Abdul "Mad Arab" Alhazred was right: with strange aeons everything may happen, even your beloved bananafish prophet, @f3nix, returning on the bridge and celebrating with you another epic Finish The Story contest!

Welcome to you all, dear bizarre creatures of the abyss! I see that every edition we gather in crescent number to repeat the magic of this contest. I'm grateful for all the road we walked together and I looked for a way to possibly made our delicacies' dish even richer. Without further ado, let me introduce to you a new reward!

THE FIRE TOKEN!

This is a unique opportunity to win through the FtS contest a good quantity of this very promising token during its very early development stage. Courtesy of the FIRE Team, we got a generous donation for this and maybe also for the next edition.
What's special about FIRE? Well, as you can see it's a deflationary self-burning token. Quoting the website: every transaction burns automatically 10% of the transfer amount. FIRE Token is just like Bitcoin, a deflationary token and store of value for everyone! This ERC-20 Ethereum token is intended to be used as a store of value due to its built-in burn mechanism that ensures your investment will grow in value long-term. In these times in which every FIAT currency losses value year after year due to inflationary monetary policies, who doesn't love a coin like this (not to mention the recent hype for these kinds of cryptos - see the BOMB self-destructing token and it's price spike).

In order to compete for the token reward we want to see you joining the FIRE Discord Pioneers, and obviously, you need an ERC-20 wallet to allow me to transfer the token to the winners! I personally use Myetherwallet - MEW, but you can use any other ERC-20 compatible wallet.

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What treasures await within the @Curie & @Crowdmind & FIRE TOKEN Team @ enhanced Bananafish chest?

1st place: n. 5 STEEM + 500 SNAX + 300 FIRE tokens

2nd place: n. 3 STEEM + 300 SNAX + 100 FIRE tokens

3rd place: n. 2 STEEM & 200 SNAX tokens

Popular vote: n. 7 @steembasicincome shares
(Please note there is a minimum of three votes to active the popular vote reward so don't forget to vote for your favorite story!)

Best comment: n. 3 @steembasicincome shares.
Thanks to @curie's generous funding we reintroduced this reward! We are looking for an insightful curation comment. It doesn't have to be necessary long or flamboyant.

To receive your SNAX rewards, you'll need to have a SNAX wallet.
For those who like instructions with photos, here's a handy tutorial.

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Map of the Bananafish Realms from a squirrelly perspective!

• Share the love and tell a friend about the contest!

• Join the Bananafish Realms discord chat for fresh updates and other amenities.

• Vote, vote, vote your favorite story in the comments below!

• Use the #finishthestory tag.

• Try to post your story as early possible and not at the last moment (or after the results! argh!) to give people a chance to read yours before they vote.

• Respect the dreadful 500 words limit! o_0

• Help our contest & workshop to grow by giving it some visibility and consider linking back to this post in your entry.

And now let's dive into this week's story!

When The Tundra Calls

^{by @f3nix}

"СКБ Прогресс". Space Missile Center Progress.

The writing stood out on the roof of the latrine, indelible against the cobalt blue metal, sparkling under the dirty white sky of a first spring attempt.

Gennadiy waited impatiently, hopping from leg to leg in the mud and throwing stones at the door of the makeshift bathroom.
Not far away, Drogol pointed to a litter of kittens wagging his tail, the snorting nose pressed between the mesh of the net surrounding one of the last houses before the forest. From his sharp eyes and outstretched ears, a curiosity shone halfway between the festive and the ferocious.

"Stop it with these stones, Genna, or there's no deal."

The Siberian husky slipped off his nose from the net, the time to direct a dry bark in the direction of the voice filtered by the rotten wooden boards.

"Even Drogol is annoyed with your complaining, Anton. The sun sets quickly." Gennadiy said, throwing another stone with a theatrical gesture as if he were casting a dark curse. The dirty pebble ended up right in the crack above the door.

"You're a bastard, Genna. Forget me leaving this pisshole”.

Perhaps, it was better to leave him in peace, free to concentrate. It was not only the hours of daylight but also their fathers, who in a few hours would be home with the day's loot and would certainly have wanted to find them ready to help with the recovered material. The boy stared at the makeshift latrine with the mark of the nearby Pleseck's cosmodrome: a missile and a satellite with its orbit in evidence stood out against the blue background and the white silhouette of a planet.

That symbol often appeared in the most unthinkable places of Dolgoščelę, an insignificant village in the Russian region of Mezen, a stone throw away from the Arctic circle. It seemed as if over the years millions of spores from the nearby cosmodrome had taken root and proliferated among the simple urban elements of that group of houses between tundra and sea.

From the time of the cold war, when the launch program intensified, for the population of the region to recover the pieces of the rockets embedded in the snow became an essential second job. One that, eventually, could replace the traditional activities of hunting and fishing and grant those poor families better odds against the sublime yet sharp immensity of nature. Sifting through the snow of the tundra in winter was easier than in summer when even the streets flooded and boats built with rocket shells came back to use after the seasonal dormancy.

Recovered metals such as gold and titanium could be sold to Arcangelo's black market. The activity ended up involving all family members, each with a task in an efficient recycling chain.
The door of the latrine opened wide. Anton, the son of the country's pastor and Gennadiy's inseparable friend, now stood out against the shining metal like a war hero.

"Anton, if they discover us because of your endless shitting, I swear this time your bike is mine."

"Stop worrying and think, instead, of their faces in front of our loot," replied Anton with a seraphic expression.

"East, beyond the lake. Where the caribous' footprints stop," said Gennadiy absorbed, his mind already gliding on the untouched expanse of snow of that spot deep in the forest.

"Aha. Today we go hunting for the wrong pieces," Anton urged hinting a smile.

Both friends nodded solemnly before answering to the tundra's call.

Let’s grow together!

The wise pectin-packed Bananafish wants all of its beloved people to benefit from rich upvotes. The more of us join the trail or delegate SP, the more our vote on your entries is worth.

Unity is strength, if you would like to contribute to the cause, click here to delegate 25 SP, 10 SP or find out here how to delegate an amount of your choosing!

Following the voting trail is an effortless way to make sure you always support the other participants to the Bananafish contests, automatically upvoting the posts (but not the comments) @bananafish upvotes. It only takes a few minutes to join, you can find all the instruction on how here. So check it out and make the most of your voting power while supporting your fellow bananites!

Let’s raise a glass to @foffelius, @steelochlaver, @f3nix, @marcoriccardi, @anixio, @gwilberiol, @calluna, @ntowl, @dirge, @seesladen, @theironfelix, @letalis-laetitia, @vdux, @felixgarciap, @tristancarax, @khasa, @stever82, @brisby, @drazeus, @robinsonr810, @michaias who are already in the trail.

Join the fun! Here is how this contest works:

• An unfinished fiction story or a script is posted.

• You finish it with your own post (use the #finishthestory as your first tag). A limit of 500 words is recommended.

• 10 STEEM, 10 @steembasicincome shares & 1000 SNAX, plus today's special FIRE reward, to the writers with the best endings.
  
  

GOOD LUCK, BRAVE STORYTELLERS!