75 WORD CHALLENGE - December 2011 -- HareBrain Victorious!

[chrispenycate]

O Teknibaum, O Teknibaum…

The fir trees of her majesty
Are needle dropping light traps.
So, for our town house Christmassy,
Mechanical, a metal tree
Sways without breeze, synthetic'ly
Where candles can't ignite wraps.

The firebox heats our waking hours
And gets the chestnuts popping.
It blazes forth in candlepowers,
O'er heaps of presents overtowers,
I think the children it devours,
And steals the Christmas shopping.

[Culhwch]

The Toymaker

The heart-shaped locket opened to reveal a perfect miniature butterfly, its fragile mother-of-pearl wings beating with the rhythm of clockwork.

‘Truly, it is a wonder.’

‘Please, I made it for my daughter. She…’

‘The Emperor has forbidden all mechanicks. He trusts nothing that doesn’t use simple, comprehensible magic.’

‘It’s just a toy.’

‘It is heresy.’ The serjeant dropped the locket to the ground and crushed it beneath his heel. ‘Kill him.’

[anhalo]

The professors new toy

“Ha!” said Professor Pickwick with glee, “My new toy!”

He spun around, snatching the cover off his latest creation.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” he snapped, eyes glinting… “It’s the future!”

“I still don’t get…” I mumbled, but then it struck me… “It’s Great!” I shrieked.

Just at that moment a puff of black smoke bellowed from the device…

“It might need some more work though” said the professor, wiping his goggles.

[Boneman]

Need Revisited

“What’s this?”

“My latest toy. Animated, heuristic, self-repairing – should last for ages.”

“What’s wrong with all the others?”

“They’re boring.”

“You’ve only made one?”

“Ah, you can take parts from this one to make others – there are spare bits inside. Please can I go and play with it in the garden?”

“What do you call it?”

“Adaptable Digital Automaton Model.

“Okay, but don’t let it out of your sight. And watch out for snakes.”

[TheDustyZebra]

Cinder Klaas


Elves wait on the rooftop, anxious minutes too long.

“He's lost power again.”

“This new engine was a bad idea.”

Down the chimney they go. The big guy is halted mid-cookie. Opening a door in his back, they stoke his fire. Belly shakes, cheeks go rosy, he puffs steam.

“Ho ho ho!”

He resumes filling stockings.

“Thanks, guys! Save all that coal for me. Tonight it's toys for everyone, and a Merry Christmas to all!”

[Moonbat]

Build your own

Dear Santa

This Christmas please may can I have:

3 metres of copper tubing

Valves, Cogs and Chains (various sizes)
Springs (helical, balance, coiled)
Pressure Gauge
15 small Marbles
Fishing hooks
Mongoose Pelt
Brass block
Gas welder
Welding gloves and (Mummy insists) goggles

I promise I've been good this year, sorry about the incident with Molly Parlour's rabbit, it was an accident (though I did learn about explosives).

From
Sebastian Kean

[Bob Senior]

GUMPTION

It showed all the signs of being the worst Christmas ever, but Grandma wouldn't let it happen. She sheared the sheep, she traded preserves for stove-pipe wire and steel wool. She spun the wool, wire and steel wool into a strong metallic yarn. By morning she had knit a toboggan for me, a doll perambulator for Amy and a velocipede for Billy. She also knit coats for the sheep, but they didn't like them.

[Perpetual Man]

A Christmas Miracle

They called the toymaker scrooge.

He denied Christmas, spent it alone and cold.

They did not know.

But the Angel did.

Decades before his son had died. Five years old, disease ridden on Christmas day.

She had gathered his soul.

He made his so-called toy of metal, of hot coals and oil, pistons and valves; when the cold steel boy came to life, the Angel slid that soul home and Christmas came alive again.

[alchemist]

From Prussia With Love



I want to fly an airship, Daddy. Just like you.

George pushed the propellor on with a shaking hand, remembering Johnny's words.

"You have to leave now, sir" Sanders said. "The paratroopers are strapped in."

"Just a second." George placed the toy into its box and handed it to Sanders. They shook hands.

"Good luck, sir."

Mouth dry, George nodded. Johnny would get to fly an airship -- he prayed he would live to see it.

[Teresa Edgerton]

THE MICE WILL PLAY

Christmas Eve: The clockwork mice come to life. Scritch, scritch, scritch, they cross the floor on tiny metal feet, copper, brass, and iron.

It is difficult climbing the chair where the inventor dozes to the gentle wheeze of his machines. On the table, mice scatter cogs, wheels, pinions. They chew, with their sharp metal teeth, the leaves of an open book.

Come Christmas morning to delight the children ... there will be no mechanical cat.

[Ursa major]

Shrovetide Fair

I’m born to drumming, to the smell of oil. Entranced by Ballerina’s steamy beauty, I dance.

I’m thrown into a dismal cell. Ballerina follows, but she rejects my entreaties. She loves Moor, his riches.

He shall die!



Moor’s too big. To Ballerina’s deafening screams, I escape. Revellers, bears and gypsies, all flee my clanking and hissing.

One blow from Moor’s scimitar. Not a day old, I expire in a pool of my own boiling water.


.

[mosaix]

Steam Me Up Scotty…


Bubbling, hissing, grating gears, clattering valves, a whiff of naphtha.

“Doris, can’t you keep the lad quiet? Not much to ask after a shift downt’ pit.”

“Your own fault, getting him that Mekkano set, and if you’d just stop reading and give him some attention…”

Clanking, rumbling, a barely audible ‘pop’, then silence…

Pa lowered his paper. The wall of a crater cut across the bright orb of Saturn hanging in a black sky.

[The Judge]

NURSERY CRIME


Rag doll wept.

In the shadows of the nursery, steam hissed, cogs whirred and span.

The train had been first to transform – the thrill of real motion too beguiling to refuse. Then the tin soldiers, marching to the motorised drum. Rocking horse, jack-in-the-box, even teddy – all now automatons under his control.

He wouldn’t rest till the world was covered in machines.

Softness, comfort, love. All would be lost. Unless...

She picked up his clockwork gun.

[Ursa major]

The Challenge is closed. Excellent job everyone! You've met the challenge.

The poll will be along shortly.