Rael

A 43-post collection

Challenge #01111-C014: To be Good Parents

Speaking of created peoples - whether biology or technology-based - and whether they can be trusted/will rebel/will have morals/all the standard concerns:

"If we do our jobs right, our children are better people than we are." -- RecklessPrudence

The station officials had cleared out a medbay for the anxious parents. A standard Medik and a Wave of the Future Medtech stood by. Patient and implacable.

It was one thing to be first-time parents. It was an entirely different level of anxiety to be the first parents of your entire species. Rael found himself shivering as he approached the otherwise innocuous stasis box with the Wave of the Future logo prominently on it.

That box contained an unaltered, un-accelerated, untrained, infant Faiize. The first one released from the vast bank of Wave of the Future's economic hostages. Kept apart from real time by technology. Essentially frozen and waiting for its new keepers.

Shayde - currently adhered to the observation window in a mixture of excitement and anxiety - had suggested that Rael and his unexpected partially upset co-parent, Kint, name the child Mull. And subsequently dropped what she thought was a pun[1].

There were names coming from all angles. Including the one that the production computer had slammed into the paperwork. Gyurh. As if any sensible parent would agree to such a horrendous collection of letters as a name.

Rael watched in mute horror as Kint, the assigned primary parental, revised the name on the paperwork to read Mul. It was only afterwards that he could pull Kint aside to murmur, "Are you sure about that? It's a human joke..."

"It's still a good name," whispered Kint. "It means, 'careful consideration of all variables'. I looked it up."

Rael wasn't sure of anything. Kint had been made to withstand even more than Ayg, the first and perfect test specimen. Proof of concept and metaphorical poster child for the species. Rael was a proof of tolerances. Not the best his makers could do, and deliberately so.

And this thing held significant portions of both his and Kint's DNA. Essentially, and for all intents and purposes, their child.

Shayde, of course, opined that it wasn't fair. She thought getting a baby should involve some pleasingly organic way of making it. But Wave of the Future had yet to release those details. At least she was wholly willing to be a co-nurturer.

Rael put one hand on a release latch. Kint had his hand on the other.

Their free hands met.

"It's going to be all right," Kint soothed. "We can't do much worse than our makers."

"A very low bar to pass," Rael muttered. "Let's get this over with."

There should have been tears. Screaming. Some Herculean effort. Some... striving... but the locks were easy to un-latch and the infant within merely shuddered as a sign of life.

I don't even know how to hold hir... All the interface designs that meant an ease of all physical interaction had not been taught to this infant. Ze could not even comprehend the most basic of commands.

Kint let his hand liquefy and brushed his substance against Mul's surface. They did not join, but Mul rippled and cooed. And emerged from the box in a cup of Kint's own flesh.

Rael had to use a soft warming pouch, handed over by a medic. "You will not know our pain," he promised. "We will raise you in love. Gently. And let you learn and grow at your own speed."

If the baby showed any sign of understanding, it was too subtle to see. Besides, his eyes were misting up.

There were tears, after all. Happy tears.

[1] Because nobody had heard of Mull of Kint's Ire.

(Muse food remaining: 31. Submit a Prompt! Ask a question! Buy my stories! Or comment below!)

Challenge #01085-B353: The Cosmic Balldance

Shayde, a costume party, and hundreds of miniscule self-adhesive glow in the dark stars. -- Gallifreya

Of all the reasons that humans had found to throw a party, the autumn festival of Halloween confused him the most. Mediaeval superstition met a modern-day desire for revelry head-on in a display of both ingenuity and greed.

Case in point, the Ambassador of 1986TCE[1] Shayde F. Pitt was throwing a Halloween ball. It promised to be one of the more colourful human celebrations. And

Read more »

Challenge #01080-B348: It Used to be a Good Shortcut...

Person #1: You're talking about shoving me in a torpedo and launching me at a planet!

Person #2: Details! Now shut up and get in there. -- RecklessPrudence

"No," said Rael. "I'm a little tired of being treated like some immensely indestructible thing for everyone else's convenience."

"But you are a-- mmmumf mmmf mfflmmff."

"Blakely. Can it." The captain took a deep breath. "You're right. We should have consulted you. But these Sargasso-style pirates have rigged it so that only the smallest

Read more »

Challenge #01073-B341: One Lazy Afternoon in Shayde's Entertainment Lounge

Is laughing at someone doing something stupid and reaping the consequences a very human thing?

