fried haggis ready to welcome the trick-or-treaters.
Alien sat in the cockpit watching the ships CCTV with an evil grin.
A bit of manipulation with the ships artificial sound allowed her to make a knock-knock reverberate throughout the ship, She'd done similar with the safety systems.
Kow squeeeeeeeeeeed with glee and hit the airlock button.
The squeeeeeeeee faded as Kow shot out into deep space.
The haggis floated after him.
'Trick!' Alien giggled.
02 - cleonymus - Wordcount
Cleonymus was counting. "Fiftythree Fiftyfour Fiftyfive Fiftysix Fiftyseven fiftyeight fiftynine"
"What are you up to?" interrupted his co-pilot, Smiler.
"Sixty! Obviously I am counting."
"Yes, but what are you counting."
"Words. I am counting the words in my Drabble entry."
"Drabble. What is a Drabble?"
"Its a story of exactly one hundred words."
"Why one hundred words? Is it to stop you getting bored?"
"Its a competition. A different subject every week in exactly one hundred words. If you win you get to choose the next topic."
"And what is the topic about this week."
Cleonymus sighed. "Trick or Treat"
03 - moose666 - This Halloween, don't be a trick or treat stowaway
"Trick or treat!"
Psykokow boggled.
Four kids, in Halloween garb, stood outside the cockpit.
"How the flippin' heck did you lot get on board? We're halfway to Hutton!"
Psykokow activated the internal sensor system, the panel emitted a sound like someone dying of terminal flatulence.
"Great, thanks Simoof" sighed kow, as the kids erupted into giggles.
He grabbed a slab of Arcturan Megachocolate, removing the postit note saying "Property of Simoof, don't steal".
"Here you go you cheeky monkeys, now run along!"
A barrel began to wobble and make monkey noises.
"Not you!"
The barrel, labelled "Substitute Teamspeak", went quiescent.
04 - DocStone - Part Six - Beware the guiser
The pod created an airtight seal against the ship, and the cold-plasma gel made short work of the alloy hull.
She dropped noiselessly to the floor as above her the pod’s EMP plunged the ship into total darkness. Dressed in a state of the art assault suit she would have been nearly invisible in direct sunlight, but in the darkness? She moved like a ghost.
The bridge door was locked, that wasn’t going to be an issue. Drawing her weapons, she sprayed the door with cold-plasma, then stepped through the hole onto the bridge.
“Trick or Treat mother-fluffers!”
Death reigned.
05 - Ian Phillips - A Warning?
A red beacon light blinked slowly amidst the wreckage. The intermittent ruddy light cast dark shadows that temporarily relived the all pervading darkness of night on the moon's surface. The video stream from the SRV showed the crash site, but details were difficult to discern in the poor light.
A hologram flickered on and off, in time to the flashing beacon, showing strange symbols.
Puzzled frowns pasted themselves across the crews faces, an atmosphere of confused frustration pervading the base's conference room.
Evaluate. Is it a threat? Do we consider it to be a trick, or treat it as real?
06 - Simoof - The Barnard Beast - The Frightened Child and a Regretful Tale.
Hair all bright and unnatural in colour, eyes glowing red, teeth gnarly.
The foul stench of rotten meat lay heavy on each laboured breath.
Drinking from a barrel it appeared to be aware of them.
The mother knelt beside her daughter, "Don't be afraid. We managed before and we shall again."
The beast suddenly stood and erupted out its ass.
The thick swamp filled the room temporarily distracting the beast.
Mother and daughter pounced, throwing the animal in to the foaming water.
It screamed and howled - "Wan-Kwan-Kwank"
Fortunately this night came but once a year. Bath night for Commander Winnard.
07 - Frank - Keeping in Character
Psykokow smiled. "That's an amazing costume! So lifelike!"
"ChirtywitwiWoopWoopChhrrtClickClickClick"
"Sound effects as well! You have really pushed the boat out."
The compound eyes showed as much confusion as they were capable of expressing.
"Such attention to detail. I take it that the cut in the carapace you have in your thorax, that's the operation scar left when they removed.. your... fear... glands?" Psykokow began to mull over his words as if understanding them for the first time. Wide eyed, he started turning to run.
Finally a reaction the Thargoid could understand. Blood splattered everywhere as she eviscerated the puny human.
08 - azdour - A Deadly Game of Trick or Treat
Cmdr Renn, driven by a thirst for credits, dropped from supercruise into the unknown signal source.
Dozens of cannisters lay scattered in space.
Minutes went by.... No sign of a trap.
As the ship edged forwards, the canisters used their mini jets to move away.
It was going to be a game of cat and mouse. But he was not the cat.
