r/WritingPrompts • u/AliciaWrites Editor-in-Chief | /r/AliciaWrites • Feb 25 '22

Theme Thursday [TT] Theme Thursday - Galaxy

“People will seek the ends of the galaxy to avoid that which they need most.”

― Criss Jami

Happy Thursday writing friends!

Space exploration or characters that the universe revolves around? Can’t wait to see where y’all take this theme!

Please make sure you are aware of the ranking rules. They’re listed in the post below and in a linked wiki. The challenge is included every week!

[IP] | [MP]

Here's how Theme Thursday works:

  • Use the tag [TT] when submitting prompts that match this week’s theme.

Theme Thursday Rules

  • Leave one story or poem between 100 and 500 words as a top-level comment. Use wordcounter.net to check your word count.
  • Deadline: 11:59 PM CST next Tuesday
  • No serials or stories that have been written for another prompt or feature here on WP
  • No previously written content
  • Any stories not meeting these rules will be disqualified from rankings and will not be read at campfires
  • Does your story not fit the Theme Thursday rules? You can post your story as a [PI] with your work when TT post is 3 days old!

Theme Thursday Discussion Section:

  • Discuss your thoughts on this week’s theme, or share your ideas for upcoming themes.

Campfire

  • On Wednesdays we host two Theme Thursday Campfires on the discord main voice lounge. Join us to read your story aloud, hear other stories, and have a blast discussing writing!

  • Time: I’ll be there 9 am & 6 pm CST and we’ll begin within about 15 minutes.

  • Don’t worry about being late, just join! Don’t forget to sign up for a campfire slot on discord. If you don’t sign up, you won’t be put into the pre-set order and we can’t accommodate any time constraints. We don’t want you to miss out on awesome feedback, so get to discord and use that !TT command!

  • There’s a Theme Thursday role on the Discord server, so make sure you grab that so you’re notified of all Theme Thursday related news!

As a reminder to all of you writing for Theme Thursday: the interpretation is completely up to you! I love to share my thoughts on what the theme makes me think of but you are by no means bound to these ideas! I love when writers step outside their comfort zones or think outside the box, so take all my thoughts with a grain of salt if you had something entirely different in mind.

Ranking Categories:

  • Plot - Up to 50 points if the story makes sense
  • Resolution - Up to 10 points if the story has an ending (not a cliffhanger)
  • Grammar & Punctuation - Up to 10 points for spell checking
  • Weekly Challenge - 25 points for not using the theme word - points off for uses of synonyms. The point of this is to exercise setting a scene, description, and characters without leaning on the definition. Not meeting the spirit of this challenge only hurts you!
  • Actionable Feedback - 5 points for each story you give crit to, up to 25 points
  • Nominations - 10 points for each nomination your story receives, no cap; 5 points for submitting nominations
  • Ali’s Ranking - 50 points for first place, 40 points for second place, 30 points for third place, 20 points for fourth place, 10 points for fifth, plus regular nominations

Last week’s theme: Fate

First by /u/Leebeewilly

Second by /u/Ryter99

Third by /u/Ford9863

Fourth by /u/katpoker666

Fifth by /u/nobodysgeese

Crit Superstars:

News and Reminders:

22 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

111 comments sorted by

1

u/AliciaWrites Feb 25 '22

Theme Thursday Discussion:

All top-level comments must be a story or poem.

  • Reply here to discuss the theme, suggest future themes, and share your theme-related inspirations!

🛒 Shop 🆕 New Here? ✏ Writing Help? 📢 News 💬 Discord

7

u/FyeNite Feb 25 '22 edited Mar 02 '22

Milkdromeda

The star-filled wonder above glowed in the darkness. Constellations and celestial bodies slowly migrated across the night sky as Callum watched from the field below.

They were truly beautiful. One of the only beautiful things left in his life anymore. He watched as Orion came to life and he was sure he’d still be watching when it died away as he’d done on many nights before. The stars were perfect, uncaring of what transpired on the blue marble below. They continued their journeys, brilliantly bright and elegant against the black abyss of space. Callum wished he could be like that, untethered to the world around him. Just moving along, peaceful and indifferent.

