The seat was comfortable, and I tried to stay calm.
Bizarrely, a million mundane thoughts flew through my head. Now, of all times. Maybe it was a subconscious distraction from that voice – that inescapable voice, going on and on.
Finally, it said: “Three, two, one… Lift-off.”
And everything changed.
Jason Ward is a journalist living in Southeast Asia. He also writes thewordofward.co.uk
“Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven…”
“Ha! Poor seven. Gone before its time.”
“What?”
“You said nine ate seven!”
“…That’s really juvenile.”
“Oh, lighten up! Why is everyone always so serious around here? It’s not like we’re performing heart surgery or anything.”
“No. We’re just launching manned space flights.”
“Those are real?”
After winning the war, they had to figure out what to do with their free time.
They tried paintball, laser tag, Nerf guns, video games, team sports, martial arts, strip poker, and full-contact chess, but nothing quite filled their need.
They needed a new enemy; they built a space ship.
This story was based on a call on Twitter for the first five words of a story. @Scithancer provided the words, “While strolling through the forest”.
While strolling through the forest, he saw a spaceship land. The aliens, in shining suits, approached and shook his hand.
They asked him many questions
to test where mankind stood
but since he was a lawyer the outcome was not good.
Despairing, they departed, and left him in the wood.