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Havenworlders V Deathworlders

A 69-post collection

Challenge #03062-H154: Monkey Gonna Jump

A member of a race of aliens new to the Galactic scene holds the misconception that life can be either land bound or aquatic watches a human climb a steep hill specifically for the joy of jumping off the cliff on the other end into deep water. -- Anon Guest

[AN: I have a much more capable program doing the counting for me, so today's full challenge number is actually correct. I'm not going back and fixing the others because that is full-on nightmare fuel. Just... no. I tried, I failed, and now I have a thing that counts better than I ever could. Also expect further shenanigans at the closing of the year, as my count is off there, too. There will be bonus stories for this year's anthology. All so I can re-synchronise the calendar. (FYI, I'm out by at least four weeks)]

Companion Gann had heard things about Humans. Dangerous psychotic warrior race who didn't take "no you can't" as a warning that some things were bad for continued existence. Those weird hairless apes seemed to believe that they could do anything. Worse, most of the time they were right. There remained one sticking point upon which Gann remained adamant.

"There is no such thing as amphibious and mammalian intelligent life. Mammals are not amphibious. Amphibians are. You have aquatic mammals, or terrestrial mammals. Those are the limits of intelligent mammalian life. Even your lot can't defy the rules of basic evolution."

"So..." challenged Human Aura. "If I can prove to you that we're semi-acquatic, what do I win?" This was the way of Deathworlders in general and Humans in particular. Everything was a contest to these maniacs, and there had to be a prize involved. If Humans didn't win some form of enrichment to their existence, they could sulk about it for months[1].

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Challenge #03003-H080: An Honest Mistake

These havenworlders were marsupials and, as such, it was not unusual to see a tiny head poking out of a specially modified set of ship skins from time to time. When the human said she was expecting, her spouse was excited, but the havenworlders were confused that the humans politely turned down the offer for a modified set of skins with a pouch opening. -- DaniAndShali

It was hot news on the Trembling Whisker - the Ships' Humans were reproducing! The pair

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Challenge #02984-H061: Surprising on Every Level

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02840-g283-for-great-fit please show us what happens to the next set of Vorax raiders. -- Anon Guest

Three months into training, Kin's students encountered their first challenge. Human Kin had just worked a double and was therefore sound asleep when the raiders came. From all available accounts, the raiding party had been stealthily stalking their vessel, waiting for such a time of comparable weakness.

The first thing that Companion Thresk knew about it was the alert to head

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Challenge #02983-H060: Me Next!

It was many years since the Saurians had first learned Tai-Chi from their human friend. From there it had begun to spread through other ships, then to stations and colonies of their people. But once it hit their homeworld, its popularity spread like wildfire. Soon it became a required part of the physical education of their young, and a part of their cultural identity. Needless to say, the humans liked the change.

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02840-g283-for-great-fit -- Fighting Fit

Of

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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

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Challenge #02911-G354: You Raided the Wrong Planet

A backwater, mudball of a planet that’s home to the galaxies 3rd best interstellar circus comes under attack! -- LatinoThor45

Five hundred years has changed a lot of things. Thousands of years in deep-time colonies has changed so very, very much more. The nature of Circus has evolved. There is no animal exploitation. The trained creatures present are holograms. Artificial intelligences carefully monitored by the CRC and the AI Alliance. They were not that smart, and carefully made to be so.

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Challenge #02832-G275: A Life Saver

The human's small ship carried several havenworlder families as they were heading on the normal space station to home-world run. However, an unseen micrometeorite managed to hit a vulnerable spot and the ship went down hard on one of the moons that orbited their system's only gas giant. The moon itself had a breathable atmosphere, with a minimal filter, and was not unknown to the havenworlders whose people had been starting to mine it, but that facility was all but on the

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Challenge #02813-G256: So Vulnerable

I want to see aliens that think humans are cute. Like, they get a Ship's Human because Rules, and when they meet them, they're just...

Oh, it's so cute! Must. Protect.

And it ends in mayhem and hilarity. -- Anon Guest

They had been against having a Ship's Human, but they were exploring and documenting the Edge Territories, so it was mandatory. Those meaty Deathworlders would only cause chaos and destruction. They even had to get a new ship made entirely of

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Challenge #02771-G214: A Few Minor Obstacles

Everyone, even havenworlders, like to have pets. The type of pet, of course, depends on the type of havenworlder. One, after visiting, and surviving, her visit to the deathworld known as Earth, and especially Australia, had learned of a harmless, but brightly colored, bug called the Christmas Beetle. It was short-lived, not edible - but only because it had a very thick shell, but otherwise completely, utterly, harmless. She learned how to breed them and soon began to sell them as safe,

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Challenge #02766-G209: Communication Block

A havenworlder has a soft, higher-pitched, voice and the human only catches half of what they say most of the time. They are both heading to a medical hub, the human to get treatment, the havenworlder to do their internship. While there, the human explains about that annoying ringing in the ears called tinnitus, and how humans who have accidents, listen to too many loud noises, or just start to get elderly, can sometimes end up with hearing damage. -- Anon Guest

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Challenge #02755-G198: Five Under Five

There were four of them. They were definitely human, and the biggest was still less than 1.5 sidu tall. Probably. The biggest one was also at the bottom of what could only be described as a pile of babies. The second biggest and the smallest were using the biggest as pillows. Those three were asleep. The second smallest was reclining on the second biggest, and giggling at a repetitive song accompanying dancing cartoon fruits and vegetables playing on a tablet.

This

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Challenge #02743-G186: Gifts For the Pack

What happens when humans are so pack-bonded that even other species start acting like them? The same willingness and madness you'd see from a human instilled into a havenworlder,

Would they really be a havenworlder anymore? -- Anon Guest

Humans will pack-bond with anything. This is known. They will back bond with other intelligent life forms so hard that the pack-bonding works both ways. This has been fatal to some. This has been life-saving to many. For most, though, it just is

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Challenge #02742-G185: The Motivation Factor

For quite some time it's been well known that human life spans are so much shorter than havenworlder's, save for those factions that have found other means, electronic or body-swapping, to extend it. But one scientist has been working with a family for a very long time on changing that at the genetic level. Now, with his research in hand, he does a presentation to a scientific panel about his research with the family, how it could benefit humans and extend their

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Challenge #02730-G173: Hunting for the Delicate

Some older humans bring their alien friends to a bingo parlor for a night of playing bingo and having snacks. -- Anon Guest

[AN: Though I am of bingo-playing age, I only have the vaguest idea how it is played]

"This is a perfect game for the frailer sort," said Human Jem. "Little strenuous activity, but it still tests observation, response time, and searching skills."

This was a Deathworld game, so Glex knew the right question to ask. "What are you hunting?

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Challenge #02724-G167: There Goes Mischief

Ze was confident in zer ability to handle this. Ze was a level three deathworlder who worked with dangerous animals for a living! Watching a human toddler for an afternoon and evening would be no problem.

Of course, ze had made an elementary mistake...ze had failed to realize that just because the child still spoke Scribble and could only walk at a slow, bobbling shuffle on two legs didn't stop them from booking it on all fours, or climbing the furniture.

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