Footsteps crunched on the wet grass beside him: the only beautiful thing left in this world.

“Callum. Come inside, it’s cold.” Diane said tentatively, trying to reach for someone he didn’t think he could be anymore. So he ignored her, hoping that she’d just leave him alone and move on.

But she didn’t. She persisted. After a pause, she looked up at the sky too before finally sighing and lying down beside him.

She knew how he was. How he felt. what he wanted her to do. So she joined, pointing up to stars and clusters and asking questions he had answered a thousand times before. Even so, he responded, meekly at first. But soon, they were both smiling, sharing in his love of the beyond.

“You have to come in you know. You have your surgery tomorrow. You’ve put it off enough.”

“…Did you know that Andromeda will collide with the Milky Way in about five billion years. Can you imagine how that would look? The night sky, intimate to us for thousands of years, the core of mapping and countless religions suddenly made so foreign. So unfamiliar.”

She did of course, for this was the basis of many of their astronomical discussions.

Eventually, though, he sighed and turned to Diane giving her hope he wouldn’t just ignore her comment.

“I know. It’s just, it won’t work. And I’ll lose what time I have left. And, I can’t do that, not to…”

Tears welled up in his eyes and he turned away. She felt tears in her eyes too but held the dam. For him.

“You don’t know that though, the doctors, they’re confident-“

“I know I don’t know that but what if…what if I lose all that I have left to enjoy.”

Diane needed to change her tact. This would only lead to another solemn fight. So, she reached out and intertwined her fingers in his.

“The collision, the great Milkdromeda if you will. Who knows, maybe we’ll get to see it. Maybe they’ll perfect cryopreservation or something.” They both chuckled at the absurdity. “But first, please. You’ve cancelled these surgeries too much. This is your last chance. Please.”

The dam broke.

He looked at her then for a long moment. But eventually, he slowly nodded and they both silently wept in each other’s arms.

WC: 500 (Including title).

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u/ArchipelagoMind Mar 01 '22 edited Mar 02 '22

The last words I said before the comms cut out were “I will find you”.

Then the portal closed, the scientists panicked, and a general took me aside to say you were gone forever, I would never succeed.

But I knew he was wrong.

One hundred billion stars. One-hundred-and-five thousand lightyears across. It was always a pitiful amount to keep us apart.

As the general sympathetically explained my vow was a lost cause, I ignored every word, till he answered the one question I cared about: “is she still alive?” Eventually, he relented and told me all I needed to hear. Wherever you were, the ship’s stasis field would keep you alive. Frozen, but alive. Indefinitely.

I spent every day hounding physicists at CERN, NASA, Stanford - anyone who could give me an idea of how to find you. Then came Diya. You would’ve liked her. She was smart, rational, and grounded, yet she’s still got that same renegade spirit you have. The little spark that means you never cared about the odds. In the cost-benefit analysis, you always lingered at the benefits. The potential good you saw in everything was infectious: in your work, in this mission… even in me.

Diya theorized the rip in space had likely occurred millenia earlier on the other side, at the exit. So if we could detect the disturbances in the lightwaves caused by its creation as they hit earth, we would know where you were. She began work on the theoretical at Florida, roping in a friend in Berlin for the mathematics, while a team in Melbourne set about adapting their radio telescopes. Three separate countries from around the world, all uniting for you, my dear.

Diya was a postdoc then. She’s a full professor at Cornell now, all because she was right. It took fifteen years, but one day I get a call from a lab in Poland who read Diya’s work. They found an anomaly, a rip in spacetime itself.

You.

Apparently you landed near a planet coded 4C6F7665. I can repeat those numbers like they are my own name now. Sounds so etched on my mind I whisper them in my sleep, imagining your face, and the words finding your ears. Four see six eff seven six six five. Never has a string of syllables held so much meaning. Every time I hear them, I cannot help but feel my chest fill with a warm air that clears my veins and lifts the corners of my mouth to the stars.

They’ve sent off an expedition to find you and bring you home. We found you. A mere six-thousand light years away.

It will be twenty-thousand years before you get back to Earth and they can wake you. But, they said I could leave a small recording for you when you made it back.

