Challenge #03192-H283: A Bad Lucker's Best Friend
How do Deregulations keep popping up? Even in times when most galactic Cogniscients know that they are a generally bad idea.
The founding reason for this actually comes from Alliance law, what Terran lawyers call "quae non inhabitabantur planeta indici" or, for those that don't speak legalese, an uninhabited planet belongs to the discoverer.
In this instance though, it suited Phy just fine, an unclaimed planet in a quiet corner of space. Somewhere that ze and hir Biogen pet Porgy could live in relative peace away from her bad luck bringing catastrophe upon everyone in hir vicinity (current disaster not withstanding).
Hir ship was barely holding together, as it entered the atmosphere of the isolated planet. And not that ze had given up hope, but the reality was that Phy had fully expected to break up on entry and not actually survive. Ze was a bad lucker after all.
Imagine hir surprise when the frantic fixes and last minute saves ze was making actually held. Ze still crashed, but it wasn't nearly fatal. Better still, the food replicator, communications array and waste management were only moderately damaged AND they had "landed" on only a level 1 Deathworld! It wasn't exactly good luck but it was a lot better than ze could expect.
Was there something about this planet that somehow negated the bad luck?
https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-03131-h222-artisinal-friend -- Adam in Darwin
Good news: the over-engineered personal transit had held together long enough for a "grated landing[1]" in a mildly forested area. Now featuring a wide furrow of instant runway. And a smattering of debris. Better news, Phy and Porgy had survived. Phy's planet-scanner briefly flickered back into life to belatedly tell her, Level 1 Deathworld: Frequent, intermittent micrometeor showers.
In all other ways, it was supposed to be a paradise.
Once the adrenaline wore off, Phy extracted herself from the airbags and took up the "Deathworld Proof" personal scanner to make certain. Air, breathable. Which was great news because the hull was already breached. Immediate surrounding biota read as both edible and useful to her needs. Some minor precautions were advised, but they always were[2].
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