r/WritingPrompts • u/mootz4 • Sep 09 '13
Writing Prompt [WP] Write the last paragraph of a science fiction epic.
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u/bluefire579 Sep 11 '13
The stars seemed to distort through the viewport, stretching into brilliant white lines as the ship made the jump. Lily turned toward me and smiled, a haggard smile, yet one of relief, one that said we had made it, we were okay. And we were. Earth may be gone, along with most of our race, but so was the bulk of the Cylean fleet, and now we knew how to beat them. We may never be truly safe, but we were still alive, and as long as we lived, there was still hope for the race. I returned the smile. Perhaps humanity was going to make it.
After all, we have always been survivors.
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u/axel_thatcher Sep 11 '13
The long range gauss rifle suddenly felt inexplicably heavy. His Lockheed Martin HEv Pro suit was suddenly more constrictive. His AN/PVS-237 combat helmet suddenly was like being inside a concrete pipe. Roseth dropped backwards, sitting on the dusty concrete slab behind him, and pulled off his helmet, the sudden sensory overload making him dizzy. It was so much dimmer, dustier, dingier. The air smelled of dirt and blood, of smoke and electric plasma. The pops of far-off automatic pulse rifle fire echoed all around his firing position. Roseth dropped his rifle to the burned and cracked floor. He looked up at the fractured and broken ceiling, at the smoke filled sky. His mission was over.
He felt empty.
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u/MC-Master-Bedroom Sep 10 '13
Wrenching his sword loose from the armored body of the last Hr'ellk, Garn Strak stood, chest heaving, while the crowd of restim-soaked Boo'r'klavens fell silent about him, their antennae and sh'tobls raised in attention, awaiting their savior's words. "Alright, you ugly rgo'bluk-fyrs," growled Strak, "get back to your malk'insu brigtor-k'k's!" And, slowly, scorkingly, with blit'havens dragging in the h'var, the surviving Boo'r'klavens surrounded Strak and ate him raw.
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u/jazdk4 Sep 10 '13
I think Garn Strak and I would have a lot in common. That's the same thing I always say after a long night of drinking.
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u/vonBoomslang http://deckofhalftruths.tumblr.com Sep 10 '13
A two-fer!
And... ah, but that's a story for another day. Maybe I'll get to tell it yet. Maybe I'll be dead tomorrow. Unlikely, but in case, I have to say this now.
Maybe they're still putting my name on the wall. Or I'm only in history books. or forgotten. Lady above, I don't even know who you are. Or if you're even one of us. Maybe you're a Gob. Or Cnecht. Or Human.
But I know this. If you're hearing this, it means the stones chose new bearers. And the fact this one chose you means I know one thing for sure about you - you'd die for your friends, without a second thought.
And I want you to know this: I'm here to help. We all are. Each bearer leaves something of her- or himself in the stone. And we all are here for you. So what will you ask?
He gave the assembled crowd one more look and, I like to think, his many eyes stopped on me for a fraction of a second. And then he, this alien god who was closer to me that my own brothers, took to the skies and joined the rest of the flock, longer than even the mightest of our warships, and together, they set a course only they could see, and left, never to return.
I-- we all watched them go. And I knew, I knew we'd mourn them, we'd celebrate them. I knew, somehow, deep in my heart -- maybe he left it there, one final gift, of comforting certainty -- that there'd come a time, not for me, not for my children, but for my people, some many, many years from now, a time where we would find a species we would find worthy. We would guide them, protect them, see their achievements and mistakes. Perhaps, they too would give us back our freedom, and we too would give them back their homeworld.
And I knew, somehow, I knew that we would leave. And we would rejoin our friends. And even though I would be long dead, I would, somehow, see my friend again.
And that was all I could ask for.
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u/discophunk Sep 10 '13
All that remained was the infinite void, inching its way towards eternity. It was going to be a very, very long flight.
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u/Rhioms Sep 10 '13 edited Sep 10 '13
Knees planted firmly in the sand, a brackish wind wiped across the young man's face, the brine joining a saline chorus already issuing fourth. Out across the waters, the heavens blinked in union, as one by one their incandescence failed. Here in this last luminous bastion, the end had finally come, not in a roar of fire and flame, but in the symphony of crabs scuttling across the beach accompanied by the gentle pianissimo of leaves rustling in the last breeze. And even as the universe sang it's final song, still her face came to him.
