The Second Writers' Study Occasional Competition - the Winner!

[Alwyn]

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Thanks to Swaeft for permission to use this image, which was the winning entry in Game Picture of the Week 126.



The Second Writers' Study Occasional Competition:
Seedship


After a tie-break with Kilo11 and Swaeft, Swaeft's tale won this challenge, to write an AAR in just one short post using the free online game Seedship.

Congratulations, Swaeft, and thanks to all who entered!

This win earns Swaeft a Writers' Study competition point, bringing his total to 18 - a step closer to a gold Writers' Study Competition Medal.

Here's Swaeft's winning tale:

The Second Writers' Study Occasional Competition - Winner

Jaesten stared out of the glass window, his helmet in hand.

He’d heard exciting things about Planet Earth – how its captivating diversity had managed to capture the hearts and minds of people worldwide. How the rivers and creeks used to run with sky blue water so clear, you could count the number of stones at the bottom. How the animals used to gallop and frolic in the never-ending seas of grass, flush with verdant flora and fascinating fauna. He remembered tales – told when he was little more than a child – of how hills and mountains of varying heights dotted the landscape and provided an incredible backdrop to the scenery, which pleased many an aspiring photographer.

Jaesten wondered what it felt like to breathe air so fresh it invigorated your lungs, to see the far reaches of the horizons filled with a myriad of brilliant colors as the Sun set or rose. To actually physically experience the pure beauty of nature, first hand, as it was described to him by his grandparents.

But those days were long gone.

The Earth was a tenebrous husk of its former self, its waters murky and polluted, the indigenous waterborne lifeforms utterly wiped out by mankind’s unrelenting pursuit of a better life. The same could be said for most of the land’s animal species – killed off for their meat or simply for sport. Trees, once a dime a dozen in the wilds, were now a rare sight. Indeed, the wilds themselves had almost ceased to exist, a few sparse groups of trees struggling to survive in the tiny corners of the globe that Man had yet to convert to civilization.

Ironically, the rest of the planet that Man had converted was anything but civilization. Obscenely tall, towering structures completely dominated the landscape, blocking the dying Sun’s rays from reaching anything below Level 250. Most of the planet’s surface lay in perpetual twilight, lost in an endless cycle of flashing neon signs and dark alleyways. People lived in box sized ‘apartments’, often keeping to their own and living day by day. Those fortunate enough to feel the warm kiss of sunlight never got to fully experience the vast openness of the sky, for the bleak, oversized clouds obscured most of it, assisted by the ceaseless smoke generated from the city’s many generators.

Even this was the first time Jaesten had seen this much of his Omni-City, from Hanger Level 301.

The earpiece in his right ear started beeping. He touched a finger to it and a voice crackled through. “Trailblazer One. The Seedship is ready for departure.”

The Seedship. Twenty thousand souls selected to venture into deep space. And they were all under my charge.

He reached into his suit pocket, and carefully extracted a photo his great-grandfather had given him. Earth in all its primal glory. Before the Great Pollution.

And now it is time to find our own Terra Nova, somewhere in the stars. He raised his finger again.

“Execute.”

Thank you to everyone who entered and everyone who voted in our Second Occasional Competition.

Keep your eyes open for the Third Occasional Competition - it could appear at any time!