Instant Story

Flash fiction fresh from my fingers to your mind!

Challenge #01631-D170: What a Maker Wants

You make stuff, sometimes your shopping list is a bit weird. Then someone decides to search your bags (you're innocent), and then there's the explanations. -- Knitnan

There's Things and then there's THINGS!. The latter is a gigantic labyrinth of the former. There's also refreshment islands with ablution kiosks and Galactic Food Choices[1] in a mini-kitchen. People who go there tend to spend all day, and then bookmark their location so that they can come again.

Rael had set his personal alarm set to let him know when he had a comfortable amount of time to reach his domicile and refuel before entering his rest cycle. He marched down the shelving, looking for specific items. He was a cogniscent with only so much time to spare.

In one of the middle lanes was a lizard with a trolley. It contained quite a number of disparate things. Bricks of printing paper, samples of coloured paper, a cutting mat, several boxes of beads, packets of knitting yarn, several colours and patterns of ductape, random spools of wire, cable, and what seemed to be printer materia. They were looking over the air-clay and temperature-sensitive plastics, with a silicone mould in one hand.

Support me on Patreon!

Continue Reading

Prompts remaining: 16 Submit a Prompt! Ask a question! Buy my stories!

Challenge #01630-D169: Can't Eat Just One

It is so hard to eat just one peanut or popcorn. -- Anon Guest

The humans had a word for it. They had a word for lots of things. This one was 'more-ish'. As opposed to 'moorish', which meant 'a human with darker skin, usually originating from a specific area of the largest continent in the northern hemisphere', this one meant that the person eating the thing found it so tasty that they wanted... more.

One such food, easily digested even by

Read more »

Challenge #01629-D168: Unfortunate For Some

Hell, as they say is other people. Especially when you are a school bus driver. -- Knitnan

The chant had started from the back of the bus. "We wanna, we wanna, we wanna wee! If you do not stop for us/ we'll do it on the bus![1]" The otherwise well-behaved kid in the front seat was singing X-1 Bottles of Beer on the Wall. The crowd of kids sharing music were singing both off key and out of sync. The people

Read more »

Challenge #01628-D167: Honey Trap

When stepping into a Gods domain, enter as the supplicant or as something greater than a God. Never as a conqueror, Gods take a deep and personal delight in casting down challenges to their authority. -- RecklessPrudence

We apologise for the inconvenience, said the words in her head. We must quarantine you from reality as you know it.

After ten years of bouncing from reality to reality, the being who called herself Shayde had to wonder what these superior powers were up

Read more »

Challenge #01627-D166: Desperate Invention

“The reasons that would not work are outnumbered only by the reasons it would be a disaster if it did.” -- RecklessPrudence

The ship's human took a moment to stare at Thorassik. "You and I have very different definitions of 'disaster'..."

"Yes! There is significant loss of profit in all scenarios, but if we die, the company loses the least."

"Well," sighed Human Steff. "I'm not about to lay my life down for the company."

"You are not a model employee," chided

Read more »

Challenge #01626-D165: A Conversation About the Greater Deregulations

"Is this an argument you actually want to win?"

"No, but - "

"Then stop talking about it," -- RecklessPrudence

"But it's still an issue," countered Praal. "There are entire planets dedicated to hatred and spite."

"And you would stop them with more hatred and spite?"

"No, but--"

Support me on Patreon!

Continue Reading

Prompts remaining: 11 Submit a Prompt! Ask a question! Buy my stories!

Read more »

Challenge #01625-D164: A Girl and Her Service Dog

Can we see more of Julie and her care dog Nanny please? -- Knitnan

Julie read the stops on the map as they came up to them. Her travelling equipment clutched on her lap. Nanny sat beside her in a more doggy pose than she usually adopted, muttering, "Good girl," and "Right Fin Park Atrium," alternately. Finally, Julie said, "That's next! Standing up time."

