Unexpected visit / Una visita inesperada - The Ink Well Prompt #37

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Imagen de Moon Wolf Braga en Pixabay

This is my entry for The Ink Well Prompt #37: jack-o-lantern

The day had passed uneventfully and the evening was sure to be very entertaining. Fortunately, comrade Ivan had brought a pumpkin, we couldn't start celebrating without having at least one jack-o'-lantern; Kayla and Raja had made some costumes with the few materials they had, in my opinion, they had done an excellent job; the zombie and the mummy looked convincing enough unlike the rubber werewolf mask Ivan was wearing.

The night was as quiet as usual, perhaps at another time, we would not have been so surprised when we heard a knocking at our door. It was normal, for the date, for children and young people to do it for candy; but in space, hundreds of miles away from earth, that sound made the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.

"Captain, was it my imagination, or did something just knock on our hatch?" questioned Ivan's thick voice in his rough accent.

Small spiders made of wires and paper bats floated everywhere, bouncing against the walls of the space station.

"Possibly it was some gasket or the CO2 pipe," Raja mentioned scratching behind his ear.

It was clear that I wasn't the only one with the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. Small lights flickered on and off over the control panel, nothing to be alarmed about.

"Run a routine scan on the life support systems," I ordered Raja.

"Right away, Captain."

Again the knocking sounded over the hatch but this time, loud and clear.

"I'll take a look, maybe it's the pizza I ordered 6 months ago," Kayla warned with a forced smile, as she floated in the direction of the spaceship's hatch.

We were undoubtedly a little worried, perhaps anxious at the time, but more frightening was the Chinese cosmonaut when he saw Lieutenant Kayla peering out of the window with a green face, full of warts and pustules.

It took more than 6 hours of communication to convince the Xian-Zhu shuttle crew that we were in good health and that we were only celebrating a traditional holiday.

See you next time...




Esta es mi entrada para The Ink Well Fiction Prompt #35: calabaza de Halloween

El día había transcurrido sin novedad y la noche aseguraba ser muy entretenida. Por fortuna, el camarada Ivan había traído una calabaza, no podíamos comenzar a celebrar sin tener por lo menos un jack-o'-lantern; Kayla y Raja habían confeccionado unos disfraces con los pocos materiales que disponían, a mi parecer habían hecho un excelente trabajo; el zombie y la momia se veían lo suficientemente convencibles a diferencia de la máscara de goma de hombre lobo que usaba Ivan.

La noche estaba tan silenciosa como de costumbre, quizás en otro momento no nos habríamos sorprendido tanto cuando escuchamos unos golpes en nuestra puerta. Era normal, para la fecha, que niños y jóvenes lo hicieran por dulces; pero en el espacio, a cientos de kilómetros de distancia de la tierra, ese sonido ponía los pelos de punta.

“Capitán, ¿Fue mi imaginación o acaban de tocar en nuestra escotilla?”, cuestionó la voz gruesa de Ivan en su tosco acento

Pequeñas arañas hechas con cables y murciélagos de papel flotaban por doquier, rebotando contra las paredes de la estación espacial.

“Posiblemente fue alguna junta o la tubería de CO2”, mencionó Raja rascándose detrás de la oreja

Era evidente que yo no era la única con los pelos de la nuca erizados. Pequeñas luces se encendían y apagaban sobre el panel de control, nada para alarmarse.

“Haz un escaneo de rutina en los sistemas de soporte vital”, ordené a Raja

“De inmediato, capitán”

Nuevamente sonaron los golpes sobre la escotilla pero esta vez, fuertes y claros.

“Echaré un vistazo, quizás sea la pizza que pedí hace 6 meses”, advirtió Kayla con una sonrisa forzada, mientras flotaba en dirección hacia la compuerta de la nave espacial.

Era indudable que estábamos un poco preocupados, quizás ansiosos en el momento, pero mayor fue el susto que se llevó el cosmonauta chino al ver asomarse a la teniente Kayla por la ventanilla con la cara verde, llena de verrugas y pústulas.

Hicieron falta más de 6 horas de comunicación para convencer a la tripulación del transbordador Xian-Zhu que gozamos de completa salud y que solamente festejábamos una fiesta tradicional.

Hasta la próxima.



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2 comments
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Thank you for posting this Halloween story with a surprise ending on @theinkwell, @jadams2k18

We also appreciate the comments to the posts from fellow writers.

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This is a very clever space/Halloween prank. It's hard to come up with original ideas about Halloween. It seems sometimes it's all been said. You pull off a new angle here. I really respect originality.

Good job!

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