Instant Story

Challenge #01480-D019: Facing Doubt

"Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow." — Carrie Fisher on pursuing dreams despite mental illness -- RecklessPrudence

Rael woke from his haze. His body hurt. That meant that the surgery had gone ahead. In lieu of recovering in an Intensive Care Patient Drawer[1], he and his warming tank were in a dimly-lit shelf in Medik Central. A young nurse sat nearby, studying something so she could become a Doctor all the quicker[2].

He formed a rudimentary speaking apparatus. The bare minimum to make sounds. It took him three goes. They'd given him the strong stuff. Eventually, he was able to form, "Was... surgery... successful?"

The nurse, who had been dozing a little over her studies, snorted into awareness. "What? Oh. Yes. Your Medik team were able to remove the implant. You've only lost point zero, zero, zero two three percent of your total mass. Please remain idle until a qualified Medik can assess you."

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Challenge #01479-D018: To Meet Like Minds

“Movies were meant to stay on the screen, flat and large and colorful, gathering you up into their sweep of story, carrying you rollicking along to the end, then releasing you back into your unchanged life. But this movie misbehaved. It leaked out of the theater, poured off the screen, affected a lot of people so deeply that they required endless talismans and artifacts to stay connected to it.” – Carrie Fisher, The Princess Diarist -- RecklessPrudence

Some stories, they say, are timeless.

Challenge #01478-D017: Popular Lies

Write about a false prophet. -- WriteAboutNowBlr

"And in the bright new age of reckoning, we will no longer have freeloaders sucking on the government teat," preached the man in the large, bright suit. "There will be no need for government! No need for taxes! Those who can fulfil a need will do so, and those who need will be sated!"

The crowd cheered. Of course they did. It was a message they wanted to hear.

"In this way, and in this

Challenge #01477-D016: One Fine Day in an Impoverished Neighbourhood

“I wish time would skip ahead. I got here too early.” -- WitterPrompts

Paul checked her watch. "You're right on time."

"No. I mean... the whole future thing. It's like... most of my time has been spent waiting for stuff that should have been here, already. Like... I dunno. Tablets should have always been there since my childhood, you know."

"And flying cars?" teased Paul.

"No. Dur. You can't have flying cars until after self-driving cars have taken over. Because, look at

Challenge #01476-D015: Historical Hysterical First

the madness has begun -- MaxMundan

The Tri'li'ol had heard the news. Having a human aboard a vessel, especially a vessel in uncharted regions of space, was good luck. Even though they were Deathworlders, they were a statistical anomaly. They would pack-bond with the crew, adjust their interactions for the benefit of others, and generally behave themselves. And if one human aboard a vessel was good luck, then more had to be better.

And it worked. For a short time.

Nobody else

Challenge #01475-D014: Signal Lost

"It matters not if you have stood with the great. What really makes a difference is if you have sat with the broken, walked with the lost, and loved the lonely." — Sheri Bessi Eckert -- Ariestess

"And what have you done?" asked the man in the yellow robes. He was Important. He would not be in this meet-up if he wasn't. The people demanded it, and he had to suffer it. For the good feelings of everyone who supported him. And for

Challenge #01474-D013: Stranded on a Hostile Planet

2157 A.D.

Captain’s Log: Alpha-Foxtrot-Lima - 1129.

It’s been 63 days and they have yet to realise that I am not one of them. -- Here-is-the-Story

This only shows that my disguise is effective, and my camouflage as well. These Deathworlders have no idea that I am not one of their species. This is well and good. As a pre-spaceflight civilisation, I have seen what they do to each other for the most trivial reasons. They are not ready

Challenge #01473-D012: Life is But a Dream

Imagine waking up from a coma, in a hospital where you were no longer called a patient, but the term 'consumer' was used. That the care you received was based on the cost of doing business, not your outcome as a patient. That the normal systems and avenues to access resources had all changed massively, and when you ask how long you were in a coma, you find out that the coma didn't exist. That your family was changed, that the people

Challenge #01472-D011: Lawful Suspicion

“I wanna leave without a trace cause I don’t wanna die in this place.” -- Song-Lyric-Prompts

The Night Guard who had found her outside, one second after curfew, nodded in understanding. For an instant, their eyes were human, before they remembered to be cold and cruel once more. "We have a duty to the citizens of Nova York, miss. Including the citizens who are breaking the law. Now we find it suspicious that you were cleaning up after yourself as you

Challenge #01471-D010: Plus La Change...

