aliencaster

Story Guide -- Story List Length (rounded up): 2000 words, 8 min. Next (Part 2) -- Contents -- Gallery Folder The Experiment, Part 1 Rebecca just settled uneasily in the comfortable chair, eagerly waiting for the moment when she would be allowed to leave the room. Her trembling legs wanted to move, but her anxious mind was still able to control her muscles, keeping them steady. Her reason for wanting to go away from her boss's office wasn’t because of her workload or a potentially dangerous situation, but because this unscheduled meeting was..., simply, just unscheduled. She couldn't put into words to tell how much she hated the unexpected events that turned her quiet and calculated way of life upside down. Today, this gathering was The Unforeseen Event, which she hadn’t prepared for. A minute ago, her boss, Mrs Fairbanks, had just excused herself, leaving Rebecca alone in the room. Rebecca got her courage together not to get scared. But, as the time went on, she started to think

Story Guide -- Story List Length (rounded up): 1900 words, 7 min 30 sec. Next (Part 2) -- Contents-- Gallery Folder The Preventer, Part 1 ‘Could you take off my handcuff, please?’ With this politely phrased question, I tried to show my nicest and most harmless side to the female interrogator. ‘I’m not dangerous at all.’ ‘Thank you so much for your kind guidance, Mr Robertson, I appreciate it. However, in our fine-tuned legal system, it’s my absolute responsibility to decide whether you're dangerous.’ Although it was a well-crafted and sophisticated answer, Annie wasn’t the sort of cop who could be tamed easily. The detective flashed a quick, bored glance at my tied hands, which were resting on the desk in the interrogation room. Annie leaned against the opposite wall, with a dispassionate expression on her face and continued to watch me. She didn’t wear a uniform, but she was dressed in a pair of worn blue jeans and a navy blue sweater that matched her dark hair perfectly. The long

Story Guide -- Story List Length (rounded up): 1750 words, 7 min. Next (Part 2) -- Contents -- Gallery Folder Living Crash Test Dummies, Part 1 Gravity, initial velocity, inertia, aerodynamic drag, air resistance, and crosswind. Step One: measure these crucial factors. Step Two: put all those constants and variables into the appropriate equations. Step Three: voilà, you’ve got the exact trajectory of a projectile. This is basically how a robot or a computer would work, which is pretty cool if you think about it. But I wasn't a piece of hardware, so I didn't need to overanalyse it. Instead, I just stood there, with my glance glued to the identified flying object I had spotted hurtling through the air along its parabolic path. I just felt when the moment was right, and instinctively raised my flesh-and-blood arm high and caught it. Luckily, the projectile that Mr Anderson had thrown was harmless. ‘Thanks a lot!’ I said as the little thing landed in my right palm. I quickly flexed

Story Guide -- Story List Length (rounded up): 1900 words, 8 min. Next (Part 2) -- Contents -- Gallery Folder Breakpoint, Part 1 ‘Before we would seriously talk about any deal, there’s a question that I’d like you to answer honestly. Has your daughter ever had any claustrophobic attacks?’ ‘No, never, Mr Manning. But why are you asking that?’ Standing on the balcony of his hotel room, Donald Manning nodded to show that he was pleased with the reply, which most probably paved the way for their gentlemen’s agreement. Instead of talking more, he stayed in the shadows to hide from the blazing sunlight. Donald was acting like he wasn't interested in the profitable business. He kept peering down, fascinated by the sight of the bustling crowd in the Main Square below. The vibrant heart of the Mexican metropolis was packed with people celebrating the victory of their political party. Or it could be a rally to denounce a corrupt politician who had run their wonderful town into the

Story Guide -- Story List -- Contents Length (rounded up): 1600 words, 6 min 30 sec. Agent Alpha, Chapter 1 The cell phone in your pocket starts to play the ringtone again. But you ignore the annoying sound since you're about to meet the impatient caller. Indeed, after ten hurried steps, you get to the door, and burst into the Director’s office. The room is unusually messy. However, it's not a simple disorder but a chaotic cocktail of information, arranged in tall piles of papers everywhere, mixed up with personal files and peppered with a large sheet resembling a map that takes up the whole of one of the desks. As you go closer to the first table, you realise that the sheet of paper isn’t an atlas, but rather the floor plan of an industrial facility. Your attention shifts to the other folders. Some of the papers are stamped with round, black stains from the bottoms of coffee cups. The late night shift has taken its toll on the files. ‘Please take a seat, Agent Alpha,’ the

