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Short Fiction Contest 3 - 24/03/2014

Fear or Hatred by Behemoth
(No votes)
It was only a matter of time by Sunkenmonk
(No votes)
Entanglement by Sobok
Total votes: 1 (8%)
First Treaty by outlander4
(No votes)
The First Draft by Grumblesaur
(No votes)
THEM by Hardenberg
Total votes: 9 (75%)
#;,.,;;:_;´´'"°^>:._\\, by Lum
Total votes: 1 (8%)
Treaty by PeterD
(No votes)
Rise by Belgerith
Total votes: 1 (8%)
Surrender by Just_Ice_au
(No votes)
Total votes: 12
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Short Fiction Contest 3 - 24/03/2014

#1
Welcome to our third Short Fiction Contest.

Voting has now closed, and the competition has ended.

The winning entry is 'THEM' by Hardenberg, collecting an outstanding 75% of the vote!

All the submissions were fantastic, and thanks go to everyone who submitted an entry or voted in the contest.

I hope you'll all join us next time, the new contest should be up shortly!

Entries have closed. Voting is now open.

Voting Closes on
Saturday 29th of March 2014 at 11:59pm GMT


This contest closes on Monday 24th March 2014 at 11:59pm GMT

This is the submissions thread, please post any comments in the Short (Short!) Fiction Contest thread. After submissions close we'll run a poll so people can pick their favourite story. The prize is delicious, nutritious acclaim.


The Rules:
  • Submissions should be approximately 400 words in length. Please, no novellas.
  • Submitted stories should feature the competition's topic.
  • Submissions should include a title.
  • Submissions should be posted in this thread by the stated deadline.
  • Original content only (obviously, plagiarism of any kind is discouraged).
  • Multiple submissions are allowed, but you may be asked to choose one to go to final voting if we receive a lot of submissions.
  • Have Fun!
This competition's topic is:
Contest Topic wrote:Humanity's first treaty with an alien race.
Feel free to incorporate the topic into your story in any way you choose - Describe the circumstances that led to the signing of the treaty, or the politics behind the decision. You could write from the human's point of view, or bring an alien perspective to your story. Someone at the treaty-signing could even be having a flashback to the first contact between the races. Anything you like, so long as you use the idea of the treaty signing in some fashion.

That's it. Have fun guys, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments thread.

Cheers, :thumbup: :wave:
- The Snark Knight

"Look upward, and share the wonders I've seen."
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Re: Short Fiction Contest 3 - 24/03/2014

#2
Fear or Hatred

The ETCA advisor stood by a table.
"You asked me, sir. What for?"
"The Drae want our permission to put a starsword on orbit."
The advisor was shocked. He stood there silently, looking towards the floor, eyes wide open.
"Why? Why would they want a to be able destroy the whole biosphere?"
"That's what I wanted to ask you. I've heard about them, and I really don't want drae to hold a dagger on all of our necks."
"What clan?"
"Sunrise."
Sunrise was not known for being aggressive, nor being sensitive to impulses, which both were good. He tried to remember, what were the differences to other clans. He raised his head, when it dawned on him.
"They're known to use killing to make the negotiation go faster. They stop when they'll get an answer. In the start, there's one Home's day to answer, and then they are going to kill one. Tomorrow, four. The next day, sixteen. Within a week, they've killed 65 thousand people. It hits million two days after that. A billion, two weeks. 16 their days, and they've eradicated us all, still waiting for the answer."
"Impatience?"
"Yes, but also making them to choose fast, and based on intuition, and to prevent such thing as byrocracy to take effect."
"Should we sign it?"
"It's a choice between we being safe, and good relations between us and the Drae. Their hate or our fear."
"Hate?"
"If we disagree, we prove we don't trust them. We prove we value ourselves higher than them. And if they don't agree, we all are... clanless. Thereby, hated and disgusting. They could freely kill us all, without the coalition blinking an eye. Sunrise's coalition would probably lessen the punishment for us not being like them, but the people would still think we are worthless."
"That doesn't make sense."
"If you were a drae, it would. They have some pretty weird laws."
"Sounds like I have to sign it to keep us from being wiped out."
"No! You'll have sign it to keep us from being cut off from the network. Usually they don't even touch the clanless."
"Our first, and probably only alien contact for safety and security. What's your opinion?"
"Advisors don't have opinions, but as a person, I suggest signing it."
The man sitting by the table took a pen, and wrote his name in a paper.
In space, no one will hear you scream. #262626
I've never played a space sim. Ever.
Vos estis tan limes.
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Re: Short Fiction Contest 3 - 24/03/2014

