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FINISH MY STORY CHALLENGE
Hello Hiveans. The FINISH MY STORY CHALLENGE has ended. What a wonderful experience to connect with other Hive members to collaborate on a short fiction story.
I had no clue what a mysterious date on the tail of a plane signified; nor did I know the origin of the fiery flames attacking the sky. The fate of three teens, Lynn, Jeremy, and Wesley hung in the balance as they witnessed, then undertook to discover the mystery behind "a date".
I thoroughly appreciate the time and effort each of the participants took to assist me in completing the series for The Last Sunset. A synopsis of their entries are listed below.
For the four (4) Hive members who accepted the challenge, the following prizes will be awarded today:
1st Place Prize: 5 Hive + (5.50 Hive Bonus)
2nd Place Prize: 4 Hive + (4.50 Hive Bonus)
3rd Place Prize: 3 Hive + (3.50 Hive Bonus)
4th Place Prize: 2 Hive + (2.50 Hive Bonus)
5th Place Prize: 1 Hive + (1 Hive Bonus)
No 5th place entry submitted, so 2 Hive to be divided among four winners.
Thanks @daily.prompt (@felt.buzz) for the following freewrite writing prompts:
19 february 2025, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2652: a date; and
22 february 2025, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2655: no more civilization
THE WINNERS
@kemmyb
“Come on!” Harkeem pounded the worn red button on the spaceship's control panel.
“Easy, tiger. If you mess this up, Pope's gonna have your head,” Shei blurted, equally frustrated as he tapped buttons on his own console.
After two decades in space, TESS was slowly shutting down as they closed in on their target. The wide screen before them revealed an endless black void dotted with distant stars. But a distinct sphere approached.
“There!” Shei pointed at the screen. The men stood, eyes on the wide monitor as their spaceship drew close to an exoplanet in full form. There was no sign of red, scorching marks around it.
“Wait. This one looks familiar. Harkeem?”
“It's BD+ 14407 - Earth.”
Pope cracked his knuckles, his lips moving in silence. “Finally, my brothers. This will be our home now—”
Pope tilted his head , studying the approaching planet. “No more search. This is it.” He pointed at his commanders. “Harkeem, sent out a Xi signal. Sheri…let them have a Sigma.”
“Sigma? Earth revolves around the sun. They are in their 21st century. Sending Sigma shifts them back a century.”
Sheri bent over the control panel and tapped away. A bright beacon emanated from their spaceship, darting through space with the speed of light to lock onto Earth.
The beacon carried a message. It glowed on the monitor — VI-XXXI-MCMLXXII.
Pope smirked. “Let's go home.”
@alonicus
As Lynn puffed on her inhaler to quell the panic that was building to a full-scale asthma attack, there was another flash in the sky. One of the streaks of fire had clipped the small aircraft.
It fluttered out of the sky like a leaf, the date banner trailing and twisting behind it like an unopened parachute. For a moment it looked as if the pilot had regained control, but too late. It half-landed half-crashed into the street, skidding along the ground in a shower of sparks.
The cabin door pushed open and fell to the ground, and a figure flopped out, dropping to the road below. It was a man, dressed in one of those space suit-like outfits used for high altitude flights. But this wasn’t the standard orange with a white helmet; it was a strong purple with a black helmet.
Wesley set off at a sprint, calling out behind him “We’ve got to help !”
Jeremy hesitated. The plane might explode. But they had to stick together, so he set off after his friends.
When Wesley reached the pilot, he saw that the purple suit was crawling, little golden flecks of light flickering in and out. Behind the visor, the man was like a photographic negative. Mauve-grey skin, white eyebrows, and when his eyelids fluttered open, the orbs were black with piercing white pupils. The irises were pale pink with fine royal blue veins.
“You have to tell them….” He croaked.
“Tell who what ?” Jeremy asked.
“Your scientists…. They messed with time…. That leap second they added on 30th June. It broke the synchronicity between our two universes.”
The three friends looked at each other in confusion. The words were English. But they made no sense, they were gibberish. Perhaps the pilot had a concussion.
But the man carried on, his voice gaining urgency.
“Tell your scientists to put the clock back to the way it was before 1972. A second here made a whole new day for us. Now our universe is breaking through. The fire in your sky is dust motes from our universe burning up.”
Wesley spoke now. “You’re rambling, not making sense. We need to get you to hospital, you’ve had a bad accident. Let’s get that helmet off you, get you some fresh air.” He reached for the visor.
