RE: 19 February, 2025 @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2652 | Prompt: a date (a fecha) **[FINISH MY STORY CHALLENGE]**

Fascinating experiment ! I've posted what I wrote below in this comment, hopefully that's what you wanted (rather than as a comment to the original post).

I must admit that I couldn't mirror your wonderful writing style in completing the story, and it was hard keeping it below 500 words. But I did Google things that happened on 30th June 1972 and found something which acted as a seed for an outcome that resulted in the no more civilisation the prompt asked for. I'm getting far too good at ending worlds.... 😁

As Lynn puffed on her inhaler to quell the panic that was building to a full-scale asthma attack, there was another flash in the sky. One of the streaks of fire had clipped the small aircraft.

It fluttered out of the sky like a leaf, the date banner trailing and twisting behind it like an unopened parachute. For a moment it looked as if the pilot had regained control, but too late. It half-landed half-crashed into the street, skidding along the ground in a shower of sparks.

The cabin door pushed open and fell to the ground, and a figure flopped out, dropping to the road below.
It was a man, dressed in one of those space suit-like outfits used for high altitude flights. But this wasn’t the standard orange with a white helmet; it was a strong purple with a black helmet.

Wesley set off at a sprint, calling out behind him “We’ve got to help !”

Jeremy hesitated. The plane might explode. But they had to stick together, so he set off after his friends.

When Wesley reached the pilot, he saw that the purple suit was crawling, little golden flecks of light flickering in and out. Behind the visor, the man was like a photographic negative. Mauve-grey skin, white eyebrows, and when his eyelids fluttered open, the orbs were black with piercing white pupils. The irises were pale pink with fine royal blue veins.

“You have to tell them….” He croaked.

“Tell who what ?” Jeremy asked.

“Your scientists…. They messed with time…. That leap second they added on 30th June. It broke the synchronicity between our two universes.”

The three friends looked at each other in confusion. The words were English. But they made no sense, they were gibberish. Perhaps the pilot had concussion ?

But the man carried on, his voice gaining urgency.

“Tell your scientists to put the clock back to the way it was before 1972. A second here made a whole new day for us. Now our universe is breaking through. The fire in your sky is dust motes from our universe burning up.”

Wesley spoke now. “You’re rambling, not making sense. We need to get you to hospital, you’ve had a bad accident. Let’s get that helmet off you, get you some fresh air.”

He reached for the visor.

“No ! The containment field !” the pilot screamed.

But it was too late. Wesley had already cracked the visor open.

The gold motes disappeared.

In-rushing air met out-gasped breath.

The two cancelled out with a flash. When two universes mirror each other, one is positive, the other is negative.

Matter and anti-matter mutually annihilated each other. The pilot and his suit must have weighed 80 kilogrammes. The resulting detonation had an energy close to 4000 megatons.