“We both do work around here.” “Yeah but you feed the dog and I clean up the shit, there’s a difference.” -- WannaSheWriter

"What? We don't have a dog."

"It's a metaphor. You cook, but you leave the cleaning to me. You make things to sell at the market, but you leave all the mess from making it all over the house for me to sweep up. You fix the garden, and then you track mud indoors. All of your work

Challenge #01470-D009: Survivor's Tale

I am mentally ill. I can say that. I am not ashamed of that. I survived that, I’m still surviving it, but bring it on. Better me than you. I don’t want to be a victim. — Carrie Fisher -- RecklessPrudence

On the cusp of sleep, I hear voices. Stranger's voices, almost always. Sometimes, they're spouting nonsense. I know they're the firings of my unconscious brain gearing up for a dream. Other times... well...

They're the voices of people I know,

Challenge #01469-D008: Judge Alike

“I heard someone say once that many of us only seem able to find heaven by backing away from hell. And while the place that I’ve arrived at in my life may not precisely be everyone’s idea of heavenly, I could swear sometimes—if I am quiet enough—I can hear the angels sing.” —Carrie Fisher, Wishful Drinking (2008) -- RecklessPrudence

Hell, like Heaven, is relative. One being's paradise is another's torture. And for Til, life was that torture. Another

Challenge #01468-D007: Beware of Storytellers

“The anthropologists got it wrong when they named our species Homo sapiens ('wise man'). In any case it's an arrogant and bigheaded thing to say, wisdom being one of our least evident features. In reality, we are Pan narrans, the storytelling chimpanzee.” - Terry Pratchett (GNU) -- RecklessPrudence

What's most impressive about humans, besides their patented unkillability, is their propensity for stories. Stories encompass their lives. They explain their past with stories. Foretell the future with stories...

They even seek evidence to

Challenge #01467-D006: Surrender Now, or... What?

:In front of a delegation from [Bad Guy], facetiously:

"Commander [Good Guy]? Do you have any idea where the [Bad Guy]'s Military is? They seem to have misplaced it. And do you smell something burning?" -- RecklessPrudence

Of course, it was a metaphor. The humans were irritatingly rife with them. Smell could no more travel through the gulfs of space than sound could transmit through vacuum. Nevertheless, they were also irritatingly good at inventing means of transmitting information at ludicrously faster

Challenge #01466-D005: One Family Argument on a Summer Evening

"I haven't heard from [blank] in a while,"

"I may have not-so-accidentally told them about your secret popcorn stash,"

"You what!!" -- OohLookShiny

"You told Kel about my popcorn stash."

"Um. In my favour, I was mad at you at the time."

"You told Kel about my popcorn stash."

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Challenge #01480-D019: Facing Doubt

Challenge #01479-D018: To Meet Like Minds

Challenge #01478-D017: Popular Lies

Challenge #01477-D016: One Fine Day in an Impoverished Neighbourhood

Challenge #01476-D015: Historical Hysterical First

Challenge #01475-D014: Signal Lost

Challenge #01474-D013: Stranded on a Hostile Planet

Challenge #01473-D012: Life is But a Dream

Challenge #01472-D011: Lawful Suspicion

Challenge #01471-D010: Plus La Change...

Challenge #01470-D009: Survivor's Tale

Challenge #01469-D008: Judge Alike

Challenge #01468-D007: Beware of Storytellers

Challenge #01467-D006: Surrender Now, or... What?

Challenge #01466-D005: One Family Argument on a Summer Evening