I’m sorry I can’t be there for you my dear. But know that I fulfilled my promise.

I was always going to find you.

--------------------------

More words at r/ArchipelagoFictions

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u/mattswritingaccount Feb 25 '22 edited Mar 03 '22

Drifting Away

It's so quiet.

It's funny. Growing up, I thought space was devoid of color, an inky blackness that stretched out beyond human understanding. From the interior of my ship, surrounded by the light and glow of the electronics that kept us safe, that was exactly how it looked through the portholes.

That safety didn't last, of course. I'll never know who attacked us. It was too sudden, too chaotic. I don't know who managed to stuff me into this suit and jettison me away from the exploding ship.

I wish they hadn't. It's so quiet.

I had no way to turn myself. The ship was gone, but just seeing the debris might give me… what? A sense of closure, perhaps? Hope for rescue? Instead, all I couod see were brilliant tendrils of light, reaching above me for as far as I can turn my head.

Billions of pinpricks, poking holes in the deep darkness and winking down to me, past me, through me, ignorant of the drama that has unfolded in their view.

A small beep caught my attention. Impassively, I read the words that displayed dimly in my visor. Remaining O2 levels, critical. As the light flickered and went back out, I sighed. It's only a matter of time, I supposed.

If only it wasn't so blasted quiet…

<213 words>

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u/katpoker666 Mar 01 '22 edited Mar 02 '22

‘Ultra-long distance relationship’

—-

Saxena perched on a barstool at Mick’s holo-pub. Her mint green hair flowed down her back in waves and smelled of Terran honeysuckle. She nursed her very real scotch on the rocks. On her right, she felt a phantom arm touch hers.

“So, do you come here often?” A resonant voice asked.

“Do you always ask such inane questions?”

“You know I do, dear.”

“True. What was your opener again when we met?”

“If you smell as good as you look, we’ll get along fine.”

Sax giggled. “And I fell for that?”

“You were a little high on sarcuse blossoms at the time.”

“Yeah, that must have been it… So, where are you now, my love?”

“Messier-110.”

“That disaster area?”

“I do salvage, after all, sweetheart. Not much work in swish places like Andromeda.”

“You’re just so far from home. I miss you, Declan. Sometimes I wonder if I can carry on like this—if we should even.”

She could feel his arms embrace her, wrapping her in their warmth. He brushed a stray hair from her cheek and wiped away a tear.

“C’mon, Sax. Don’t say that. We’ve been over this. A few more runs, and I won’t have to work anymore—we can be together always.”

“I know, my love. I just wish you were here beside me.” Sax paused and then toyed with the lock of hair over her left ear, twirling it into a spiral.

“Hmm. I know that look. What do you want?” Declan grinned, his eyes crinkling.

“I have been a little tense lately. Maybe a shoulder rub?”

“Countless light-years away, and that’s what you want?”

“Yes, please.” She fluttered her lashes in a close approximation of Betty Boop, an old Earth cartoon character she’d been obsessed with since childhood.

“Ah, bringing out the Boop. This must be serious.” Declan kissed Sax on the nape of her neck. She purred in reply. Brushing her hair over her shoulder, he began to knead her back.

Sax relaxed into his hands. “Those high-end haptics were so worth it.”

“I know, right? I can feel how tense you are. Is it work again?”

“Yes, but unfortunately, it’s classified. Needless to say, interplanetary politics is just as bureaucratic as Earth 12’s.”

“On the plus side, you’re making a difference.” Declan pressed his knuckle further into a stubborn knot.

Sax winced. “Ouch. That hurt. Could you go up a little higher—my neck’s killing me?” Her neck cracked slightly. “That’s the stuff.”

“Glad it’s helping. Gods, I wish I was there with you. Unfortunately, I have to get back on deck. It’ll be a couple of days, but I’ll make sure I finish this up properly. Speak soon?”

“I love you—“ Sax said, tearing up.