The black spider painted ship moved towards its pre-occupied prey.
The web of intrigue and trick or treat had captured another morsel.
The trick had worked and the pirate was going to treat themselves to their preys cargo.
09 - Rascon - An Expensive Lesson Learnt
The grumpy old miner looked at the figures in cheap ghost costumes.
“Trick or treat” they said excitedly.
He yelled expletives at them and slammed the door.
A week later he arrived home with the best haul of his life, gold and platinum worth millions.
He went to inspect his cargo. Something was wrong.
He checked his logs. A message appeared on the screen.
“Prospector controller error. Inaccurate readings detected” followed by “Happy Halloween, try to be a bit nicer to kids looking for a few sweets”
He watched in dismay as 300 tonnes of gallite was unloaded.
10 - Erik Marcaigh - For the Low Price of...
Commanders all over the galaxy squealed with delight as Commander Lewis announced the attack on the moonbase was to begin later that day. Thousands gathered as the time came, the ultimate treat for everyone who have been stuck in outer space without any shore leave.
Commander Lewis exited hyperspace and opened comms to all present, "You can add this new frameshift drive that allows descent onto planets. Only £4999!"
The orders came ringing in as a series of hyperspace pops were heard behind the crowd.
"Tricked ya well," cried Don Antonaci as his pirates swept in for the easy kills.
11 - Listeri69 - It's a funny ole game...
Welcome to the 193rd Rough ball championships, between the Dongkum Dynamite and the Onez potatoes and mike Coxmells with all the build up.
'yes, you join us as captain Rex bottoms performs the hot potato, ready for the kick off...'
'oh lovely kick there from Harry Ballzak and the potatoes are on the attack great pass out wide there and...ohhhh thats a foul surely he took his head clean off and on comes the first aid scarab.
'Rex Bottoms with the free kick and he's gone for one in the stick o' meat. over the bar for 3 points.....
12 - Missileman - The Graveyard
'I'm not scared' Harry trembled His parents had warned him about the derelict ships that everyone knew as 'the graveyard' Relics of some long forgotten war.
The legend was of a pirate taking his revenge on the children, every so often one would disappear,
'Look at this cobra, must be older than old frank, gimme that crowbar better than trick or treating' he sneered at Harry
Harry was properly scared now as the eldest poked around
'Stardreamer whats that?'
all Harry remembered was waking to the flash of days and nights
Disengage stardreamer and welcome to 3391 said a voice.
13 - Darkoba - Myth or Miner?
There's a rumour that Frank was alive in the 22nd century, preserved by a mixture of Drambuie (Janx wasn't invented) and Cobra venom (that's from the snake, not the ship).
If that's true, then the chances are that Frank was the first ever interstellar miner.
Where he's been, what he's seen, what he's mined - all hidden in the mists of myth and history.
How he's done it, how he's survived, we can't know.
All we can do is wonder, and hear his rare and wonderful stories.
Yes, listen carefully to Frank's tricks, it's a treat.
14 - Sneevus - Preparations.
"I know I was drinking, but I did everything you asked, sir."
"Are you sure?"
"I secured the ship for departures and put all the treats out for the little kiddies."
"The treats from this box?"
"Yes, sir."
"The box with packages still left in it."
"Umm..."
"Which brings us to this."
"The... grenade locker?"
"And what do you notice about it?"
"The spaces, sir?"
"The empty spaces, yes. Good news though."
"Sir?"
"I saved this Halloween gift just for you."
"Oh, Thank you, sir!"
"The pleasure is in the giving, just... don't open it until I've gone, will you?"
15 - insanephoton - Stealing the cheese
The canisters of gold appeared invitingly ahead of the Cobra. Jimmy was eager to start scooping when Siobhan stopped him.
'Didn't they teach you anything in the academy, Jimmy? It could be a trap, It's one of the oldest tricks in the book. There could be a dozen 'condas waiting to ambush us. Watch and learn. kid'
Siobhan fired a collector limpet towards the gold. Ships appeared, hardpoints deployed. The limpet brought back a canister as the hostile ships started firing.
Jumping to safety, Siobhan laughed 'I hope you learned something, sometimes even a trick can earn you a treat'
insanephoton managed to win most votes last week. He got to set the topic of this weeks contest. "Trick or Treat"
Below where you're looking are the stories, all short and wonderful. Above where you're looking are the voting options. You get to tick three boxes. The results are revealed on Sunday night. The winner chooses the topic for the next week. Wash, Rinse, And repeat.
The only rule is DONT VOTE FOR YOURSELF! Anyone caught voting for themselves will have eggs and toilet paper pelted at them.
