There were only 2 submissions for round 3, but they were both good. Read them both and vote for your favorite in the poll to the right.

Here's the second submission for round 3.

The Rock

by Hazen Wardle

“The little planet looking thing in the distance there,” I told my grandson, who was perched on my
knee. “That was my home. And that is me, there, on the surface of that asteroid.”

“Really?” he asked, eyes wide with wonder.

“Yep. That was house and a space-ship. They did not make very many like that. It was an experimental
model, the first with true-artificial gravity.”

“Et-sterimental” the boy parroted. “Grabity?”

“Experimental,” I corrected. “It means it was the first one. It was built for practice.”

He nodded, a look of vague understanding on his face. “And gravity, my boy, is the stuff that keeps you
stuck to the floor. If we turn it off you’d float all over the place, like a balloon.”

“That was your house?” my other grandson asked. “It looks huge!”

“Actually, it wasn’t very big at all. Your grandmother and I lived in it quite nicely for many years as
we traveled through the solar system. It was comfy for us, but we would not have had much room if
someone were to come with us.”

“Well if it was not very big, how did the gravity work?”

“That’s the neatest part about it. The ring around the outside wasn’t just for decoration or to make it
look like Saturn, though if some amateur astronomer were to view it through a telescope it may confuse
them.” I chuckled in spite of myself, but the humor was lost on the kids so continued my tale. “The ring
actually spun around the rest of the sphere. It was nuclear powered, so it could go for years and years.
The spinning generated the electricity and created the gravity.”

“How’d it do that, Grandpa?” my oldest grand-daughter asked.

“Well, you know how electricity is generated. Spinning a magnet inside a coil of wire.”

“Yes, silly. I know that. I mean how’d the spinning create gravity?”

“Ah, that’s a secret I don’t really know the answer to. Physics and gravometrics is not my area of
expertise. I just know it worked.”

“So what did you and Gramma do in it? Where did you go?”

“We went all over. We visited Earth’s moon. Jupiter, Mars, Saturn. The Asteroids.”

My oldest grandson snickered. “That must have been funny to see a mini Saturn orbiting the real one.”

“Oh, I imagine some of the space stations then orbiting Saturn thought so too.”

“So what were you doing on the asteroid?” my grand-daughter asked.

“Checking samples. We needed to refill the supply tank for the food production unit. As long as it had a
good supply of most elements and minerals, it could make nearly anything. “

“Did you find any?”

“Oh, yes. We found what we needed. I even found a small rock I later had made into a ring.”

“Is that the ring Gramma always wears? That ugly little stone?”

I smiled. I never really thought it was ugly. “That is the one. It’s made out of some really special stuff.”

My young grandson on my knee pointed at the picture in the album, indicating me in the space-suit. “If
that is you, where is Gramma?”

I rubbed his head and chuckled. “Why, she is the one taking the picture. She wouldn’t let me go down
onto the surface of the asteroid without her. ‘There is no way I am going to stay cooped up in this thing
while you go down and have fun.’” I tried mimicking her voice but did a terrible job at it.

All the kids laughed. “Gramma? In a space suit? That I gotta see. Do you have a photo that?”

“Yes, it’s around here somewhere.” I answered, flipping through the photo album. “Ah yes, here we go.”
I pointed out a group of astronauts, each decked out in flight gear and a helmet tucked under one arm.

“That’s Gramma? But Gramma has white hair!”

“Silly boy. Of course that is Gramma. She was young once, and she had flaming red hair to boot.”

“She’s perty,” my littlest granddaughter commented. “That’s right, sweetie” I responded, rubbing her
hair affectionately.

Ignoring the mushy stuff, one of my grandsons jumped back to the photo at hand. “So what did you find
on the asteroid?”

“Ah, yes.” I leaned back and laced my hands behind my head.

“Well?” he pushed anxiously.

“We got the mineral supply we desperately needed, if that’s what you mean.”

“But…you got something else didn’t you?” I just grinned. He grinned back before coaxing it out of
me. “Come on, Granpa, tell us. What did you and Gramma find?”

“It was just after she took this picture,” I answered, pointing at the photograph. She had just jumped
from the ship and was in the process of landing. You see, the suits we wore could do that in light gravity,
easily go to and from the ship. We couldn’t land on Earth. The gravity alone would kill us if re-entry
didn’t burn us up first.”

“So what happened, Grandpa? What did you find?” one of the girls asked.

“Believe it or not, this little rock had a cave. It wasn’t a cave in the traditional sense. It was more of a
hole in the ground. Drilled into the face of the rock by a smaller asteroid. She stumbled upon it, well,
nearly into it actually. She had to hop over it, but that was easy as this little rock had very little gravity.
She reversed jets on her pack to keep from floating away, and the hollered for me to come check it out
with her.”