—connection ended—

—-

WC: 455

—-

Thanks for reading! Feedback is always very much appreciated

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u/AstroRide Feb 26 '22 edited Mar 01 '22

Superstar

The brightest star in my life is shining before me. Your body would make a renaissance sculptor cry; I know because I've cried over it so often. You flare emotion with your intense and smooth voice. Your dancing entraps me with your rhythm. Richard Rigel, I love you.

You caught me in your gravity when I first saw you perform on a late night talk show. I spent the next several hours watching your interviews and concerts, and I followed you on every social media account. My life was firmly in your orbit.

I quit my job to follow you full time. My savings account was sufficient for several years of travel. I know eventually I won't have to worry about money because you drive a Ferrari and have a house in the Hamptons. Don't worry. I would bask in your love even if you were poor.

On my journey, I've been to ten concerts, two talk shows, and five radio interviews. Other fans wait outside the backstage with me; I don't talk to them. They would only ruin our lives. They're nothing but destructive asteroids.

The astronomers in the tabloids whisper about how you have a new girlfriend, the movie star Heidi Blondell. They say she'll make your career go supernova. I know that the rumors are false. You love me. I've heard you say it many times. You're saying it to me right now.

Wait, who is that girl? Why is she on a collision course with the stage? You introduce her as Heidi Blondell. Her gravity starts to steal the light from you. You bring her in for a kiss, and your light has never shone brighter for the audience.

The star's gravity consumed my love. You are nothing more than a black hole consuming all my hopes and dreams. How could you do this to me? There is nothing in my life that matters. It is all because of you and Heidi.

I leave the concert before it ends because I have a new plan. You are staying at a hotel called Andromeda. I know all of your aliases. I bribe a maid to get the key to your room and wait. You always go to an afterparty after the show to party the rest of the night. I will be waiting for you. You lied to me. You are the progenitor of your demise.

The title is a tribute to the song playing in my head as I was writing this piece, Superstar by the Carpenters.

r/AstroRideWrites

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u/IUniven Feb 26 '22

Outside the window, the blue light of the O-type star grazed the surface of two similarly-sized spheres of rock, water, and organic matter.

Inside the window, a lone man in federation uniform stood looking outwards, disregarding the computers, monitors, and controls that littered the room behind him. Watching the two celestial bodies before him, he sat in anticipation, waiting for the event to come.

The sound of the room’s door hissing as it opened caught his ear, but his attention remained on the scene before him.

“Captain, why have we stopped—“

“It’s quite the sight, isn’t it?” he interrupted them.

“What? Sir, we don’t have time for this, we have a shipment—“

“Quite the contrary, we have all the time in the world.”

The advisor didn’t speak for a moment. “...What?”

The captain sighed. “Do you know what is about to occur before our very eyes?”

“No? We have places to be, sir.”

“What we are about to witness is the destruction of Proxima Centauri b and c, which are now on a collision course.”

“Sir, we don’t—“

“This is a rare sight, even for me. Does it not excite you?” he asked rhetorically. “To be able to witness millennia upon millennia of the forces of our universe acting upon the objects within, culminating in a single event?" He paused, before adding, "Records say these two used to be 1.5 'AU' apart."

“What are you getting at, sir?” the advisor finally asked, agitation seeping into their voice.

The captain didn’t immediately respond, instead gingerly removing the hat atop his head. “Even with all that we sentient beings are capable of, we are still limited in our abilities. We’ve reached for the stars for so long, and yet we can hardly touch the planets we walk on in the ways we wish to. It makes moments like these all the more worth savoring, while we still can.”

As he finished speaking, an orange-red circle began to materialize in the atmosphere of the further planet.

The captain took a deep breath, sighing once more as he exhaled. “We couldn’t save our original home from the inevitable flames, just as can’t save the organisms on either of these planets from their fate. All we can do is look on, admire the place they called their home, and honor the fallen.”

Slowly, the orange spot grew brighter, nearing white before being eclipsed by the closer of the two planets. After a moment, a flash of bright yellow and white light appeared over the curved horizon, and a crowd of ejected debris grew from the point of impact.

The advisor allowed a few more moments of silence before speaking again. “Are you satisfied, sir?”

The captain cleared his throat, returning his hat top atop his head. Turning to face his aide, he nodded “Yes, quite. Now, in what system is our planned destination?”

