Orbits

She flips her glasses onto her hair where the shine is slippery. It falls back down to her nose, plastic lenses smudging. She goes for a drive wearing the blurry wedge and thinks she must be imagining the sight of two moons in the sky. One higher than the other, they supervise the intersection. "That was just Mars approaching Earth," her husband says tartly. He’s quite the mansplainer but she knows a defunct theory when she hears one. She’s seen for herself that it’s possible for the sun to set while the moon rises on anything else, anything at all.

From Guest Contributor Cheryl Snell

Cheryl's recent fiction has appeared in Gone Lawn, Necessary Fiction, Pure Slush, and elsewhere.

Lariateer

When he finally finishes his regular morning exercise, he considers going back through his earliest journals and numbering the pages but—smart as he is—he knows he can’t count that high. He thinks about all the pens he’s ever used, tries to calculate how many oceans of ink he’s expended; imagines uncurling his cursive and deconstructing his print, laying out all of his pen strokes end-to-end and seeing just how many times the line would circle the globe, or if maybe it would form a lifeline out into space to lasso the moon or play jump rope with Mars.From Guest Contributor Ron. Lavalette

Ron.’s debut chapbook, Fallen Away (Finishing Line Press), is now available at all standard outlets. Many of his published works can be found at EGGS OVER TOKYO.

When I Realised The Earth Wasn’t Flat, I Felt Pretty Damn Foolish

The swarm arrived at the beginning of the week, their language that of war, and humanity the patient listeners.

Continents of flame pulsed now, flickering orange across a world recently gone dark.

Those who could, stayed and fought. Crumbling capitals and plasma-charred skeletons formed the battlefields of Earth by midweek.

Those who couldn’t (and those like myself who wouldn’t), hopped on the soonest evac shuttles to Mars.

I nudge a couple away from the window to catch the last view of a burning Earth from orbit.

The sight haunts me.

After all this time, I had guessed the shape wrong.

From Guest Contributor S.R Malone

Venus Valve

Mars and beyond seem to be the focus of unmanned space exploration. Venus on the other hand has been largely ignored. Of course the conditions on Venus are much different. The surface pressure's an effective deterrent to probe the orb.

Prior unmanned vehicles that have landed on Venus: all crushed by the pressure.

As far as the aliens are concerned, this is a positive. The cold-blooded creatures did not want earthlings around and made prior adjustments.

Another alien spaceship treks the familiar voyage to Venus. Once near the surface they release the pressure valve, then go skiing on Maxwell Montes.

From Guest Contributor Denny E. Marshall

Gift

Matthew has a friend who works at NASA. His friend Kent is on the team that is launching a manned mission to Mars next week.

On the day of the launch with the help of Kent he is able to sneak his girlfriend Kim aboard the ship.

A few hours after the launch, Kim wakes up. She is wearing a spacesuit with a note posted on her chest.

She reads the note. "I know you really want to go to Mars. Love, Matthew."

Kim screams, “You idiot, I said I want to go to the bars, get your hearing checked!”

From Guest Contributor Denny E. Marshall

228 Days To Mars

The Delta 2 rocket clears the tower. All eyes are on the big screen. Lift off is a success.

Spontaneous cheering breaks out.

In 228 days our unmanned vehicle will be on Mars. If all goes well, our next launch will be the much anticipated manned mission. We can feel the excitement already.

I notice Eddy is subdued. He is not joining in the celebrations erupting around him.

“Eddy my man, why the long face?”

“Uhm, just been thinking.”

“Oh yeah, thinking about what?”

“Just remembering something… something important, I forgot I would adjust, recalibrate, in time for this launch.”From Guest Contributor Barry O'Farrell

Barry is an actor who sometimes writes, living in Brisbane, Australia. Barry recently had a short story awarded runner up in the Arts Alliance biannual short story writing competition. Barry's stories may be found at Cyclamens & Swords, 101 Words and of course here at A Story In 100 Words.

The First Alien Invasion

The First Alien Invasion, also known as The Real War of The Worlds (2029 - 2040) was a conflict of extrasolar[citation needed] aliens with Earth governments and international organizations - US, China, Russia, and NATO[1][2]. The immediate cause was an invasion of aliens to Mars. The aliens built a few structures on the surface and remained silent during attempts to communicate via Mars rovers’ signals, satellites, radio, and laser transmissions. The US and China’s ballistic missiles sent to Mars were destroyed on approach [8]:415. The subsequent attack by the United Earth fleet found Mars abandoned, structures spelling “Welcome to Mars.”

From Guest Contributor Vicki Doronina

Dreams

He dreamed of realities that could never be. He dreamed of being an Olympian. He dreamed of winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. He dreamed of traveling to Mars and back or building a time machine. He dreamed he had the power to grant every wish. He dreamed of immortality. He dreamed he was the Creator and this entire world was a figment of his own imagination. He dreamed of true love.

Because of all these impossible dreams, he never achieved any of his dreams that were actually attainable. They all seemed pointless when compared to what was impossible.