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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#134: Look Up

This Friday, the 18th of February, marks the 92nd anniversary of Pluto being discovered — and though it’s no longer considered ‘big enough’ to be an official planet, it will always have a big place in our hearts. With it’s hot-to-cold cycles and snow-capped mountains, this almost-planet almost looks like home. (That said, we still wouldn’t recommend it for your next vacation!)

To mark the occasion, this week’s prompts are a love letter to our favorite forgotten planet, and the spirit of discovery in general.

This week's prompts

Your character, by chance or habit, peers through a telescope. They see something unusual — what is it?

Dystopian – 53 stories

Set your story beyond our own world.

Science Fiction – 50 stories

Write about a character who has a ‘hot and cold’ personality — or is affected by someone like this.

Character – 30 stories

End your story with a character looking out on a new horizon.

Narrative – 63 stories

Write from the POV of someone, or something, that experiences gravity differently.

Science Fiction – 27 stories

Stories

“Pluto is a Planet” by Isabelle Lucien

Submitted to Contest #134

It was the 18th of February. The 92nd anniversary of the discovery of Pluto. My mom always argued that Pluto is a planet. She loved space, and every year, on this special day, we would look through the expensive, high-tech telescope that she had bought so long ago to look at Pluto and other things.It was the first day I was looking through the telescope without her. A few months ago, she became fatally ill. A few days later, she died without a diagnosis. Even after an autopsy and multiple scans of her body, nothing was found. I wish I knew w...

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“The Young Astronomer” by Cody Cooper

Submitted to Contest #134

“Aiden! It’s getting late! You need to go to bed so you aren’t late for school tomorrow!” Pamela’s voice boomed across the acres of the family ranch backyard. “In a minute, mom! I’m still trying to align this telescope to see if I can chart the trajectory of Jupiter’s moons and calculating the impact of Jupiter’s gravity on them!” Aiden replied without looking up from the eyepiece on his telescope, his ton...

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“Tale of Colliding Scopes” by Kristen Bloom

Submitted to Contest #134

Tale of the Colliding Scopes Why? Why do you taunt me like this? Why do you insist on sparkling in the dead of night? Why are you always there, just out of reach? Are you even real? Do you hear me as I BEG and PLEAD for you to grant my wish? I shake my head and swallow a bucket’s worth of bile. Those darn stars, so far away. So tantalizingly beautiful that it almost hides their evil nature. Almost. Their light might have blinded the other fools on Earth, but not me. I will never allow myself to be fo...

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“The World Reflected Back” by Rebecca Stack

Submitted to Contest #134

Something is compelling her to look through her telescope that night at this exact moment though she has no idea what. Expecting to see the usual night sky she always sees, our own Milky Way. Nothing could of prepare her for what was about to happen. As she leaned towards the eye piece and pulled herself close, she felt her essence leave her body shoot through the telescope into the night sky and reflect back down in to the World below. `How very odd’ she thinks to herself as she moves her head back away from her telescope an...

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“The Condo” by Susan Lynn Zenker

Submitted to Contest #134

Mason Huxley took Amy Armstrong by the hand and dragged her to his fifth-floor living room picture window. He extended his arms out dramatically toward the shiny, orange device which pointed to something of interest beyond the glass. “Ta-da! May I present my Celestron NexStar 8SE! With an eight-inch aperture and 81 times magnification, isn’t it a beauty? Plus, it’s got a database of 40,000 celestial objects it locates and tracks for you.”“Slick as a pig’s tongue!” Amy exclaimed. “Love it!”“Eighty-one times magnification isn’t all that sharp....

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“A Different Lens” by Martha Sanipe

Submitted to Contest #134

Pisa, June 1609Orazio looked around the cluttered studio, unable to identify many of the objects within it. Diagrams of heavenly orbs, a metal triangle inscribed with figures, large tomes on the sciences and mathematics, and strange objects whose function he couldn’t begin to guess at. He shook his head, half smiling, remembering his few childhood encounters with the fascinating man who lived here. The professor was just a year his junior; they’d both grown up here in Tuscany. Though they’d never been close acquaintances, they’d known many o...

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“Telescopic sight” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #134

-violent themes- Robert worried he could never really know what someone else was going to do. How can he know their intent, know their heart? He was a spotter for a sniper team. His role is to see people, to know whether they mean harm to the soldiers and facilities he watches over. He views someone's actions, and he makes assumptions. What if he misses something? Robert joined the Army to make the world a better place. He saw the world in black and white, good or bad. That he ended up as part of an Army sniper team w...

