Instant Story

Flash fiction fresh from my fingers to your mind!

Challenge #00618 - A253: Anything That Can Go Wrong...

Farewell. Please say hello to Murphy when he clobbers you.

Those had been her last words to the human. They should have been the last words she ever spoke to the insane mammal.

Yet there it was. Hale and hearty. Enjoying a brew with the other Galactics in a seedy bar that also boasted Unsuitable Food on the menu.

“How?” she demanded. “How did you survive? I barely made it out of that melee with my hide intact!”

The human grinned. “Have you heard of the term, ‘lucker’?”

“Sounds like a curse.”

“Oh it is, it is,” the human took a generous swig of its drink. “It’s the ability to fall into a privy pit and come out with gold. It’s the knack of tripping and breaking a toe, only to find that you tripped over a priceless relic. And in one case, its accidentally chopping off your finger while making a speech about how soft you’re not.”

Jerl glared at the creature. “That… doesn’t sound very lucky…”

“It was extremely lucky for the Vardian Empire. Got a bunch of right bastards to back down. Earned the nickname Gregor Elfhand ever after… but that’s what lead to the discovery of the Luck gene. Unfortunately, it comes with a heavy side of Clumsy.”

Jerl reassessed the layers of scars visible on the humans’ hide. There didn’t seem to be any fresh ones.

“Hi,” said the human. “I’m Wanda the Unfortunate. I got an overload of Clumsy and half the Luck. Which, by pure chance, is just enough Luck to live.”

[Muse food remaining: 19. Submit a promptAsk a questionBuy my stories!]

Challenge #00617 - A252: Stick to the Plan

“This is according to your plan?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of plan was that?”
“The plan was -Do not die.- All is still going according to plan… barely.”

“This is why,” raged Krel over the gunfire aimed in their general direction. “This is why I never get involved with humans!”

“Awright,” admitted Jude. “This is something of a tight spot.”

“TIGHT? We’re cornered

Read more »

Challenge #00616 - A251: Adventuring with humans

Maybe, maybe not. After all his plan IS flawless after all.

He doesn’t have a plan at all so there can’t be any flaws in it.

“That’s a plan?” yawped the Princess. “How can the human’s plans possibly have a complete success rate?

"That’s the thing, it isn’t a plan,” explained Ax'and'l. “It’s more a succession of goals. You’ve heard the old

Read more »

Challenge #00615 - A250: A Lesson For Humans

Don’t want to have people commenting your sudden bout of suicidal stupidy by taunting murphy?

How about not taunt murphy?

[AN: I did leave instructions on the Submissions box to only pick up to three tags. Otherwise I have to whittle your collection of tags down to three so I can add my own tags. Please remember this when picking tags for your prompts.]

This media was not only old, but it had been played to the point of nearing uselessness

Read more »

Challenge #00614 - A249: Explaining Business

Don’t worry. He comes up with crazy ideas, but they’re so crazy they actually work half the time.

“…hey!” said exhibit A, aka Hwell Barrow. “I’ll have you know I have a ninety-eight percent success rate.”

“It’s the two percent that bites my tail,” Ax'and'l managed through gritted teeth. “And we agreed that there would be no bickering in front of potential clients.”

“If we agreed

Read more »

Challenge #00613 - A248: The Human Argument

And, isn’t sanity really just a one-trick pony anyway? I mean all you get is one trick, rational thinking, but when you’re good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit!”

“Awright. Yes. Humans as a race are kinda nuts,” Hwell admitted. “There’s lots of things I can’t immediately explain.”

“And your individual susceptibility to Silly Season,” added Ax'and'l. “What evolutionary advantage is there on picking up

Read more »

Challenge #00612 - A247: Universal Nevers

Quite honestly, you could strap those engines to just about anything and it could make escape velocity.

That’s what the man had said when he’d sold them the refurbished hulk for an amazingly cheap price. He’d said not to turn the gravity on until they were at least two hundred clicks on their way.

