Instant Story

Flash fiction fresh from my fingers to your mind!

Challenge #03084-H176: Hello Again, Little Friend

They had crashed on a planet where the atmosphere was toxic. The pods were safe and able to be moved together to create a larger shelter, and with only four of them, the shelter was big enough for at least a month, though rescue stated they'd be there in about two weeks given the distance and lack of short cuts in that area. Their patient's infection showed by day two. The human frowned, seeing it, then began to cut apart citrus peels that had developed a fungal mold, working with the fungus in a way that smelled awful.

"Human, what are you doing? You said you had a way to treat the infection?" The human looked upon their friend. "I do, it's called penicillin." -- Lessons

Everybody knew that Humans were strange, but this... this had to take some variety of confectionery pastry. Human Vis, though ordered to rest, had taken to rummaging through the waste receptacles after his injury began leaking something green. There was no fully-trained Medik among the survivors to take over what they were doing. Therefore those with him at least attempted to help.

What Human Vis wanted was orange peels. He had already set one of the food printers to create as much sterile surgical-grade saline as it could. Further, they were processing the orange juice into citric acid. Once the orange peels came together, the next step was apparently sorting blue-green from black.

If the atmosphere around their crash site were not sulphur dioxide, the other three survivors might have suggested Human Vis take a walk in the fresh air. They were still more than a week from the arrival of the rescue team and this... was a regrettable necessity. What coffee filters had to do with it was currently baffling.

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Challenge #03083-H175: Anything is Ammo

A: "What's that?"

H: "What's what?"

A: "That odd thing you're working on." Indicating the odd contraption attached to the human's suit that the human was carefully adding conditioning agent to the strong, stretching, straps

H: "Oh, this? That's just my wrist rocket"

A: "Wrist Rocket?"

H: "My slingshot"

A: ........................................... -- DaniAndShali

"Aw, don't look at me in that tone of voice," said Human Ess, still tinkering with the simple device. It was nothing more than a forked frame, some stretchy straps,

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Challenge #03082-H174: A Random Act of Kindness

He sought out, not Waithvine, but the kobold he traveled with. The young man, finding them along the trail, carried with him a basket of fresh fruit, fresh breads, dried meat, and sweet-filled pastries. Once he saw her, looking to the three travelers, the bugbear, the kobold, and the elf, the youth held out the basket to her, bowed and said softly, "Thank you." For he never forgot how she undid his bindings, and stopped him from ending his own life that

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Challenge #03081-H173: Assisted Retirement

She was middle aged, approaching her 50's, her lower back hurt so bad she could barely move. Working in those damn factories for so long, ever since she was orphaned when the last big fire that swept through the city killed hers and so many others' families, had broken her. Then they came. It was late in the night, she'd gathered a huge amount of old, scrap, cloth stolen out of dumpsters and did her best to make it comfortable for her

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Challenge #03080-H172: Defeating Monsters

There was a sign on the door. It read "Warning! Deathworlder story time! Humans inside!" Faintly, through the budget soundproofing, a cogniscent with good hearing could make out the wailing cry of an alarmed human larva. One with even better hearing would be able to make out the voices of other young humans, saying "It's OK, it's OK, it's not real, it's just a story. Right, Miss? It's not real, right???" -- Anon Guest

Fairy tales do not exist to tell children

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Challenge #03079-H171: Ave Ceasar...

A: Those who share my purpose becomes allies, those that do not become casualty.

B: There’s nothing about this war that is that cut and dry.

A: Because you still have hope, that this war will end with your honour intact

B: I do

A: stand in the ashes of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honour matter. The silence Is your answer. -- Anon Guest

War. They say it never changes, but it does. It gets increasingly

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Challenge #03078-H170: The Inherent Hazards of Knomiras

Common sense is not that common, this most people know.

When you lack even that basic knowledge, it's sad how things can go.

They were listening to the instructions of the flight attendants as they had boarded their flight from the station. It was the usual routine safety instructions that all flights normally gave, and the usual "Here is what we do for this type of emergency" thing. Except, this time, a person scoffed, rolling their eyes, refusing to listen to a

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Challenge #03077-H169: Constant Vigilance

A Companion notices that the ship's human's livesuit is picking up on wild, unusual fluctuations in hormones related to emotions and high stress. On questioning, the human informs them that, due to a somewhat negligent upbringing and poor socialization as a child and adolescent, they suffer from underdeveloped emotional maturity... that will never fully develop. That ship has sailed, and they were NOT on board.

The explanation is delivered in a calm, somewhat bored tone, with a bland facial expression. The livesuit

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Challenge #03076-H168: Freedom By the Press

Ok, I gotta get in on this one! :-) I've been reading your stuff for a while now and I've not had the courage to post, but this sounds like the plot to one of the DnD games I was in and it was great, so anyhow!

The person that came in had the same story that many of the others did. A tale of woe where they'd been convinced the King's rules were why the person lived in poverty and pain.

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Challenge #03075-H167: Fighting to Survive

'Hoverboard' on YouTube, actually large drone with person riding. What if the drone was used to carry essential items in times of need and trouble. -- Anon Guest

[AN: I've seen videos of these things. They are cool, but also loud as HECK. More annoying than the average dirt bike and three times as dangerous. And yes, Drones carried goods before they carried people]

Tal could trust the ones that made noise. Ze had learned to hide in the granite tubes until

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Challenge #03074-H166: Homo Insula

Libertarian "paradise" world found by the Alliance. Probably called "Freedom" or something similar. -- Anon Guest

Imagine a world where there is no need for government or law, because the only rule is that of righteous morality. Laws come from God, as was intended by the Good Word. All that is right is moral and all that is moral is right. It's all about the fundamental rights of man.

Everyone else can suck it.

The strong rule the weak. It's the way

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Challenge #03073-H165: Soft, Fluffy, Friendly

They had been working for a few months now with the havenworlders, who had gotten quite used to hearing them wake up screaming but it broke their crewmates' hearts to hear it each night. A de-regger rescue who was still learning that the world was not as cruel as they believed. The companion goes in one sleep cycle as the human begins to whimper and thrash in the special sleeping bag. A gentle hand petting the hair, a soft, trilling, lullaby, the

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Challenge #03072-H164: Surprise Change of Plans

She was hunting for them, seeking hir out. The ancient one, the magi who went by many names, the one who had a thousand children, and more grandchildren than the world would ever know, yet possibly none by their own blood. Spotting their camp, the kobold, hir, and the bugbear child. Slowly through the underbrush she went as silent as a shadow in the moonlight. Then, swiftly, she sprang. Sudden flares shot out behind her in brilliantly colored sparkles, almost blinding in

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Challenge #03071-H163: A Deal is a Deal

A: What am I your f** wingman?

B: Come on you owe me for last time.

A: be quiet you Sonofa- whatever, don’t come crying to me later. I’ll try to create an opportunity for you, oh, and this will cost a little mor-

B: yeah I know what you want, it’s in the basement. -- Anon Guest

[AN: Ah, the temptation to riff on A Cask of Amontillado...]

Friendship can get weird, sometimes. Those who know each other

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Challenge #03070-H162: Weighed and Found Wanting

Entitlement. When one thinks of that word, they think of humans, especially stuck up females, though some males are as well, that are self-centered jerks who thinks the world should do everything THEIR way. But it comes in all forms. This havenworlder was self-centered, a total brat, and thought that just because the humans were kind to their kind and often allowed their people to ride on their shoulders to get from point A to point B safely, that the humans were

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