I Can't Possibly Be Wrong All the Time

It’s January, 2021 , so I went through my social media feeds and grabbed all of the MicroStories I’d tweeted during the month of December. Okay, I also included all the MicroStories that I’d tweeted during the months of September, October, and November too, because friends, the final quarter of 2020 was not that productive with all of the shenanigans. You know what I’m talking about.

As a reminder, these represent story-essences composed using no more than 269 characters (so I could tweet them with the hashtag #MicroStory.)

Usually, I only tweet Science Fiction and Fantasy #MicroStories. The final months in 2020 were no exception.

For really great #MicroStory action, please follow @MicroSFF, the Twitter account that inspired me to participate in this minimalist writing exercise. That feed puts out great science fiction and fantasy MicroStories all the time.

(I want to make it clear that @MicroSFF is *not* a Twitter account of mine. Their flash-fiction tweets are excellent. Mine are okay.)

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There was some ice as expected, but the dirty rings surrounding the deceptively-large planet were mostly shattered remnants of planets that the giant world had destroyed.
These once-inhabited rocks offered unique salvage opportunities, if we didn’t wake the planet.
#MicroStory

The planet was inviting, but too inviting.
The faithful who’d financing the planetary survey would no doubt interpret this as God setting aside a place for them and push for colonization, but our scouting history suggested something less-divine was responsible.
#MicroStory

The robot council was wary of the new practice among some of the citizenry, to use their metal frames as antennae and sync their CPUs with willing partners to create one mind among multiple hosts.
The robots involved called it “love” but the council called it a “mob”
#MicroStory  

“You don’t mind crewing with a Tick, do you?”I considered the captain’s words. I wasn’t fond of those aliens. “You have a Tick on board?”“They’re good for grunt work, and they can go without eating, so less supplies.”“You can get robots.”“You can’t eat robots.”
#MicroStory

The inert robot I was dragging had probably been one of the first ones inside Phobos Station after the initial evacuation, and had probably found its share of corpses.
When the station’s curse got around to me, would I be found by a robot? A human? Something else?
#MicroStory

Lord Markos served so wisely and long on the king’s privy council, that most of the younger lords coming in to the court never realized that he was a wizard. Upon exiting the Mage College, he’d managed to avoid ever having to cast a single spell.
#MicroStory

The engagement at Pleiades was decisive, with Captain Raker’s fleet only losing one ship, the Phaeton.
A decade later, the Phaeton was found intact, a light-year away.
Admiral Raker confidently asserted that the Phaeton’s logs would confirm its destruction.
They did.
#MicroStory

I remembered that my father had taken me aside, and explained that although he had stressed to us all when we were children to be honest and forthright, now that I was a man, he had a greater truth for me to know.”In this city,” he’d said, “honest men starve first.”
#MicroStory

The Akreshi and Agavi mythic hatred for each other was self-destructive as they’d routinely booby-trapped their star colonies in case of capture.Most of the galaxy considered this a cautionary tale but EarthCom saw opportunity and financed EarthMil to send in scouts.
#MicroStory

The twelve calamitous spells were closely guarded, some in locked tomes, some in the thoughts of virtuous wizards. The spells could not be forgotten, nor the books that held them destroyed.But if enough were cast, the world would end.Once, there had been thirteen.
#MicroStory 

I’d been having strange dreams, of being surrounded by unfamiliar plants and especially disturbing, unfamiliar insects.Not a good assessment on my career choice as an ecologist.Then my work unit was assigned to rocket to Earth for the next phase of re-terraforming.
#MicroStory

If the twelve calamitous spells stubbornly insisted on existing until they were cast, and their casting would endanger the world, the wizards saw no choice but to find another world upon where those dread curses could be cast.
#MicroStory

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Thank you to everyone who reads and enjoys my small stories. I tweet flash-fiction at irregular intervals on my Twitter account, @patman23. At more regular intervals on Twitter, I’ll be talking about my dogs, or television (mostly Game of Thrones), or raking leaves off of my lawn.

Header image was taken by me, Chi Chi the pug was guarding the front door, as she does, and it had a certain “I’m going to make sure 2020 leaves for real” aspect about it.

Want to read my earlier MicroStory collections? I have my first three years’ worth of stories HERE and the second three years’ worth of stories HERE

In general, I’m fine with anyone using the text of my MicroStories for non-commercial use. (Look how cute I am, thinking someone wants to make a t-shirt from one of my flash fiction bits. I say cute, but you can substitute in some other, more appropriate, adjective. I’m not the boss of you.)

© Patrick Sponaugle 2021 Some Rights Reserved