What he’d neglected to mention was that any motor can achieve escape velocity if used in a cumulative fashion. Especially

Read more »

Challenge #00611 - A246: Every Apprentice Does It

My god… it’s full of spelling errors.

Alani was going after Extra Credit. Finding the Original Source was always good for that. She traced it from planetoid to planetoid, from reference to reference to sub-reference and finally… in the Dark Rooms where only special lights were allowed… a yellowed and rather small booklet kept in its own rarified atmosphere and handled only through waldoes.

To show willing, Alani used the special scope to view the myopic scribble of an

Read more »

Challenge #00610 - A245: One Stormy Afternoon in a Spaceport Drydock

…but for all that they’re effective, they’re about as far from efficient as trying to run a car via rocket motors.

The geiger indicators were still rattling like a drawer full of loose beads as crew working on the dilapidated vessel did what they could to reduce the risk to other citizens on the station. They were dressed head to toe in anti-radiation armour. And worked in shifts of ten minutes at a time.

In the nearest emergency med-bay, similarly-clothed

Read more »

Challenge #00609 - A244: Intervention

[species] Science: It gets results! Just… not always the ones you want. (Alarm sound) Oh [deity] there’s another containment breach!

“Another? This happens frequently?” asked the visiting human.

“Oh yes. Researching the makeup of the universe is a dangerous pastime.”

“Uhm… It doesn’t have to be. You could make sure the reactor is secure before continuing your research.”

The lizard scientist stared at her as if she’d grown two heads.

Read more »

Challenge #00608 - A243: Wait, what?

Found embedded in the radio signature of almost every star that had a sapient species evolve in orbit around it:

Couldn’t solve the heat death problem in this version. By the time we figured that out, life had evolved. Sorry about that. Good luck.
-The Creators

“It’s the same message. Encoded into every star that evolved life over sixteen billion years ago.”

“It’s taken two thousand years of research and decoding to decipher the

Read more »

Challenge #00607 - A242: One Disasterous Afternoon, Mid-Alien-Invasion

Most certainly a [species] spy in disguise. I mean not. Not a [species] spy. Human. Completely human. Yes.

“Oh, now, come on,” said the Doctor. “That can’t be a Friendly. That’s obviously a Golgafraxan spy in disguise. Do none of you notice her complexion?”

“Doctor…”

“If it is a her. They get the genders mixed up.”

“Doctor…”

“Look I’ll prove it. Golgafraxans react

Read more »

Challenge #00606 - A241: Essential Equipment

Recalibrate your sarcasm detector.

“All right,” said Ama. “Where we’re going has lots of humans. So let’s make sure we’re prepared. Remember, even though they’re Class Four Deathworlders, they don’t mean to harm us. They’re aware of our relative frailties and will act accordingly.”

“Yes’m,” said the entire class. They were halfway into their safety suits.

El struggled with her Permaseal Line, panicking, and desperate to not be left

Read more »

Challenge #00605 - A240: Tax Haven

“I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.” – Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

Patriot Imbaw swaggered up to the immigration counter, and pressed his paperwork through the little slot. “I need citizenship on this here Galactic Station ay-sap. How can we -ah- accelerate that process?” He had a greasy smile and greasy hair. In fact, just about everything about him could be described in terms of grease. It seemed like he perspired oily residue that had no origin in the

Read more »

Challenge #00604 - A239: One Stormy Evening in a Spaceport Bar

You’ll make it in five days, boosting six points past emergency max the whole way. If the engineer’s been doing his job, the engines won’t blow until you hit eight. Quite safe.

Plasma from Hyperspace leaked with every ship that travelled through a wormhole. And when it reached a certain density, or a one-way wormhole ‘popped’ into a two way passage, electrons discharged through it in a pattern that still baffled mathematicians everywhere.

And for those caught in Crossroads

Read more »