#3
It was only a matter of time

His footsteps' echo filled the empty corridor leading to the bridge, the humming sound of the safety scanner never ceases to annoy him, "i miss the old days" he thinks to himself as he steps into the bridge, everyone gets up and salutes him, Kara the communication officer steps forward, he could tell, they've lost another ship "admiral" she pauses "the Orion is no more", a chill runs down his spine, he could feel the hair on the back of his neck rise, his old ship, and the current captain was his best friend, "what happened?" his voice shakes "they were ambushed, they found out about our scanner's blind spot, they used the star to sneak up on them".


A flash of light appeared as the ship exited the jumpgate, the ship's thrusters turned orange as they went into cruise mode, they arrived at the site a few minutes later, debris floated everywhere, as the Capitan stared out of the observation deck, scanners' noise filled the background looking for any escape pods, the site was no stranger to him, but this time it reminded him of the first time he saw this site, back when it all started.

After a few years from the signing of the treaty, the Tauriki were fed up with human vultures, their ways are so different than ours, their hive mentality treated every hostile individual human action as one representative of all humans. The federation tried to explain the situation to the Tauriki, but they insisted to hold them responsible for all human breach of the treaty. The Orion was the military escort ship with the convoy, the way they declared war was not so strange to us, kill the messenger, what was strange is that their representatives didn't leave the ship before the military ship destroyed the political vessel, but did not fire at the Orion, it sat there as the Orion fired its weapons upon it, all of this was the Tauriki way, letting us know they're not threatened by our military, and they had the right, we were a century apart in technology, this was a war that we had to claw at with all our might to have a slim chance of winning.
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Re: Short Fiction Contest 3 - 24/03/2014

#4
Entanglement

A giant ring at the L3 Lagrangian point between sun and earth. EGRAD, the Entangled GRAviton Detector, constituted the pinnacle of human particle detection technology, immensely more advanced than the first small detectors that were built more than a hundred years ago. From the control module, Lisa had a clear view on the spacial distortions occurring on the surface spanned by the ring.
"This is Dr. Lisa Lloyd, we are ready to engage phase 3."
"Houston here, all systems are go, proceed."

She made a wish as she engaged the Heisenberg shifter. Less than a millisecond later, it came true: the holographic displays showed a series of spikes. This is it, Lisa thought, the proof that entangled gravitons from distant stars can be detected here and now!
"Requesting confirmation of positive reading."
"Houston here, the internet confirms signal detection. Congratulations, Doctor!"
"Switching to sinusoidal modulation for improved spatial resolution..."


What Lisa, humanity and the internet did not know at the time was that EGRAD was more than just a detector. It worked both ways.

About 50469 light years away there was a device similar in function, but far more advanced and miniaturized. It belonged to the Sobokkians who could be thought of as the peacekeepers of the united galactic spacefaring civilizations. The detection of an entangled signal response coming from an unexplored region in another spiral arm excited their collective consciousness. Their first message was the same as always: a mathematical definition of the common galactic language followed by a treaty proposing mutual peace and exchange of ambassadors, requesting a simple sinusoidal response for yes, or a constant amplitude for no.