“Did a monster jump out at you, Granpa? Were you scared?”

“Nah. We weren’t scared. Maybe we should been, but we were young and reckless. But it didn’t matter
at the time, thankfully.”

“So what happened?”

“It was a gold mine.”

“Gold, Granpa?”

“Well, not actually gold…” I was stringing them along, drawing it out.

“Not gold?” the little girl asked.

“Nah. We found two things. One was a new mineral. Gilsonarium-that’s what’s on your Grandmother’s
ring. The first piece of it from the rock. They use the stuff in star drives now.”

“And the other?”

“Diamonds. Lots and lots of big diamonds…” I made a motion with my hands as if holding a basketball.

Here's the first submission for round 3. Sort of a mind bender.

Lonely

Tom J. Ferguson
 

  I finally made it! After three years of intense training and preparation, and then another two years in flight at ninety-nine point nine percent of light speed- so fast that relative and actual time are different- I finally made it. I had been in flight for what seemed like two years to me. A couple hundred- thousand centuries had passed in real time back home on Earth, which is fine by me. The only family I had was an abusive father who drove away any friends I ever made. By the time I got home, four hundred thousand centuries or more will have passed for Earth, while only six years passed for me. I would be here for two years, then Universal Aeronautics and Space Administration would give me another assignment. If I can help it, I will never return to Earth again. I was excited to be here, even though there is not much to see besides one frozen gas planet with no star to orbit. It just kinda drifted through space over the eons until it got here about a century ago. Where is here you might ask? That is a great question. The answer is that ‘here’ is the defined edge of space. For thousands of years on Earth, and even throughout the galaxy, the accepted theory was that there was no edge to space. It just continued on forever. But the truth is, there is actually an edge. And there is this really strange force-field there. Using modern imaging technology, UASA has been able to map this barrier completely. It encompasses the entire universe. We now know a definite size of the universe. If we say that one Galactic Measurement Unit, or GMU, is one-hundred thousand light-years, then we can use that to give a size of the universe. It is over nine-hundred trillion GMU’s across. It is a perfect cube, so that is a pretty accurate measurement. Freaking huge, isn’t it? Well, anyway, my job here is to collect molecular samples of any form from the force-field, or energy samples if there is no molecular structure, and figure out what it is made of. Seems simple enough, right? Yeah, nothing is ever as it seems. If it was really as easy as collecting a sample, and analyzing it, we would already know what it was made of. For some reason, our scanners and analyzers always show that there is nothing there. The programs always ask us to put a sample in, and so we try again, and it still shows nothing. We do know something is there, though, because even a G-bomb (a nuclear weapon powerful enough to destroy an entire galaxy with one blast) had no effect on it. It hit it, and detonated, but did nothing to it, and neither the shock wave nor the blast went beyond the barrier. It just kinda absorbed it. It was weird. I have analyzed that data over and over again. So, they sent me out here to try and figure it out. Apparently, I am UASA’s top physicist, which many people find hard to believe, considering my age. I am seven years old. By Earth standards that is. If we take away my space travel and assume that I’d never left Earth, I’d be seven. But I understand physics better than anyone else in the universe. You know the Energetic Bend technique? Where you take a beam of light and make it bend without using any physical barriers? No machines, no prisms, nothing like that. Just the light itself. It was me that discovered that. I figured out that if you understand physics at enough of an advanced stage, you can manipulate light simply by whispering to it. Almost like controlling it with your mind. You can summon it. You can command it. It turns out that light itself is a living thing. Weird, huh? You just have to know how to talk to it. People think it’s amazing when I walk into a room, and command all the light to condense into a small orb the size of a golf ball, and to stay there, and stay visible, but not to cast the light outward. It is like looking at a yellow golf ball in the exact center of a dark room, and that is all that is visible. I tired to explain this, but no one understands. At any rate, everyone thinks that if anyone can figure this out, I can. And I intend to. I want to try something. I am stepping off the shuttle that just landed on the barrier. I am standing in my space suit on the barrier. I am walking away from the shuttle. I am looking up at the weird, starless planet. I am kneeling down.
“Hello. I am Allison,” I whisper to the barrier.
“Hello, Allison,” It whispers back.
“How are you?” I ask it.
“I am good,” It responds.
  It feels shy. No one has ever spoken to it before.
“Are you lonely?” I ask it.
“Yes. No other creature besides you understands me. The race that created me went extinct billions of eons ago,” It says.
“Are there others like you?” I ask.
“No. I am the only Universe there is. My creators were going to create another one, but they went extinct before they could. They used the last of their energy to create me,” It tells me.
“I am sorry. I know what it is like to be alone,” I tell it.
“Indeed you do, Allison. You are the last of that race. Sleeping for billions of eons, finally awake,” It tells me.