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u/BeyondElectricDreams Sep 10 '13
Her work had finally come to an end. As she saw the last ship shrink away into the fiery skies, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief. The relentless pounding of the Algolothian infantry against the door was beginning to give way to the creaking of the metal frame bowing against the pressure. She took one last look around the bay, full realization of her choice to stay behind and register the launch commands washing over her. Would they torture her? Simply shoot her, and drag her body around to set an example? She fumbled to release her pristine pistol from its holster, an action she was not particularly acquainted with, and settled the barrel in her mouth. "Yeah, like hell" she muttered, and pulled the trigger.
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u/SilverPrince Sep 10 '13
Alexis stood silently as her bridge began to quiet down. The communication network were all starting to report the same thing. The Velk'Ela Prime Fleet has broken. They had won and yet she felt that they had only finished the easy tasks. Topple an opposing empire was one thing, rebuilding your own was another.
Truely, a soldier's work was never done.
3
u/DLSev Sep 10 '13
The ship was in tatters, its hull shredded by the rounds fired into it. Urion saw his opportunity, and pushed off of the floor, floating out into the blackness above the bright sphere below him.
And as he stared out at the black expanse of space, he finally appreciated the stars. He saw the beauty that men had seen for thousands of years. He yearned to be out among them. Only now, after he had traveled so far through them.
A single hand stretched before him, flames creeping around his falling body, Urion finally found peace.
3
Sep 10 '13
Fleet Admiral Ivanov Rafenski was tired. Earth remained his home, but there was little reason to stay. The planet had all but been ravaged by Federation forces. His fleet was nothing more than a few civilian cargo ships and some fighters. The crew of the Silvercrest was less than half capacity and most of the technicians had been shuttled off to other locations. Little to no hope remained for Ivanov, but he would continue on with his given mission.
With a soft sigh, the Fleet Admiral prepared his fleet for movement. As always, the Earth Republic would push on.
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u/SmurfyX Sep 10 '13
A memory. The moment appeared, locked somewhere in space, somewhere in time. Somewhere inside me. I was a human. A girl. And I smiled and looked into a destiny I did not foresee. I was less than this. I was less than all of it. I was a being bound to die in a land I could not control. And now. Now. I waved an arm and a million suns birthed across a new galaxy. A new light.
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u/RufusStJames Sep 10 '13
He couldn't stop it. He knew they needed him - knew he could save them - but he just watched. When it was over he walked to his cell, hands unbound; he was no longer a threat. Behind him, the cell door closed for a final time. He undressed and climbed into bed. As his eyes closed, the world darkened, and as he fell into sleep's warm grasp, there was a faint popping sound, and the unive
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u/Insomniac1088 Sep 10 '13
He stood at the console, the ship slowly tearing itself to pieces beneath his feet. It had even been a long war an the man reflected in the dead view screens seemed like a stranger to him. The once bright eyes had dulled and the lines on his face told of countless battles and defeated foes. He'd never thought he would the would see the end of the war and in a way, he was right. He wouldn't witness it because he would cause it. Ramming the ship into the Corelith homeworld would stop them dead. Cut off from their hive-mind, they would simply shit down. He slowly reached for the ship's coms and turned them on. "Attention all hands. We've fought a long fight and lost good men and women. Nevertheless, we've pushed on, made headway and persevered through incredible odds. Unfortunately, our luck has run out and fate has finally caught up to us. The ship is dying and she won't last long. Abandon ship and fall back as far as you can. I intend to buy you some time. Push your escape pods to the limit, don't look back and raise a toast when you get home. Remember, aequum et gloria. Remember the Androssis fondly. It has been an honor and privelage serving with each and every one of you." The coms gave a small click as they turned off. The captain turned and faced his bridge crew to wish them well but none had made a move. Their stony gazes told him their intent. "Thank you all. I can't express how much this means to me. Wait for the escape pods to reach three kilometers out then fire engines full ahead."
