Seriously lacking

Use as your first line:

"Three thousand habitable planets in the known universe, and I'm stuck on the only one without ______________. "

(Fill in the blank. Which is obvious *except* that this line is for a contest run by The First Line where one of the rules is you can't alter the given line -- except when noted ;-)

If you'd like to enter for a chance to be in their quarterly publication (in print since 1999), this one is due August 1, 2010. If you'd like to give it a try:

Fiction: All stories must be written with the first line provided. The line cannot be altered in any way, unless otherwise noted by the editors. The story should be between 300 and 3,000 words. The sentences can be found on the home page of The First Line's Web site, as well as in the prior issue. Note: We are open to all genres. We try to make TFL as eclectic as possible.

(The full submission rules. Note, unlike many contests, they don't charge for submissions.)

This year's first lines and due dates are on the front page. All they ask is that you not submit stories with their first lines to other journals or publish them on line (for the current or upcoming contests, I think. They're wording isn't clear so if you have a burning need to put up a story with a past first line, best to check with them.)

If you'd like to mine past first lines for ideas, they're listed with each volume on the subscription page.