Challenge #01383-C288: Default Fix

Imagine this 'go to' item [duct tape] had been lost and then turned up on Amalgam. -- Anon Guest

[AN: FYI, the titles you use on my forum for prompts do not survive my writing process]

Once upon a time, JOATs did not know about ductape. It seems impossible, but it was not as ubiquitous as it is today. Ambassador Harry was not the only one to come into Galactic society from the impact of the Chelete ship Explorer 255 and the Britanian Vessel King George.

Harry brought her friend Leslie. Who brought along three rolls of what he called 'the universal solution'.

Galactic observers at the time were confused, of course, because Leslie's 'universal solution' was clearly a solid object. One reel of it seemed permanently attached to Leslie's hip.

It triumphed, of course, on the transit towards Hitizzy, where that decade's Ambassadorial Meet was held. The seasonal micrometeor storm arrived early and the transport vessel was quite obviously hit and leaking atmosphere.

While the crew was scrambling for the filler foam cannisters, Leslie unhooked his spool and, in utter calm, tore off strips of it to cover the tiny holes. He was done in seconds.

He brandished the warped cylinder with a grin. "Duck tape," he said. "The universal solution to life's little problems."

"Duct tape," corrected Ambassador Harry.

"Whatever," Leslie shrugged. "Same cat, different name."

It took off like wildfire. Well. It took off like the opposite of wildfire. In that it became widely known as a saviour of lives and the quickest fix known to cogniscent life.

Ductape, as the humans would insist on saying, went viral.

It only took two Standard Years, but by then it was both everywhere and impossible to imagine not being there. Even JOATs who had lived without its influence could not recall their pre-ductape solutions.

It was just. That. Good.

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