Instant Story

Challenge #02225-F035: That They May See

Words cut deeper than any weapon ever could. Thankfully, they also heal better than any medication. -- Anon Guest

Everyone has words they hate having flung at them. Slurs, for instance. For the linguists among us, it may be fascinating to analyse how the words we choose to hurt others with show how those who arm evaluate those they see as less. However, those words still hurt. Others may choose to glide past them. Having never had such words used against them, they fail to believe how they can be harmful.

Hag stones are made by the steady and repetitious dripping of water on a single stone. One drop alone doesn't make a hole, but rather thousands. A marching brigade of soldiers can make a bridge collapse where one soldier marching alone would never have caused harm. A single grain of arsenic may be a tonic, but a certain amount can kill. The devil is in the dosage...

Individually, analytically, a single word has no weight. It has no sharpness. It cannot possibly hurt. Yet they do. Flung endlessly like grains of sand against the stone of one's soul, they can wear a being down and cause cracks or even collapse. Should you doubt, pick a word you personally find insulting to you and devise a means to have it flung at you for days. Weeks. Years. See how much it hurts after experiencing the constant abrasions of its passing. Or, you could take another path.

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Challenge #02224-F034: The Better Mousetrap Paradox

"Why do you carry a device only for recording your voice?"

"I think too quick to type anything down" -- Anon Guest

"There are auto-dictation programs galore," added Phrel. "Voice to text."

"Except they come with autocorrect and it takes a freaking age to teach them my personal lexicon. I'm a self-confessed weirdo that way. It's much easier for me to record the audio, slow it down, and use an older autodict to take a best guess at all the spelling. Then

Challenge #02223-F033: Treasure (n)

The Archivaas learning about the libraries at Alexandria and Timbuktu -- Anon Guest

They say that if you want to annoy a Human Librarian, you should get them started on the Library of Alexandria. It's one of the more famous instances of knowledge destruction in Human history. It's famous as one of the most devastating hits to human progress in all of their devastating histories of Humankind, right next to the Shattering.

Less well-known is the fact that the Library of Alexandria

Challenge #02222-F032: Snapping Point

(Sorry for everything bad in this prompt. My grammar isn't perfect. Anyway English isn't my native language :/)

Obsession about humans is almost natural in some species. Scientists literally love watching their human beings on tests. But some scientists went too far, when they ask: How much pain can human endure before they give up? -- Anon Guest

[AN: No worries, Nonny. When I encounter a prompt with obvious grammatical or spelling errors, I fix them up so that the soul of the

Challenge #02221-F031: The Wager Motivation

Humans have a way of betting that causes the right people for a particular challenge to attempt what is at the time seemingly impossible.

An Inducement prize Contest like the "Ansari X prize" for making the first reusable private Spacecraft, or a Wager like the story of "Around the world in 80 days", even just friends and the ole "Hold my beer".

Humans strive to do the impossible because they like to win. It's in the DNA -- Adam from Darwin

The

Challenge #02220-F030: Revelations

With so many deathworlders in the crew, there was bound to be at least one personal chamber decorated in horror and all things creepy. That was not surprising in the least. The surprising part is that this is the room of a class 5 havenworlder. -- Anon Guest

They called him Floofy, and they adored him. He was agreebly the softest, prettiest, cutest member of the team. As a Class 5 Havenworlder, though, Floofy was very delicate. His species preferred to let

Challenge #02219-F029: Fallen From Grace

"I don't understand why you don't understand." -- Anon Guest

This place was an outrage. Roman's first thought as he returned to consciousness was that someone was going to pay for being so loud in his vicinity. It didn't matter to him that the someone was a baby. It mattered that the baby was interrupting his rest. There was other hubbub. People talking. People clattering around with things. He opened his eyes to see dingy grey foam tiles in the ceiling. Who

Challenge #02218-F028: They Don't Do That Anymore

Some aliens got fed up with the humans on board. So, they set up speakers to make loud or ominous noises every time a human walked near. -- Anon Guest

Psychological warfare has been banned in the Galactic Alliance, and those who wish to bring it back are quickly educated about the Whisker Incident. It was, at least in the beginning, a study on crew incompatibility, but like most social experiments of a certain nature[1], it escalated too quickly and got

Challenge #02217-F027: Complexities of Simple Experiments

Humans tend to shine ridiculously bright spotlights into the sky. Imagine an alien vessel going past and being blinded by these lights. -- Anon Guest

[AN: Most of our lights don't work like that. They're dissipated by the atmosphere and disperse as they go further from the source. By the time you're at cruising altitude for airplanes, they're invisible to even the most perceptive of observers. That said, we're busy inventing some pretty gnarly lights...]

