Instant Story

Challenge #01778-D317: Just Like the Force

Duct tape. Undoubtedly one of humanity’s most useful and versatile inventions. -- TheDragonsFlame

Humanities' inventions preceded humanity throughout the Galactic Alliance. All the useful things go ahead of a species. Especially when that species is the most flakk-off-dangerous band of Deathworlders that the Alliance has ever seen. The humans. And for all that they are dangerous and deadly, the things that come from their disparate societies are amazing.

Bubblegum. Cats. Dogs. Paperclips. Swiss Army Knives. And most useful of all... Ductape.

It arrived in the Galactic scene amongst some confusion. A good portion of people called it Duck Tape for its water repellant qualities. Others called it Duct Tape for its ability to fix small holes in the air vents that should not have been there. A third, vehement group insisted on calling it Gaff. Because it was short and easy to pronounce.

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Challenge #01777-D316: Worth Living Well

Sometimes, someone with a life-threatening condition decides, "What the heck! I'm going to have Fun!" -- Anon Guest

The prognosis sucked. The good news, according to the doctors, was that with expensive drugs and even more expensive therapy, Jeremy could stretch his painful last days by maybe three months.

Six months in increasing pain versus nine in absolute agony. What a fun choice.

"You know what?" said Jeremy. "Fuck it. I'm not going to spend my last days in medical agony. I'm

Challenge #01776-D315: One Fine Afternoon in a Security Detainment Centre

"Look at you ! You started a fight with 5 people because they made fun of your alien friend, and you only got 3 broken teeth, a dislocated shoulder, a black eye and a 15 000 credit fine for the broken furniture!"

"True, but you didn't see how they looked after the fight. Totally worth it." -- Anon Guest

Of all the cells in all the security offices in all the known galaxy, she had to walk into his. "Hwell Andronicus Barrow," she

Challenge #01776-D315: But They Look So Cute...

“I’ll be honest... sometimes, it’s easy to forget that humans are/were predators…” -- TheDragonsFlame

Humans are pack creatures. They're friendly. They'll share their pack-bonding with anyone. They'll share their pack-bonding with inanimate objects. They'll share food, entertainment, beverages... They're generally an outgoing species. Gentle and kind to those they count as their friends. Considerate to Havenworlders of all species.

It's easy to forget that they are deathworlders. It's easy to forget that they are deadly. Like the apocryphal tiger

Challenge #01775-D314: Haptic Feedback

Aliens vs human ticklishness -- TheDragonsFlame

The ships' human was out of sorts. Grumpy. Tetchy. Upset. They had gone close-mouthed and reticent, and it was Gorthax's job to keep the human happy. He had read what the Edge Territories knew about humans, three times over. And attempted every comfort. Except this one.

Humans thrived on companionable touch. But humans also had eroding acids in their perspiration. Which was a problem because a human could wither and die under the influence of Touch

Challenge #01774-D313: Tiny New Friend

Giant sapient space spiders meet tiny Earth spiders -- TheDragonsFlame

You need a great amount of arachnophilia to deal with the H'nuff'ruff. The mere sight of having a gigantic spider sneak up on one is not for the faint of heart. Fortunately, Sally thought they were cute, and wore a speech-to-palp-sign translator almost permanently on her brow. She also had a palp-sign-to-text translator permanently running on her eyescreen.

So she definitely did not jump when tapped delicately on the shoulder by a

Challenge #01773-D312: Rocks Fall!

Human: “Ok, how bad is it? Just lay it on me, I can take it…”

Numid: [extent of injury]

H: “Oh, that’s it? I thought it was something serious.”

N: “WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘THAT’S IT!?!’ -- TheDragonsFlame

Carrie came around to nervous Numidid chirping. Huh. People really did panic in their home tongue. With consciousness came an intense amount of pain. She moaned.

"[There is one alive!]" The Numidids hooted. In broken English, "You with anyone?"

