Honorable Mention- Dec 2025 NYC Midnight Short Fiction Entry

This is a submission from last year that I keep forgetting to post. The challenge was 48 hours to create and submit 200 word short stories using the following criteria: Sci-Fi/ Faking/ Meet

A Tense Elevator Ride

1839…1841. The tower floors tick steadily by. Garish neon advertisements flash across the elevator’s glass panels. Holograms beckon me to buy trending products. Grim newscasters. Horrific images of the rebellion happening on the surface. 1850…1852. I struggle to breath.

Born and raised in the City Beyond the Stars and I still hate heights. But it isn’t the elevation causing my heart to race. Once I reach the 2000^th floor I must execute the performance of my life. Facial reconstruction and a replica identity transponder fooled the lower-level security checks but those were bots. Preparing to launch on the roof was a shuttle to the surface. Highest security clearance only. The Cy-Guards will scrutinize me head to toe. I studied for years. I memorized our target’s every mannerism, speech pattern, pronunciation. As I relentlessly rehearsed, my partner and I joked, ‘fake it until we make it’. But it would be the retinal scan that would make or break me. Of crucial importance, my partner spent months meticulously reproducing the imprints. 1870..1872. The expense, the risk… monumental. But if I can reach the surface and meet with our counterparts? Worth it. 1885…1890. I straighten my shoulders and lift my chin. The door whirs open. A squad of ten Cy-Guards wait. One approaches. Featureless, its scans my face. A sequence of blinking lights. I hold my breath.

“Welcome aboard, Commander Kelron.” The quantum barrier dissipates.

I stride past like I own this city, because if all goes well on the surface, I will.

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