The Friday Challenge - 10/9/09

Three of you took advantage of my sleeping habits, coming in after the deadline but before I woke up. And they say people don't read directions any more! Every one of the entries with "drop.io" next to it in parenthesis is found at the Friday Challenge Drop. The link takes you to the login page. Enter the guest password ("challenge") and you'll have access to all of the entries. You can also leave comments for each of the documents, though please also post critiques and votes in the comments section here.

torainfor - Chapter 28 (drop.io)

Vidad - Death Street 17: The Circle Tightens

Arisia - The Guitar (drop.io)

Al - Nicky Weird: Harvest Moon

The Bandit - The Procedure (drop.io)

Ben El - Unseen World (drop.io)

As always, even if you haven't submitted an entry this week—even if you never submit an entry in any week—you're invited to read, comment on, and vote for your favorite. Don't be shy about leaving feedback on the authors' sites, either. Writers thrive on knowing that someone out there is actually reading their words. The winner will be announced on Sunday.

And now for this week's challenge.

"The Greenspace Press Release"

---

With water a precious commodity for the moon colony, there was great excitement when vast water fields were discovered beneath the Sea of Tranquility. Hopes of finally breaking free of the Earth's control over their water supply excited Lunies through out the colony. Then, disaster! Just as Hydro Unlimited, the lunar corporation formed to exploit the lunar water supply was about to start drilling, the ecology group Greenspace found a judge on Earth who issued an order to halt the drilling.

"We at Greenspace," a spokesman told reporters, "are always in the forefront of the ecological movement! I am pleased to announce we were able to put a stop to the drilling plans in the Sea of Tranquility. The moon's fragile ecosystem is safe for now, but we must be ever vigilant against corporate plans to despoil such pristine land!"

"Excuse me," called the reporter from the Friday Challenge, "but you spoke of the moon's fragile ecosystem. What, exactly, are you referring to?"

"Why, the vast tropical rain forests that-" the spokesman said before being interrupted by an aid. A hasty, whispered conversation took place, during which the spokesman could be heard saying, "What? Not a single tree?" before turning back to the reporters.

"Ahem. Sorry for the interruption. As I was saying, we wish to stop the spread of air pollution on-" The spokesman was again interrupted by the aid. Another whispered conversation occurred, during which the spokesman was heard saying, "No air? Well how do those loonies survive?" before, once again, turning back to the reporters.

"Ah, I... That is, Greenspace will be releasing an official press release concerning the fragile lunar ecosystem once our marketing peo- um, I mean once our team of lunar scientists finishes writing it. Uh, so we'll have an idea as to how technical we can be without losing any of you, how many of you reporters actually took any science classes in college?"

The reporter from the Friday Challenge raised his hand, noting he was the only reporter to do so.

"Ah, good. And how many of you majored in journalism?" the spokesman asked.

This time, the Friday Challenge reporter was the only one who did not raise his hand.

"Excellent!" beamed the spokesman. "We'll make sure all of you receive a copy of the report."

As the reporter from the Friday Challenge turned away, he overheard his fellow reporters voicing concern for the thinning lunabou herds and cute lunar bear cubs.

The Challenge: Write the official Greenspace press release. The release should be fairly short and to the point, no more than 1000 words. Please don't let actual science get in the way of your imagination. I can promise you the marketing team at Greenspace won't.