Opening Communication

I came back into the ship with a rock from the surface to find an alien looking at the computer. I dropped the container, causing the alien to spin around.

After a moment, it reached out and knocked twice on the table. “Blorancia”, I think it said.

Table? Two? Knocking?

I went to the display and pointed at the map. “Earth”, I tried.

But maybe I said round, or blue, or even display monitor, far as it could know.

We both reached for the rock, forgetting it was extremely hot.

“Ouch!” “Gronak!”

It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

The Speech

Twelve thousand and fifty-seven people listened to the speech.

A young man near the front was transfixed, and afterwards, he dedicated his life to live up to the ideals the speech giver argued for.

One man near the back fell asleep, and got into a fierce argument with his partner afterwards.

And a small girl in attendance would grow up to disagree with most of the arguments put forth, but the way the speech respected its opposition, that she strode to replicate in her life.

Twelve thousand and fifty-six people would remember the speech forever. One man, the argument afterwards.

Site News: Contest Entries

Just a heads up, today and tomorrow's Drabbles were entries into a global contest that I obviously didn't win, since believe me, you'd have heard me explode with delight had I done so. Since the contest is now over I can post them on here, and then maybe post a follow up Drabble on Saturday, maybe.

Now taking you back to your regularly scheduled Drabbles.