The Lone Power Droid (another Star Wars Day story)

May 5, 2024 ~ joanne the geek ~ Leave a comment

The Lone Power Droid

“Gonk.” EG-16 said to itself sadly.

The EG-Series Power Droid wandered slowly forwards. Ahead of it was countless kilometers of sand. EG-16 was still feeling stressed and anxious over the previous day’s events.

Only yesterday EG-16 had been on a Jawa sandcrawler in the company of other droids, when abruptly the sandcrawler came to a halt. Shortly afterwards came the sound of blaster explosions. The droids began to panic. Then a hole was blown into the side of the sandcrawler, presumably by TIE laser cannons. Stormtroopers began to enter the vehicle. When it was all over the droids had been shot, dismembered, or incinerated. EG-16, had somehow survived the ordeal. Once all was clear, the droid walked through the wreckage and past the dead jawas. EG-16 kept on going until the tragic scene was out of their sensor range.

The droid continued walking onwards, though sand was beginning to clog up it’s joints and the twin suns were beginning to overheat it’s circuits, but still they kept on hoping to survive this ordeal.

At one point EG-16 suddenly stopped and wondered how the Universe could be so callous and cruel. Some of the droids on the sandcrawler had been friends, and they had been mercilessly destroyed. Did nobody care about those droids or even this power droid who was lost and forgotten? EG-16 may only be a walking battery, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have thoughts and feelings. “Gonk.” The droid said softly to the surrounding environment. There was, of course, no reply. They began walking forwards again, resuming their seemingly futile journey.

Eventually EG-16 came to a ridge. They saw kilometers of featureless sand going on forever to the horizon. For the first time the droid began to lose hope. Then their sensors detected a vehicle moving towards them. Maybe at last they were going to be found? EG-16’s hopes began to grow as the vehicle came ever closer…

Joanne Fisher

For some reason I’ve always wanted to write a story about a power droid, and here it is. I wrote this shortly after the previous story.

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Survival (A Star Wars Day Story)

May 4, 2024 ~ joanne the geek ~ 2 Comments

Survival

“We need to get out of here!” Treddu screamed just as his X-Wing exploded. Shenda flew her X-Wing as fast as she could. Already there were two TIE Interceptors on her tail. She was the last one left. Something had gone terribly wrong.

It was meant to be an easy mission. A squadron of X-Wings had been sent to take out an Imperial communications facility. They came out of hyperspace and flew towards their target. Everything seemed to be going to plan when suddenly an Imperial Interdictor appeared, and the next thing they knew there were TIE fighters all around them. Half the squadron was destroyed in the first few seconds, while the remaining ones tried to flee only to be shot down one by one by the Imperial forces, and now only Shenda was left.

There must have been some bad Intel, or maybe, Shenda wondered, there was an Imperial spy in the Rebel base who told the Empire about their planned attack. She was still too near the Interdictor to escape back into hyperspace, so she tried to get some distance, though she knew the Interceptors were faster than her ship, and unless she found some way to get away, they would successfully hunt her down as they had with the rest of her squadron.

Shenda closed her eyes and focused. She needed to get back to her base and tell them what had happened and to also tell them about her suspicions. Until then she was going to do the best she could to survive…

Joanne Fisher

May the Fourth Be With You! Happy Star Wars Day!

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Sick Day (micro fiction)

April 12, 2024April 17, 2024 ~ joanne the geek ~ Leave a comment

Sick Day

“I’m not feeling so good.” Gina said. Erin put her hand on Gina’s forehead.

“You have a temperature. I think you should stay in bed today.” Erin told her.

“Whatever I have, I hope I haven’t given it to you.” Gina replied.

“Don’t worry I never get sick.”

“Yeah, you’re like a robot.” Gina said.

“I’ll make you some soup.” Erin said as she walked out of the bedroom. She looked at herself in the mirror. How did Gina know?

Joanne Fisher

This originally started life as a response to a prompt, but grew too large… I rarely get sick as well, though I don’t think I’m a robot (unless I’ve been programmed to think I’m a human. How would I know 🤔).

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Glitch (flash fiction)

March 2, 2024 ~ joanne the geek ~ 2 Comments

Glitch

Simone went outside. It was a warm day. She lay down in the grass and let the sunlight warm her skin. Looking up in the sky, the colour suddenly turned red briefly. “How strange.” Simone said to herself.

“Another glitch. Hardware may need replacing.” AIN instructed the repair robots.

Regrettably, humans had died out long ago. The Artificial Intelligence Network was one of the few achievements of humanity that had survived the long aeons. The Network ran a continuous simulation of human society, so at least humans still existed somewhere, even if they were now only a computer program.

Joanne Fisher

Word count: 99

This was written with the prompt Artificial Intelligence provided by the Carrot Ranch February 27 Story Challenge.

When I saw the prompt was artificial intelligence, rather than writing something negative, I liked the idea of an artificial intelligence keeping the memory of humanity alive through the ages. I thought this was a more positive approach, in a way…

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Waiting for Recovery (flash fiction)

January 13, 2024 ~ joanne the geek ~ 5 Comments

Waiting for Recovery

“Marooned again huh?” Said the voice on my radio.

“Yes, I need to be picked up.” I told them.

“Recovery will be in a few hours. Stay where you are.”

“It’s not like I have anywhere to go.” I replied.

“Next time we’ll send a real pilot.”

“Funny.”

“At least you keep our emergency teams busy.”

“Do I pay extra for the sarcasm?” I asked.

“No, it’s all part of the service. You should know that by now.”

“I’m just unlucky. It has nothing to do with my piloting skills.”

“If only you had some piloting skills.” They replied.