Humans like to prove things are possible.

Challenge #02216-F026: The Boredom Compulsion

This rumination on Queen's three types of songs, as seen by aliens trying to understand these odd Deathworlders. -- RecklessPrudence

If there is anything to cause the Human brain to skip a few gears, it's listening to The Prophet's Song followed by Fat Bottomed Girls. Both are clearly sung by the same man. Learning that both are written by the same man just makes the disparity more obvious.

One is a philosophical piece about those who foresee doom down the road and

Challenge #02215-F025: Strange Instruments

I have no idea why, but I kinda wanna see what you make with this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lTYPvArbGo

sorry if its too hard. -- Anon Guest.

The travelling Museum of Sound History had docked with Amalgam and, naturally, Shayde had to drag Rael into it. She had been catching up on a decent portion of the five hundred years she had missed, and seeing some of it in one lump was always a guaranteed 'draw' for her.

One

Challenge #02214-F024: Ill Met in Sarkis Ten

Class 5 Deathworlders react to the information of human self-cannibalism in extreme situations. -- Anon Guest

Class one Deathworlders only have one elemental portion of their environment attempting to kill them. Class two get two of them. All the way up to level five, with the plants, the animals, the geology, the climate, and astronomy of their solar system repeatedly attempting to kill them. They get to be Deathworlders by surviving all of this and making it out to discover that there

Challenge #02213-F023: Prepared Countermeasures

A villain always mind-controls the same person to do their bidding because everyone knows that person is a goofy sweetheart who nobody wants to hurt, especially the hero. -- Anon Guest

"Oh shit," said Wraithvine.

Lady Anthe looked. Swore. Damnit. Marvin was possessed. Again. "Damnit, Marvin," she sighed.

Rumtum volunteered, "I could stab him until he's unconscious," and didn't even notice that the other two were glaring at him.

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Prompts remaining: 71

Challenge #02212-F022: Companion Ship

A human finally finds a crew member who understands their sarcasm. -- Anon Guest

You have to be careful when you're a human around non-humans. Not all of them understand intonation, and just use your words. Sarcasm may be lost on the slow of mind, but it's also lost on those with different tonal coding to you. Worse - sometimes it's both.

Helpful hint to other humans like me who keep using sarcasm out of habit. Always point out why the sarcastic

Challenge #02211-F021: Edge Case

A young human has many questions about the Vorax, specifically considering potential friendship. -- Anon Guest

This is Edge Space. Where the laws are negligible or arbitrary and generally written around whatever is most convenient. Here, the weirdest things can happen. Havenworlders and Deathworlders cohabit. People are more inclined to explain things when offense happens. In Galactic Space, one is expected to use good behaviour. In Edge Space, one is expected to communicate what good behaviour is. People normally at arms come

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Challenge #02225-F035: That They May See

Challenge #02224-F034: The Better Mousetrap Paradox

Challenge #02223-F033: Treasure (n)

Challenge #02222-F032: Snapping Point

Challenge #02221-F031: The Wager Motivation

Challenge #02220-F030: Revelations

Challenge #02219-F029: Fallen From Grace

Challenge #02218-F028: They Don't Do That Anymore

Challenge #02217-F027: Complexities of Simple Experiments

Challenge #02216-F026: The Boredom Compulsion

Challenge #02215-F025: Strange Instruments

Challenge #02214-F024: Ill Met in Sarkis Ten

Challenge #02213-F023: Prepared Countermeasures

Challenge #02212-F022: Companion Ship

Challenge #02211-F021: Edge Case