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Organised by RogerDodger
Word limit 400–750
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The Last Words of Errant Dust
The comms antenna was not only grounded and dead, but also being whittled away by the harsh winds, the plastanium shredded into sparkling dust as I watched. My ship hadn't much longer to go but I huddled into the command seat and watched through the deepening haze as the dark flecks in this uncanny sandstorm etched the transparent metal; It was already too damaged to lift off and once the hull was breached I would be shredded as well without a chance to report what had happened to me on this exploratory mission to Mu Lyrae. No chance to give my husband one final message to carry solace for him and our daughter.

The ship lurched, its struts were failing. I winced as the hull was pierced and my suit and skin were shredded alike, screaming my last breath out into the alien air with its glittery black sparks... All went dark and silent.

I awoke, in some meaning of the word. I did not open my eyes, I was not breathing, I could see nothing, and all I perceived was some sort of fast movement. I do not know how long I persisted in this state, but it seemed a long time until I was able to make connections in the flow and ebb around me, connections that had meaning.

You, came words to me. You were one of thought, as we were. Why did you come here?

I could no longer breathe out my words, it took me many tries but eventually I formed connections in the flow as they were doing. I came from another world, a star in the sky, we came to learn about whatever lived here. What are you, what is the black dust in the wind?

We are now the black dust, and so are you. We built machines long ago, which got smaller and smaller, until they were unseen as atoms of the air, and then they formed the black dust that absorbed us and all else we had built so that all our works are gone and we ride the winds forever. And now it has absorbed you and never more shall you leave, you travel ever with us in the winds around the world.

I was appalled to learn this and simply floated with them for a time in silence, feeling the other minds swirling in the intrenchant air around me. We only came to explore, but those who sent me will send more after me to learn what happened, and I left behind those who will mourn me. How may I speak to them to warn them?

The winds flowed with me for a time before delivering an answer. We once had machines to talk and listen to the stars, but they are sand and dust now... There is only one way we know of. Will those who come after you look upon where you landed, before you were shredded away? If so... we shall sculpt a message where you were.

And so it went, as we drifted in the howling winds around the planet, we carved at the landscape. In the times where month drifted by as we circled the world, I taught them the letters I knew until we were in the proper place again. Pushing the sand grains into dunes, whipping them into abrasive gusts that rubbed at the sides of ancient mesas, we impressed the words into the landscape, and I was given my chance to say goodbye to all I had known as the wind carried me away from light and love forever, to roam the howling stormy skies in the company of ghosts.

“This world is ruined, send no more living missions, there is nothing to learn here except not to do it to yourselves. Take no samples lest you share our fate. The one you knew is lost and cannot return. She sends out her grief for the ones she left behind, this is her cry to them…”

“I always told you I would come back, that my love for the stars could never outweigh my love for you. I would bend time in half if I could to return and hold you in my arms again, but I am lost to this world with these words for my epitaph. When you walk in the woods at night as we used to do and look up to the sky, feel the breeze on your skin and think of me. I love you.”
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#1 ·
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Sorry, I completely forgot there was an original round going and I never voted. At least I can still leave a comment.

I like the idea here. A few minor editing issues. It's a bit rushed, and it feels like it skips two important steps. First, this astronaut learning to communicate with the natives. It just happens instantaneously, and possibly the nanomachines can essentially instantly learn his language and translate, but they why'd it take so long for her to teach them how to write it? And why are they so sympathetic to help her carve her message when it never occurred to them to do it on their own behalf? My first guess is that this is the entirety of their civilization, so there's nobody to warn, but they already acknowledged the risk to other races, so why not try to warn them as well? And second, that this is such a personal message. I had mixed feelings about that. I do understand her desire to write it, but she didn't expect her daughter would be the one coming to search for her, so it'd be indirect. I also assume they have FTL available or she was never going to see her daughter again anyway (and would have ample time to write the message—for that matter, won't she have to keep maintaining it so it doesn't erode away before they see it?). Good use of the prompt and handling of the mood.
#2 ·
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And I guess the rules changed so that you can use your own picture if it's the only possibility?