And the winners are:
Winner 1: Mark Mzyk
Paradise in the Cowboy Bebop Universe
I’ve been sitting here for what seems an eternity. Green slimy mold has
grown around me, providing me with my only company. At this point in time,
it shows more life than even I have. Darkness encloses me, with only the
illumination on my face from my cigarette butt, which burned low a long
time ago. Occasionally a hardened, encrusted piece of food finds its way
to me. I eat as a matter of habit. Otherwise I lie upon my bed, watching
the mold grow upon the commode. My pillow is yellowed and harder than
rock. Sometimes the floor is more comfortable than this paper thin
mattress. They took all the springs out of it so I couldn’t use them for
malicious intent, so they claimed. I was a murderer, not a suicidal
maniac. The least they could give me is some material comforts. Maybe even
a porno mag once in a while. So much for wishful thinking.
It has been a long time since I was placed behind bars, thanks to those
damn bounty hunters. Although the woman was pretty hot, with her short
shorts. Hell, I might even enjoy my stay here in this cell, except that
stupid dog bit my hand. With this bandage I can’t even pack my cigarettes,
much less peal an orange.
I didn’t have much choice. The guards here are all bastards. They only way
to get anything is to pay them off. They only way to get money is to steal
it, or to make it legitimately. Seems like I won’t be committing any crime
for a while, so I picked choice number two. Of course, being a convicted
criminal doesn’t make life easy, so I took all I could get – a job as a
tour guide. I know my way around pretty well. Especially since I can’t go
anywhere. So I give tours of my cement block. Anybody is welcome, so long
as you donate a woolong to the cause – my bail of course. Speaking of
woolongs, I hope those bounty hunters got a small damn bounty. It would be
a shame if they made money off of me.
This sucks. My cigarette just went out. It tasted like shit anyway. Well,
come visit me. I need the company, if only so I don’t loose my sanity.
Winner 2: Moises Montenegro
Good evening gentlemen! I’ve come here to invite you all to Space Land.
You are guaranteed to have a deathly good time here. I’ll be your
tour guide here at Space Land for the duration of your stay, and I’d just
like to thank you for choosing us, the best park in the galaxy. I hope
our parking was adequate and the space jump, as I’m sure you’ve noticed,
is one of the fastest around.
Here at Space World, you can bet your bottom Woolong that your experience
here will be as wild as the legendary MadMan that seems to
loom in our park. If you’ll step this way, I can show you the Monkey
Madness Zipcrafts. The government, as fate would have it, threatened to
shut it down due to the similarities between it, and an incident with some
Eco-soldiers a while back. So come ride the Monkey Madness Zipcrafts
before it is shut down! As we go further up on our tour, I’d like to draw
your attention to the pride and joy of Space World, our roller coaster.
“Just a second folks, the animatronic parade is passing now. I can’t tell
you how many people have made the mistake of thinking they could beat that
rabbit to the crossing.”
Here we are, the pride and......hmmm. Well folks, it seems that the roller
coaster has been blown up. But wait, we have much more in store for you
here at Space world. So don’t mind that grinning levitating man behind
you, or that strange fellow with a bird on his shoulder. I highly
recommend you come back to Space World take in more of the sights and
sounds of this space dome just 5 space jumps past Ganymede.
Winner 3: Patrick Delahanty
Welcome to the headquarters of the Gate Corporation and thank you for
coming to our visitors' center to learn all about the fascinating world of
gate technology. My name is Stan Riley and I'll be your tour guide
today. If you have questions at any point during the tour, just raise your
hand. Please, no flash photography.
The first stop on the tour is our historic archives. As you all know, the
swift travel through the solar system that we all enjoy now was made
possible through the development of phase differential gates. The plans
for the gates were originally conceived by noted scientist Stephen Hawking
in 2008. In the case to your left, you can see some of his original
calculations.
By 2014, researchers at MIT had developed a working pair of miniature
gates in a laboratory. They successfully sent a computer-controlled device
from one side of the Charles River to the other in under one second. We
are proud to have this original pair of gates archived here in our
collection.
With Earth governments excited to take the next step in human evolution,
construction quickly began on the first set of gates between Earth and
Mars in 2020. It was initially intended to accelerate NASA's exploration
of the "distant planet".
Now, follow me as we move along into our memorial hall.
August 15, 2022 was the darkest day in all of human history. During
routine testing of the entry gate in Earth orbit, one of the gate's
structural supports failed. The damaged gate sent out a differential
shockwave that damaged both Earth and its moon. Earth's surface became
heavily irradiated and the victim of meteor impacts from moon fragments
which continue to this day. Billions died. Earth became nearly
uninhabitable and completion of the gate project that almost destroyed the
human race suddenly became essential for its survival. After much debate,
all the world's governments decided to put aside their differences and
work together to save the species.
When you're ready, please follow me to the next hall.
The first set of gates was finished in went into operation in 2023. The
gates brought forth a time of prosperity for everyone. Through these
"Roaring Twenties" as we've come to know them, further gate development
became essential toward expanding the human race toward
other planets and satellites. Gate technology is now a safe and essential
means of travel for over 1.2 million people each day.
On the left, you can see a map of the gate system. It reaches from Venus
to Pluto with many stops in between. We're constantly adding more gates in
order to accommodate additional traffic, especially around the busy ports
of Mars.
On the right wall, you can see a hologram demonstration of the toll
system. As a ship passes through a Toll Access Point (or "TAP") outside an
entry gate, the ship is scanned and a toll is calculated based on the
volume of the vessel. Once the toll is calculated, the appropriate amount
in Woolongs is charged to the ship's account through a secure transaction.
Speaking of Woolongs, will you all please follow me to our gift shop?
When you show your tour ticket from today's tour, you will get a 5%
discount on any purchases. Thank you for visiting the Gate Corporation
headquarters. Have a safe trip home...we'll make sure you do. |
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