"You won't believe this...the internet detected an intelligent message encoded in the signal. It's more than a terabyte of data compressed in a millisecond burst, decoding will take a while."
Lisa's heart skipped a beat - could she really just have detected alien intelligence by accident? All those entangled gravitons ignored by humanity for millennia, suddenly identified as messages from other civilizations? While her brain tried to grasp the implications, a flash of light blinded her. When she opened her eyes again, Lisa saw what looked like a sphere made of water, several kilometers in diameter, spinning stationary next to EGRAD. Then she heard a voice in her head:
"We are the Sobokkians. We come in peace. Welcome to the united galactic spacefaring civilizations. Are you the ambassador?"
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Re: Short Fiction Contest 3 - 24/03/2014

#5
First Treaty

Hibernation chamber started emergency thaw process. Commander Yeith, still engulfed in the nightmares of his frozen sleep, wasn’t aware of it. When temperature became high enough to allow neuronal function, a short electric pulse was sent to wake up dormant parts of his brain.

He opened his eyes.

Where am I? As he struggled to push nightmares back into the dark corners of his mind, Rthan's voice came over the intercom.

‘Commander Yeith, thaw is complete. We need you in the cockpit, urgently.’

A cockpit? Commander? Suddenly, he remembered everything. He was on board Explorer-2 en route to Thwanth's Star, and he was in command.

When he entered the cockpit Rthan opened the telescope’s feed.

‘It's close enough for a visual.’

An object - a starship - was on the screen. It was like nothing Yeith had seen before - a blended wings-body design like an aircraft. It was enormous; each of what looked like two side-mounted engines was bigger than his entire ship.

‘Came out of nowhere. They're trying to match our velocity. Acceleration on that thing is really impressive; they were going at 0.4 c when they saw us. I've scanned hydrogen wavelengths – there is a signal from them, but I can’t decode it.’

It wasn't one of their ships. It was a work of an alien intelligence; an intelligence superior to theirs by who knows how many planetary cycles.

‘Wake up the rest of the crew. Align vectors with the alien ship. Give me an open channel. What's the simplest protocol we have? YI3?’

‘YI2.’

Trying not to look nervous, he started transmission.

‘Commander Yeith of Explorer-2 to unidentified vessel: we are on a peaceful exploration mission. Please state your origin and intentions.’

He didn't know what else he could say. He never dreamed of discovering alien life; he thought that even if he did it wouldn't have helped him much.

He was in the middle of making a detailed report to the High Command when a flickering video message sent over a crudely reverse-engineered YI2 protocol came from the alien vessel.

A hideous, ungainly creature wrapped in fabric looked at him from the screen. A pair of grey eyes, something of a feeding-hole beneath; a pair of extremities operating what looked like fairly conventional switches and buttons.

Sound came in - a series of howls and groans, strangely beautiful and unnerving at the same time. Simultaneously, a galactic map appeared. It magnified the view to a single star with a planetary system. ‘Earth,’ said the alien figure, pointing at the third planet. And then, pointing at himself - ‘Human.’

Yeith extended his trunk to grab his input board. He knew he had a long, long day ahead of him.
First contact with Thianthan was made in the year 2647. Treaty establishing communication protocols was signed aboard ESS Nieustraszony by Captain Stanisław Olenski of Earth, ambassador Olga Herero of Mars, and Commander Yeith Ri 67¦5¦T from Thianth. Treaty is still in force as of year 3585.
-Ashley Dean's Short Chronology of Earth's History

Image
Survivor of the Josh Parnell Blackout of 2015.
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Re: Short Fiction Contest 3 - 24/03/2014

#6
The First Draft

"We the Human Race of Earth, third planet of Sol of the Milky Way Galaxy do wholeheartedly unite to welcome the Telónð Race as our first celestial Neighbors and Kin in our heretofore lonesome corner of the Universe. With the intention to provide hospitality and the expectation to establish a peaceful, prosperous alliance, we extend our resources, our citizenship, and our home to you. We are prepared to assist in your settlement on any of the terrestrial planets and moons which our system can offer, including territory on the land or seas of our own planet, to the greatest extent of our abilities.

