Goonstation Spooktober Mini-Contest 1 Voting Phase

[Studenterhue]

Greetings, amateur authors, I hope you didn't die after writing the scant few words you wrote and read. We're now in the voting phase of the three-sentence Goonstation horror story minicontest.. We've a nice 25 entries here, so that means a quarter of you are walking away as winners.

Each entry is assigned a number in the poll, and every user has six (6) votes to cast towards their favorites! The poll will automatically close after 7 days.

As a reminder, the top six winners will get the "Too Cool" medal, which basically unlocks a emote. With the medal, you can type :shelterbee: in OOC to send an emote of the lil' critter and can use the medal rewards menu to create a shelterbee "flying chat" element that floats above your head for a short while.

All other participants will receive the "Fun Times" medal which allows them, as a ghost, to turn into a living participation ribbon which they can stick onto players or objects!

Without further ado, here are the entries, randomized (i.e. not in order of submission). Some have been edited for spelling. Please let me know if there are any issues.

1. I called the shuttle after a long and chaotic round in an adventure zone as the research director.
   
   "CentCom has received reports of unusual activity on the station. The shuttle has been returned to base as a precaution, and will not be usable."

2. Spooktober night, station's alight, hardly a soul is 'ere;
   From the maint dark, omni-t trots, and gives me the warning;
   It's coming, RUN!

3. Jack awoke from Cryo, All should be fine.
   Then came a voice, great and matcho.
   Jack knew then, that it was his death time.

4. You suck the fluids out of Roman Aramov!
   *beep*
   NEX-13 - AI: Salutations.

5. I approached the clown and told them to watch out for the Changeling.
   They say, "Trust me, I'm not MONKEYKING around", as they drag their monkey companion up.
   I Laugh, the Clown Laughs, the Monkey Laughs.

6. It was a dark shift in the Oshan chemistry, when research director Reeve Stambo was taking an inspection tour in an empty laboratory. Next to a crater there was a chemdispenser, somehow still functional, and when the RD had a closer look he was filled him with an unspeakable terror: Spoiler!

   for it had the longest chemgroup ever created!

7. Exiting cryo, he looked around puzzled, welcoming him was not the buzzing of comms, or the squeakiness of clown shoes sprinting down the hall, nor the detective unloading lethals into a crewman. It was distant mechanical whirling which met him; it was sounds of harsh beeps and scratches... it was inhuman scuffling along the tight corridors of maintenance. The eyes of the dead watched carefully, if only they were the only ones.

8. "The escape shuttle is en route."
   yawns
   yawns

9. The blood-soaked medical bay, strewn with dragged corpses and the stench of rot.
   To whirring sounds of blending organs and splintering bone, a jaded doctor saws through her seventh skull this shift.
   Another freshly ejected clone weakly drops to the cold floor.

10. "He bolted himself inside command, thinking it'd keep me out. No one could get in to save him."

11. I deftly run through the sprawling maze of maintenance tunnels, ducking and diving under pipes and throwing myself over railings. This is my kingdom, where I thrive, I’m not going to let some lowly officers get in the way of me and the captain’s All Access Card. I duck into a nearby locker, “Masterfully Executed” I think to myself as a pair of security officers run past my locker.
    
    *Bwoink* Hey, got a second?

12. The Head of Security ordered a lockdown on station. Everyone was to return to their posts until the shuttle arrived. That's strange, I thought as their desiccated body rolled out of a locker.

13. They sounded happy...
    The sounds of squeeks and horn honking down the hall...
    but when i turned the corner, all i could see was a puddle of blood...

14. "What a lovely and calm day!"
    "Huh? What's that noise?"
    Honk!

15. Oh that's fine I'll just call the Port-a-Sci.
    ...
    Who has the Port-a-Sci remote?

16. The fabricator beeped, showing it lacked conductive material for a multitool. Puzzled, the material-clueless scientist glanced at the ingredients for power cells. With a sigh, he swiped his card, put in his PIN, and paid for three chunks of erebite.

17. The Head of Security was late to his shift. Polishing his badge, he stepped out of the shuttle and hopefully into a quiet station.
    
    The radio chorus of "Oh, thank god." immediately told him he was stepping into Hell.

18. Staffie: ''Hey roboticist, can I get some cool robot arms?''
    Roboticist: ''Ah sure, just hop on the table.''
    You can't remember much what happened after that, but you awake in a new body, with the need to listen to every command.

19. I sat at the bar with a friend enjoying a good schmooze.
    Felt a prick on my skin and the world started spinning - did I take booze?
    Vision swimming and my friend's face oozing; I fell down for a final snooze.

20. For sale, clown shoes, never worn.

21. The staff assistant was blissfully unaware of the clown walking
    squeak squeak squeak
    Before the staffie had time to react the clown had already won

22. The station was in shambles, and I was too. Though I was glad when I got to see my friend again, we couldn't bear being alone.
    
    Now we are one.

23. One, two janitors
    Go by as I spin around.
    My stomach spews.

24. The escape shuttle has been called.
    Revolutionary activity has been detected on station.
    Knock knock knock, "AI door".

25. A little mouse squeaks audibly behind you! You turn to pick up the cute little mouse to put it in your pocket.
    
    That's funny, you don't remember mentor mice being that shade of pinkish red....

[Studenterhue]

Voting's closed. Here are our winners:

Our 1st place winner is Aft2002, with this entry about  a changeling getting a startling message:

You suck the fluids out of Roman Aramov!
*beep*
NEX-13 - AI: Salutations.

2nd place goes to jan.antilles, who submitted a story about a strange little mouse:

A little mouse squeaks audibly behind you! You turn to pick up the cute little mouse to put it in your pocket.

That's funny, you don't remember mentor mice being that shade of pinkish red....

At 3rd place  is a story from ItsNotAnInsideJoke about an innocent question...

Oh that's fine I'll just call the Port-a-Sci.
...
Who has the Port-a-Sci remote?

Our 4th, 5th, and 6th place winners all got the same amount of votes, seven, funnily enough. They include Mexicat/Cal,Chayot, and FireMoose/Splints

The Head of Security was late to his shift. Polishing his badge, he stepped out of the shuttle and hopefully into a quiet station.

The radio chorus of "Oh, thank god." immediately told him he was stepping into Hell.

"He bolted himself inside command, thinking it'd keep me out. No one could get in to save him."

The Head of Security ordered a lockdown on station. Everyone was to return to their posts until the shuttle arrived. That's strange, I thought as their desiccated body rolled out of a locker.

Congrats to those six. As for prizes, y'all will get the "Too Cool" medal soon. In addition, I'm pleased to announce that Gannets is still able to provide stickers. If you are one of those six above, message Gannets (Gannets#3235) and tell 'im what sticker you want and your shipping details. You can see here for the current stock of stickers to choose from.

As for everyone else who didn't place in 1st-6th, y'all will still get the "Fun Times" medal as a sort of participation award.

Medals will be handed out shortly. If it's been a few days, and you haven't gotten your medal, don't be afraid to adminhelp about it.

In the meantime, there's another on-going Spooktober mini-contest. Now that you've gotten yourself in the Spooktober mood with some short but sweet stories, how about we start decorating the station with spooky decorations?