"They're fine, so it's funny"

Even the idiot that tried to go sledding on a bin lid is laughing (leg in plaster optional)

"Look how far I flew when I came off!" -- Gallifreya

"What the living heck is this?" demanded Rael.

On her screen, two 'knights' in cardboard armour sat in shopping trolleys and held broomsticks like lances. They faced off at opposite sides of a

Read more »

Challenge #01070-B338: One Slow Afternoon at Unsuitable Food Eat

EUREKA!

Which is greek for "This bath is %*£&ing cold!" -- Gallifreya

"I thought it meant, 'hand me a towel'."

"I heard it was, 'there's a cockroach in the bath'."

"No, no, no. It really means, 'is my time up already'."

Shayde, gloomily watching her joke plummet like a leaden balloon that was currently on fire, tapped the countertop for another fudge sundae. "What goes around comes around," she sighed. "And this one went around so often it's no' a joke

Read more »

Challenge #01062-B330: One Miserable Evening in a Wave of the Future Science Outpost

Strange how believing in "the greater good" makes doing "necessary evils" so much more tolerable... -- Anon Guest

[AN: I saw your comment on this, RecklessPrudence. Was this you? If so, I'll re-attribute]

Rael was supposed to be resting in his heated tank. Certainly, his body was resting, but he was not insensate. He could hear the argument going on between his creators and the owners of Wave of the Future. He could not see them, and he didn't particularly want to.

Read more »

Challenge #01051-B319: One Entertaining Evening in the Local Theatre

This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvJZVq5_cGs I've never seen something like that executed so well in real life. -- Gallifreya

[AN: for those of you who don't want to watch, the prank involves sets of twins doing a Scooby-Doo farcical door chase scene]

Seeing it done with editing was one thing. Seeing it done live was another. Watching what seemed to be the same person enter one door and immediately exit another, on stage... it boggled the mind.

Read more »

Challenge #01035-B303: One Dull Afternoon at a Public Crossroads

Fiat lux!

Which is Latin for "my small Italian car is on fire!" (I can't remember what this quote is from) -- Gallifreya

[AN: For those who are not at all familiar with Latin, it actually means "Let there be light"]

Rael couldn't loom from underneath someone like Lyr could. But he could sneak up on Shayde as she added to a graffiti wall and conspire to look annoyed.

She had written, in relatively large, friendly letters, Fiat lux! And underneath, in

Read more »

Challenge #01028-B296: Explaining History

Advantage number one of having crammed our development of spacecraft into only ten years: "Holy shit we know how to mass produce so many liquid explosives that we can get to be stable for just long enough, you have no idea." -- RecklessPrudence

It's said that anything interesting enough to propel a spacecraft for long distances in a relatively short time is also interesting enough to be a weapon. And it's usually said by humans, who tended to develop the weapons first

Read more »

Challenge #01010-B278: History Q&A

Anything they were willing to try using as fuel during the space race is volatile enough to qualify as an emergency explosive, including the stuff they actually used for launches. -- RecklessPrudence

"They didn't try less volatile launch methods? Like low-orbit flight and gas boosting?"

"Or maglev railgun shots?" suggested another member of Shayde's audience.

"They were thought of, awright. But they were too expensive and too slow. It was a race, ye ken. Braggin' rights tae th' first one on the

Read more »

Challenge #00194: Miss Tiggy

How did a hedgehog even get on a space station?

“Hey, it’s me. Where can I get feeder crickets at this time o’ night?”

Rael should have guessed, then, that something was awry. Even for a well-traveled human of her era, Shayde was not overly adventurous when it came to foodstuffs. Insectivorism was definitely not, as she put it, ‘her bag’.

He checked his chrono. “There’s a night market three levels under

Read more »

Writing Prompts, since the actual Writing Prompts thing, I can't figure where to enter my name and email address (seriously, I would use it...

I try to limit myself to one story a day (my wrists, they punish me) which is why I asked for one prompt at a time. I know it’s a pain in the arse to fill in the same form three times [The name/email thing should be an option if you don’t have a tumblr account] but it’s a literal pain in my anatomy to do three stories in one day.

(#00189) 

It was another reality bubble. Rael

Read more »

Prompt: "May you be three seconds too late, at the worst possible moment."

(#00188)

“I’m no’ in the habit of cursin’ folks,” said Shayde. She was educating some younger folk who had made assumptions about magic in her general direction. “With magic, ye tend to get what ye give. Spread evil, get evil come to you. Spread good, luck leads yer path.“

Half of them had made disapproving faces at this. What was the point of magic if you couldn’t curse people who obviously deserved it?

"But,” said

Read more »