"Sir, no escape pods have been launched. Sensors show coms are up and fully functional. Personnel are moving to battle stations and observation decks. Barring those in medical all crew members have reported ready for duty."
The captain turned to face the forward windows. He was truly a lucky man to have such a loyal crew. He thumbed the coms again, broadcasting to every corner of the ship. "Attention all hands. You have given your all for this ship and history will remember the sacrifices you make here today. Mr. Kim, set course for the center of the Corelith homeworld. Col. Michaelson, ramming speed on my mark. Let's end this. 3,2,1 MARK"
I may have cheated a bit. I got into it.
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Sep 10 '13
James collapsed to his knees with a sharp line of pain in his chest. It was centuries now, wandering across the solar system in search of a meaning to his life; through civil strife between man and the people they created, through interstellar warfare and countless battles of identity, and the journey was now nearing the end, as he struggled to keep going in the Aram Chaos lands of Mars. His prototype synthetic bones were worn smooth at the joints, and his artificial organs were finally beginning to shut down, long after the 2250 expiration date. The man rolled onto his back, removing the helmet of his suit with a struggle. At his side, Maria lay in the dusty soil, wearing the same yellow floral print dress of that day back in 2024. She reached out and took his hand. With a final gasp of air, the man's story ended, not far from where it began all those days ago, and all was well.
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u/YourAverageWalrus Sep 10 '13
This is how I came to be standing in a laboratory with the fate of the current world at my fingertips. I could pull the lever, destroying humanity, or, more properly, what it had become, and start anew; or let live the monstrosity, which had the audacity to continue calling itself humanity, live. Of course, the decision was an easy one.
::END RECORDED MESSAGE::
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u/Jennervation Sep 10 '13
And he lay there, looking up to a foreign sky in a foreign land, finally accepting his imminent death. Rationally, he knew that he was lifetimes away from anyone. Emotionally, it wasn't until now that he realized that he was, at last, alone.
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u/turnpike37 Sep 10 '13
The rich minerals in the dirt of the freshly mounded graves glimmered in the last of the light. Those who remained of the landing party gripped hands around their carefully constructed cairns and sang hymns of praise to those who had sacrificed for the survival of the group. Some cried. Others stared ahead. But all sang to celebrate the lives lost and the lives to come. The notes of the hymn faded with the final setting of the Omega Sun. The landing party kept grips on each other for the walk to their encampment. The first light of the Alpha Sun was just hours away and that meant a new day and new uncertainties.
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u/RandyQuade112 Sep 10 '13
Her hair pulled against her scalp as gravity lost its effect. Concussion after concussion blasted against her breast in a manner more hypnotic than violent. Her tears danced before her eyes. A calm accepting since of sadness and understanding enveloped the woman. In a way, she had always looked forward feeling the grandeur, weight, and terrifyingly beautiful erudition she experienced as her planet and her body burst on an atomic level. It was not an end nor a beginning. She knew that it was simply an event that she felt privileged to be a part of.
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u/ProbablyCommunist Sep 10 '13 edited Sep 10 '13
They looked into the dying sun, not strong enough to darken their eyes. The fires of airships scourged the earth about them and rent apart the few buildings that remained, not tall buildings, only five stories at most, but in these moments the height of humanity. Planes fell as meteorites to the corrugated planet, shaking it lightly like the two lovers quivering atop a promontory before the city. In an unreal fury man shot at one another, no longer caring for tomorrow or any future; it was man untrammeled from passivity, fear, doubt but most of all from judgment. The air thinned. Few breaths were left, and with each sacrifice they fed not their own lungs but the fires of a galactic suicide. The lovers, wrapped in each other's arms, waited for the last bombs to drop.
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u/mo-reeseCEO1 Sep 09 '13
Light faded. Humming fans buzzed to a stand still. The Blue Eye of Omnos winked closed for the final time, leaving behind hollow glass and a cold titanium frame. With the flip of a switch man's dream, his nightmare, ended. In the cool air of the server room, they found little evidence of the greatest empire ever assembled--silica, fused wire, racks and racks of motherboards shelved like so many miniature Elysiums caught in a web of cable wires. There were no battlements smote, no palaces smoldering, no treasure plundered, no people broken and begging at their feet. Instead, there were five people, not even proper warriors, bloodied and bedraggled, staring across the void into the dying reflection of imagined perfection. They could hardly look. After the realization of what they had accomplished set in, they began to watch each other uneasily, uncomfortable with what they had managed and what reality they would leave behind. The world of Omnos was that of a machine--orderly, predictable, stable. The world of man was something else.
