Just Add Prompt

It is said that life is a comedy to those who think,
And a tragedy to those who feel.  I never could figure out
Which it was for me.  May you have better luck. – RecklessPrudence

(#00308)

T-shirts had made a comeback, though many cogniscents who had taken them up had not grasped some of the basic concepts. Like, they had to feature something witty, controversial, or downright offensive.

Some, Rael noted, had gone for profound.

Shayde, sporting one that read, Life is a smorgasbord, go ahead and smorg! pointed out the ones she thought were amusing. “Saw that on a tombstone,” she said.

Rael read it. It is said that life is a comedy to those who think, And a tragedy to those who feel.  I never could figure out Which it was for me.  May you have better luck. “A little verbose…”

“Ha! You havenae seen Nick’s.”

“Dare I ask?”

“He’s got a Sherlock Holmes story on his. Fine print. An’ it’s no’ even a good one.”

“Yes, well… Gyiiks do tend to overdo things.”

“If Nick’s wearing Sherlock, I wonder what Sherlock’s wearing…”

“His uniform. Being the chief of station security does not lend any room for frivolousness.”

“Pity. Reckon he’d look dashin’ in a Smiley.”

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Adhuc Vivo!
(It’s Latin, look it up)

Yes, the parentheses were on the gravestone too. – RecklessPrudence

(#00307)

[AN: For those too lazy to do as the parentheses suggest, it translates out to “Thus far, alive.” which is a very ironic thing to stick on a gravestone]

It was a long trip home, and lead naturally to introspection.

“Plant a tree and think of me,” Rael recited. “Did you choose that epitaph?”

“I

The last Homo Sapiens Sapiens lay dying. Who hears their final words? Who are our species’ successors?

Go as uplifting or as dark as you wish. – RecklessPrudence

(#00305)

The machines were very good at keeping him alive. They had done so for almost two hundred years.

And it wasn’t fair that a majority of them were spent in a bed, watching other innovations and marvelous things happen in the world. Watching the new definition of humanity do marvelous

Luckily, the researchers were actually _aware_ of the past century-plus of musing on the subject, and didn’t react like paranoid idiots.

Whether the creation of the AI was intentional or not, I leave up to you. – RecklessPrudence

(#00304)

Gravity generators needed a Cargo Cult to make them go. Each machine was the same, up until the final pass, where the Cargo Cult took over and the machine was ‘birthed’.

The cult called itself the Nae'hyn, and was

Place names change over time. Often in response to something that happened at that location that changed how people thought about it. For instance, did you know that it’s nigh-impossible to easily find an English source for what the locals called ANZAC Cove before WW1?

What about when the meaning behind the new name is forgotten… why is this place named [name here]? It doesn’t fit with the surrounding place names… – RecklessPrudence

(#00303)

Part of Shayde&

I am somewhat preoccupied telling the Laws of Physics to shut up and sit down. – RecklessPrudence

(#00301)

It took Kev most of the year to work out that Katie Walker was smarter than she seemed. When the dawn came, it was like watching a gigantic fusion energy generator rise over the horizon.

She was coding in her notebook again. Gibberish to Kev’s eyes. She used to count and mutter when writing in there, now, she just wrote in a

My stomach is in my throat right now. It’s trying to spit acid on the parts of my brain that remember reading that message. – RecklessPrudence

(#00300)

It had been an ordinary chat in Shayde’s office until Blenkinsop arrived with the lead-lined lockbox.

“Oh joy, it’s a nastygram from Greater Deregulation. Fan-fookain’-tastic…” She got out and donned a pair of gloves, goggles, and a filter mask.

Then, with ceremony and aplomb, carefully

Can somebody help me find my retinas?
Last I heard, they were screaming and trying to hide under a table.

I leave it to you to determine if the sight was physically, emotionally, or mentally traumatic. – RecklessPrudence

(#00299)

She had been intending to say, “I’m no tryin’ tae escape, ye ken, but somethin’s gone wrong wi’ the air in there.”

She only got as far as, “I’m no trying’

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. – RecklessPrudence

(#00298)

Walter had left his house unlocked. Everything inside was in more disarray than usual. There was no sign of Walter and, most alarming off all, the cage was empty.

The cage that contained possibly the most dangerous creature in the world. Correction, the cage that had contained, etcetera. Which meant that It must have got out.

Take a breath. Keep calm. Look at

Don’t knock on death’s door. Ring the bell and run. He hates that.

Bonus points if you have Death be somewhat Pratchettian. – RecklessPrudence

(#00297)

“What is this? Another bubble-reality? Why is everything shades of black?”

“Aw fook,” growled Shayde. “This isnae a bubble. It’s a pocket.”

“There are pocket realities?”

“Aye, where d'ye think I keep all me shit?”

Rael glared at her. “Seriously.

I know you can’t drink most alcohol, and I’m leery of too much of the stuff myself - but I can’t help but like this quote:

I ran screaming out of adolescence, and when I hit the border somebody gave me the legal right to drink. It’s all just finely tuned memory loss since then. – RecklessPrudence

(#00296)

“And why can’t such a fine lady as yourself go out dancing with

Since submitting those corallaries scavenged from around the net, I find it interesting to contemplate what you could do with the whole, original, set.

You probably know them already, but just in case, Clarke’s Laws:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past

Any sufficiently analysed magic is indistinguishable from SCIENCE! – RecklessPrudence

(#00294)

“This thing is full of crystals… and silver wire… is that a bird feather?”

“Can you fix it?”

“At this point, I can’t even tell what’s broken.” She tapped a crystal and noted a musical chime. Also that some connected crystals illuminated from within. “Hmnh…”

“That was an expensive noise…”

“I think I can figure it

Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those who don’t understand it. – RecklessPrudence

(#00293)

Through a series of unfortunately predictable events, they were now stuck in the middle of nowhere with inadequate camping supplies, a cubic meter of marshmallows, three idiots and a whole bunch of electronica that was out of their service area and therefore as useful as a meringue umbrella.

Miri didn’t bother listening to the arguments since they had got cyclical. What