Write about a person experiencing the 'overview effect' (a feeling astronauts report having when they first view Earth from outer space).

Posted in Science Fiction on Nov 29, 2020

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✍️ 48 stories

“From another perspective” by Adele Roman

Submitted to Contest #39

In here up is down, left is right and nothing really matters. Earth is a tiny, glistening marble, so fragile… everything seems so small and insignificant. The tree in my parents’ backyard I used to climb, I know every branch and every leaf of that tree like I’d built them myself, but I can’t see it from here, as if it had never existed. I run my finger over the picture of my only child and smile. You are why I am here, I want to make you proud. You deserve it all. If I could pluck the Earth out of the sky and put it in a jar, I would do it, ...

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“Earth's Worth” by Tim Grimo

Submitted to Contest #39

‘That’s about far enough,’ he thinks to himself. He strains forward and punches the manual engine shutoff. The low rumble of several hundred gallons of fuel igniting instantaneously to maintain literally gravity-defying propulsion subsides and dies. In the deafening silence that immediately follows, Jasper’s buttocks ease out of the sunken cushions. The contrast is startling; a few minutes ago, his body was submitted to the sensation of weighing three times its usual weight. By some small miracle our protagonist stayed conscious a...

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“Intern Eternal” by Emilie Conroy

Submitted to Contest #39

Loki punched a fist into his left hand. His black boots clicked against the marble floor as he turned onto the main hallway of Asgard. Fifty more yards, and he would be in The Presence. And he hated it.The last time the demi-god of doom, chaos, mischief and revenge had been summoned to The Presence, he had been reprimanded severely for going overboard with his power. He'd had to spend a century with Ahriman, in instruction, stripped of his demigod status.Loki continued toward the large double doors. He couldn't imagine what The Presence...

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“The Grey Matter of a Cosmic Obsession” by Veena G

Submitted to Contest #39

I never wanted this. I never wanted to be consumed by a spaceship, all alone in the middle of nowhere. This is not what I wanted. I wanted to stare at the lake, another moment of peace before chaos erupted.20 days agoThe beginnings have always been disputed, from Ptolemy to Copernicus. Flat vs. Round. We have seen it all. We know what the world has to offer. We know all the little secrets. We know the revelations of past centuries -- the things they have handed. But, what we don't know is the future. How does the Earth look from afar? Is it ...

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“Wanting, Wondering, Singing” by Emily Stepp

Submitted to Contest #39

For months now I'd been trying to imagine what it would be like. I’d seen interviews with other astronauts talking about it, and stared for hours at the posters of the Earth in my room as a kid – but now, as the shuttle docked into the International Space Station, my mind began to go blank. Everything became automatic; grab this, enter the station, wait for decompression, all just like the countless simulations and tests I’d gone through just to get here.I blinked, and the next thing I knew the shuttle that had taken me this far was drifting...

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“As the Earth Fades ” by Faith Story

Submitted to Contest #39

It felt something like a roller coaster, only so much more intense. Months of training may have prepared me to handle this, but there is no feeling on earth that quite illustrated how it would feel to be shot up into outer space. As the G forces eased up and the shaking calmed, we were suddenly weightless. It was not the light-hearted kind of weightlessness you feel walking outside on a sunny spring day. It was more like what you feel the second you find out a loved one has died – like you are floating away from the ground, and there is noth...

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“The Overview Effect” by Nicholas Westbrook

Submitted to Contest #39

Maybe I'd had too much to drink or smoked too much weed. I had definitely had enough to make the room spin for a few hours after I stumbled out of my jeans and collapsed into bed. I had confided to my girlfriend, Olivia, that I was feeling 'floaty'. She told me that I just needed sleep and brought me back to my building before going home to sleep herself. I still felt like if I wasn't holding onto to someone or something, I would float up into the air. I had no idea how far up I would fly until I ended up doing it. I couldn't sleep tha...

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“Megan flies faster than me.” by Jay Atkinson

Submitted to Contest #39

Timmy was tired. It had been a good summer’s day for the eight-year old. The firecracker stand was finally open. He had caught a lizard and had it in a Mason jar with a couple of holes punched in the lid so it could breath. It had been a good day. He fell asleep quickly.He slept several hours and then rose out of his body and through the ceiling without even looking back at himself sleeping. He was flying again, like Superman, as he had every night since school got out.He flew towards Pikes Peak. He often enjoy...

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“No Dotted Lines” by Mia Faulk

Submitted to Contest #39

“Is it true, Ms. Arceneaux?” D.J. asked waiting patiently for me to return the stack of books he had gathered back to him. I sensed worry registering with emphasis in his higher inflection of, “true,” but I had no idea what was true, anymore? I had no magic affirmations to offer this child who just wanted to prepare for whatever was coming next. “Are they really going to close the schools?” he asked, in a tone that conveyed he was seeking more assurance than a definitive answer. The scanner chirped contentedly with each new tex...