“No ! The containment field !” the pilot screamed. But it was too late. Wesley had already cracked the visor open.
The gold motes disappeared. In-rushing air met out-gasped breath.
The two cancelled out with a flash.
@myjob
Jeremy knew where the fire sparks were coming from and it was killing him to not tell his friends, but he knew it was too important to not say anything to anyone, no matter how much you trusted them is what he was told. He also knew there were others like him and one was flying the plane and he knew this same thing was taking place across the world.
After Lynn fell, the inhaler rolled from her pocket and a squirrel snatched it up. It ran across the street and up a tree with Jeremy running behind it yelling for it to stop, as it understood him.
Wesley had stayed back with Lynn but they soon found their way to the tree that Jermey was standing under, he was having a conversation with the squirrel and the squirrel was answering, in squirrel language, but Jermey understood what it was saying.
Jeremy did not know Lynn and Wesley were standing behind him and jumped when he heard them ask what he thought he was doing. Not knowing what to say, he froze and told them he was only messing with the rodent.
Rodent you say, how dare you squawked the squirrel, Jeremy acted as if he did not know what it said. But the squirrel was not finished with Jeremy. Act as if you do not know what I am saying. One of the reasons the ship came back was because of products that contained aerosol like this inhaler. I also see she can not breathe so I will give it back. Still squawking the squirrel tossed the inhaler to Lynn. She looked at Jeremy who quickly looked away, she knew it was a deliberate toss.
With a couple of quick puffs, Lynn was back to breathing normally and had lots of questions for Jeremy, but here on the street was no place for them to be asked.
Look, we are not far from my house and I have leftover pizza in the fridge, said Lynn. Wesley and Jeremy both said, "I'm in" at the same time. Lynn thought to herself, maybe a full belly will get Jeremy to talk.
When they arrived at Lynn's house there was a red closed sign pinned to the front gate. They had a gas leak and everyone was evacuated from their homes. Jeremy almost laughed.
Lynn noticed the odd look on Jermey's face and said, "Jeremy you are going to need to tell someone what you know, maybe Professor Tanner can help us".
NO, screamed Jeremy, it is not time for anyone to know. They will let me know when it is time.
Wesley and Lynn looked at each other, both in shock. This was the first they had heard of others. Jeremy, you must tell us what you know, said both Lynn and Wesley.
Jeremy replied, I can not say anything yet, not until they tell me.
Mad, Wesely stomped off and Lynn was left staring at him. But Jeremy was in deep thought. Since the "dream" when Jeremy was four years old he knew he was chosen for a reason and he could not go back on his word, not even to the two best friends a guy could have.
Their ship was hovering over Earth, which was making our atmosphere heat up, they were watching how we handled the heat and how we were treating others. Their planet stayed at 80 degrees year round. The people who can stay calm and are not looting will be chosen. VI-XXXI-MCMLXXII is Arabic numeral for 631,972. That is how many they will be able to take on this trip, and they do not know if there is time to make a return trip because the date is near.
@eve66
A programming specialist is working on an ultra-secret project. The setting is the future, where Artificial Intelligence sends signals to prevent catastrophe and warn humanity. No one understands these signals except Jeremy, who has visions.
One night, the entire restaurant is consumed by flames, and they wake up in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by AI.
In my version, one of them doesn’t survive, but a girl from the restaurant does. She’s 50% human and 50% AI. Although she accompanies them in this new world, her true objective is different.
On their journey, they meet other survivors, which opens up the possibility for a second part.
Part 3 - Conclusion: The LAST SUNSET
As promised, a surprise compilation collaborating story ending awaits all participants.
[Stay Tuned.]
SOURCES:
a) JustClickindiva's Footer created in Canva utilizing its free background and images used with permission from discord admins.
b) Unless otherwise noted, all photos taken by me with my (i) Samsung Galaxy 10" Tablet, (ii) Samsung Phone, & (iii) FUJI FinePix S3380 - 14 Mega Pixels Digital Camera
c) Purple Butterfly part of purchased set of Spiritual Clip Art for my Personal Use
d) All Community logos, banners, page dividers used with permission of Discord Channel admins.
e) Ladies of Hive banner used with permission of and in accordance with the admin's guidelines
f) Thumbnail Image created by me in Canva.
g) "Flames." What is Apophysis 2.09. https://flam3.com/
If translation included, I use DeepL to assist my readers.
Thanks for your patience an understanding.