Loved the overall concept, you may have said the words "close enough" one too many times but I got the same feedback as well so I can relate. Nothing better than sci fi freak accidents!
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With only one thousand words to work with it can feel like walking a tight rope when handling the theme. It can be all to easy to either lose it by being too subtle, or to end up beating readers over the head with it. I personally feel that making it more obvious is the better choice though. Thanks for the feedback!