Story Guide -- Story List Length (rounded up): 1400 words, 5 min 30 sec. Previous (Living Crash Test Dummies, Part 21) -- Next (Part 2) -- Contents -- Gallery Folder Princess Caroline, Part 1 Guess what! Last week, I toyed with the crazy idea of deliberately breaking my arm so that I could wear a cast at the ceremony. What a tough girl, to say the least, huh? But I didn’t do it. Instead, I just didn’t take off the smallest recreational cast that I had worn over the weekend. Risser cast – gone away. Single hip spica cast – gone away. But I kept the short arm cast. I bet that my consultant, Herr Rossbach, isn't too happy about what I did, but it’s done now, and the shell is capturing my left forearm, and the people have seen me with it. There's nothing he can do about it anymore. I'm sure you'll ask me why I needed a SAC that badly. Let me tell you about it from the beginning. Hello, my name is Caroline von Kessler. I really hope you can still remember who I am, and that you

Story Guide -- Story List Length (rounded up): 1750 words, 7 min. Next (Part 2) -- Contents -- Gallery Folder Identity Theft, Part 1 The noise from the hall interrupted Daniella’s attentive work. She stopped using the hotel management system and turned away from the computer terminal. Her gaze swept the lobby, which was unusually empty for the high season. The sounds of footsteps and the whirring of rubber wheels spread easily in the uncrowded place. Two people, a young, upper-middle-class couple in their early thirties, approached the reception desk. Dressed in casual clothes, the tall guy bore a striking resemblance to a handsome, B-movie film star. His companion, a woman with medium-length black hair, was more attractive than he was, however, her mien was spiced with a certain mannerism, which were a bit over the top. Daniella searched for the right word to describe her. Haughty? But the woman had a reason to be affected. Or rather, she had two reasons at once. It's

Story Guide -- Story List Length (rounded up): 1900 words, 7 min 30 sec. Next (Part 2) -- Contents -- Gallery Folder Insurance Fraud, Part 1 Frank was disappointed with the result he achieved after two hours of intensive calculation. No matter what scenario he tried, the outcome was always pretty much the same. He grimaced and looked away from the screen, which displayed a sophisticated spreadsheet with rows and columns filled with unfeeling figures. However, he shouldn’t have been so surprised. Although the evaluation of all their incomes and debts had ended up in a significantly negative number, such a conclusion wasn't entirely unexpected. Frank yawned and stretched his legs, shaking off the numbness. He accidentally kicked the furniture with his right foot. As the desk was moved, a pencil, which was resting under the monitor until now, rolled across the tabletop. But just before it could fall to the floor, Frank was quick to block its path with a casual hand movement, and put

Story Guide -- Story List Length (rounded up): 2000 words, 8 min. Previous (Day 3, Part 9) -- Next (Part 2) -- Contents -- Gallery Folder The Curse of Friday the 13th, Day 4 and Beyond, Part 1 Thursday the 12th, 9:09 a.m. the day before the fourth Friday the 13th ‘Honestly, your idea sounds a little unwise,’ Dr York said. Tempering his critical tone, he carefully chose a mild expression not to hurt the feelings of his agitated guests. Mike, sitting in a chair next to his wife, held Julie’s right hand dearly. After the couple exchanged meaningful glances, she remained resolute in the face of the doctor's dismissive opinion. They had good reason to be desperate. Subjected to painful misfortunes, Julie had broken every bone in her body in a series of bizarre and devastating accidents on the last three consecutive Fridays the 13th. Not all of them, to be precise, (that would have been pretty tough to survive), but she had suffered so many fractures that she had become a captive of an

Story Guide -- Story List Length (rounded up): 1800 words, 8 min. Next (Part 2) -- Contents -- Gallery Folder Mia and the Mafia, Part 1 ‘The first sentence is the most important. It must be perfect. It must be impressive. It must be compelling. The introduction is like a flypaper that lures the unknowing readers into exploring the story. Bravo! You’ve done it! But the opening isn’t the only good thing. Frankly, I can rarely come across such a well-written article. You would deserve a Pulitzer Prize.’ The words of praise from the editor-in-chief, Mr Jonathan Taylor, brought a broad smile to Mia’s face. She'd put a lot of hard and hazardous work into this project over the last ten months, and it was great to hear that it had paid off. As she had worked for the local newspaper merely for three years, she was still a junior journalist. But now, she hoped that this achievement would provide her with a stepping stone to a more respected position. ‘This isn’t complete yet,’ she said with