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View Thread
 Jan 2021 Ficlet Challenges
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| purplecleric |
Posted on 01 January 2021 13:48:46
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 Gamma Grade  Posts: 745 Joined: 17 January 2014 |
Happy New Year to you all! A slight change to the format this year. Instead of a word prompt I'm providing a phrase prompt so kicking the year off: The phrase for January is ... Money Doesn't Grow On Trees. For the second challenge: The crew have come down with a mysterious illness... Have fun! |
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| JustBrad |
Posted on 02 January 2021 21:22:44
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 Moderator  Posts: 11005 Joined: 12 January 2014 |
Cauder pointed to the star chart. “Take that base and we’ll push the Federation clean out of this sector. And with the weapons we’ll capture, we can push them out of the neighboring sectors. Grant stifled a sigh. “If we could take that base, but we can’t.” “We can do it. We have the men.” Grant shook his head. “But we don’t have the equipment. You can’t take a base that size with small arms.” Cauder persisted. “You did on Albian. And there is no solium device on that Federation base.” “There was a company on Albian. There’s an entire regiment on that base, with armor. We’ll need bazookoids, neutron canon, and armed drones at the very least.” Cauder persisted. “You have connections, your smuggler friend for starters.” “I have connections, but I don’t have the cash. My ‘smuggler friend’ isn’t a manufacturer, she can’t make assault weapons, she can only buy them with the cash we provide, and transport them. We’re not talking about a few thousand credits here, Cauder, we’re talking about millions. That kind of money doesn’t grow on trees. Now get some sleep and try to come up with a feasible plan.” Grant retired to his ship. As was his habit, he checked for messages before turning in. There was one, and it was marked Urgent. Avon’s face appeared on the screen. Grant couldn’t recall ever seeing him so haggard, not since his trial. Something had happened. ”Grant, I hope you never see this recorded message. If you do, it means I am dead. I rolled the dice and lost. If I had won, you’d have heard about it soon enough.” There came a thin, Avonic smile, a dark smile that made Grant nervous as Avon declared, “The whole galaxy would have heard about it soon enough.” “Grant, you know why I was sent to Cygnus, what I was trying to do. Like the Federation, you probably think I let one little setback, like being exiled for life, stop me. You should know better, particularly as I had a resource like Orac. My mistake was in trying to hack the banking system itself instead of individual accounts, particularly the accounts of individuals who can’t call the authorities if their ill gotten gains are pilfered. Check you account. The one you think no one knows about. You really should have picked a better password. You know what I always said about money.” The dark, Avonic smile reappeared on his lips as the image faded. Yes, Grant could remember what Avon always said about money, namely that ‘wealth is the only reality,’ and that ‘a fool and his money are soon parted.’ Feeling a cold chill, Grant brought up his secret account and entered his password, A-N-N-A. As he waited for the screen to change, he held his breath, expecting to see a zero. And he did see a zero. In fact, he saw eight of them, and a seven. Seven hundred million. And then he thought of the other thing Avon always said about money. “You can’t take it with you.” Grant hit his communicator. “Cauder, meet me in the ward room. Now. And get a secure line to Morphaniel. I have one hell of an order to place.”  MODthra |
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| Ellen York |
Posted on 03 January 2021 00:15:23
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 Alpha Grade  Posts: 1833 Joined: 09 January 2014 |
Grant really should have picked a better password (though it probably wouldn't have stopped Avon). Hope he makes good use of the money. |
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| JustBrad |
Posted on 03 January 2021 00:30:09
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Moderator Posts: 11005 Joined: 12 January 2014 |
Ellen York wrote: Hope he makes good use of the money. Probably get himself killed. This IS still B 7 after all. In fact, I almost added a line to Avon's message, "Don't think of this as an apology, or as a gift. I'm sure with this, you will finally get yourself killed." But I was already way over 500 words and I thought the twist was more important. Edited by JustBrad on 03 January 2021 16:29:44 MODthra |
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| Travisina |
Posted on 03 January 2021 08:15:18
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 Adminstrator  Wordsmith  Posts: 19293 Joined: 08 January 2014 |
Great story, Brad! Neatly told.
Twitter: @TravisinaB7
My views are my own VILA: I'm entitled to my opinion. AVON: It is your assumption that we are entitled to it as well that is irritating. |
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| GanMiniMe |
Posted on 12 January 2021 09:26:45
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 Gamma Grade Posts: 153 Joined: 25 September 2019 |
“All I’m saying is, we all hate the Federation’s greed, but before them, what did people have to be greedy for?” “Ignore him,” said Avon shortly, his head buried in an open circuit hatch. “He’s been given time to think.” “But seriously, everybody wants to get wealthy but all the wealth, one way or another, is controlled by the Federation. They control the power, the food supplies, the water, the alcohol, the narcotics, everything! You can’t accumulate credits without going through them. I mean, how did people get rich before the Federation?” “The same means, I suppose,” Jenna shrugged. She had never really given it much thought- she wasn’t really interested in how people of ages past became rich- she was usually too busy trying to make a living in this one. “You are correct,” chimed in ORAC. “In the Pre-Federation era much of the wealth came from the profits from selling luxury commodities.” “What luxury commodities?” Asked Cally, looking concerned. “Not slaves?” “In many ways, Jenna is right. People used to make huge profits from all sorts of things. Certainly slavery, but also a lot of material things. In the majority of cases slaves were used to help cultivate the crops of these material goods.” “Crops?” Asked Vila, surprised. “Farming?” “Sort of,” said Blake. “Not the vegetable sort of farming though. Huge profits were made from tobacco- before the synthetic methods, it was grown in certain parts of the world, dried and ground up and smoked.” “Indeed. The same applied to drugs such as cannabis and opiates.” “Opiates?” “Early narcotics. They were derived from poppy plants. They were originally painkillers but were also highly addictive.” “It’s a pity you can’t grow alcohol,” said Vila jokingly. “As a matter of fact, centuries ago you technically could” replied ORAC, before Blake had a chance to stop him. “Many ingredients used in popular alcoholic beverages had to be grown in fields- hops and barley for beer, sugar for rum and sweets-“ “And that is before we consider the fabrics used to make clothes,” added Blake, trying to steer the conversation into safer waters. “Cotton was so widely used, it became a massive industry.” “Is it true that before credits they had to use solid tokens to pay for things?” Asked Jenna. “Indeed it is,” replied ORAC, borrowing Zen’s viewscreen to display an old image of a greenish rectangle decorated with pictures, patterns and ornate curly writing. “This is a banknote. First used in ancient China and widely used until the mid-21st century.” Jenna stood up and went over for a closer look. “Is that-?” “-paper? Affirmative.” Vila was frowning with the effort of all he had processed. “So... all this time... people saying money doesn’t grow on trees...” “Nonsense.” Said Blake. |
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| JustBrad |
Posted on 12 January 2021 14:42:04
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Moderator Posts: 11005 Joined: 12 January 2014 |
GanMiniMe wrote: “So... all this time... people saying money doesn’t grow on trees...” “Nonsense.” Said Blake.  Reminds me a bit of Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy and the B ark. MODthra |
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| GanMiniMe |
Posted on 12 January 2021 17:03:33
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Gamma Grade Posts: 153 Joined: 25 September 2019 |
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