We seek knowledge of the reaches of the universe which we have not yet seen, to expand our own technologies, and to open our minds to novel, cosmic cultures. Should this prospect be distasteful, disrespectful, undesirable, or otherwise unacceptable to the Telónð kind, we ask that you provide your insight as to reforming it, or that you peacefully continue your voyage to a different region of space."

Signed,

The Earth Council of Extraterrestrial Affairs

=====

...file saved as "...\telondhPeaceProsperityTreaty\firstDraft.txt".
...would you like to send this file? (Y/N): __
Shameless Self-Promotion 0/ magenta 0/ Forum Rules & Game FAQ
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Re: Short Fiction Contest 3 - 24/03/2014

#7
I usually don't do flash fiction, and I'm not really much of a storyteller these days. But since I'm bored out of my skull, short on dough and depressed enough to be inspired, here we go...



THEM

"I don't like this one bit.", Ambassador Yalgon said as he adjusted his robes and retraced the coloured markings on his long, slender neck with his fingers.

"You are too worried, ambassador. I mean, they did state that they come in peace and only want to trade, didn't they?"
Taule, the ambassador's aide, affixed another ceremonial ribbon to the Ambassador's horns.

"Taule, my boy...have you actually seen them?"

"Only the officially cleared transmissions so far, Ambassador. Why?"

"They're not like us, the Gorgane or the Pavonesi. Rumors are they are some kind of evolved predators."

"You mean...impossible. All of the sapient races we know have evolved from herbivorous herd animals. Science dictates that a predator didn't need that much intelligence, back when they still existed. Pure instinct and reflexes, an evolutionary dead-end."

"If you only knew half the stuff we found out about them...". The Ambassador grabbed a Dalan leaf from a nearby platter and began to chew. Almost immediately, he felt the calming effects of its juices.

"Like what?"

"Their teeth, Taule. When they're happy or just trying to reassure you, they'll bare their teeth. And what teeth they are...jagged, mismatched rows of tearing fangs. Horrible."

"Maybe they are worn from use?"

"Even their younglings have them. Ancestors, I've seen them fight over food when we met the last time. And what they fought over smelled suspiciously like a piece of a carcass. Their leader claimed it was synthetic, though. I ask you: why in the name of the ancients would they make synthetic food smell that way if they didn't crave the real thing?"

"Do you think they want to...eat us?"

"I wouldn't put it beyond them. In their commercials, a lot of the food shown can talk."

"Did they mention what they wanted to trade?"

"Technology, mostly, in exchange for minerals and rare earths. They also proposed a cultural exchange, as well as wanting to ship in more of them to see our venerated ancient sites."

"Now, that doesn't sound so bad..."

"It did strike me as odd, though, that their so-called trading ship has more weapons than one of our system defense boats."

"Maybe they expected trouble with pirates?"

"Maybe they want to hunt, murder and eat us?"

"You jest, Ambassador..."


"I'm serious. According to the transmissions we have decoded, they are so aggressive that they have a special officer on board of their ship, whose task is to prevent them from murdering each other during their journeys."

Ascertaining that he appeared calm and properly dressed for the occasion, Yalgon took one more deep breath.

"They are waiting. Let's go."

With a soft swishing sound, the door to the Embassy's main chamber opened. In the spacious room, the human ambassador and his two kids were waiting, seated on the soft cushions that the Tumali used to rest on.
Upon seeing the ambassador and his young aide, their faces lit up. Their lips withdrew in the most human of facial expressions, baring their teeth in a friendly smile.
One of the younglings approached Taule, grabbing his hand to shake it.
The Tumali were no strangers to the concept of a handshake. But still, Taule felt like he was seized by the human youngling.
While the young human spoke in the strange language they knew as "Inglis", Taule smelled it - the rank odor of a burnt corpse. A few moments later, the translator in his ear gave him the translation, substituting the words for their closest equivalent in the Tumali dialect known as Rislar.