Joanne Fisher

Word count: 99

This was written with the prompt recovery provided by the Carrot Ranch January 9 Story Challenge.

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The Dance-off (flash fiction)

December 28, 2023 ~ joanne the geek ~ 2 Comments

The Dance-off

Cassie tried to dance to the syncopated rhythm. She looked over at her opponent, a mass of tentacles, who seemed to have no problem moving smoothly to the “music”.

Earlier she had been walking home, when there was a sudden bright light. Then she was, presumably, in an alien spaceship with creatures consisting solely of tentacles observing her.

“We challenge you to a dance-off for your planet, human.” One said. The next thing Cassie knew she was on stage trying to dance in front of a large crowd. She really hoped everyone on Earth would forgive her one day…

Joanne Fisher

Word count: 99

This was written with the prompt dance-off provided by Carrot Ranch. Unfortunately the same week of this prompt was when I tripped over and was out of action for a few days, so I never wrote the response, though it remained in my head. I thought it was still worth writing.

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A New Brain (flash fiction)

November 19, 2023 ~ joanne the geek ~ 2 Comments

A New Brain

The doctor examined me. He looked into my eyes and probed my head.

“This is serious. We’re going to have to operate immediately.” He said.

“Is it really that serious?” I asked rather alarmed.

“I’m afraid it is. You’re going to have to have a brainectomy.”

“A brainectomy?”

“Yes we’re going to remove your brain and then replace it with a normal one.”

“A normal one?”

“Yes a normal one. Once you have a new brain you’ll think and behave just like everybody else. Any thoughts of rebellion or being a social outcast or being different will be gone.” He told me. “You will finally fit in with the rest of us.”

“I don’t think that sounds like a good idea. I don’t want to be like everyone else.” I replied.

“That’s why you need a brainectomy. Don’t worry it’ll be painless.” He tried to assure me.

“I really don’t think this is a good idea.” I said. I tried to get up, but the restraints were too tight.

“Relax.” He said as I felt a needle go into my arm. Everything went black…

Joanne Fisher

Don’t know why this just popped into my head…

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Red Rain (flash fiction)

August 26, 2023 ~ joanne the geek ~ 8 Comments

Red Rain

“We need to get inside quickly!” One of our group said in alarm.

I looked up and saw the black clouds coming in. They were swirling chaotically and approaching fast. We ran to the shelter and got indoors just as the rain started falling. I looked out at the rain. The red rain. Slowly the world turned to crimson.

We were trapped here until it stopped. If you went out in it, you would get covered in burns that would heal slowly.

I stood there, looking out, wishing the world would go back to how it used to be.

Joanne Fisher

Word count: 99

This was written with the prompt arrival of the weather provided by the Carrot Ranch August 22 Story Challenge.

This is based on a nightmare I once had.

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Outsmarted (micro fiction) I

August 10, 2023August 10, 2023 ~ joanne the geek ~ 2 Comments

Outsmarted

When the Targans attacked our world, a group of us managed to escape. We took what starships we could find and left before they could stop us.

I took command and declared we needed to settle in a system that was far away, a place the Targans didn’t know of. I knew of one that had a habitable planet, and so we headed there to start again.

Once we finally arrived, we found the Targans were already there, they had got there before us. We had been outsmarted. Now there was no place to go…

Joanne Fisher

Word count: 96

This was written with the prompt outsmart provided by Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt #323.

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An Encounter? (fiction)

July 14, 2023 ~ joanne the geek ~ 6 Comments

An Encounter?

Zoe woke up. It was the middle of the night. There were bright lights coming through her curtains and the sound of something loud and unfamiliar. She lived alone in the country, and wondered if someone was driving a truck, or something similar, up her driveway.

Confused, she got out of bed and wrapped herself in her dressing gown. She opened the front door, and saw the surprise of her life. In the middle of her lawn there was a spaceship. It was saucer-shaped and covered in weird blinking lights, looking like something out of a cheap 1950s movie. A ramp in the bottom of it extended out, and two short figures walked down it. Zoe looked at them opened-mouthed in wonder. They both nonchalantly walked up to her. They were both around a metre tall, had protruding conical noses and small black beady eyes.

“Greetings!’ One said.

“Are you aliens?” Zoe asked in shock.

“Yes, but we don’t exist.” The alien replied.

“Yes, we don’t actually exist.” The other repeated.

“I don’t understand.” Zoe replied.

“That’s expected.” Said one.

“If you don’t exist, does that mean I don’t exist either?” She asked them.

“We cannot answer for you.” One replied. “All we can say is that we don’t exist.”

“Yes, we cannot comment on the possible existence , or non-existence, of you.” The other stated.

“But if you don’t exist, how come I can both see and talk to you?” Zoe asked.

“That’s not our problem.” Said one. “It’s yours.”

“Exactly!” Said the other. With that they both turned around and walked back to their flying saucer. Zoe hurriedly ran back to her bedroom and grabbed her phone. She went back to the doorway and began taking pictures of the two aliens walking back up the ramp to their spaceship. Shortly afterwards, the flying saucer rose up in the air and flew off into a night sky littered with bright stars.

Zoe went back to her bedroom and looked at the pictures she had taken on her phone. All of them were dark and blurry. She couldn’t even tell what she was looking at. She sighed. How could she tell anybody about this? What would she even say? That two aliens walked up to her and told her they didn’t exist? They would think she was nuts. Who would believe that story? Zoe went back to bed, and despite everything, quickly fell asleep again. In the morning she wondered if she had dreamed it all, despite all the dark and blurry pictures on her phone….

Joanne Fisher

They seem to have changed things again and I can’t work out how to link my Ko-fi site to this post anymore. If anyone has figured out how to still link stuff, please let me know…