Instant Story

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 out of control.

The crew of the Twitching Whisker didn't much like their ships' Humans and the Humans didn't like them. Initially, there was a period of attempted pack-bonding but, when that failed, the mood of the crew turned sour. Hostilities almost turned to fighting, but the breach of contract clauses were too strong to allow the Humans to harm the rest of the crew.

The others aboard, a diverse sample of Maunchini, decided that they would be better off if they could somehow convince the Humans to leave at the next port and never come back. Thus began their fear campaign. The Maunchini did their homework about making the Humans feel uncomfortable, cursed, or uneasy about their environments. The exact amount of lux necessary to render any environment creepy or depressing. The 'perfect' amount of background EM radiation to cause a Human to very subtly hallucinate and doubt their senses. Infrasound that impinged on Human instincts to run and hide from the monster right behind them...

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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

Challenge #02210-F020: Keep on Rolling

A Cheese rolling in Gloucestershire. A bunch of humans running down a really steep hill in order to out race each other or possibly catch a wheel of cheese in order to win said cheese. People get injured. Try explaining that to Aliens -- Anon Guest

"This is a sport?" said Glaux, who was honestly attempting to understand their Ships' Human. "In a place called..." they looked up the spelling. "Glaw-sess-ter-shire?"

"Gloss-ter-sheer," corrected Human Tess. "It's a common mistake, but yes. That's

Challenge #02209-F019: An Unnatural Fascination

Alright, so I have yet to see something about pyromaniacs in any of the posts out there and figured here was a good place to submit the idea.

Could you imagine them finding out about some humans really, really loving fire?

Like sure, they use fire and appreciate it and its many uses, but maybe there aren’t any aliens that actually love or enjoy fire?

Like there are many of us that actively play with fire or are drawn to it

Challenge #02208-F018: Relative Superman

A Havenworlder was adopted and raised by Humans from a young age. -- Anon Guest

A ruined city. A lone survivor. Those who had come to help take the orphan in with the best of intentions... So many stories of heroes begin that way. One famous one has the orphan saving their adopted world for all of their life. Red capes optional.

Such was not the case for Sylkin. She was a Thof, and the only survivor of a Vorax raid on

Challenge #02207-F017: Silent and Deadly

You should be wary of Humans. All the time. They Bond together and are nearly unstoppable.

However or Whatever you do, DO NOT underestimate/provoke the silent one who doesn't do that.

Please write a story with the focus on the quiet crew-member in the corner. -- Anon Guest

Humans say there are Cat People and Dog People. Galactic Society has largely misunderstood this to mean that there are Humans like dogs, who spread friendliness and affection wherever they go, and Humans

Challenge #02206-F0165: Microscopic Passengers

The Aliens in Board learn that one of the Human-Crewmembers has Herpes.

Fact: More than 3.7 Billion People have it. XD -- Anon Guest

"It's my duty to inform my captain and crew that I have a class two plague known as Herpes. I'm on a permanent course of antivirals to prevent its propagation."

Captain Gorthax, mildly alarmed, consulted the free infonets and read, GalStand Medical Primer for Newcomers: Subheading - Plague Disease Classes and resulting mis-assumptions.

Like most numeric classifications,

Challenge #02205-F015: Correcting Memetic Foibles

European Humans have Something around 2 % of DNA from the Neandertaler in them.

Humans share 50 to 80% of their DNA with the Common Banana.

All that separates US from Apes are roughly 1- 5 % genetic differences.

The Aliens learn about these Facts for the first Time.... -- Anon Guest

"A common mistake in early DNA studies is mistaking content for relationships. Some are indicators, like the two percent of DNA that some Humans share with Neanderthals. Or the ninety-eight percent that

Challenge #02204-F014: Complex Organic Chemistry

Class five Deathworlders have Problems dealing with a planet which Flora contains a mysterious Plant (Wink Wink).

For them it is as deadly as Arsenic is for us.

Their reaction when Humans Line Up to colonise it -- Anon Guest

[AN: Going with convergent evolution because the chances of weed happening exactly as it happened on Earth, on another planet, are astronomical at best]

Things had been going badly for the latest J'krog colony. The world, verdant and unclaimed, had promised a

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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

Challenge #02210-F020: Keep on Rolling

Challenge #02209-F019: An Unnatural Fascination

Challenge #02208-F018: Relative Superman

Challenge #02207-F017: Silent and Deadly

Challenge #02206-F0165: Microscopic Passengers

Challenge #02205-F015: Correcting Memetic Foibles

Challenge #02204-F014: Complex Organic Chemistry