"Hello, I'm *Ay-me-lee*. You must be Taule. My *paternal herd lord* was right, you do look a lot like an *extinct food/animal*."

Taule almost immediately fainted.
Hardenberg was my name
And Terra was my nation
Deep space is my dwelling place
The stars my destination
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Re: Short Fiction Contest 3 - 24/03/2014

#8
#;,.,;;:_;´´'"°^>:._\\,

The water displayed another document. Sequences upon sequences of characters danced iridescently down the pristine waterfall. The operator increased a little its focus on that unimportant task. A couple of blurred sparks twinkled here and there inside the small conscience sphere, which was its avatar in this part of the universe.

I remember that time well -it thought, purple circles arising towards the happiness regions of its avatar-. Earthlings were stubborn, the ath'Tzyyyer Authorities laughed a lot about them back then.

A colleague and close friend sensed its thoughts. It was still young, born just a blink of time after the age the older one was thinking of, and knew little about it. Its question did not come as thought, but as instant query on the water, a small rift in the never-ending waterfall of information.

Were Earthlings any different than they are today? They appear kind of too serious to me…

In a way… I suppose they remain the same. They got the Sol Treaty, as they call it, in all clauses they wanted. But not having much fun out of it.

The Authorities only wanted their sun rented for a million years for inter-breeding research and as pleasure biosphere for their elites, or so I've read. Earthlings couldn't even think of that as a 'clause'…

Yes, good for them that the ath'Tzyyillar are a bunch of good tri-souled folks.

Indeed… I was sent as observer there. The Authorities were on a trial in relation with the "";..:>>) supernova. We couldn't afford a second affair with them.

Is it true that they didn't want to join the Reasonancy for almost two thousand years?

No, no. The first attempt wasn't really such. Back then the Aoeiaau built a couple of outposts on the planet and on the second moon, but Earthlings weren't prepared for any kind of true contact. So they took their moon and buried their outposts and tried somewhere else. No, the Authorities were the first. They landed a city in the middle of the ocean and caused chaos for years: planetary-wide flooding and ice ages. You know how they are.

Oh, I do know about that while researching the historic novel
Touchup and downs: A True Story for a school project. Ath'Tzyyillar and their humour. They time-looped the whole solar system four times before they got it right if we are to believe half of it.

Yeah, good for us that all went well in the end. Earthlings are good tax-payers and even better customers!


Both of them laughed for a while, their avatars glowing white on the poles. Yes, sometimes the life of a functionary had its good moments.
I have been - and always shall be - your friend.
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Re: Short Fiction Contest 3 - 24/03/2014

#9
Treaty

"Jose, bring up the treaty. We gotta follow the law."

"Yep, on screen."

Tormaline Conglomerate - United Federation of Colonies
Treaty of Andromeda

President Vladimir Chin of the United Federation of Colonies regarding with honour the Leaders and Peoples of the Tormaline Conglomerate and anxious to protect their just Rights and Property and to secure to them the enjoyment of Peace and Good Order has deemed it necessary in consequence of the great number of the Presidents Subjects who have already settled in the region of Andromeda and the rapid expansion of Emigration from the Human Colonies which is still in progress to constitute and appoint a functionary properly authorised to treat with the Peoples of Andromeda for the recognition of the United Federation of Colonies Sovereign authority over the whole or any part of Andromeda – The President therefore being desirous to establish a settled form of Civil Government with a view to avert the evil consequences which must result from the absence of the necessary Laws and Institutions alike to the Peoples of the Tormaline Conglomerate and to the subjects of the United Federation of Colonies has been graciously pleased to empower and to authorise Donna Lee a Diplomat of high standing within Federation and Andromeda to invite the confederated and independent Leaders of the Tormaline Conglomerate to concur in the following Articles and Conditions.

<more>

"How much more is there?"

"Another 4 pages. All of it is the same shit and dribble."

"Does anyone understand it?"

"No Cap. It was written a hundred and fifty years ago."

