A Flight Curtailed
Last checks before launch. Careful now, if this goes wrong we’re all in for it…
20260514
Written for Bradley Ramsey’s “Halls Of Pandemonium”, Day 14.
The rocket stood ready. Last checks underway.
He worked down the list with painstaking care. All too aware of the costs of something failing.
Everything green…
Wait.
A safety check flagged first launch stage too powerful? But he’d run the numbers a dozen-
The payload was too light.
His breath caught, fingers flying over the keyboard. Bring up camera feeds, zoom in-
There. Plating forced open, metal ripped apart.
It had woken up!
His hand found the emergency alarm just in time. Just before claws sank into his neck.
As he bled out, he caught “Message received. Beginning orbital bombardment…”
Prompt was “Write a story of 100 words or less”.
[This was exactly 100!]