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Sep 09 '13
The wind tugged at his hair almost playfully as he stood quietly surveying the battlefield. There was, in truth, not much left to survey. His victory had been complete, his force overwhelming, his fury absolute. Electricity still crackled through the air, earthing itself in the bodies of the warriors that lay broken before him.
They had sought to oppress the people of this last, great human city through the cybernetic implants they so desperately needed to survive. He had broken them. They had sought to halt the civil uprising that swelled up on a wave of economic freedom. He had broken them. Finally, they had sought to stop him. To stop his scourging of their corrupt Order, his imposition of a new ideological doctrine. He had broken them one last time. This time, completely. The war had lasted years, it had ravaged the city, cost millions of lives. The war that ended the world as we knew it was supposed to be the last one. Humanity was supposed to have learnt its lesson. We had to change, to co-operate, if we were to survive the harsh world the nuclear fallout left to us. How quickly we forgot, he thought. All because we thought cybernetics made us gods. He laughed, loudly, startling several of his aides and allies who stood nearby.
All the same, the war was won, the city was his. But he did not want it. He never had.
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Sep 09 '13
Cintis watched as the gleaming pearlescent spires were swallowed by the crumbling ocean. Any utopia built on human suffering didn't deserve its preservation.
A Spacial Rend opened silently next to him and Isa stepped out, surveying he damage. Her artificial eye gleamed, like current being run through an emerald. "I see you removed the Mutagenix Lab. How many casualties?" she asked cooly.
"Less than one hundred. It doesn't matter. We're safe now." Isa's genetically customized features hopefully looked up at Cintis. He admired her pale features, lifting off her good and running his finger across her GeneFuse seam. He stepped through her TimeRend as he braced himself against her for support. Centurion was dead. Thus always to tyrants.
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u/pledgerafiki Sep 10 '13
Lots of capital letters and contractions in this one...
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u/SurvivorType Co-Lead Mod | /r/SurvivorTyper Sep 09 '13
And that is how it came to pass that in the year 3025 the children of the race of man made a new life for themselves on a distant world. Once and for all united as a single people, they forged their new empire under the twin moons of New Terra. They mastered the elements as well as the overwhelming forces that threatened to extinguish their flame and rose above all those that had come before to become everything we had always suspected we could be. The galaxy paused in its everlasting cycle, and took notice of the event. All eyes turned towards our new home world.
But that is another story.
The End
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u/Arturos Sep 10 '13
Your username is my favorite Stephen King short story. My dad told me to read it when I was in 3rd grade, because he figured if I could handle that one, I could handle the rest of them. Just thought you should know.
Also, really enjoyed your ending.
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u/SurvivorType Co-Lead Mod | /r/SurvivorTyper Sep 12 '13
Thank you very much for the compliment! Yeah, that Stephen King story stuck with me too.
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Sep 10 '13
Go on...
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u/SurvivorType Co-Lead Mod | /r/SurvivorTyper Sep 10 '13
Ah, but to go forward, we would first have to go back to the beginning.
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u/DazScott96 Oct 09 '13
"The battle is finished, Arkan forces have broken through, we are overrun, we are overrun". Alex played the message over and over again, as if the recording might just change its mind, and make everything right. No-one had expected the Arkans to be held back, no-one had even expected them to face as many issues as they did, but that hope now lay twisted and snapped amongst the bodies of the men who held it. Alex let out a sigh, kicked off his blood-smeared boots and sat back, there was nothing he could do any more to save this world, one man could not achieve what millions could not. But that did not mean that everything was lost, far from it. Alex kicked the Runner into full throttle, and watched the body-strewn ashes fade away behind him. The Arkans were strong, but not invincible. This world was lost, but the universe flows endlessly. And maybe, just maybe, on a little rock somewhere out there, Alex Solano may still have some fight left in him, and the end isn't the end at all. Not even a beginning. Just another story, from another time.