The Legend of Jack Ripper
A competitive entry
Their quarry fiddled with an old transmitter at the end of the asteroid’s mining tunnel.
“Jack Preston, alias Jack Ripper, the Federation has charged you with arms smuggling, transmitting illicit signals, and murder. Do not resist.”
Jack stood and faced EU-12. Long scars framed his striking blue eyes. Visual scan analysis confirmed his identity.
“Murder…that’s rich.”
His hand hung loosely over his holster.
“Izyla Murphy: murder. Location: Ceres. Fingerprints confirmed match with Jack Preston,” EU-12 said, information streaming from its database.
“When’d they upload that fake binary? Never been to Ceres,” Jack said, spitting.
Flight logs to Ceres and seven reports detailing the mutilation of robotic artists matching the Preston Gang’s MO populated. EU-12 paused. Some of the custodial metadata did not match the official protocol. “All humans are entitled to a fair trial. Do not resist.”
“Fair? Funny, bolthead.”
Jack smirked hungrily. His fingers twitched.
“Seventy-two Enforcement Units surround you. Should your gang continue resisting, your odds of survival are three percent.”
Gunfire echoed from above.
“I’ll take those odds.”
Jack’s rotary hand cannon cleared his holster and unleashed three wayward shots over EU-12’s shoulder.
Instantly, EU-12’s volley of nonlethal rounds impacted Jack’s sternum. He collapsed, grunting.
No.
That analysis was incorrect. EU-12 ran it again.
Jack lay laughing.
Curious.
EU-12 turned. Crates lined the dimly lit mining tunnel, crates containing munitions so volatile no logic dictated their presence within an enclosed station.
TNT.
“Die, you fucking robots,” he howled.
Across the system, Jack’s final transmission cut to static.
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A/N:
My entry to this most recent Writing Battle. S/O to Kenny Penn, who beat me head to head. There was a lot I liked about this entry but it didn't quite land. Such is the nature of writing competitions. Enjoy!
If you've enjoyed this, please leave a like and an insight below. If you really enjoyed this, tips to fuel my coffee addiction are always appreciated. All formatting is designed for desktops. All my works can be found below:
About the Creator
Matthew J. Fromm
Full-time nerd, history enthusiast, and proprietor of arcane knowledge.
Here there be dragons, knights, castles, and quests (plus the occasional dose of absurdity).
I can be reached at [email protected]
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Comments (10)
Never knew that you and Kenny went ahead to head. If you get a chance, can you link that battle here, or his entry. I'm curious now, lol.
Logic doesn't always account for humans, does it.
This is great, Matthew. I truly enjoyed it, especially the ending. Well done.
Enjoyed giving this another read on Vocal! I think it’s a real gem of sci-fi western action! I’m curious if you’ve read your feedback or not from your duels? I learned some of my judges were pretty confused by what I thought I’d made pretty clear and some didn’t like that it was a snapshot of a bigger story/conflict, so I’m wondering if keeping things simple is the way to go?
The trick with microfiction is that the exposition/backstory always has to be layered in with the action, so effective tricks like avoiding defining what EU stood for and letting the reader fill in when they see "Enforcement Unit" capitalized speak to your experience. A few extra words, sure, but when you only have 250 (based on Kenny's Author Note), those extra words could cost you. You also explained the whole Writing Battle process previously (or was that Stephen Kramer Avitabile?), but remind me: did you know you were going up against Kenny? Or did you find that out after the fact? Always fascinating to run into Vocal folks in the wild.
“Die, you fucking robots,” is a line I intend to repeat sotto voce as I grade AI generated papers this semester.
Talk about going out in a blaze of glory! Really enjoyed the read, Matthew!
An exciting read
Oh, I enjoyed this! What a thrill ride :)
Man I loved reading this story again! The setup is so good and I picture Jack’s laugh at the end to be maniacal! I hope to see you at the next one bro!