Keeping it rolling from rude_not_ginger: First lines meme

[eve11]

Since I had fun with it over at rude_not_ginger's, I'll keep the ball rolling with a fic first lines meme.

:: Select 5-10 first lines from your fic/etc
:: Post them, exactly as they are, punctuation, italics/etc, and all
:: Challenge your flist to write a drabble or ficlet with the same first line in the comments
:: Have fun with what people come up with!
:: Repost at will


So here are my lines, have at them, should you be so inclined:

1) These days, no one expected gods to be invincible.

2) The air pulsed around her.

3) "They'll never let us go, you know."

4) Under a bright double moon, the Atraxian salt flats shimmered like stars.

5) The cell door clanged and swung open.

6) Back when the war was little more than a few bold skirmishes, official decrees, and omnipresent screaming threats, they made a pact with each other.

7) We all remember that sorrowful time.

8) It was the year 36555, the Treaty of Panatea had been in effect for a good decade, and Hector should've known better.

9) Wood smoke and ash curled up from the forest below.

10) "Did I ever tell you about the time Sun Tzu told me to go fly a kite?"

Comments

No. 3

[kernezelda]

"They'll never let us go, you know."

"It was an accident, Aeryn! It's not like the nest was even marked." Crichton thumped a fist against his thigh, staring out through the tiny barred window in the cell. Overhead, stars glittered through the smog.

"Oh, yes, your 'superior' blue eyes." Aeryn stood up from the low bench and joined him. "The Thwiith take their religious beliefs very seriously, Crichton. The Risal lay eggs only once a cycle, and supposedly the first hatching indicates how the cycle will turn out." She raised her eyebrows as he turned to her. "You've just doomed their entire culture."

Crichton opened his mouth, then shook his head. "Give me a break," he muttered. "I didn't get thrown halfway across the universe to get killed by Tweety Bird for ruining Groundhog's Day."

Aeryn smirked at him, then turned to stare at the cell's other occupant. "Progress, Chiana?"

The Nebari knelt at the door, arms thrust through the narrow spaces between the metal bars to work at the lock. Her ear was pressed to the back of the lockplate, and her eyes were narrow with concentration. "Crichton, give me your tool-kit."

Crichton wandered over. "Found a way to break us out, Pip?" He crouched down beside her and unhooked the kit from his belt. "Whatcha need?"

"Just this." Her lips curved upward, a brush of pink tongue over white teeth. Gloved fingers slid along the length of Crichton's as she withdrew two thin lengths of soldering wire. Her eyes gleamed. "Lucky I came along, aren't you?"

Above them, Aeryn harrumphed and Crichton eased upright. "Sure thing," he said, smiling. "If you can get us out."

"We're in the bag," Chiana said, her hands' motions dance-like, gentle. Metal clinked lightly against metal, and her tongue flicked out, briefly caught by her teeth. "Got it!" The lock clicked and the door began to swing ajar. Chiana grabbed it as she rose to her feet and twisted around to gaze down the stone corridor.

Aeryn moved up to lean past Chiana, attention focused on the empty hall. "All clear," she said, and started forward without a backward glance."Let's go."

"What, no 'thank you'?" Chiana rolled her eyes and slipped out of the cell.

Crichton patted her shoulder. "Thanks, Chi," he said. "You're a good egg."

Re: No. 3

[eve11]

Love it! I like the context of the alien culture, and Crichton reducing it down to Groundhog's Day (that's what I was thinking too!), and I do have a soft spot for prison escape fic. And the last line is perfect! :D

Re: No. 3

[kernezelda]

Thank you for the prompt. :)

[scifithinker.livejournal.com]

These days, no one expected gods to be invincible. Least of all SG-1, which had been responsible for the deaths of a few. Although each victory was exhilarating, once the adrenalin wore off, they couldn't escape the reality that there were so many left. Ten fighting to fill the power vacuum one's death left in its wake until the Replicators found the Goa'uld and squashed them as easily as stepping on a cockroach.

SG-1 had known for years that the gods were not invincible. Now what few gods were left knew it as well.

[eve11]

Wow, thanks! Here I thought this meme was gone and buried, and I get a lovely ficlet from a passer-by :) And yeah, something tells me though that reminding Goa'uld of their mortality just makes the ones that are left meaner.

[scifithinker.livejournal.com]

Or they clone themselves to up their collective meanness. :~)