“Short”: A SciFanSat Microfiction Compilation

The inventor mans the time machine, his little niece watching. “I’ll contain the malfunction within a 30-year loop! Save yourself!”

There’s a short pulse, then a woman helps him shut it down.

“I got a doctorate in temporal physics to save you, Uncle!”#SciFanSat #2WordPrompt

— Jason H. Abbott (@Jason_H_Abbott) May 28, 2022

Every day, we wake to snow. In the morning, flowers bloom. There are warm afternoons of green leaves and ripening tomatoes. Evenings bring a chill and falling colored leaves. Others say we have short seasons, here, but this is the only life we know.#SciFanSat #short

— Voimaoy (@voimaoy) May 28, 2022

They say we are born wired to connect, but some of us have a short circuit.#SciFanSat

— I r e n e 💙🌻🇺🇦🙏 (@_Irene_Dreams_) May 28, 2022

The system shorts and the dashboard flickers. We lose hyperdrive first, then the sublight thrusters. Remaining power is diverted to life support and the distress beacon. We ration our supplies and drift, hoping against hope someone will hear our SOS.#vss365 #SciFanSat #satsplat

— A. A. Rubin (@TheSurrealAri) May 28, 2022

Outframe flickerings
Short glimpses, the price of dreams
Darkness projects life #vss365 #SciFiFri #SciFanSat pic.twitter.com/NYFyWzKlBC

— Indigenous Soul (@GeneVatow) May 28, 2022

devised high-tech blue
electric sea unaware
of the short circuit#scifaikusaturday #devise#SciFanSat #short #haiku pic.twitter.com/Z9BDWXYjcR

— Sanya (@sanjaraic1) May 28, 2022

My temper short-fused in a fiery #flicker of rage and I unleashed the storm.

Still they deny me.

But I have come to wreak revenge on their world for their greed and pollution; I shall turn everything to ice. #vss365 #SciFanSat

— Ellen✍K (@poeticnihilist) May 28, 2022

#SciFanSat
His uncle's discouraging words disparaged his efforts, #short of labeling him a complete failure. Proving the man wrong he continued his experiments, later discovering a slight #flicker of energy after the malfunction. In time he'd conquer defeat.#vss365#2WordPrompt

— aran (@AranPotente) May 28, 2022

Our candles sweeten the air enough to breathe. But my short candle stub is black and rotten. It flickers, then goes out. I gasp a breath filled with taint of tears and pain. And I suddenly understand everything. We’ve been lied to our whole lives.

Pain is life#SciFanSat #vss365

— Danielle Ste. Just (@DanielleSteJust) May 28, 2022

#SciFanSat
A #short interlude if you will, wish to see the shape of the cosmos, how she dreams after we collided with Autumn's love. Everything's turned a muted shade of onyx… For some reason this makes me think my unhinged mind isn't fully awake.. I'm hungry, let's eat!

— Kimberly (@bionicanadian) May 27, 2022

I saw the #flicker in my #uncle's eyes, backed slowly away.

It was an indication there was a #short coming, a cybernetic neural #malfunction. Stupid fool, trying to numb pain with #valerian. There'd be blood and microchips everywhere…#vss365 #2WordPrompt #vssmagic #scifansat

— That Burnt Writer 🇺🇦 (@ThatBurntWriter) May 28, 2022

She watched life #flicker then go out from the eyes of yet another villager. How cruel, this culling. The greedy gods used to take their tribute with storms and quakes. Catastrophes yes, but of short duration. How much better to be smashed than waste away. #scifansat #vss365

— Lɪʙʙʏ Dᴏʏʟᴇ (@LibbyDoyle9) May 28, 2022

The flame #flickered as it stumbled on the #short wick. Shadows closed on our hope for survival. A branch snapped in the woods outside.

"Hello? Are you ok in there?"

I slid a bullet into the chamber. How the hell did they know Dad's voice?#vss365#Satsplat#scifansat#vsspic pic.twitter.com/UeZbUY4Btb

— A.L. MacDonald (@A_L_MacDonald) May 28, 2022

The tomb's entrance is cast from stone, the structure soaring above. Torchlight #flickers on carvings, a leering welcome to the underworld.
"A short dist—"
"Hush."
I examine the frieze closely. It's true. My sculpted face smirks among the demons.#vss365#scifansat#scifansat

— John Everex (@EverexJohn) May 28, 2022

The short aliens
always devise a keen way
Equilibrium#SciFanSat #short#SciFaikuSaturday #devise#SciFiSat#SciFaiku#Haiku#Poetry#SciFi#PoetryCommunity#WritingCommunity
📷 Pixabay | TheDigitalArtist pic.twitter.com/mvtk3XmPpH

— Alan Vincent Michaels (@AlanVMichaels) May 28, 2022

Once the others left, the flicker of hope was short-lived. How could her magic end the war when she couldn't even heal the fracture in her mind? Flames coalesced round her hand. Was that a good sign or not? #SciFanSat #vssdaily #vss365

— Lexikon (@Lexikonical) May 28, 2022

“I can whisk us away in a #flicker !” Snively shook Axetel’s arm.
“Keep it #short, before this hulk implodes!” Axetel wiped sweat off his face.
“But,” Snively paused.
“Well!”Axetel snapped.
“Your pet,” Snively pointed at Bijou, “can’t come!” #vss365 #satsplat #SciFanSat

— Valery Dion (@ValeryKaye) May 28, 2022

At 4’5” tall, André was the perfect engineer to have on board when it came to troubleshooting under-the-console malfunctions on the bridge. Some say he walked right into his job, and he would always come at a moment’s notice.
“Ah, you’ve got a short here!”#SciFanSat #short

— 𝕋𝕠𝕞 𝕄𝕚𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕝 (@originaltoms) May 28, 2022

Vertically challenged hotels appear like no complex i've ever seen, slim palm fronds sprout as i watch. I speak to a B &B which replies with delight 'only short people stay here now, hire a carpenter, they should be able to fit you in'#SciFanSat#vss

— susan osborne (@osbornecsue) May 28, 2022

Time is short. The candle flame flickers in the low-oxygen, 50-below air. By its light, I finish programming the stasis pods.
In 13 Earth-years, this planet's orbit will bring it back into the Goldilocks zone. We just need to be there for it.#satsplat #vss365 #scifansat pic.twitter.com/kFSPJXw0z9

— Paul Briggs (@paulproofreader) May 28, 2022