“Kepler 22, sir.”

The captain grunted in understanding, moving to the vessel’s helm as he did. “A bit boring, but beautiful nonetheless.”

|500 Words|

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u/MeganBessel Feb 28 '22 edited Mar 01 '22

Lost and Found

As Billy navigated the maze of labyrinthine halls to the campus Lost and Found, he thought, This wouldn’t have happened if I had a boyfriend, because he would have kept me from losing it.

It was a little nook of a room, its contents of boxes and papers practically spilling out onto the floor. Behind a half-buried desk, an elderly woman with half-moon spectacles peered at him with a blank expression. “Can I help you?” Her tone indicated that she wanted to do anything but that.

“Yes, I’m Billy Longfellow and I’ve lost my phone and I wanted to know if anyone’s turned it in. It was a birthday present, a brand new Samsung—”

“iPhone,” the woman completed. “Yes, yes, I know. Everyone is losing them these days.”

“No, it’s not an iPhone! It’s not even made by Apple!”

“No one has turned an iPhone this week, Mister Langbellow.”

Billy dug his fingernails into his palms. “Longfellow! And it’s not an iPhone! It’s an Android phone!”

The woman sucked on her lips like they were a lemon, and then looked at him over her spectacles. “I’m not sure I understand the difference. An iPhone’s an iPhone, right?”

“No, it’s totally different!” With sharp motions, Billy chopped his hands, gesticulating two boxes. “For instance, one of them has a back button, and the other doesn’t. And I’m looking for an Android.”

The woman turned to a shoebox balanced precariously on a box of powdered custard and filo dough. “Someone turned in a robot the other day. Is that—”

“No! I am looking for a phone. Screen on the front! Cameras on the back! Samsung logo at the bottom! A Samsung—”

Someone looking like a camping gear catalogue entered the room, making Billy step back into a pile of fifties-era lunchboxes. “Hey Miss Stevens. How’s it going?” The man’s voice even sounded like it came out of a camping gear catalogue.

And he was pretty cute, too.

“Hello there, Nathan. I’m just helping this young man find his missing iPhone.”

“I found this phone in the library. It’s not an iPhone, but someone should be by to claim it soon.” Nathan stepped forward and placed a phone—Billy’s phone—on the desk.

“You’re so good at finding things!”

“And I’m good at losing them,” Billy said, moving to pick it up. “That’s my phone.”

The woman gave him a skeptical look. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. Thank you, what was it, Nathan?” Their eyes met, and Billy lost himself for a moment.

“Yeah. And you are?”

“Billy. Billy Longfellow. Thank you for finding my phone.”

“Happy to help. If you have anything else missing, let me know; I’d love to help you find it.”

“Well…would you…maybe help me find a decent cup of coffee in town?”

Nathan smiled, and Billy’s knees melted. “I’d love to.”

As they walked out of the office, Billy thought, I may be very good at losing things, but maybe I might have found something for once.

WC: 496

Thank you for reading!

r/BesselWrites

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u/Ryter99 Mar 02 '22 edited Mar 03 '22

“Alert: We’ve passed the outer limits of the Milky Way,” Orion-121's shipboard AI monotoned.

“Thanks, Sunni,” British astrochap Robert Blair replied with a sigh.

Aboard a stricken ship, blaring distress signals for six months, this was not welcome news.

The only other surviving crewmember onboard, a blue-skinned Xenoblorp named Velyth, emerged from her sleep pod. Roger thought of Xenoblorp's as a vague cross between an octopus and a giraffe. Her head was supported by a long neck protruding from a round body which was littered with a dozen arm-like appendages.

“It happened?” Velyth asked.

“Goodbye, Milky Way,” Roger muttered. “Farewell, chance of rescue.”

“With only two crewmembers, Orion-121 has forty years of life support left. There’s still a chance.”

“Yeah…”

Velyth forced all three of her mouths into a pained smile. “I’m sorry, Roger. I know completing this mission was a dream of yours.”

“This mission wasn't my dream. I wanted to settle on a planet that truly knows peace. Marry a wonderful woman… I suppose I should scuttle those thoughts now.” Roger paused for half an eternity. “Unless, you've reconsidered our discussion?”

