21st - 25th January 2026

[fardell24]

21st

Excerpt from: Mystery in a Small Town
It was late when the Mystery Machine arrived in the small New Hampshire town. Velma Dinkley looked at the buildings as they drove by. It didn’t look unusual.

Words: 28


Excerpt from: Small Town Mystery
Velma rolled her eyes. There was a level of creepiness she couldn’t ignore.

Words: 13

Excerpt from: An Encounter in Australia
They headed into town. The Doctor noticed the usual post-colonial troubles. ‘But is that why we’re here?’ he wondered.

Words: 19


Excerpt from: A Complication of Kes’s
The two Kes’s approached Holodeck 2.
“A Holodeck?” the younger Kes asked.

“It can be used to discretely monitor via the internal sensors,” the other Kes said.

“And you know how to do that?”

Words: 34


Excerpt from: Mysteries of Aurora
It wasn’t that long before one of her friends she was meeting arrived. She saw the other woman walk over carefully.

Words: 21


Excerpt from: Captain or Hero
It was a federal state that lay in the temperate zone of the southern hemisphere, sprawled across half a continent and most of the island chains in the ocean to the west. But it was it’s largest city, which lay on it’s east coast, where it’s largest river reached that ocean, that drew her attention. The previous surveys had shown the crime rate in that city progressively getting worse as time went on, with apparent reforms being ineffective. ‘The societal problems aren’t being addressed,’ she thought. She could think of many examples in Earth’s history, especially in the United States around the turn of the millennium.

Words: 106


Excerpt from: Spider Quinn
“Ninja Talon!” he grumbled.

“Why are you breaking into a place you’re trying to acquire?” Ninja Talon asked.

“Seeing what Andrew Landon is up to.”

“So, you admit that Oscorp is trying to take over Landon Engineering?” SpiderGirl asked.

“It must have leaked,” Osborn murmured. “Or… you were told by Andrew’s daughter.”

“You can’t find out who we are that way,” SpiderGirl taunted.

“No? I’ll try,” Osborn said. “But this hasn’t been a total loss. I know you’re here.”

“A distraction,” SpiderGirl said.

“We’ll find out what you’re up to though,” Ninja Talon added.

“True, but too late,” Osborn said. He wanted to do what he came for, but the vigilantes’ presence made that impossible for the time being. He brought up his radio again. “Withdraw,” he ordered.


SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon watched Osborn and his agents withdraw from the roof. “That was weird,” SpiderGirl commented.

“But what do you think he meant when he said he wanted to know what Mr. Landon is up to.”

“His trade secrets probably,” SpiderGirl said. “But that means we probably need to infiltrate Landon Engineering too.”

“Andrea probably wouldn’t go for that.”

“Maybe if we tell her everything, even if we don’t have much.”

“She’ll at least think about it,” Ninja Talon responded, as she made a twirling motion with her left hand as if her hair was in its usual pigtails.

“Then let’s go there now.”

Words: 234


Total: 455


22nd

Excerpt from: A Time to Rest
Janelle finished the book before heading back to the Console Room.

“Rested?” the Doctor asked.

Words: 15


Excerpt from: Flowering Love
“A bit bright.”

Bea smirked. That was what Alastair always said about a clear day.

Words: 15


Excerpt from: Alex vs. Tiffany
One side of the room was completely pink! She put her suitcase on the other side. Then her roommate returned to the room, bouncing past her.

“Hi! I’m Tiffany.”

Words: 29


Excerpt from: Video Documentaries of Lawndale
Jane recognized Daria’s sarcasm. “A Russian art film.”

Words: 8


Excerpt from: A Lane’s Return to Lawndale
“I found her working on something, but she doesn’t want to talk about it.”

“She’ll share it when she’s ready.”

Words: 20


Excerpt from: Warp Core 4 on Baker Street
“This is a parallel universe, Boimler. It won’t affect our present.”

Boimler tried to relax. “I know.”


Captain Freeman looked out at Earth through the Observation Lounge window. It was going to take a while for her crew to figure out how to return.

