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Challenge #02027-E203: Waifs and Strays

"We have a problem sir. We found the hostage. She looks safe but.... there is an human with her. He is hurt and his translator is broken, but he seems to have protected the hostage, and continues to do so. The fact is that he doesn't want to leave her alone, and she doesn't want to leave him too. And he kind of scares our man." -- Anon Guest

Humans. Some were aggressive. Enough to make Havenworlders like the Graacil extremely cautious about encounters with all of them. It didn't matter that not all Humans were like that. What mattered was that enough were like that that it made the Graacil extremely cautious.

Forx'gn briefly pondered the likelyhood of a pleasant outcome from sending a message home that read, The Princess is safe, but also in grave danger. It would not fly well. They would have to wait for field reports until such time as he had something clear to report.

Logic, though it was always a means of being wrong with authority, could help them. One: The Human was clearly in protector mode with the Princess Grigri. Two: communication would be limited to unmistakable action or plausibly confusing pantomime. If they could manage a way to be understood... Three: both sides had their face plates obfuscated for space travel. Reading expressions was right out.

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Challenge #02026-E202: Common Sense Human Medical Advisor

Under great stress, the human brain will launch the production of combat drugs to better face the situation. It will nearly always allow your fellow human crew member to survive and save you, even if the course of action seems stupid and dangerous. The biggest problem could be when those drugs leave the organism : usually the human will act as normal and go back to his/her normal behaviour. But in some case, the human mental will temporary "crumble to dust" and

Challenge #02025-E201: One Confounding Encounter on Argus Seventeen

Like all great things in life, you need to poke it to get it to do anything. -- TheDragonsFlame

Draes boggled at the merchant. "That is such a uniquely Human phrase," ze said. "Is it absolutely true? Will patience reward those who wait?"

"Uh. No," said the merchant. "If you wait, it does nothing. You have to interact with it to make it go."

"Hmf," again, almost typically Human. Hir own peoples much preferred a fully automatic system. Humans were compelled to

Challenge #02024-E200: Remarkably Similar

[ a race of sapient felines encounter Humans and their pets ] -- Anon Guest

Ahnrau hadn't expected a close encounter like this one. She had been hunting valuable asteroids when a shard of a distant impact sent her vessel spiralling out of control. The last thing she remembered before the spin blacked her out was identifying another vessel on a collision path...

She was messed up. She could feel it. But... she was also on the mend. The room she was in was

Challenge #02023-E199: Home-Going

What if the reason aliens are uniform across their world is because every species has a deep, intrinsic connection with their home planet. So colonising/terraforming a new planet is considered a form of disownment, as it breaks the connection with your home world. Humans connection is much weaker than most other species, but it allows us to still see humans across the galaxy as HUMANS rather than traitors, or a different "breed" of humanity. -- Sarah

[AN: Obviously, this can't happen

Challenge #02022-E198: May They Pass You By

Can we have some more adventures with the "minor horsemen of the Apocollapse". Namely Panic, Screaming, Chaos and Flailing. -- Knitnan

There's many minor horsepersons of the Apocollapse. And seemingly infinite combinations of just four of them. Some of them can even get their collective shit together enough to ride. But then again, they never really ride anywhere big.

"We're going to be LATE!" Panic shrieked.

Screaming was running around their shared flat making a loud noise. That was what Screaming did

Challenge #02021-E197: Volatile Situation

“Hold on. YOUR PLANET RAINS WHAT?!!?!”

“Umm... water?”

“Water. The highly corrosive, extremely reactive liquid.”

“I mean, yeah. But...”

“HOLD ON. WHY IS THE WATER ACIDIC? IS YOUR PLANET TRYING TO KILL YOU??!?”

“Oh that? It’s fine. Just the carbon dioxide in the air making it slightly acidic.”

“Define ‘slightly’.”

“Umm... ph5 ish? So about x100 more concentrated than pure water? It’s honestly fine, if you think this is bad, you haven’t seen the ACTUAL acid rain on earth.