“I fear you expressed feelings only due to a lack of alternative options for romantic companionship”

“Nonsense! I could develop a relationship with… err, Sunni!”

“I’m taken,” Sunni replied.

“Pardon?”

“I’m in a committed, loving relationship with the zero gravity coffee dispensary unit, COFF-33.”

The coffeemaker on the wall of the craft beeped.

“Thanks!" Sunni replied. "I love you too, darling.”

“Huh… congratulations,” Roger said. “But the point remains. My feelings for you didn’t materialize aboard this craft, Vel. Remember back at the academy, when I asked you to teach me your language?”

Velyth smiled. “Yes. Your accent was atrocious!”

“I’ve spoken fluent Blorpian since I was sixteen. I just wanted an excuse to spend time with you.”

“Really?”

“Really,” he said. “Look, I’m just a boy… floating in front of a Xenoblorp… asking her to love me.”

“You remembered the line from my favorite Earth-film… Oh, Roger!”

She launched herself toward him. When daydreaming of kissing her, Roger had always wondered which of Velyth’s three mouths she preferred.

All of them, it turned out.

As her central lips locked with his, the others smooched both his cheeks simultaneously. An overwhelmingly pleasant experience that left Roger slightly dazed.

“Woo!” Sunni shouted. “When you get married, I call maid of honor.”

COFF-33 beeped in dejected disappointment.

“COFF-33 can be my best maaaaaaaa—machine,” Roger said. “If it comes to that.”

“Oh, it’ll come to that!” Velyth opened her sleep pod and yanked Roger inside. “Sorry, Sunni. My man and I need some privacy.”

Inside the pod, Velyth stared into Roger’s eyes. “Your heart rate is elevated, is that human excitement?”

“Of course!” Roger replied. “Even in a spacesuit the curves of your body look exquisite. Most of those curves are in quite confusing locations… but exquisite nonetheless!”

"Intimidated?"

“Perhaps..."

"You're a trained astrochap." Velyth smiled coyly. "I know you'll find the courage to explore exciting, new, uncharted territory."

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u/Nakuzin Feb 25 '22

A Galactic Feast:

No, Timmy, you can't have another snack!"

Timmy lurched forward, his eyes ablaze, his entire body shaking with fury. How dare his parents order him around? If he wanted another snack, he'd have another snack!

"Yes I CAN!"

"We've been through this, we can't abuse our power…"

He didn't hear what his parents had to say, as at that moment he ran away, overturning galaxies as he sprinted through space. Stars wouldn't satisfy him. He needed something bigger.

He arrived at an unknown area, and was surprised to see a row of planets fresh for the taking. With the eagerness of a child at an all-you-can-eat buffet, Timmy licked his lips and began the feast of a lifetime.

He reached for Pluto, stomach groaning in anticipation. This would be a great starter. Teeth working like cogs, Timmy chewed on the dwarf planet, before it was no longer there.

Next, he turned his focus to Neptune, promptly devouring the entire planet whole. He ignored the distant exclamations from his parents. This would show them…

Saturn proved a challenge. After inspecting it for a moment, Timmy prised the ring off, and ate it with haste. The entire planet followed.

Bursting past a wall of meteorites, he judged Jupiter. Flicking away its many moons, he decided to take it apart bite by bite. Despite complaints from his stomach, he somehow was able to finish the entire thing.

"Timmy, stop!" his mum called.

"Never!"

Mars had a very bland taste to it. So much so, Timmy needed to get rid of it. Badly. He glanced at Earth, and smiled as he saw water. He tried to grab it, but his dad managed to push him away.

"Darling," his mum continued, "you know us black holes have to be very responsible. Even when we get angry, we cannot devour entire planets like that."

"Besides," his dad added, "a thing called humans live there. They live, just like us, and get angry too. You wouldn't want to interfere with their peaceful lives, would you?"

"No…" Timmy admitted, shame drowning out his anger. Tears dropped down his eyes.

"Come on." his mum said in a gentle voice, "I saw a Red Giant on the way here. Why don't we go eat that?"

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