She turned as her first officer, Commander Jack Ransom, entered.

“We have a preliminary scan of Europe,” Ransom reported.

“Report.”

Words: 64


Excerpt from: Captain or Hero
The door chime sounded.

She turned towards the door. “Enter.”

Her first officer, Commander Thressa sh’Athrea entered. “You wanted to see me, sir.”

“Yes, Commander. I wanted to know, what you think about the planet.”

“It’s typical of a planet at it’s stage of development, Captain.”

“Is it?” Captain Browne asked.

Words: 51


Excerpt from: Mysteries of Aurora
“Yes,” Freya answered. “I’ll be going with them, as I might be able to pick up where a door might be.”

“Is that a good idea?”

Words: 26


Excerpt from: Spider Quinn
Osborn returned to his mansion. He was still annoyed that the first two vigilantes had shown up. ‘They had to have found out somehow.’

One of his security division was waiting for him in the home office as ordered. “You wanted to see me, sir.”

“Yes. I want you to find out who Jodie Landon hangs out with most, besides Michael Macckenzie, at school.”

“Wouldn’t Fields be better suited, sir?”

“No, I’m asking you. Fields won’t do it well, or drag her feet.”

“Understood, sir. First thing in the morning.”


SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon arrived at the Hecuba-Croft’s to find that only Andrea’s light was on, as usual.

Andrea opened her bedroom window. “Quickly,” she said.

The two vigilantes clambered inside.

Words: 121


Total: 318


23rd

Excerpt from: Quinn and the Modelling Agents
“Oh, no,” Mr. Timothy O’Neill said.

“I have good news,” Li said.

Words: 12


Excerpt from: Voyager Alone
“The data backs it up,” Voyager said to Kes and displayed some of it at the Operations console.

Kes skimmed it. “Then we should leave.”

Words: 25


Excerpt from: Trouble in the Future
They entered Block F, and went along the downstairs corridor. Near the end Sara opened a door leading down to a lower level. “That's the tutorial room,” she said, pointing at the end of the corridor. “Down here are the laundry and common rooms.”

Leigh nodded. He had already examined the Block A laundry room, in preparation for when he would use it that weekend.

Words: 45


Excerpt from: Mysteries of Aurora
Valeria considered that as she approached it. It was 25 years since she had graduated from the Academy and she was going to catch up with two of her friends from those years. She looked at the outer wall of the Academy nearby. It was said that the Romans had built it.

Words: 52


Excerpt from: Captain or Hero
“What are you getting at?

Erica breathed deeply, and brought up the data on the city she had been thinking about on her desk terminal. “This is one of the largest cities on the planet.”

“You want us to focus scans on it? Why?” Thressa asked.

“I want more information on its layout, and the geography of the nearby regions.”

“It shall be done, Captain. But may I ask why?”

“It has piqued my interest,” Erica answered. She didn’t want Thressa to know what she was planning yet.

Words: 88


Excerpt from: Spider Quinn
Andrea took in what Ninja Talon and SpiderGirl said. That Norman Osborn was trying to take over Landon Engineering didn’t surprise her.

“But he might be right that Andrew Landon might be up to something,” SpiderGirl added.

“Or he wants you distracted,” Andrea said.

“I realize that,” SpiderGirl said.

“But maybe finding out what he might be working on will help us,” Ninja Talon added.

“And provide something to the Sun-Herald again,” Andrea mused.

“Penelope Jericho has been digging up information on her own,” SpiderGirl said, referring to one of the paper’s more serious journalists. “We only leaked the expansion plans shortly after Groundhog Day.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me,” Andrea said. “I’ll dp it tomorrow night,” she decided.


It was in the early hours when Dafoanairi and the Enigma met on the Morgendorffers’ rooftop. Dafoanairi could see that the Enigma was tired. “Couldn’t sleep?” she asked.

“I was thinking about the list, as well as the fad,” the Enigma answered with a yawn.

- - -

‘I can have a look. Then Sandi will have to listen to me more,’ he thought.