Carrie concentrated on

Challenge #01772-D311: The New Landlord

You once wrote an Instant about a Company owning 99.99% of the World. What they wouldn't realise is "If you own it, you have to fix it. Lousy Hospital, Education, Roads, transport. It's Your responsibility. enjoy!" government retires. -- Knitnan

When you've just bought the world, you never expect it to be a fixer-upper. The previous administration neglected to mention things like noisy and annoying tennants. Rising damp. The fact that the heating needed to be fixed. And they had the

Challenge #01771-D310: Necessary Feature Creep

The single most useful command on a computer: ctrl/cmnd+Z -- TheDragonsFlame

Everything is the result of laziness. People invented crank calculators because they didn't want to go through the mathematics themselves. People invented computers because the living ones took a little too long to bust the Enigma code. And programming code was invented because people were sick and tired of having to translate everything into ones and zeroes.

Code editors were invented to keep things straight and highlight mistakes.

Other

Challenge #01771-D310: Helper Dragon

This post: https://blue-shadow-fire-dragon.tumblr.com/post/139867120326/elfoftheforest-but-imagine-if-we-had-tiny -- TheDragonsFlame

Eldarol Vale, the sign read. Here there be dragons. And it was amusing since Elderol Vale was the Pet Dragon capital of the world. The best breeders came from Elderol Vale. The best breeds came from there. The most sincere and severe show judges grew up there, and knew what was good for the animals. In smaller print, the sign boasted, Zero rapes since the Year of the Eternally Staring Owl

Challenge #01770-D309: One Aggravating Evening on a Space Station

Everyone’s translators break down at the worst possible moment. -- TheDragonsFlame

Someone had sabotaged the Universal Translator. Someone for whom the peace negotiations meant only trouble. Unfortunately, there were plenty of parties who could fit that particular motive.

The negotiations room on Deep Space Nine had become a tower of Babel. Bajoran, Cardassian, several Terran dialects, Ferengi and Vulcan and Breen. All at once. Dax knew Vulcan, Ferengi, and all of the Terran tongues, but there was only one other person

Challenge #01769-D308: Like a Bad Smell

Imagine a race of Aliens who communicate through scent like humans communicate through body language. So when they run into us they're terrified of this species that likes to coat itself in the equivalent of 'Berserker Rage'. And when we DO stop wearing 'perfume/cologne' we're so 'blank' to them that they'd almost prefer the emotional screaming again. -- Anon Guest

They could communicate with dancing hands, and that was well and good. It wasn't until they attempted in-atmosphere communication that things

Challenge #01768-D307: The Endless Cycle

"I have heaps of stuff I use and need. I've even got them sorted and stored. So Why do I have to go back and buy stuff?" No matter what you do for a hobby this happens. -- Knitnan

There is an old saying: If you want to fill a space, get a hobby.

It doesn't matter what the hobby is, be it something big, like model building, or something relatively small, like handicrafts. Sooner or later... it happens. SABLE. Stash Above

Challenge #01767-D306: The Double Feature Picture Show

Humans watch an alien horror movie featuring the humans as the monster -- TheDragonsFlame

The idea of genre is nothing new. The idea of Horror is something uniquely human that took off in various forms around Galactic Society. An entertainment designed to scare, but not scare badly. Or to be really bad at scaring, depending on your point of view. It was a means by which Havenworlders could toughen up their genes and join larger and larger areas of Galactic Society.

And

Challenge #01766-D305: The Dog in the Fight

So in the Human are the Space Orcs, it looks like we are on a level 3.5-4 Deathworld. This makes us fairly B.A.. However there are references to creatures from level six Deathworlds. What happens when they meet? Do humans feel threatened by them, are humans just the perfect mix of craziness and inability to die that the level six deathworlders are just scaredy cats, do they replace the humans, or have humans finally found an alien species they can

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Challenge #01778-D317: Just Like the Force

Challenge #01777-D316: Worth Living Well

Challenge #01776-D315: One Fine Afternoon in a Security Detainment Centre

Challenge #01776-D315: But They Look So Cute...

Challenge #01775-D314: Haptic Feedback

Challenge #01774-D313: Tiny New Friend

Challenge #01773-D312: Rocks Fall!

Challenge #01772-D311: The New Landlord

Challenge #01771-D310: Necessary Feature Creep

Challenge #01771-D310: Helper Dragon

Challenge #01770-D309: One Aggravating Evening on a Space Station

Challenge #01769-D308: Like a Bad Smell

Challenge #01768-D307: The Endless Cycle

Challenge #01767-D306: The Double Feature Picture Show

Challenge #01766-D305: The Dog in the Fight