“Step”: A SciFanSat Microfiction Compilation

A keen ghost hunter, I was exploring an eerie ghost town; #woo-hoo!
But i fell into a deep pit, with a staircase—each #step with odd symbols.
Hoping it a way out, I climbed, only to find myself inside an alien ship, full of big cone-headed A.L.Fs#vss365 #scifansat #satsplat

— Fizzy AllsortsOfAllsorts (@Fizzytwizler) July 22, 2023

Not one for company
at least not your kind
off the balcony you will find
I fly quickly

This black magic
has taken another step, sick
to think I … a machine
I didn’t know, how obscene

To the flesh below
my shock bellows
I apologize
for the weight of this fellow#SciFanSat pic.twitter.com/V2zdPlIRdg

— Spyder Collins (@Spyder_Collins) July 22, 2023

The wind came in waves, washing over the boot prints, filling each step with dust.
We were here, walking on Mars. Looking back, leaving no trace. #SciFanSat #step

— Voima Oy (@voimaoy) July 22, 2023

I #step into the ancient town. It is nothing like the pictures of the dilapidated town I have seen on internet. The houses are pretty. The little market is adorned with fairylights. "#Woo-hoo!"

"Only Ghosts can see this place as it used to be."#vss365 #SciFanSat #satsplat

— Bithi Paul (@BithiPaulAuthor) July 22, 2023

one will bring us
to Loops yard
then low beaches
thankfully
seas dried out
for strawberry
and cream lakes
we can have some
down time
imagine watching
the tennis
pen our next step#SciFanSat#poem #vss

— susan osborne (@osbornecsue) July 22, 2023

The sensors indicated an unbreathable environment. I put on a protective suit and #step-ped outside. One year earlier this had been a thriving colony. Now, I faced a ghost town. A thick slime covered everything. The gigantic space slug had struck again.#satsplat #SciFanSat

— Maria A. Perez (@MariaAPerez1) July 22, 2023

“#Step on up, we’re just about to take off”
“#Woo-hoo finally getting out of that ghost town. This is # big deal. So where is the time travel machine taking us?”
“To a mayhem of a town #sinking into a swamp.”#2WordPrompt #vss365 #SciFanSat #Satsplat pic.twitter.com/Fguuyg6fnZ

— Mindset Evolution (@justpasit0) July 22, 2023

The specter of the second fastest gun in the west rattles the same saloon doors he once stepped through and declared, “this town ain’t big enough for the two of us.”

These days, he finds the town two big. There is nothing here but tumbleweeds and memories. #SciFanSat #satsplat

— A. A. Rubin (@TheSurrealAri) July 22, 2023

There was only the creak of the empty ferris wheel. No music, no gleeful shouts, no woohoos. A lone figure stood at the circus tent.
"When did this become a ghost town?" I asked.
His grin was dark. "It's opening day. Step right up."#Scifansat #Satsplat #Vss365 #Scififri #vsspic pic.twitter.com/s0jVmJADLc

— A.L. MacDonald (@A_L_MacDonald) July 22, 2023

The sun had already slipped below the tree line when they found the tracks. Hidden under the leaf litter in the woods, he stepped wrong and twisted his ankle on them.
And they waited.
“Woo-hoo, look!”
Eyes wide, he stared at the ghostly light in the distance.#scifansat #Vss365

— R.S.Bass is writing (@RebBassWrites) July 22, 2023

“Do you have a bearing? If we’re not one step ahead of this sub it’ll sink us like it did the Dunn.”

He listens to the destroyer’s sonar. “Yes, Skipper. But it’s no sub unless the Japanese are building ‘em to swim like sharks and as big as battleships.”#SciFanSat #2WordPrompt

— Jason H. Abbott (@Jason_H_Abbott) July 22, 2023

The town faced a cliff. She checked the drop. No sign of any of the 1,479 inhabitants.
No one vanishes, even on a newly terraformed planet. She stayed behind & fell asleep till wakened by
quakes. No, she thought as she saw the eye at cliff's edge. Footsteps.#satsplat #scifansat

— Fennel (@FennelSteuert) July 22, 2023

There was comfort in the dark of a planet's night. After all the artificial light in space, isolated cabins to retire too was a must 100 steps forward & the body reacted to take a step back Staring up at the stars never grew old especially w such choice#scififri#scifansat

— DW Keene (@Dragonandelf) July 22, 2023

Sure, Kepler-452b will #woo you with it's advertising – "Are you #ready for the next #big #step? Be your true self!" but I've been there, son.

Let me tell you, it's a #sink-hole, and that's polite. Pirates, raiders and ne'er do wells…#vss365 #2WordPrompt #vssmagic #scifansat pic.twitter.com/hUAKWKuzSU

— That Burnt Writer 🇺🇦 (@ThatBurntWriter) July 22, 2023

… Together#lean in and listen
our first #step is to admit
we are but children

let go your ego
true knowledge will only grow
within open minds

if we #lean wrongly
the Earth will surely languish
let’s take the next #step …#ScifaikuSaturday#SciFanSat#ScifiSat#Scifaiku pic.twitter.com/0RmnsejJO7

— Alan Vincent Michaels (@AlanVMichaels) July 22, 2023

As I #stepped within the town boundary, I could feel the chill in my bones. If I unfocussed my eyes, I could see everything. People went about their day, but it was superimposed over another world. Just underneath the ghosts walked, two worlds in one space. #satsplat #SciFanSat

— Lexikon (@Lexikonical) July 22, 2023

The sun dies below a fiery horizon, casting us in shadow. We step between the town's ancient terraces. Faster now. Our questions echo: how long?—long?—will they follow?
Follow?
I sense their hunger.
Streetlights blink into life as we leave.
Other things too.#scifansat#Satsplat

— John Everex (@EverexJohn) July 22, 2023

The tiny forest dweller community gossips about the latest real estate listing.
"Is it the 2nd mushroom on the right?"
"No, the turnip by the giant stump."
Meanwhile, the bluebird real estate agent chirps, "Watch your step," to the family of pygmy lizards.#SciFanSat #SciFiSat

— Danielle Ste. Just (@DanielleSteJust) July 22, 2023

Screams of despair flowed from the deserted buildings in the decrepit ghost town. With each step, the Union soldiers regretted entering the town. Wraiths flew about with horrible cries, wooing the soldiers to their deaths. #BraveWrite #satsplat #vss365 #vssGhostTales #SciFanSat

— Rick Milone (@rwmilone) July 22, 2023

#SciFanSat
They harry us into their machine world where horizonless distance & endless grit burn our eyes. The dirt prepped for their New Eden is salt sand devoid of metabolizing nutrient, so the 1st step is burying our dead rich w/ our world’s mold & fungus. The 2nd is waiting.

— Cecily Winter: consumed by news and stories (@winter_cecily) July 22, 2023