He approached the front door and saw that many people were coming in and out. “I can investigate Oscorp too!” he declared to himself.

Words: 204


Total: 426


24th

Excerpt from: Flora Feilding and the Dubbo Mystery
She had heard about the Zoo, as well as the colonial era jail. ‘I’m sure there’s a lot more,’ she thought as she locked the car.

Words: 26


Excerpt from: Sandi’s Struggle
How do you think I’m doing? I can’t speak and my brothers are taunting me.

“Oh, Sandi,” Quinn said in sympathy. “They shouldn’t be doing that.”

Don’t say anything.

“I wasn’t going to.”

Words: 33


Excerpt from: Quinn and the Cafe
“Oh, Jake!” Her mother said.

“We should have moved to Oakwood instead!” her father said.

Words: 15


Excerpt from: Party at 111 Howard
“I didn’t see anything,” Trent said.


Spiral had paused when the incident happened, with the teens present reacting in different ways.

“Hey,” Jane said. “There may be something to see here, but keep partying.”

Words: 34


Excerpt from: Mysteries of Aurora
It was said that the Romans had built it after their capture of the city just over a millennium earlier. She entered and looked around and saw that she was the first to arrive.
‘The others won’t be long,’ she thought as she went up to the bar.

Words: 48


Excerpt from: Spider Quinn
“I didn’t to sleep straight away myself. I’m sure that all this nighttime vigilantism has given me insomnia.”

“Most likely.”

“But I have the feeling that something is happening tonight,” Dafoanairi said.

“Sounds like a hunch.”

“More that the fad is a distraction, even if Osborn has nothing to do with it.”

“Probably,” the Enigma said, as she looked to the south, over Glen Oaks Lane towards where the Osborn mansion was hidden behind many blocks of houses and the occasional warehouse.

- - -

He soon slipped inside.


Officer Xanthe Peterson was also nearby, after having responded to a tip off about suspicious activity. She parked outside the Oscorp facility. ‘But what sort of suspicious activity?’ she wondered, as the report had been brief, just stating that there was suspicious activity.

Words: 132


Excerpt from: Captain or Hero
Thressa raised an eyebrow and her antennae shifted in a skeptical manner. “I know you’re hiding something, Erica. You can trust me.”


‘Of course,’ Erica thought. She and Thressa had known each other since the Academy. “I’ll tell you another time.”

“Off duty you mean.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll get you the information,” Thressa said in a resigned tone, “But you are telling me off the record.”

Words: 65


Total: 320


25th

Excerpt from: Jade Survives
“Good. Because I now realize that I now know how Marilla Cuthbert must have felt.”

“What?”

“Surely you have heard of Anne of Green Gables?” Mrs. Iredale asked in a an incredulous tone.

“Oh, a book set in Canada. I haven’t read it.”

Words: 43


Excerpt from: Endeavour Pirates
Endeavour continued pulling away from the pirate vessels.

“We’re making distance,” Ogden said.

Words: 13


Excerpt from: Mysteries of Aurora
Freya looked at the documents. “Airships?”

Words: 6


Excerpt from: Spider Quinn
“I was thinking we’ll talk to Tania first.”

“Isn’t it a bit late for that? The Wiccans would have finished by now.”

“But she might still be up,” Dafoanairi said.

“Lead the way,” the Enigma said with a sigh.

They swung down to the back yard with a rope and headed towards the Ashworth’s to the southeast through the laneways.


But something happened halfway. Oscorp agents appeared at the end of one block. The Enigma reacted quickly, and raised a forcefield protecting both her and Dafoanairi.

- --

‘That’s par for the course these days.’ Especially since Norman Osborn had left the hospital.
‘Lynn Anders was just the beginning of it,’ she added mentally, thinking of a local night time host and journalist who had been disgraced after interviewing a fake SpiderGirl. She got out of the car and looked at the building more closely.


Norman Osborn was inspecting the facility himself, as he wanted to ensure that it was up to his standards and that there was nothing out of order.

Words: 170


Total: 232