Microfiction 002 / "The Void"
A sci-fi/horror short story under 100 words (with author's notes) by L.E. McQuinn
“The Void” by L.E. McQuinn
“S.O.S. This is Nomad Spacecraft, Pilot Echo-Delta-Five-One-Zulu. I’ve lost all contact and have been stranded in an unknown region of space. I don’t know how long I’ve been out here. If anyone can hear me… Please help. End of transmission.”
She clicked off the radio, then scratched another line in her log. Transmission #162.
Through the window, the inky black of space stretched endlessly. At first, she thought she was hallucinating the small silver cylinder floating toward her ship.
She hastily retrieved it through the airlock chamber. Inside, a handwritten note unfurled.
“I love the sound of your voice.”
AUTHOR’S NOTES
The following prompt inspired this short story (with the challenge to make it 100 words or less):
Genre: Horror
Action: Receiving a mysterious package
Word: Echo
I’m an astronomy lover (shout-out to my fav podcast StarTalk), so I’m obsessed with the mysteries of deep space. I decided to explore the horror genre through the lens of sci-fi because I think the cold, dark expanse and how unfathomably small we are in it is inherently horrifying (and cool as fuck).
I played with the word “echo” for a while, but none of the ideas I had excited me enough. Then, I wondered: what if someone was stranded in deep space, sending out S.O.S. transmissions and receiving no response, but something was listening?
That creeped me out, so I knew I was on the right path. Then the question was: what’s the twist?
The idea of an alien listening to and enjoying her presence but not being able to communicate through sound came to me, and I thought that was super interesting. To stick with the horror genre, I went with (what I thought) would be one the creepiest messages you could possibly receive in this situation from an unknown entity: a love note from an admirer.
Thank you so much for reading! I’d love to hear what this story made you think and feel, so head to the comment section if you’d like to join the discussion.
Feel free to use the prompt to inspire your own short story. Please tag me if you publish it or share it below so I can read it!
xx L.E.
I love how much of the story you infer with these microfics. There’s so much potential in each one, and they’re all so thought provoking!
The graphic 😍.
Also, this is terrifying - what are its intentions?!