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“Leave me this moment” by Austin Windau

Submitted to Contest #39

Maia sat in her car listening to the playlist Violet had made for her before she was killed in a car accident two weeks ago. The playlist was an hour and forty-three minutes long. Maia had been listening to it like this for fifty-seven minutes. In her memories, it felt like three years, five months, and three or four weeks. She couldn’t remember. In her body, it felt like the clock was broken. She could feel each hair on her scalp, while her legs sat numb. A synth chorus burned through its crescendo as a g...

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“Whatever Happens” by S.M. Lawrence

Submitted to Contest #39

“Whoever finds this, whatever happens.” The voice in the recording was a hoarse whisper, but it was firm and resolute. “These are my final words.” The clip cut out, leaving the room in silence. It sounded right, the accent and the intonation were perfect; anybody with the resources for such a convincing fake would have better ways of making money than scamming collectors. This sort of memorabilia had a niche audience and most of them wore tin foil hats. It was hardly a lucrative market. Resting her head on her hand, Amy turned towards the wi...

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“Change” by Anjali Goel

Submitted to Contest #39

THERAPY LOGPATIENT: STEPHEN PINKERTONPATIENT HISTORY:Arrested on 06 December 3034 for domestic violence, sentenced to one month in minimum-security prison and court-mandated therapy for three yearsTotal of twelve parking tickets and five speeding tickets since patient turned eighteenMultiple reports of unfair treatment from workplace subordinates, no action takenDATE OF FIRST APPOINTMENT: 14 MAY 203512 JUNE 2035 Stephen came in for his first appointment since he first started seeing me. He was supposed to come every week, but evidently he ha...

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“They asked me casually, "hey tell me about the woman you think of as a hero"” by Triparna Chakraborty

Submitted to Contest #39

Silence prevailed like an overbearing cacophony. The wall clock kept nudging consistently, only I would occasionally look at it to register its I-know-it-all look for the umpteenth time. Intermittent beeps from the cardiograph challenged my patience, the saline supply jeered at my determination to not let go. A pungent odour was concentrating so hard on choking me, that I almost believed, that’s the only task it was born to execute. Stuck in a loop, half sure of how pleasurable the exit would be, I hung on.This was not even about me anymore....

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“Tires” by C.B. Smith

Submitted to Contest #39

I heard the tires screech. This loud assault on my ear drums. It was just like how you hear at the movies, or at a drag race. My old man, he took me to see one when I was a kid. The smoke coming up from those big pieces of rubber you would think they would catch on fire. I don’t know if these tires caught on fire I didn’t really believe the car hit me while I walked across the street. It was just….nothing. I don’t mean it was dark like someone flicked off the light switch or you close your eyes, I mean it was nothing. My guess is the b...

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“OVERVIEW THERAPY” by RADIUS HAVWAALA

Submitted to Contest #39

OVERVIEW THERAPY“This is crazy,” thundered William Casey, his face muscles drawn into a pained snarl. “Why is Zambia wasting billions of dollars funding a road to nowhere?”“That is why we brought this to your attention, William,” Admiral Poindexter spread his palms explaining. “At the Council, we found this whole thing very strange. They must have something up there sleeves.”“They may as well construct one on the moon,” William Casey came back; disdain working into his soul like cognac.“Masompe seems to be so important to them,” Poindexter c...

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Write about a person experiencing the 'overview effect' (a feeling astronauts report having when they first view Earth from outer space).

Submissions are closed

✍️ 48 stories

“From another perspective” by Adele Roman

“Earth's Worth” by Tim Grimo

“Intern Eternal” by Emilie Conroy

“The Grey Matter of a Cosmic Obsession” by Veena G

“Wanting, Wondering, Singing” by Emily Stepp

“As the Earth Fades ” by Faith Story

“The Overview Effect” by Nicholas Westbrook

“Megan flies faster than me.” by Jay Atkinson

“No Dotted Lines” by Mia Faulk

“Leave me this moment” by Austin Windau

“Whatever Happens” by S.M. Lawrence

“Change” by Anjali Goel

“They asked me casually, "hey tell me about the woman you think of as a hero"” by Triparna Chakraborty

“Tires” by C.B. Smith

“OVERVIEW THERAPY” by RADIUS HAVWAALA

🌟 Similar prompts

One day, the sun rose in the west and set in the east.

Write a story about a Google Street View driver.

Write a story that begins and ends with someone looking up at the stars.

Two people who thought they were the last people left on Earth end up meeting by chance.

Contest #39

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

694

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: