Amalgam Universe

Challenge #02957-H034: A Wholly Owned Subsidiary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvANy49Kqhw -- Anon Guest

[AN: Nonny wanted to link to this particular song, but it was found in this playlist. Enjoy at your leisure]

If there was one upside to the situation, then Bo would never run out of things to do. There was always something that needed doing. Something that needed fixing. Something that needed sweat and muscle and time to do. The downside being that Bo had swapped life in one crapsack situation, for life in another.

At least in a prison, there was an end to the sentence. The contract had sounded tempting and, thanks to an entirely engineered education disparity, Bo could barely read very much of the contract at all. Boilerplate, they said. Standard stuff, they said. You'll never serve another day in a cell, they said.

Technically... they weren't wrong. Bo didn't see any such thing as a prison wall. No barbed wire, no chain link, no guards. There was no point. Even if he ran from the colony in progress, he would not last long. The native flora and fauna required extensive processing to be edible or non-toxic, and there wasn't enough of it in easy reach to even try surviving on. It was stay in range or run off to die. He was free to make that. Some choice. Work his butt off or run away from it all and slowly starve. He'd seen a few who'd tried Option B. One look was too many.

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Challenge #02955-H032: We, the Undersigned...

The Dereggers gave up their trash planet, a toxic hell-hole that would've cost them a fortune to clean up. They signed an iron-clad contract that had every single i dotted and t crossed. Not so much as a gnat-sized loophole anywhere. And it was signed by their leaders and several leaders from the Galactic Alliance as witnesses, and him, of course.

He took all that was there and made enough time to make himself an insanely wealthy man. Wealth he then turned

Challenge #02954-H031: Operation Comeback

They were runners-up last year at the Zombie competition. However, their squad got wiped out in the start of the third hour. This year they were determined to make it through the semi-finals and into the finals. But it would take a lot of practice. However, this year, they had a long haul from the station they'd been at to the competition arena. They had plenty of time to practice.

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02723-g166-just-add-zombies -- Competition

Zombie tag had somehow

Challenge #02951-H028: This is a Knife

The man who sleep with a machete is a fool every night but one -- Anon Guest

Weapons in bed are generally a bad idea. Especially sharp, bladed weapons. Sleep is an activity where the body is moving about without complete conscious control. Many an alleged "tough guy" has fallen victim to the weapon under their pillow. Therefore Human Gar was no fool. Their sleep pod had a holster for ease of access. At camp, the blade was under the bedroll for

Challenge #02950-H027: For Art's Sake

They were a rough and ready, "come at me" space marine. They had seen quite a few battles and had the scars to prove it, and won them all. They'd also worked with dozens of races from the roughest deathworlders to the gentlest havenworlders, the perfect person you wanted aboard ship when exploring out on the edge. Yet, each meal break, if they had few other duties, they were unusually quiet. When they moved into their quarters, other than the tools of

Challenge #02948-H025: Mostly Harmless

"Look! I found an actually-harmless creature from the deathworld. It's so cute. It doesn't even have a mouth to bite with. I'm taking it home as a pet."

"That's a box jellyfish." -- Anon Guest

The creature in the tank pulsed rhythmically and didn't look dangerous at all. It seemed no more dangerous than a plastic bag. That statement alone should tell everything. Even the most harmless-seeming things from a Deathworld have hidden menace.

"See those tails? The tentacles?" said Human Di.

Challenge #02946-H023: A Trail a Mile Wide

There were marks on the walls, on the low ceilings in the halls. A picture here, a quick search there, showed that they were the marks left by unprotected human feet. Feet too small to belong to adult humans. While this narrowed the suspects down to two, it also raised the questions of "how did they do it?" and "do I really want to know?" -- Anon Guest

In all the known universe, there is little more devastating to an environment than

Challenge #02942-H019: A Happy End of a Sad Story

With the adoption of little Bubs that you wrote of back in January, I was wondering, could you tell the Thropori's viewpoint on this incident? You did such an adorable one in Bub's view, but what about the ones that adopted her?

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02552-f362-find-a-family -- Anon Guest

[AN: Ten thousand blessings for providing the link, Nonny. May synchronicity always be in your favour]

Medik Taa'nah had always wanted children. Who knew that the Dereggers had plenty that they

Challenge #02941-H018: Light Blue Touchpaper

They were level one and level two havenworlders, but they wanted to get stronger. They had seen on television human fireworks shows, the sound of the explosions muffled while pleasant music played in time to the bright lights and sparkles. They hit on an idea. They would have humans teach them to make, and use, fireworks. Starting with small, what humans would consider almost "harmless" things, and work their way up to the beautiful splays over time. Their first endeavors? Slightly loud

Challenge #02940-H017: But My Rep...

A: Was that you wife?

B: Don’t question it

A: But

B: Don’t

A: Why burrito?

B: What did I just say?! -- Anon Guest

It had been a typically Human conversation between spouses. As in, completely incomprehensible to outside observers. Including the final words, "Bye, babe. I gotta go burrito the babies."

Companion Gren couldn't not ask. An exchange that finished with Human Ben attempting to focus on her work while Companion Gren waited patiently for Ben to crack.

Challenge #02939-H016: Congratulations on Your New Cat

Well all know those pets. The ones that, no matter what you do, they cling to you like barnacles to a ship's hull. Cats, especially, can get like that when they get attached. In a station where they tend to send bad-luckers and people they deem "undesirable", a little ray of hope and comfort comes in the case of a ship. In the hold, several strays that had been using the hold as their hideout manage to wander on board. And now

Challenge #02937-H014: Let the Trash Be Treasured

Can you imagine a world where there are more, empty, livable, homes and apartments than there are homeless individuals, and yet the wealthy allow those homes and apartments to fall into disrepair and ruin rather than allow the homeless live there and maintain it? Can you imagine a time, a place, a world... where people build small homes for the homeless, a 'tiny home' with a bed, a roof, basic toilet facilities, and tiny kitchen, just enough to be comfortable and survive

Challenge #02936-H013: A Buggy Plan

Human Arn took in the supreme effort Frip had already gone through in order to create this environment and was already calculating the paperwork inherent in getting it off the planet Earth.

"I am in sooooo much trouble," sighed Human Arn.

This quote is from this prompt from ages ago. https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02771-g214-a-few-minor-obstacles

Human Arn looked at all the paperwork they've managed to get through and all that still had to get done and shook their head. Not much

Challenge #02934-H011: The Songs We Sing

give me the beat boys and free my soul

I wanna get lost in your rock 'n' roll and drift away -- Anon Guest

[AN: Link leads to a video with parody lyrics that is for real a 2020 mood. Offensensitivity warning for crude language]

The Humans were singing. This was nothing new. The matter of what they were singing was up to debate. The tune was familiar, but the words kept changing.

"Gimmie the yeast, boy/ and knead my rolls, I

Challenge #02933-H010: Devil's in the Fine Print

You are going to learn to read, whether you like it or not! I will drag you into literacy kicking and screaming if I have to! -- Anon Guest

"Whyyyy..." whined Rin. "Everything's audio or video. Nobody reads." The last word said with a sneer. As if literacy was a disfiguring and unwelcome disease.

"People still read," said Van. "Let me tell you about the people who read, they're the people who have to read, because they're the ones who write the

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A 2313-post collection

Challenge #02957-H034: A Wholly Owned Subsidiary

Challenge #02955-H032: We, the Undersigned...

Challenge #02954-H031: Operation Comeback

Challenge #02951-H028: This is a Knife

Challenge #02950-H027: For Art's Sake

Challenge #02948-H025: Mostly Harmless

Challenge #02946-H023: A Trail a Mile Wide

Challenge #02942-H019: A Happy End of a Sad Story

Challenge #02941-H018: Light Blue Touchpaper

Challenge #02940-H017: But My Rep...

Challenge #02939-H016: Congratulations on Your New Cat

Challenge #02937-H014: Let the Trash Be Treasured

Challenge #02936-H013: A Buggy Plan

Challenge #02934-H011: The Songs We Sing

Challenge #02933-H010: Devil's in the Fine Print