Psykokow's reading of the Drabbles www.twitch.tv/psykokow Friday at 7:00 BST
is bound to be a Halloween Special. I don't know if that'd make you want to watch it, or want to avoid it.
01 - T.j - Trick.....but no treat.
Kow bounced with excitement, his playdoh neck bolts wobbled.
'I love Halloween!!!' He giggled, his green face illuminated by the airlock light.
He held a plate of deep-fried haggis ready to welcome the trick-or-treaters.
Alien sat in the cockpit watching the ships CCTV with an evil grin.
A bit of manipulation with the ships artificial sound allowed her to make a knock-knock reverberate throughout the ship, She'd done similar with the safety systems.
Kow squeeeeeeeeeeed with glee and hit the airlock button.
The squeeeeeeeee faded as Kow shot out into deep space.
The haggis floated after him.
'Trick!' Alien giggled.
02 - cleonymus - Wordcount
Cleonymus was counting. "Fiftythree Fiftyfour Fiftyfive Fiftysix Fiftyseven fiftyeight fiftynine"
"What are you up to?" interrupted his co-pilot, Smiler.
"Sixty! Obviously I am counting."
"Yes, but what are you counting."
"Words. I am counting the words in my Drabble entry."
"Drabble. What is a Drabble?"
"Its a story of exactly one hundred words."
"Why one hundred words? Is it to stop you getting bored?"
"Its a competition. A different subject every week in exactly one hundred words. If you win you get to choose the next topic."
"And what is the topic about this week."
Cleonymus sighed. "Trick or Treat"
03 - moose666 - This Halloween, don't be a trick or treat stowaway
"Trick or treat!"
Psykokow boggled.
Four kids, in Halloween garb, stood outside the cockpit.
"How the flippin' heck did you lot get on board? We're halfway to Hutton!"
Psykokow activated the internal sensor system, the panel emitted a sound like someone dying of terminal flatulence.
"Great, thanks Simoof" sighed kow, as the kids erupted into giggles.
He grabbed a slab of Arcturan Megachocolate, removing the postit note saying "Property of Simoof, don't steal".
"Here you go you cheeky monkeys, now run along!"
A barrel began to wobble and make monkey noises.
"Not you!"
The barrel, labelled "Substitute Teamspeak", went quiescent.
04 - DocStone - Part Six - Beware the guiser
The pod created an airtight seal against the ship, and the cold-plasma gel made short work of the alloy hull.
She dropped noiselessly to the floor as above her the pod’s EMP plunged the ship into total darkness. Dressed in a state of the art assault suit she would have been nearly invisible in direct sunlight, but in the darkness? She moved like a ghost.
The bridge door was locked, that wasn’t going to be an issue. Drawing her weapons, she sprayed the door with cold-plasma, then stepped through the hole onto the bridge.
“Trick or Treat mother-fluffers!”
Death reigned.
05 - Ian Phillips - A Warning?
A red beacon light blinked slowly amidst the wreckage. The intermittent ruddy light cast dark shadows that temporarily relived the all pervading darkness of night on the moon's surface. The video stream from the SRV showed the crash site, but details were difficult to discern in the poor light.
A hologram flickered on and off, in time to the flashing beacon, showing strange symbols.
Puzzled frowns pasted themselves across the crews faces, an atmosphere of confused frustration pervading the base's conference room.
Evaluate. Is it a threat? Do we consider it to be a trick, or treat it as real?
06 - Simoof - The Barnard Beast - The Frightened Child and a Regretful Tale.
Hair all bright and unnatural in colour, eyes glowing red, teeth gnarly.
The foul stench of rotten meat lay heavy on each laboured breath.
Drinking from a barrel it appeared to be aware of them.
The mother knelt beside her daughter, "Don't be afraid. We managed before and we shall again."
The beast suddenly stood and erupted out its ass.
The thick swamp filled the room temporarily distracting the beast.
Mother and daughter pounced, throwing the animal in to the foaming water.
It screamed and howled - "Wan-Kwan-Kwank"
Fortunately this night came but once a year. Bath night for Commander Winnard.
07 - Frank - Keeping in Character
Psykokow smiled. "That's an amazing costume! So lifelike!"
"ChirtywitwiWoopWoopChhrrtClickClickClick"
"Sound effects as well! You have really pushed the boat out."
The compound eyes showed as much confusion as they were capable of expressing.
"Such attention to detail. I take it that the cut in the carapace you have in your thorax, that's the operation scar left when they removed.. your... fear... glands?" Psykokow began to mull over his words as if understanding them for the first time. Wide eyed, he started turning to run.