There are 3 great submissions for round 2 and a new poll to choose the best story. I'll be posting a new image for round 3 shortly.

Here's the 3rd submission for round 2. Enjoy.

There’s no Place like Haven

by Samuel T. Cogley

“Holy crap, Gary! What happened down there?” Garland Bothwell was jolted awake by his wife’s voice as her image flickered on the screen.
“Oh..Honey..It’s a long story. You must be hearing all kinds of crazy stuff on the news.”
“Did the boys make out alright?”
“Yeah, I was the last one out. I cut it pretty close. I think my shuttle got it’s tail singed a little.” Gary began to recount the tale of his family’s escape from the settlement on the planet below. The day had started out normal enough. The alarm clock woke him up at 8:00 am with the news broadcast. He liked to listen to the stories from Earth since his family left nearly a year ago. It was such a contrast from the life they had made on Kepler 484c, or Haven as it was locally known. The boys should have been out checking the moisture level in the fields by this time. As he began to sip his orange juice, he got a call from his oldest boy, Max.
“Dad! You there?”
“Yeah, Max. What’s up?”
“Switch your news to the local broadcast. Something weird is going on. Dewey and I are headed back to the house now.” Gary called up the local broadcast, but all that was playing was an evacuation order on repeat.
“This is not a drill. This is an actual emergency. Proceed to evacuation shuttles for immediate departure.” The message continued to repeat as Gary ran from the kitchen to his office and brought up the local news net. The headline filled the screen. “Reclaimer ships sighted in orbit. Evacuation in progress.” Gary noticed the time stamp was several hours ago. They would be planet-side by now. He disconnected the computer core unit and slid it into the back of his portable smart pad, then he made for the front door. Max called again. “Dad! We’re pulling into the yard. Where are you?!”
“I’m headed out the front door.” He looked to the North as he came out and saw something on the horizon. It was a Reclaimer ship, and it wasn’t wasting any time. “Max! We gotta go now!” Gary exclaimed as he jumped into the farm truck.
“Who are the Reclaimers, Dad?” asked Dewey.
“Environmental extremists.” said Gary. “They oppose any off-Earth settlement. They use those giant ships to remove anything man-made. The irony is that they do more damage than settlers ever would.” Dewey looked out the back window. The mammoth ship was ripping out fence posts and irrigation conduits at the edge of the farm with an intense yellow beam. “I didn’t know they had left the Sol system.”
“Is Mom still up at the station?”
“As far as I know. I hope she stayed there when the Reclaimer ships were sighted in orbit.”
Dewey and Gary looked back again to see the tractor that was in the yard being pulled up by the yellow beam. The house was next. Gary was glad he had taken his computer core.
“What about the settlers defense corps?” Max asked.
“They are spread pretty thin, and Haven is relatively new settlement. They‘ll get here, but it may not be soon enough. Dang! I hope your mother stayed put.” Max hit the accelerator hard enough to throw them back in their seats. The family was headed to a shuttle hangar on the other side of the mesa near the power station. The other farmers in the area would be headed there as well. Gary had an idea. If the Reclaimers were slowed down, maybe the defense corps would have a chance at stopping them.
“There’s the shuttle hangar. Looks like the McDaniel’s are there already.” said Max.
“Good for them.” thought Gary. Max stopped the truck at the hangar door and the boys got out.
“Dad! Come on!” yelled Dewey.
“Here, take the computer core. There’s something I have to do. I’ll follow you guys up in the last shuttle. Jump in with the McDaniel’s. They should have room.” Gary got into the driver seat and floored it, leaving the two boys standing there. He looked into the rear view mirror and saw them boarding the shuttle with Bob McDaniel.”Thanks Bob.” whispered Gary. The power station was just ahead, and the behemoth Reclaimer ship was roughly a mile away. “This is going to be close.” Gary muttered to himself. He had helped install this power reactor when the farms were established. The Reclaimer ship was sure to rip it up, and a reactor overload could do some heavy damage to it. The power station was automated, with a control room near the entrance. The farmers maintained it, so Gary had the codes in his smart pad to get in and access the computer. He cranked the output to full and routed the power stream back into the reactor. Then he made for the exit. The long dark shadow of the reclaimer ship blanketed the station as Gary jumped back in the truck and took off for the hangar. He pulled up to the hangar, ran inside and saw Bernie Garth and his family boarding the last shuttle.
“Gary! Get in here. We have room!” Bernie yelled. Gary boarded the shuttle and closed the hatch.
“Punch it, Bernie!” The shuttle rumbled as it left the hangar, and Gary buckled himself into the last remaining seat.
“What were you doing by yourself? Where are Allison and your boys?” asked Bernie.
“Allie is up on the station, and the boys made it out with the McDaniel’s. I had to leave a little treat for that Reclaimer ship.”
“The power station?”
“Yep. It should be gobbling it up just about now. Things could get a little bumpy.”
“It’s going down, alright. Hold on.” The gigantic ship plowed into the ground, and the shock wave rocked the shuttle violently. Bernie hit the throttle and the ride smoothed out. Gary relaxed and began to nod off as the shuttle left the atmosphere. It was then that his smart pad screen lit up and Allison’s face appeared.
“Holy crap, Gary! What happened down there?”