Looking at Nanny, one might expect the gigantic St Bernard to stand on all fours, but Nanny was

Read more »

Challenge #01624-D163: Brass Goggles

[Person #1]: Oh dear, [Designation] just went from automaton to a child that just did something new. Progress.

[Person #2]: And a complication for [Name]. Better to have an absolutely loyal Automaton than someone who may have a conscience. -- RecklessPrudence

Colonel Peter A. Walter's design for the Babbage Brain seemed sound on paper, but things that worked on paper had a way of leaving him without eyebrows for a few days. Now that he'd built it and installed the thing inside

Read more »

Challenge #01623-D162: Remote Child-rearing

[Talking about doing something dangerous that will have bad people disliking the fact that it happened, but is for a good cause]

"And if I get murdered, my Grandma's gonna be pissed."

"Dude, you really gotta stop living under her thumb."

"It is a very strong thumb, okay?!" -- RecklessPrudence

"Dude... she sounds like a b--"

Faster than lightning, Emilio had his hand over Gavin's mouth. "Don't say it. Don't even think it."

Gavin peeled Emilio off him. "What, you think your

Read more »

Challenge #01622-D161: An Unlikely Misadventure

“I want to preface this by saying nothing happened, nothing is on fire. It is mere speculation. Do we have a fire extinguisher?” -- RecklessPrudence

"We're on a steam-powered space ship," said the Doctor. "Something has to be on fire or it wouldn't be working." He didn't look at Kev. He was more interested in the pipes and valves that seemed to make up a majority of the corridor decor. He was busy trying to work out what they were for and

Read more »

Challenge #01621-D160: Brothers? Useless.

"Yes! I have brothers, and none of them know one end of a spanner from another, Or bother to read the manuals." Lady mechanic fixes Male breakdown person. Anti-trope the Heck out of this. -- Knitnan

Broken down in the middle of nowhere and no cell service. "This is how every horror movie ever starts," Dan whined.

"You got some tools in this heap?" asked Pixie. "Maybe I could have a look and see what's going on."

Dan didn't scoff. It was

Read more »

Challenge #01620-D159: Dog or Not Dog?

https://iopele.tumblr.com/post/161055518912/roachpatrol-thefingerfuckingfemalefury

"there’s an educational trivia game at the citadel on the exhibits on different planets called “Dog or Not?” that shows pictures of various four legged mammals and asks if they’re a breed of dog.

it was mainly for kids to learn about the diversity of earth’s flora and fauna but it became popular with adult aliens too and had to be shut down after almost causing no less than three diplomatic incidents.

Read more »

Challenge #01619-D158: This is the Best Thing

Super person comes to rescue of someone they are really Big Fans of. Marvel, D.C. Whatever.

Brownie points for "OMG! You're Them!" moment. -- Knitnan

Being a Power isn't as much fun as the comic books would make you believe. For a start, the seemingly endless battles with the Big Bad hardly ever happen. And when they do, it's not something you want to live through. Most of my life is patrolling the streets and trying to stop trouble before it

Read more »

Challenge #01618-D157: Worms?

Earworms, those tunes that get into your head and drive you nuts, from jingles to inane pop tunes. -- Anon Guest

There was something wrong with Human Steve. All the K'shardi could detect it, even those who were not skilled at detecting flaws in the ship's human. It was the way that Human Steve kept wincing and flinching that set everyone on edge.

Humans were Deathworlders. Deathworlders were very hard to permanently harm. Therefore, anything that annoyed a Deathworlder had to be

Read more »

Challenge #01617-D156: Reaching Out

What if someone decided they would not 'Get Even', what if they thought this 'payback with interest has gone on long enough' and just walked away from the whole mess. -- Knitnan

Those who fail to learn from the lessons of history, it is said, are doomed to repeat them. This is not just limited to those who fail their History tests. The moving finger may have written, but it tends to write in circles. Ninety percent of all wars are declared

Read more »