The SST AlterNet
Explore writing-prompt responses by character, arc, theme or available text.
Browse the collection below.
Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Commander Williams, the people of Earth will not think any less of you if you have a change of heart,” a male voice said over the radio. Bill sat in his shuttle at the edge of the gravity well. “For all intents and purp
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
Julian tapped his foot to let out his nervous energy. He sat in a small office across from the large man he hoped would be his boss, if he got the job. The man nodded to himself at various points as he read down the shee
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Your father brought you a princess, and you’re going to appreciate it. Go to your hoard, shift your scaly butt out of that stupid human form, and wait for her rescuers,” his mom said. Her large silver wings flapped at V
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Here you go, Mrs. Herrera,” Luis said. He handed the elderly woman an open jar of pickles.
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Dread, how accurate is your roar?” Bailey, the team captain, asked.
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
Robin stared out at the city park while enjoying her morning cup of coffee. She sat on the balcony of her third-story apartment and enjoyed the morning solitude. Her whole day was open, and she sighed in contentment when
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
Darklight glanced at the paper long enough to register it as a résumé, then looked up at Heli-Woman with annoyance. He gestured to the prospective henchmen & women behind her. They filed out of the ballroom he rented for
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Thanks for coming,” Mark said. He pulled a chair from a nearby table and sat next to his friend, Eddie. He invited Eddie to meet in the chain coffee shop and talk about how to increase their survivability scores.
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
Robert stepped into the Chinese restaurant and sat at his regular red and gold booth. He took a moment to admire the dragon-themed decor in the restaurant. Small dragon statues and elegant watercolor paintings dotted the
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Good morning, Student Alphas,” the teacher smiled at the small group of gathered children. 10 nine-year-olds sat in pod-shaped desks made of metal, with a transparent glass display in front of them. They wore standard w
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Alright, I’ll get that in for you,” the waitress smiled at the three men, and walked to the back. The idled in silence for a minute before Jack sighed.
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Penalty: Friendly Fire. Luchadoras, Torque,” the scoreboard announced in a deep male voice. All other skaters kept moving forward on the dirt road. Rook and Gremlin, two of the magi-knights, skated around Jenny as she s
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“A-are you serious?” Albert asked the stranger. Five minutes earlier the lean, unknown man with greased black hair knocked on his door. When Albert answered, the visitor pulled a gun from his dark coat then forced himsel
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Gloria Ybarra?” A woman with shoulder-length chestnut hair asked the room. Almost two dozen men and women sat in a bright waiting room on uncomfortable plastic chairs. The brown-haired woman stepped out of her office ev
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
"Yes!" Thinking quickly, Larry pulled into a gas station. "We're here. Out you go." The man unlocked the doors without turning off the car. The strange child locked eyes with Larry using the rear-view mirror. The etherea
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Guys, I need help with a quest,” Frank said. The 14-year-old boy sat on a metal picnic table in the school’s courtyard with his friends. Dozens of other students sat in their own groups enjoying their lunch hour.
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Traversing,” an electronic female voice said. The lights in the small room dimmed for several seconds. Paz held her breath in the dark but released it when the lights brightened to normal again. The 14-year-old girl tig
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
A dinner-plate sized black hole opened in the air next to Alan Crane’s seat. A black cat with a white fur stain atop its head stepped out of the hole and looked up at the thin, lanky man. The white splotch on its head re
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Thanks for the food, Mr. Martin,” Dread smiled at Jenny’s father after he took their order. Dread, Dirge, Jenny, and Torque sat in a green in a red booth together. The short, round man smiled at the group.
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
A dark-haired woman in a white suit approached the pale teenager sitting on the edge of a cliff. He looked 15-years-old with a black widow’s peak dipping into his forehead.
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“I hate to bother you,” Luz heard a shy voice to her right. She felt a touch on her shoulder and stopped walking to find out why. An older woman pulled her hand away from Luz’s arm. She blushed but made eye contact. “Are
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
Lupe sat atop a green pleather examination table in a cramped waiting room. Flutter, an eight-foot-tall pale woman with bright red hair that matched Lupe’s, sat in a wooden seat across from her. A sudden knock at the doo
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
Melody Klink decided to start the new year off right. She celebrated the year’s end with a bottle of wine at her girlfriend’s house. At ten past midnight on the morning of January 1st Melody gathered her courage. She exp
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“You were the only one,” Dana Sharp whispered to her assistant, her wife. Melody lay on an examination table in one of Dana’s secret labs. Metal restraints kept her in place, though she would not try to escape. She wante
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Bye grandma, I love you!” 15-year-old Matthew hugged his grandmother one last time before she got in the car.