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“The Walters Telescope” by Crystal Bass

Submitted to Contest #134

What if there were spiders or scorpions under the boxes?? There was no way I wanted to be the one to find out. I was very interested in searching through the valley of boxes that lined the walls of my grandpas attic. There was were boxes of all sizes and shapes. Red boxes, blue boxes, small boxes, large boxes, boxes with labels and boxes without. But the box that caught my attention the most was a tall slender box in the corner. It had Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) imprinted on the box. On the left side, a shipping label read: ...

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“I Think They’ll Like Each Other ” by Alonae Phillips

Submitted to Contest #134

“When’s the last time you saw Mr. Jackson?” “Probably last week, I dropped some meals off at the door and he waved through the window.” Mom says while gesturing wildly with her hands. The fork she is holding flings spaghetti sauce onto the table right in front of me. The sauce isn't red like it supposed to be. It's brown, she put too much Italian seasoning again; it tastes kind of like eating a leaf.“I took him to get vaccinated last month,” dad says with a chuckle. “I think at this point he's just hoping that you don't leave food at th...

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“The Pink Moon's Secret” by Halia Hassan

Submitted to Contest #134

Bam! Luella slams her cafeteria tray down on the table with an angry look on her face. She slumps in her chair and looks at me. “You will not believe this! Jayden said the super pink moon is lame.” To be fair, Jayden is a nine-year-old boy whose only concern is expanding his house on Minecraft but I keep my mouth shut and let Luella vent about her brother. “And when I tried explaining why it’s happening to the little twerp, he just rolled his eyes! This is important stuff, Harlow. I mean the moon is going the closest it can to Earth in...

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“A New Hope” by Ray O'Neal

Submitted to Contest #134

Sam had always been a good student in school. In science class he got an assignment to do an essay. It was to be over the solar system. So Sam being the good student that he was he got on his computer to do his work. He got to looking up all the information he could about our solar system. While he was looking at the information about our solar system he came across a link. He clicked on it and it just happened to be a satellite that had a telescope on it. Like most young kids do Sam got distracted and was just viewing the different ...

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“SEEING IS BELIEVING” by Debbie Curtin

Submitted to Contest #134

My spotting scope or field scope was earning its keep in the number of pennies spent to purchase this treasure. I needed this compact high-powered telescope for my new position in the company, as I took a 180 degree turn from the one, I had just left. Now, instead of sitting back taking notes, I am the one on the front line. The vetting process I had to go through to get to this next level was insane! I'm so loving the change this has brought to my day and to my life. I've always had a sharp eye for images and color and now I can use that to...

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“The Stars And I” by Coby Sullivan

Submitted to Contest #134

I used to like nighttime. The way the colours of a sunset danced their way to dusk, the slow transition to twilight, and the final glow that pervaded the air before everything turned to darkness. Dave and I used to stargaze together through a big telescope I'd gifted to him for his 30th birthday. After dinner, we'd turn out all the lights in our house, head into the backyard and set it up in the middle of the lawn. And just like that, with one peer through the eyepiece, our perspective could be shifted, our thoughts taken to a place of ...

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“The Exoplanet” by Vijay Likhite

Submitted to Contest #134

THE EXOPLANET In the observatory, named after Veer Savarkar, all the scientists were eagerly waiting to receive confirmatory signals. And they did. The existence of the exoplanet was affirmed. The team of Dr.Eric, Dr. Neah, Dr. Chris, Dr.Vanshika, and Dr. Mitchell were extremely elated that their suspected exoplanet was a reality. Also, it appeared that it was inhabited by an intelligent species. The joy in the laboratory had no bounds. The plans to visit the planet, which was in the neighboring STAR SYSTEM PROXIMA CENTAURI some six li...

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“A Message from the Stars” by Kreig Durham

Submitted to Contest #134

I, Reverand Genera lo’Motris of the Interplanetary Coalition, being of sound mind and body, do commit these collected records to the archive. Our star has mere days before its impending supernova consumes every planet, exterminating all life in this system. In hopes that our mistakes will not be made by others, we are launching the probe you now possess towards deep space. It contains the complete archives of our civilization. With these records, we hope that our legacy will survive and guide other peoples of the galaxy as they advance and g...

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$250

Prize money

223

Contest entries

128

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 25, 2022 EST

Won by Story Time 🏆

Title: The Hovering Age

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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