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Items tagged with: MicroFiction
The alien saucer landed in the university square. A bedraggled being emerged from the ramp, carrying a sling bag, consulting a phrasebook.
“Um. Take me … to your … plumber?”
The professor of linguistics was first to speak. “Ah, I see what’s happened. You’ve confused ‘lead’ with ‘lead’, one comes from ‘liðan’, to go forth, and one comes from ‘plumbum’, the word for the element—“
His lecture was cut short when a putrid, slimy, plunger landed squarely on his head. “I know what I mean,” said the alien.
"Listen," one guard said, "I know we have only just met-"
"No," the other guard said, "we've worked together for years!"
"-but you can trust me when I say-"
"I can't, you have the curse that's opposite from mine!"
"I don't care for you at all."
"Well, I... oh... I love you too."
#TootFic #SmallStories #Microfiction
"It's a remarkable thing, your grace, but the researchers do seem to have created something that allows it. Travelling through time, I mean."
"We hadn't thought it possible. They've actually built a proof of concept?"
"Yes, a hyper-toroidal space folding in three other dimensions: it moves everything within through time at a consistent rate."
"Ha! And what does one even call such a device?"
"I think... I think they call it a 'universe', your grace."
Tay gently pushed the plastic door of the printer shut with an edifying "click".
Servicing Dark Printers had been illegal for years now. They enjoyed the seditious thrill.
---
It had started as a subscription grab after the printer companies tried hobbling third party toner cartridges.
"Subscribe for a monthly fee and you'll never run out of toner again."
"Let us monitor your printer so you don't have to."
People saw it for what it was - vendor lock in - but they had no choice really, not after all the printer companies started doing it.
Then came generative AI.
Everyone wanted to scrape every word ever written on the internet, tokenize it and feed it to an #LLM. #Reddit sold out, then #Tumblr, even open source darling #WordPress - selling out their user base for filthy token lucre.
So people started hiding their words, their art, their thoughts, their expression, not behind disrespected robots.txt, but through obscurity.
Rejecting Website Boy's "fewer algorithmic fanfares", they forked into the Dark Fedi.
Unscrapeable, unscrutable, ungovernable.
---
But people had forgotten about the printers.
The printers had to be connected 24/7, for "monitoring".
But you could tokenize postscript as easily as HTML.
And so every time a document was sent to a printer, it was harvested for tokens. Even secure documents. Documents not online.
---
Tay shut the metal door behind them, Dark Printer cossetted safely in its Faraday cage, and shuffled the hot stack of A4 paper it had borne.
It was a children's story, about how words were sacred, and special, and how you had to earn the right to use them.
---
The tower bells chimed sweetly in harmony with the trickling stream nearby.
Just beyond the sound was a pleasing horizon, violet to lavender to rose and periwinkle skies, brushed with soft cloudy streaks of vapor.
The only insect sounds were a respectful distance away, and unlikely to approach.
The centaurs stood, hand in hand, experiencing their proximity to each other and the scene surrounding them.
"Lovely," they agreed; the view too.
She was the first woman on Mars. As she was landing, she ignored the original plan and headed straight for the Jezero crater, Mission Control would need to live with it. Once she stepped out she didn't hesitate. It took her a while but she finally reached the device. She opened her toolbox and got to work. After 20 minutes, she had replaced the rotor. She cleaned the dust with a cloth and said "fly baby, fly". It was 2054 and Ingenuity could fly once again.
#Ingenuity #Mars #Microfiction #nasa
The dragon-shaped robot waved from it's spot on the moon.
The astronomers waved back, feeling silly for it. But then again, had it known it was being observed at that moment? Or was it programmed to wave at random intervals?
"Shall we land?"
"Why?"
"To study it; maybe it can answer queries."
"It's bigger than our shuttle!"
"That's fine, we'll be asking it some pretty big questions."
"You just want to talk to a dragon."
"Who doesn't?!"
When drought stuck, the dragon herded rain clouds to the kingdom. The king offered it gold.
"I did it for my family," the dragon said.
"You have family here?"
"The purpose of power is to protect one's family. As one's power grows, so must the scope of family widen."
"... I see."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories
The man sat on a mossy log, lost in morose thought.
The goblin squatted in front of him. "They say that those who enter these woods do so to find themselves, or lose themselves."
The man did not respond.
"Which kind are you?"
"None," the man mumbled, "both."
"Did you succeed?"
"... no." The man looked up. "And you?"
"I came to find you," the goblin grinned.
"Me?"
"You are missed."
"I am?"
"So your village elders said when they hired me. Shall we go?"
"... yes."
#MicroFiction
The warrior roared and the barista roared back much to everyone's shock.
"You challenging me?!"
The warrior gaped, axe in hand, suddenly unsure of how to proceed, "Yes?"
"Then get in line and I'll deal with you when it's your turn."
The warrior shuffled to the back of the line sheepishly, until finally, it was his turn.
"So, we meet again."
"Unicorn latte please," the warrior mumbled.
"No duel?"
"You've... proven your bravery."
I am O. Westin, a #writer of #MicroFiction, mostly #ScienceFiction and #fantasy #fiction, and occasional #poetry. My stories are generally less than 280 characters, because I also post to Twitter.
No set schedule, stories are written and posted when inspiration strikes.
I am LGBTQIA+ positive, and usually favour wholesome over darkness and edgy nihilism.
Books: http://microsff.com/books
FAQ: http://microsff.com/faq