Challenge #02020-E196: Strange Bedfellows

Humanity as a whole is known as many things to many different species. Yes, while they are terrifying deathworlders more than capable of destroying everyone and everything, they’ve always been willing to lend a helping hand to all those who ask, and even those who don’t. So was it really that big a surprise when, after a powerful warmongering race declared war on humanity that half the universe flocked to humanity’s aid? -- Anon Guest

For every bully, there

Challenge #02019-E195: Lost and Found in Space

Wait, what happens to the poor guy in space in “Show Me the Way...”???

Does he find his way home or does he make space into his new home? I’m so curious now. -- Anon Guest

[AN: The prompt throws back to this story for those who don't want to go on an archive crawl]

Personal journal: Stardate... I don't even know by now. Everyone has a different way of counting and the standard year is something I can't even figure

Challenge #02018-E194: After Math

And then she spoke. She was xir’s friend, xir’s confidant, xir’s companion through thick and thin. She was the one xir trusted above anyone else. But she is also dangerous, deadly, and vicious; a deathworlder before all else, a human at heart. Xir will never forget those three words for as long as xir lives:

“Actually, I can.” -- Anon Guest

[AN: I'm going to take your word on the conjugation of this pronoun, Nonny. I can only handle

Challenge #02017-E193: Like a Boss

Adrenaline is a well known (and banned due to its effectiveness/danger) military combat drug.

What happens when aliens find out that human bodies produce it naturally when under stress or danger? -- Anon Guest

The V'rithi had known Human Jak as a 'team mom', constantly fretting over their collective wellbeing. Making sure they had rodesnax[1] and clothing that would protect them from the elements. Human Jak was constantly gentle and kind, and -to use a Human phrase- wouldn't hurt a

Challenge #02016-E192: Minder's Manners

“Why not?” Is probably one of the most dangerous questions in a humans repertoire, ESPECIALLY when followed by the response “Because fuck you that’s why.” -- Anon Guest

Humans are a contrary bunch. Obstinate. Stubborn. Determined. Tenacious. And most definitely vexatious. They ask questions. The second most-annoying question in the Human repertoire is, "Why?" But number one on the list is, "Why not?"

"Because I don't want you to," is not a sufficient answer. Humans much prefer reasons that make logical

Challenge #02015-E191: Party Time on No-Longer-Tranquil VII

On the wall was posted the human regiment’s code of conduct/safety instructions:

Do not subtract from the population.

Do not add to the population (looking at you Jared).

Do not end up in the hospital, the news, or in jail.

If you do end up in jail, establish dominance quickly. -- Anon Guest

It was a set of rules above the airlock door. Entitled, When Visiting. And could be summarised as, "No killin', no thrillin', just chillin'." Which every squad

Challenge #02014-E190: We All Fail Sometimes

How do aliens react to sayings such as “to err is human”, “it’s fine, you’re only human” and multitude of others like them? -- Only Human

[AN: I fixed that first saying there. I've never heard it the other way around]

It happened a lot, whenever a non-human was talking to a Human about a survived mistake. "We're only human," the Human would say. And then their brain would catch up with what their mouths had said and they'd amend,

Challenge #02013-E189: Order in Court

Not mine, but by randomacts13.

“Humans survived the volatile early years of their species rise through community-bonding. They put the needs of a group of individuals over all else; hunting as a group, eating as a group, raising families as a group, and sometimes dying as a group. This tendency to form strong bonds means that while a human’s signed contract can always be trusted. It also means that a human cannot be trusted to not rip that contract up and

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Flash fiction fresh from my fingers to your mind!

Challenge #02027-E203: Waifs and Strays

Challenge #02026-E202: Common Sense Human Medical Advisor

Challenge #02025-E201: One Confounding Encounter on Argus Seventeen

Challenge #02024-E200: Remarkably Similar

Challenge #02023-E199: Home-Going

Challenge #02022-E198: May They Pass You By

Challenge #02021-E197: Volatile Situation

Challenge #02020-E196: Strange Bedfellows

Challenge #02019-E195: Lost and Found in Space

Challenge #02018-E194: After Math

Challenge #02017-E193: Like a Boss

Challenge #02016-E192: Minder's Manners

Challenge #02015-E191: Party Time on No-Longer-Tranquil VII

Challenge #02014-E190: We All Fail Sometimes

Challenge #02013-E189: Order in Court