Science Fiction writing is one of the events one should not miss if he has a flair for writing. With a dash of creativity and bit of imagination, one can transcend the borders of space and time as he weave webs of stories analyzing unrealistic situations. Shaastra’s Science Fiction Writing competition has always been that of the highest caliber. Shaastra 2009  Sci-Fi competition had the world renowned Cory Doctrow, who achieved his fame through his blog Boing Boing as a judge for the numerous entries. This post is dedicated to the last years winning entries with the hope that it will give people inspiration to start their own story. The topic for last year’s Online Sci-fi Writing was the following

-An asteroid is about to collide with the Earth. Because there is no way of preventing the collision, the Earth is being evacuated. But your protagonist and a few others decide to stay back on Earth and await their fates. Recount the last hour of your protagonist’s life.

These were the Winning entries,

Journalistic Integrity

“Are you sure you want to do this?” they asked for what seemed like the millionth time. Of course! Why would a man his age miss the greatest show on earth-the biggest and the last, at least-to be stuck in suspended animation for a century or two? They probably wouldn’t be able to unfreeze him when they got to wherever it is that they planned to go, and he was just as likely to keel over and die as soon as they did, anyway. And if he was going to die, he wanted to go like Terry Pratchett; glass of whiskey in hand, sitting on his favourite bench and admiring the garden he had tended himself for over half a century. With an approaching meteorite in the background. And he would go doing what he did best, going where others couldn’t-staying while others couldn’t stay- and telling them what they were missing. Nobody would watch what he made for a very long time, of course, but when they finally woke up, he wanted them to know just how this planet had gone into the good night.

He did have one final duty to tend to, so he set up the cameras and other equipment. Clip-on mic, check. Video link, check. Audio link, check. The others would be doing this at various other stations now, but he would be the one putting it all together. The Americans got to do this in daylight, which was easier, although he appreciated the darkness; he wanted to see the stars as they fell towards him. “Then the third angel sounded; and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.” Why had no one made a movie about Revelations yet? Some one at Warner Bros should have thrown a bible at Michael Bay and told him to get to work. He had always wanted to do it, but no one trusted him with that kind of thing. “Stick to the documentaries, John.” All studio executives sneered the same way. “You’re doing good work here, serious work. We all love your interviews. This country needs people like you. Keep at it. Leave the explosions to the experts.” Well. Well. He’d show them how to shoot a great explosion.

It was about the size of the moon now, and he could see it getting bigger every minute. Not long now. One camera was always focused on it; that would be his introduction sequence. Then a short but fittingly memorable speech, a few shots of the Wonders set to Ravel’s Bolero with Big Boy-what a stupid name for the Agent of Armageddon!-in the background, providing Context. And of course, the first person shot of the explosion for a finale.

“As we stand on the brink of destruction, it is only fitting to question what we as a species have accomplished in our short stay on this doomed planet. We have built bridges and skyscrapers, pyramids and temples, but what of that? In a few hours, and long before you hear this, they will all return to the earth from which they were carved. We are frustrated sculptors, seeking to shape the world in our image, only to be rebuffed by catastrophe. This planet will probably recover from this; at some point, it will hold life again. Perhaps, civilization will re-emerge. But nothing of out deeds will remain. What is our legacy? What has mankind done that separates it from any other form of life, from all the dumb creatures that remain behind, unaware of their fates? What can…”

That’s interesting… It didn’t seem to be moving any more. He peered over at the telescope. Was that a hole? Why would an asteroid have a hole in its side? He was sure it wasn’t there earlier… too astonished now to provide commentary, he focused the camera on it. That thing coming out of it now looked an awful lot like a ship, although it moved a lot faster than the speed at which those shuttles moved on TV. It was almost on the ground already!

Really? Little green men? If there was a god, he certainly has a sense of humour.

<Greetings, friend. We hope we translator decode you brain waves goodly. Translator bad now but become more goodly fastly. We are @#$@R$()%@$. We come in peace. We travel galaxy to spread %$#^&@#. We offer matter transmutator as sign of good faith.>

He bit back a sigh. Great, here come the alien evangelists, offering salvation. All he’d ever wanted was to film a good explosion!

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The prophet had said in the ‘Visions from the emerald beyond’; “And in the day when the day and the night become equal, the sky whelps the sun through to this world. And this union will conceive death, who shall then swallow his own mother.” He could have as well said, “Frickin’ asteroid smashes the earth on September 22, 2038 and wipes off life”. I guess that anyone who lived on Earth before September 22, 2038 would have said the former. And I, one of the 168 people who are present now on Earth, on September 22, 2038, would have said the latter.

I checked the time. 11.15, it said. Fine then, 36 minutes to go.
For the past two days I’ve been wondering.  Why did I stay back? Why did I not go on board Argo like the rest 2 million people on this planet? Why did I wish to watch the looming death finally crush me and the earth into an explosion to nothingness? Why?

Why not? Would I have rather been on that monstrosity? With no idea of where we were going or how long we could sustain our lives in that gargantuan tinderbox, I am much better staying off here. It certainly is.

“I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees; all times I have enjoy’d
Greatly, have suffer’d greatly both with those
That loved me, and alone“

And now, I’m alone. Truly alone. Ulysses is no longer a shadow in the mist. We are travelers on the same ship, and Destiny awaits us.

It is a wonder that the human brain has the ability to switch itself off from what it deems irrelevant. The certainty of death has made it irrelevant. But isn’t that always the case? Death is irrelevant. He’ll arrive on Binky and take you to wherever he should. It’s a necessity. And we all know that. So, we decide not to think about Death. Let him come. But why should I worry about him until then?  I will drink life to the lees and then die. Goddamn you, Death.

I checked the time again. 11.27. 24 minutes to Armageddon; before the very imaginatively titled ZN-3120-DQ smashes into New England. ‘And then Fire shall burst forth from the sky and raze the earth, the oceans shall boil and sweep away the world of man, and the earth shall shudder and shake off humanity from her back’.

Again, humanity’s obsession with itself is a bit appalling. We men do not comprise the whole world.  There are millions of species and billions of organisms on Earth, all of which will disappear completely from the pages of history. Why did the Argonauts think it fit that only humans would want to escape the fate of their impossible planet? They shall rot in the sky, and the Argo shall join the ranks of the stars, twinkling with the combined despair of a homeless horde.

The temperature is becoming more and more unbearable, even by Outback standards. That’s saying something, isn’t it Topcat? The dial says 11.38. 13 minutes to midnight. Now, there’s a good example of irony for you. The new sun shall throw the world into unending darkness. Literally. Physicists calculated that the impact of the collision would be so great that it would knock Earth out of her current orbit and onto the orbit of Mars and the outer planets. In a sense, we would also end up like the Argo. And once the optimal position was lost, Earth could never support life again.

2 minutes to midnight. I had finished the last bottle of beer. It was divinely cold and bitter. Nothing like a nice buzz to witness the end of the world. Time ticks on. A new sun rises in the horizon. “Divi Surya Sahasras………..

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Shaastra 2010 online science fiction writing has received a lot of good entries and promises to engross  the readers and judges alike.