Second submission for round 2.

Illusion of Paradise

Tom J. Ferguson

  Paradise. Scratch that. The illusion of paradise. That’s what it was that lured us into that hell-hole that got half my platoon killed, and another five critically wounded. I stared down at my brother, laying on the little bed in Sick Bay on the destroyer that rescued us. He was one of the five wounded. A plasma blast to the abdomen. He would be lucky to live long enough to return home. We were not accustomed to the weapons that the enemy used. They were using energy and plasma based weapons that cut through our armor like a hot knife through butter. Our ballistic weapons are effective on them, too, as they consider ballistic weapons to be so primitive that they have no practical defense against them. I stared down at my little brother. He was asleep for the time being, as the doctor had recommended. He was so young, barely eighteen years old. This was his first combat deployment, and we were returning home from it, victorious, though just barely. Our ship had been crippled during our original battle near Tikkomon Seven, and it had been limping home. We had gone off course, and passed a lush, green planet. As we passed, we received a transmission from the surface.

“Greetings,” The voice on the other end said, after the transmission had been translated by the ship’s computer.

“Hello. I am Captain Johnson of the USS Plymouth Rock,” Our Captain had responded.

“Captain Johnson, our satellites in your vicinity tell us your ship is crippled. Is this true?” The voice asked.

“Yes,” The Captain had responded simply.

“We will send a repair crew out. Feel free to stay on the surface of our planet, and recuperate while we repair your ship,” The voice had said.

“Not to be rude, but how do we know we can trust you? I mean, we are at war with a cunning, and ruthless enemy. How do we know you are not working for them?” Captain Johnson asked.

“It is very simple. We have no military at all. We do not fight. We are a very hospitable people, concerned with peace, and comfort. If you scan our surface, which we would welcome greatly, you will find no weaponry at all,” The voice responded.

  The Captain scanned the surface, and found nothing of concern, so we boarded the shuttles, and landed on the surface, near their main settlement, while they fixed our ship. We were told it would take a week or so, which was fine with us because it would take a couple months to get home in the condition our ship was in. It was the only surviving Earth ship from Tikkomon Seven, and our long range communications had been knocked out in the fight.

  For the first couple of days, we relaxed, and enjoyed ourselves while our ship was being repaired. On the third day though, the Tikkomonians showed up, and took us by surprise. The fighting was intense, and we suffered heavy casualties right off the bat. We ended up winning the fight, but the Tikkomonians had killed more than half of us. The entire population of the settlement was killed in the fight. We found out later that the Tikkomonians had been watching that planet, an d waiting for Earthlings to land there. They had asserted mind control over the locals, and the locals had no idea of this. I recovered the flag of the local settlement. I have it in my pack. It shows a lush green meadow, with a rusty colored mountain behind it, with a cruise liner taking off over a farm. It is a very warm, and inviting image. But everyone who lived on that planet is now dead, and the Tikkomonians are setting up an outpost there.

  “Hang in there, Jim,” I whispered to my brother, then I turned to go to the bridge of the ship. There was an officer’s meeting going on there, and as the Lieutenant of my platoon, I had to be there.

  The meeting was boring as most are, just the typical stuff that goes on. Re-supply schedule, time to arrival at Earth, troop counts, maintenance concerns and so on. After the meeting, I went back to Sick Bay.

  Ten hours later, we were in orbit of Earth. The doctor found me in my quarters, gathering up all my gear at that time.

“Lieutenant Victoria Carson?” He addressed me.

“Yeah?” I said, turning around to look at him.

“Ma’am, I am sorry to inform you that your brother, Private Jim Carson, US Marine Corps, has just passed away from his injuries sustained in combat,” The doctor said.

  My entire body filled with rage at hearing this news. I stormed out of my quarters, and to the shuttle bay. As soon as we were Earth side, I convinced my superiors to redeploy me to the Tikkomon System right away.

  I visited Jim at the morgue.

“They’ll pay for this, Jim. They’ll pay. I promise you. I will avenge you!”