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Challenge #02933-H010: Devil's in the Fine Print

You are going to learn to read, whether you like it or not! I will drag you into literacy kicking and screaming if I have to! -- Anon Guest

"Whyyyy..." whined Rin. "Everything's audio or video. Nobody reads." The last word said with a sneer. As if literacy was a disfiguring and unwelcome disease.

"People still read," said Van. "Let me tell you about the people who read, they're the people who have to read, because they're the ones who write the laws and contracts by which you live. You do not get laws in audio format. You do not get Fidbits of contracts. You have to read, and understand, before you approve of that nonsense. Once you put your name on something you think you understand, once you put your vote behind it - you can't back out of it."

"That's paranoid," Rin dismissed. "That's tinfoil hat stuff."

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Challenge #02913-G356: Poverty to Profit

As it turns out, some aspects of my life are so horrible that people think I'm making stuff up for shock value. -- Anon Guest

Human Daz always had one week of food on their person, and an atmospheric condenser that stowed two Sivu[1] of purified water. They had a very small molecular reassembler integrated with their livesuit that could only make one thing - Nutrifood Paste. It had one job and it did it very well. The livesuit was a

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Challenge #02932-H009: Nature's Not Nice

Horses are herbivores. Sometimes, something goes wrong. When there isn't enough plant matter to satisfy large herbivores on the death-world Earth, or when micro-nutrients such as calcium are lacking, they will actively kill and consume other animals. Giraffes have been known to gnaw bones, horses to eat young birds (deer do this as well), and hippos will sometimes kill (and take a bite out of) predators foolish enough to attack them. -- Anon Guest

[AN: I imagine this would come as something

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Challenge #02931-H008: Okay We Know That Was Silly

Two humans go to the infirmary with hands covered in blisters. At first, the medic thinks they got heat-burned. But the tests show the blisters are from frostbite. When asked, the humans shrug and went "We wanted to see who could hold ice in our hands the longest, and to make it more fun, we added salt to our hands, first. We were just goofing off." -- Anon Guest

The leading cause of dangerous injury to Humans was Humans "just goofing off"

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Challenge #02930-H007: A Gift in Kind

They were supposed to be a massive, mindless, killing machines, huge and terrifying to behold, they were thin, nearly hairless, and soft-bodied under their suits. I'd heard so much of these beings, we all have, that the idea of one of their ships docking at this newly built station scared many of us to nearly soiling ourselves. Galactic Law required us to let them dock, they were in need of aid, their ship damaged almost beyond recognition.

They were supposed to be

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Challenge #02929-H006: The Trouble With Tails

"I can't do this"

"Yes you can"

"No I can't"

"Stop bitching and just put the fucking pants on" -- Anon Guest

"I keep telling you to hire a tailor with a tail. Your kind always get the tail hole wrong." Viceroy "Loyalty" Merrimine squirmed into the offending clothing. Despite both brother's best efforts, there was the distinct sound of thread snapping. "Damnit..."

His older brother -by twenty minutes, as he kept reminding his twin- sighed and said, "I'll get the sewing

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Challenge #02928-H005: Sdrawkcab Erutnevda

In the world of mirrors, where right is left and up is down. Do not move the hands of time. Walk backwards on the path you taken. Ignore the false eyes that gaze beyond. Only then everything you care for will be safe and sound. -- Anon Guest

I have walked into Rorrim knowing well the hazards. I knew what I had to do. Everything is backwards in Rorrim. It is, after all, the realm of reflection. You go ahead by walking

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Challenge #02927-H004: Flight of the Sandman

They were deep into enemy territory, surrounded, lost, and at a massive disadvantage. They were in the valley, their enemies had the hill and it was breezy, though the breeze blew away from them. They could use the sleep powder the havenworlders had invented for their insomnia-riddled human friend, but the climb was steep and they'd get noticed. Then the human had an idea. They made black string and took long strips of black sheets of matte plastic, and then put it

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Challenge #02926-H003: Risk Assessment Monarchs

The humans were having a rave. The music was old-fashioned techno music as one would hear in the pre-shattering era known as the 1980's and 1990's. The music flashed, many had glow-sticks, the dance floor flashed colors and there were bright, but harmless, laser lights. And a Vorax raiding party, landing on the planet, stumbled into the rave by accident.

Just in case someone's not been to a rave or heard rave music at it's most wild, basically - it's this, but

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Challenge #02925-H002: He Prefers the First Option

Violence is never the answer. But it’s a very effective solution -- Anon Guest

There are two potential results of being the deadliest person in armed or unarmed combat. One is that nobody wants to mess with you. The other, paradoxically, is that everyone wants to mess with you. It's a thing. Once you get a reputation for being the biggest thing in the known universe, everyone who thinks they can be a bigger thing wants to take you on as

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Challenge #02923-G366: Bad at Risk Assessment

"And what brings you to medical, human?"

"I took my particle mask off when I should have left it on. That was, uh, five days ago? I'm pretty sure I've coughed up all the stuff I inhaled, since the phlegm isn't pointy any more, but I'm still coughing, and my lungs itch. I would have waited longer to bother you about it, but I've been kinda short of breath today, so I thought I'd come in before it got any worse." --

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Challenge #02922-G365: Danger in Ignorance

It is the modern era. Faerie folk and other such beings are considered nothing but old stories. But, sometimes, stories are real. She was born with the gift to see the supernatural for who they were even if they hid amongst the normal modern world. She could understand their languages no matter how old or obscure it was. And read their words. From the most ancient to the most modern. And yet, as she grew older, she learned this was something handed

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Challenge #02921-G364: One For You...

"don't make deals with a Devil, unless that Devil is me,

Better the devil you know, than the devil you don't,

'coz NOTHING is ever truly free, ALL Devils have a fee!"

-- 'Ancient' Terran Aussie Saying -- Adam in Darwin

[AN: Ah yes, the ancient Aussie sage of wisdom, Kylie Minogue]

It's difficult to trust a Tiefling at the best of times, and why not? They look exactly like they stepped out of a woodcut from The Temptation of Everyman. It's

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Challenge #02920-G363: You Laugh, We Win

A: It’s ovew bwothew, i have the high gwound! OwO

B: Chu undewestimated mwy powew.

A: Don’t twy it -- Anon Guest

[AN: Honestly, nothing is better for a giggle than translating badass lines into Owo.]

The fake battle involved bippy hammers[1] and amusing melodrama, much to the amusement of everyone else in the room. There was so much amusement that some were concerned about their ability to breathe. Companion Grox, perching far above melee range, was making sure

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Challenge #02919-G362: Pass It On

I'd like to know more about Human Gis and her discovery of the flower that helped ease, then cure, her bad cough and helped heal the scar tissue in her lungs. Did the kid get credit for her discovery? Maybe a bonus? And did her companion help her with her self-esteem?

It's from this story from back in May. https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02685-g128-little-yellow-different -- DaniAndShali

It would eventually be named the Rentiniv Daisy, via several miscommunications and some typography errors.

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