I submitted a story for the contest, couldn't resist an opportunity to win some jpegs. (free spaceship jpegs are the best spaceship jpegs) Tell me what you think, I was limited to 3600 characters including spaces.
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During the infancy of human quantum travel, many fantastic stories were told of strange and bizarre happenings experienced whilst in a quantum jump. Many of these were put down to mild hallucinations due to the confines of extended space travel, which was relatively new. Others were blamed on ship’s insulation not blocking travelling photons from interfering with a space travelers brain neurology. Some were debunked as fabrications or elaborate hoaxes, yet there were some that could not be explained, and some that were never spoken about…
The Window.
They stood on the observation deck soaking in the marvel of quantum travel, watching the lightshow pass along side. Bright white, sometimes blue, sometimes dark like flying through wispy clouds of multiple colors and thickness, an entire wall of a child’s toy kaleidoscope crossed with a verbal description of a rock star’s last acid trip. There were two of them. A man and a woman. They both stood at the rail staring out, their own reflections visible on the window when the lightshow often dimmed as they travelled.
“You know, I’ve heard in QT your reflection seems like it moves almost a hundredth of second slower than you”, the woman said.
“Really?” the man replied…”That’s what I heard”, she said “Even heard of bizarre stories of reflections doing different things to you…….”, she trailed off…staring out the window
Both of them were barely out of their teens, having almost finished Astro Engineering degrees, the final semester of their course was to have a placement aboard a UEE ship before final exams. But now boredom had set in, and they’d never been in quantum so decided to see what the fuss was about.
“Lets test it out then”, he joked and suddenly started doing something that looked like a cross between yoga and interpretive dance. All the while he stared at his own reflection looking back at him and doing as he did. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but it did seem to him that the reflection seemed to sometimes be a split second behind his movements.
“You look stupid, and should probably stop before someone comes in….i’d hate to pretend I don’t know you”, she laughed.
“Try it. Seriously…it does look like it’s slower”, he replied while still contorting himself.
She looked at her reflection, her reflection looked back. She waved and her reflection waved. It did seem sometimes the reflection was slower? Was it a trick of the light? The window glazing and outer shields? It was bizarre and she suddenly felt uneasy. Something did feel strange, like the feeling of someone walking over one’s grave.
“Let’s go”, she said grabbing his arm “I don’t feel good….” He laughed.
“Is it morning sickness? You gonna have a baby?”, he joked as she pulled on his arm harder.
“NO…I just don’t like this…you’re such a dick sometimes”, came the reply “Come on”..
“Fine”, he said “We still have work to do, you’re the reason I can’t have nice things”
They both turned and walked off continuing to talk banter along the way…
“Thought of any names yet?”, he asked
“For what?”, she replied as they walked through the door.
“The baby…” their voices trailed off
“Shut up…”
The observation deck was empty, yet in the window reflection two people stood…staring back. Two people, identical to the two who just walked out, yet they seemed to not even notice them gone…
“You know, I’ve heard in QT your reflection seems like it moves almost a hundredth of second slower than you”, the woman said.
“Really?” the man replied…”That’s what I heard”, she said “Even heard of bizarre stories of reflections doing different things to you…….”, she trailed off….
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During the infancy of human quantum travel, many fantastic stories were told of strange and bizarre happenings experienced whilst in a quantum jump. Many of these were put down to mild hallucinations due to the confines of extended space travel, which was relatively new. Others were blamed on ship’s insulation not blocking travelling photons from interfering with a space travelers brain neurology. Some were debunked as fabrications or elaborate hoaxes, yet there were some that could not be explained, and some that were never spoken about…
The Window.
They stood on the observation deck soaking in the marvel of quantum travel, watching the lightshow pass along side. Bright white, sometimes blue, sometimes dark like flying through wispy clouds of multiple colors and thickness, an entire wall of a child’s toy kaleidoscope crossed with a verbal description of a rock star’s last acid trip. There were two of them. A man and a woman. They both stood at the rail staring out, their own reflections visible on the window when the lightshow often dimmed as they travelled.
“You know, I’ve heard in QT your reflection seems like it moves almost a hundredth of second slower than you”, the woman said.
“Really?” the man replied…”That’s what I heard”, she said “Even heard of bizarre stories of reflections doing different things to you…….”, she trailed off…staring out the window
Both of them were barely out of their teens, having almost finished Astro Engineering degrees, the final semester of their course was to have a placement aboard a UEE ship before final exams. But now boredom had set in, and they’d never been in quantum so decided to see what the fuss was about.
“Lets test it out then”, he joked and suddenly started doing something that looked like a cross between yoga and interpretive dance. All the while he stared at his own reflection looking back at him and doing as he did. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but it did seem to him that the reflection seemed to sometimes be a split second behind his movements.
“You look stupid, and should probably stop before someone comes in….i’d hate to pretend I don’t know you”, she laughed.
“Try it. Seriously…it does look like it’s slower”, he replied while still contorting himself.
She looked at her reflection, her reflection looked back. She waved and her reflection waved. It did seem sometimes the reflection was slower? Was it a trick of the light? The window glazing and outer shields? It was bizarre and she suddenly felt uneasy. Something did feel strange, like the feeling of someone walking over one’s grave.
“Let’s go”, she said grabbing his arm “I don’t feel good….” He laughed.
“Is it morning sickness? You gonna have a baby?”, he joked as she pulled on his arm harder.
“NO…I just don’t like this…you’re such a dick sometimes”, came the reply “Come on”..
“Fine”, he said “We still have work to do, you’re the reason I can’t have nice things”
They both turned and walked off continuing to talk banter along the way…
“Thought of any names yet?”, he asked
“For what?”, she replied as they walked through the door.
“The baby…” their voices trailed off
“Shut up…”
The observation deck was empty, yet in the window reflection two people stood…staring back. Two people, identical to the two who just walked out, yet they seemed to not even notice them gone…
“You know, I’ve heard in QT your reflection seems like it moves almost a hundredth of second slower than you”, the woman said.
“Really?” the man replied…”That’s what I heard”, she said “Even heard of bizarre stories of reflections doing different things to you…….”, she trailed off….