Finally a reaction the Thargoid could understand. Blood splattered everywhere as she eviscerated the puny human.
08 - azdour - A Deadly Game of Trick or Treat
Cmdr Renn, driven by a thirst for credits, dropped from supercruise into the unknown signal source.
Dozens of cannisters lay scattered in space.
Minutes went by.... No sign of a trap.
As the ship edged forwards, the canisters used their mini jets to move away.
It was going to be a game of cat and mouse. But he was not the cat.
The black spider painted ship moved towards its pre-occupied prey.
The web of intrigue and trick or treat had captured another morsel.
The trick had worked and the pirate was going to treat themselves to their preys cargo.
09 - Rascon - An Expensive Lesson Learnt
The grumpy old miner looked at the figures in cheap ghost costumes.
“Trick or treat” they said excitedly.
He yelled expletives at them and slammed the door.
A week later he arrived home with the best haul of his life, gold and platinum worth millions.
He went to inspect his cargo. Something was wrong.
He checked his logs. A message appeared on the screen.
“Prospector controller error. Inaccurate readings detected” followed by “Happy Halloween, try to be a bit nicer to kids looking for a few sweets”
He watched in dismay as 300 tonnes of gallite was unloaded.
10 - Erik Marcaigh - For the Low Price of...
Commanders all over the galaxy squealed with delight as Commander Lewis announced the attack on the moonbase was to begin later that day. Thousands gathered as the time came, the ultimate treat for everyone who have been stuck in outer space without any shore leave.
Commander Lewis exited hyperspace and opened comms to all present, "You can add this new frameshift drive that allows descent onto planets. Only £4999!"
The orders came ringing in as a series of hyperspace pops were heard behind the crowd.
"Tricked ya well," cried Don Antonaci as his pirates swept in for the easy kills.
11 - Listeri69 - It's a funny ole game...
Welcome to the 193rd Rough ball championships, between the Dongkum Dynamite and the Onez potatoes and mike Coxmells with all the build up.
'yes, you join us as captain Rex bottoms performs the hot potato, ready for the kick off...'
'oh lovely kick there from Harry Ballzak and the potatoes are on the attack great pass out wide there and...ohhhh thats a foul surely he took his head clean off and on comes the first aid scarab.
'Rex Bottoms with the free kick and he's gone for one in the stick o' meat. over the bar for 3 points.....
12 - Missileman - The Graveyard
'I'm not scared' Harry trembled His parents had warned him about the derelict ships that everyone knew as 'the graveyard' Relics of some long forgotten war.
The legend was of a pirate taking his revenge on the children, every so often one would disappear,
'Look at this cobra, must be older than old frank, gimme that crowbar better than trick or treating' he sneered at Harry
Harry was properly scared now as the eldest poked around
'Stardreamer whats that?'
all Harry remembered was waking to the flash of days and nights
Disengage stardreamer and welcome to 3391 said a voice.
13 - Darkoba - Myth or Miner?
There's a rumour that Frank was alive in the 22nd century, preserved by a mixture of Drambuie (Janx wasn't invented) and Cobra venom (that's from the snake, not the ship).
If that's true, then the chances are that Frank was the first ever interstellar miner.
Where he's been, what he's seen, what he's mined - all hidden in the mists of myth and history.
How he's done it, how he's survived, we can't know.
All we can do is wonder, and hear his rare and wonderful stories.
Yes, listen carefully to Frank's tricks, it's a treat.
14 - Sneevus - Preparations.
"I know I was drinking, but I did everything you asked, sir."
"Are you sure?"
"I secured the ship for departures and put all the treats out for the little kiddies."
"The treats from this box?"
"Yes, sir."
"The box with packages still left in it."
"Umm..."
"Which brings us to this."
"The... grenade locker?"
"And what do you notice about it?"
"The spaces, sir?"
"The empty spaces, yes. Good news though."
"Sir?"
"I saved this Halloween gift just for you."
"Oh, Thank you, sir!"
"The pleasure is in the giving, just... don't open it until I've gone, will you?"
15 - insanephoton - Stealing the cheese
The canisters of gold appeared invitingly ahead of the Cobra. Jimmy was eager to start scooping when Siobhan stopped him.
'Didn't they teach you anything in the academy, Jimmy? It could be a trap, It's one of the oldest tricks in the book. There could be a dozen 'condas waiting to ambush us. Watch and learn. kid'
Siobhan fired a collector limpet towards the gold. Ships appeared, hardpoints deployed. The limpet brought back a canister as the hostile ships started firing.
Jumping to safety, Siobhan laughed 'I hope you learned something, sometimes even a trick can earn you a treat'
