'Day Two' by Marie Little

They said I’d get used to the darkness, but it’s not that which is bothering me. This smell is like nothing I’ve experienced. I think it’s the grud flanks as they rot, but my information chip hasn’t registered anything yet, and I’ll look stupid if I sign on to The Pod just to ask that. I write it up in the log as Intense smell detected from grud flanks near West Base, and hope I sound like I know what I’m doing. 

NFFD 2024 Prompt #17: Like Nothing on Earth

 

 

Prompt #17: Like Nothing on Earth
EARTH prompt D

Welcome to The Write-In!  This year, we're celebrating the 2024 National Flash Fiction Day Anthology theme of The Classical Elements - Air, Earth, Water and Fire. Throughout National Flash Fiction Day, we'll be posting one time-related prompt on the hour every hour from 00:00 until midnight (BST), for a total of 25 prompts in all.  You have until midnight on Sunday (BST) to submit your responses for possible publication here at the Write-In.  We'll start posting responses on Sunday, 16 June 2024....

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Write a flash that takes us to a different place from our earth...this could be a different planet, a different reality, or a defamiliarised here and now.  Feel free to lean in to scifi, fantasy, speculative fiction, absurdism, or anywhere unusual you care to explore....

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If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 17: Like Nothing on Earth.

You can submit responses until 23:59 BST on Sunday, 16 June 2024 for a chance to be published here at The Write-In.

You can claim the badge for this prompt by visiting the badgifier here (hosted by the NFFD website).

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Photo of Oregon's Painted Hills by Dan Meyers on Unsplash