"Well we have 300 colonists in stasis out the back and this planet is the only one we know of in this sector that is capable of supporting a human settlement."

"Yeah, the local natives are incapable of interplanetary travel, and they are unlikely to be missed."

"Ok, lets make good on our contract. Let the log show we were unable to execute our legal obligations to the local population due to their inability to communicate with us, and a subsequent natural disaster that wiped them out."

"What natural disaster Cap?"

"Us, Jose. Us. Launch the Terraformer."

"Payday!"
Sorry, but your choice of avatar means I can't take anything you say seriously.
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Re: Short Fiction Contest 3 - 24/03/2014

#10
Rise

Trevor's boots were like gunshots in the silent hall, ringing through everyone's ears and causing Trevor to cringe on the inside, he held his head high his face was a mask that hid his inner thoughts. Those thoughts went back many years and light years away from his current location.

The image of the majestic ships that the Earth had built just a distant gleam in his eye. He can still remember the first time he rode in a shuttle as it passed one of the fleets flag ships. The sheer size of it all made one feel almost small. The lights illuminated only so much of the ship as it stretched past the distant reaches of those beams. His thoughts that this massive ship must be near indestructible, and we had many more in the same yards.

But those thoughts could not stay, as Trevor neared the high seat of his host. He looked into those strange alien eyes and felt despair fill him. He knew the sight of the enemy, but being in their presence was still unnerving. It wasn't their physical appearance that was the worst part, it was the way they seemed to see through you.

Trevor thought back again to those ships, but later, near the end of the war. The image of those ships breaking apart, those many human lives snuffed out in an instant, the moment that humanity had felt defeat. Trevor was here not as a fellow space traveler, but as the representative of a defeated race, as the man that was sent to negotiate a peace that he could only hope would save his race. Although he grieved for those that had been lost and those that will be lost, he knew that hu
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Re: Short Fiction Contest 3 - 24/03/2014

#11
Surrender

The war had raged for decades.

No-one knew who had fired the first shot. First contact had been brief; ships from both sides utterly consumed by the nuclear fire of modern weapons. From that day on, it had been a war without quarter or cease-fire. A war where the only communication was weapons fire, where the only language in common was death.

Anathema, we called their race. No civilians were spared in their attacks, no women or children off-limits, they slaughtered all who could not flee. Where an Anathema shipswarm appeared, entire colonies would be burned to ash under their guns. We fought them with everything we had, every resource, every erg of manpower and industrial capacity we could bring to bear. It was a Total War, a war unlike anything we had fought since the dark times, before we discovered spaceflight and founded the first Galactic Empire among the stars.

In the end, only the Empire Navy had the ships to challenge the enemy, and the Navy couldn't be everywhere. We fought bravely, mightily, and we took many of the bastards with us as they killed us. But slowly, steadily, we were being driven backwards towards the core systems.

That was when we tried to surrender.

Unfortunately, despite the efforts of our brightest scientific minds, we hadn't been able to translate the Anathema language. Pieces of captured Anathema ships had stubbornly refused to yield their secrets to us - the aliens were just too different. Their minds worked in ways we just couldn't seem to understand, their technology based on entirely different scientific principles to ours.

In a last-ditch attempt to stop the slaughter, we sent one of our last fleets on a diplomatic mission to one of their largest homeworlds. The ships were manned by our wisest diplomats and keenest linguists, in the hope that, even if they were captured by the Anathema aliens, they might still find a way to communicate with their captors and negotiate a peace.

The ships were destroyed. Their transponder beacons extinguished mere minutes after the ships exited FTL.

It was our darkest hour.

With our forces weakened, the Anathema shipswarms had finally managed to break through our defences. Their metallic, angular ships hovered in our skies, guns trained on our government buildings, our military installations, and on our homes.

And then, from the Anathema ships, a message was broadcast to us, in flawless Takni.

"On behalf of Humanity, we are now prepared to accept your surrender."
- The Snark Knight

"Look upward, and share the wonders I've seen."

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