Challenges: SciFi Short Stories

Little O

Lurking within a lawless sector, at the frontier of the unified galaxy, in the eye of the shipwrecks storm ringing around a beaten down ivory planet, a puny one-man space shuttle is salvaging relics of a forgotten war, searching for lost treasures among tombstones.

Tied umbilically to the shuttle, space walking among debris, outlined by sun rays, the scavenger uncovers an old blaster, with barely enough charges left. Suddenly, the interception of an SOS call pops up on his tainted global helmet. Not risking his life to save another, or being the prey of pirates, or any other wicked mind that strides far from the protected side of the galaxy, he presses his cordon and gets swiftly pulled to the shuttle.

Once inside, he shuts down all modules then cowers in fear, as the shuttle helplessly drifts through the halo of cold remains, until slowly reaching the dark side of the ivory planet.

Another call gets intercepted, pirate, one, from the planet, telling of a treasure, to another, asking him to hurry. A scientific convoy, its remains, something that could be resold for fortunes on the dark market. One cargo retrieved by him, another for the other pirate, ready for the reaping.

Time is running out, overwhelmed by the greed, the scavenger decides to rush it, and proceeds to descend where the transmission emitted, going dark.

Void of atmosphere, the shuttle is spared of burns, only a cloud of metal hinders its fall.

Then he sees it, the long shadows of hundred of ships, drew on the beaten soil, as the dawn rises on the curve of the ivory planet. No sight of life. A stroke of luck. The pirate must have left, as he arrived in the darkness. Upon closing the distance, the other ships seem outdated, enslaved by the elements, on the path to destruction.

Finally, at the apex of the strip of ships carcass, he reaches a hole in the soil, and lands near.

He grabs two distinguishable shabby blasters. He scavenged them, hoping to resell them, but his cowardice whispered him that the second pirate could land at any time. He needed to be able to defend his current junk, and his future treasure. Yet he still feels lacking, so he clumsily grabs another blaster.

The shuttle pushes him out, like a baby with his cordon. Hugged by gravity, slowly, vainglorious, he ventures into the hole.

Inside, while vegetation is blooming, rests a scientific convoy. Even tough the planet has no atmosphere, a strange green moss pustulates everywhere in the cavern. He avoids them by disgust, but quickly realizes the idea of grasping the technology that made this feat possible. The credits outshine his reason as he contemplate a golden goose.

The scientific ship holds a huge front door, "O" shaped. All around lays piles of junk, torn suits, implants, and moss covered debris. The first pirate may have already done the dirty job, digging the junk from the treasure.

The scavenger jumps at the ship's door, press the button, but nothing happens. A terminal wakes up, and draws a blinking "O". He removes his helmet, sighs with relief, then opens his mouth wide, ready to shout, open sesame, unaware of the stupidity of his act, taken by the joy of ignorance.

« OoooooO! Oh shi- »

All of sudden, the door opens and shuts as swift as a mouse trap, while a nimble tube slipped into his throat and pulled him, leaving his cordon severed. Ship's cogs move clockwise, followed by the sound of a washing machine. An opaque juice oozes from the cogs, bathing the ship, which is then sprinkled on the cavern walls, splashing the moss. The door spits out the scavenger's torn suit, and his three blasters, all piled up on the junk laying around. Afterwards, a robotic voice resonates.

« UW-O at 95 % operational. ETA before full recovery: undetermined. Sending bait... SOS... »

~~~

Millennia ago, the galaxy was in an all-out war between different nations. Some seeking supremacy, others forced to do the same, or disappear. In order to resolve this unending war, scientists across nation joined hands in the dark, to create the first, and hopefully ultimate one, the Unmanned Weapon O, aka UW-O.

Its only doctrine was to shutdown all conflicts. Once operational, it jumped near any conflict across the galaxy, and destroyed all ships indiscriminately. Since there was no winner, the threat of nations became useless, and they were forced to make a way for peace.

But greed cannot be sated. The nations decided to unite themselves, a bait at the frontier of the galaxy with all the armies. They unified their efforts on destroying a common enemy, and at last succeeded.

Time passes, yet nothing lasts forever, while history is long forgotten. With an empty throne at the top of the nation, anyone can be a contender. The premise of a endless war is looming, and not a single souls expects it. UW-O found a way to resurrect.