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Go ahead,” Marie said. She handed a silver, remote-style, device to her best friend, Felipe. “Just press,” Marie pointed to a small green button on the top middle of the gadget. “that button.” Felipe nodded. He pointed
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Mr. Elwood?” A soft voice asked the burly man sitting at the bar. He turned and discovered the voice came from a pale, silver-haired woman in a dark cloak.
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“What?” Donna answered the phone with a harsh whisper. She sat in a dark, bathroom-sized storage space with her back against the closed, locked door. The only light in the room came from her phone’s flashlight. When she
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“I wouldn’t recommend that,” the well-dressed demon said. A look of concern replaced his salesman’s smile and the red glow in his eyes dimmed. Ruben smiled at the horned man in the wine-red suit.
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
A bright blue, shimmering portal opened above the sand. Elias stepped out of the portal onto the beach and took in his surroundings. The wiry 20-year-old felt relieved to see the orange rising from the water to its place
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
Jane looked out a window on the side of the house and saw the sun shining over her neighborhood. She looked at the utility hallway in front of her door where the suited man had stopped part way to wait for her.
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
Jane checked the top corner of her phone while she played a game on it. 10:43 a.m. She sat at her desk in the empty reception area and argued with herself about whether to quit or not. On the one hand, getting paid to pl
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“A word of advice, keep the light on in the attic,”
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“What did you think of your first day open?” Mrs. Sharp asked Jane. They sat in Mrs. Sharp’s office with a feast of Chinese food on the desk between them.
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Ow!” Jeff hissed from the sudden sting. He brought his hand up to make sure his finger was still attached and felt better when he saw it. He tried bending it, but the small cut proved too painful to move it very far. He
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
Margo gave a final glance up and down the road to make sure no one caught sight of her. She saw no cars in either direction and ducked into a dry canal that ran parallel to the road. She climbed out on the other bank and
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
Charlie stopped lowering himself when he found the marked brick with his flashlight. He sprayed a green ‘X’ at the spot before the crossover, to help him keep his lunch. The early 30s man shined his flashlight down at th
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
Doreen opened her eyes in a familiar room. The leather chaise under her felt comfortable and familiar, as if she’d been in the small office several times. Though she did not know where she was. She heard a door open and
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
Alex eyed the guns displayed in the window and grinned to himself. The weapons all appeared to be over-designed sci-fi props with tons of buttons and flashing LEDs. He looked deeper into the shop and saw a flaming sword
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Daily log number 18,” Clark spoke to a small translucent rectangle. He sat on the deck of his boat for the day and watched the orange sun setting under the purple sky. “Oh yeah, this is my first recorded log. I’ll go ba
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Almost!” Scott smiled and leaned all his weight back as gravity pulled him back down from the top. He watched the ground zoom backward under him and shrink while he pulled his weight upward against the chain swing. The
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Wait till you guys see this,” Thomas smiled at the other three. The sides of his mouth pulled upward. Plastic fangs protruded from his mouth and the poor lighting in the bathroom made Thomas’ white make-up look yellow.
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“Yeah, I think you got it,” Jenny said. The dark-haired girl nodded at Dread, a taller girl with white spiky hair, with an encouraging smile. “Let’s take a break.” The two girls skated to the edge of the glassy white tra
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
“His Majesty is far too busy to be bothered,” a frail man in purple robes informed Mr. Castillo. He pulled a small sack of coins from inside his robe and offered it. “However, he thanks you for your aid in the matter.” A
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
Britt yelped a high pitched scream and buried her head between her knees. She was seated directly in front of the screen when it exploded.
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
Sonia hummed to herself as she stepped out of the bathroom. She noticed a young, pale man in black jeans, maybe 16 or 17, walk into the diner and head toward a booth. She did not think much of it as she headed back to th
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
Final Entry: Day 1000.
Read the moment ↗Before Stellar Tour · unassigned stories
"I'm scared," Greg confessed. He sat in a small waiting room with his best friend, Leah. "Thanks for coming with me." Leah smiled and patted him on the back.
Read the moment ↗