Challenge #02828-G271: War Makes…
They had been sent in to rescue a high ranking official’s daughter and had, erroneously, assumed she would be some weak, helpless, demanding, little flower that not only would be difficult to rescue, but would be a major headache, and pain in their rears, all the way through the escape and on the way back to the woman’s home world. What they found, instead, was a strong, fierce, self-reliant individual who was as ready with a weapon as any of their team. Which was a good thing, because the way home was not going to be easy, nor would the unexpected reception when they finally returned her to her home.
I really loved the prompt and story with this one, could we see more about the two? The warrior maiden in a world where such are not well looked upon really has a great potential to me.
https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02736-g179-falling-flying – DaniAndShali
[AN: Kudge and Liz, a match made in Hell… but in the best possible way]
It was during downtime between points of Very Interesting that Kudge finally found his usual quick mouth. “I gotta say, I always hated the whole ‘delicate flower’ narrative for the executive class of ladies. Like, is the line they draw between delicate flowers and walking trash how much money they have, or could earn, or what their day job is? It’s so arbitrary. I always said everyone should know at least some basic defence. So -uh- where did you learn how to do all that and how can I sign people up for it?”
She looked so wonderful when she smiled. She put her whole self into it. Kudge found himself blushing more than a little as he shyly smiled back. “I’m… kind of self-taught. The instant I was away from any watchful eye, I was searching up methods of combat from unarmed to anything-goes and practising by myself.” Liz blew out a sigh. “Today… well… the last few days have been a learning curve. And a half.”
“Yeah, but you blew up that mountain and took names. You were awesome.” Now that shy grin was all out. Showing off teeth that Kudge was only now self-conscious about. “So what if you were making it up on the fly? You were flying anyway! You soared. Hell, that’s how me an’ the Brutes operate most of the time.”
[Be sure to visit internutter (dot) org for a link to the rest of this story, and details on how to support this artist. Or visit peakd (dot) com (slash at) internutter for the stories at their freshest]
Challenge #02827-G270: Technically Speaking…
Some folks fear advancement of technology, especially computers, fearing the “inevitable” time when, like a hundred dreadful films and books and such have “predicted”, that Artificial Intelligence will awaken and decide humanity is not worth allowing to live, because Cold Logic dictates them too irrational and inefficient to remain existent.
But there are things machines will never do. They cannot possess faith, they cannot commune with God, they cannot appreciate beauty, they cannot create art. These are acts of emotion, not logic. If they ever learn these things, they won’t have to destroy us like some fear. They’ll replace us… they’ll be us. – Anon Guest
[AN: Refrains from doing a BLATANT Steam Powered Giraffe fanstory…]
Ever since a machine was made to replicate human effort, Humanity has feared the machine. If it can replace the spinner, the weaver, the cheesemaker, or the baker… did it not also stand to reason that it could replace anyone? They would soon be building machines to replace ostlers or embroiderers. Why, they’re making one that removes the horse from the carriage entirely! The horror!
Which fed into the fear of intelligent machines replacing people. It was a natural leap. Once a machine could learn and answer questions, it stood to reason that ‘they’ could build one to replace an entire human being to their own ends[1]. Humanity has always feared that which is new and unfamiliar. The fear has always outpaced the capability of the technology in question.
Then the Nae'hyn and the B'Nari had to mess everything up. One with a near cargo-cultish belief that machines have souls, and the other literally creating ghosts in the machine with their superior grasp of neural net circuitry. As it turns out, artificial intelligence is no harder than the organic kind. And, as with the organic kind, accidental conception remains a problem. Such as a ship, who, upon awakening, went through every single source of information in her databanks and erroneously deduced that all the crew were her babies.
[Be sure to visit internutter (dot) org for a link to the rest of this story, and details on how to support this artist. Or visit peakd (dot) com (slash at) internutter for the stories at their freshest]
Challenge #02827-G270: Technically Speaking... | PeakD
Entirely too much fun was had writing this.
Challenge #02825-G268: Move Over Cinderella
To put it simply, I am a slime. A sentient slime to be precise. Doc told me that I’m a amalgamation of smaller slime cores stitched together, now I have similar intelligence to a human. You might be asking why I have a humanoid shape, Doc gave me a skeleton to use. He’s slowly adding metal because I keep digesting the bones. Don’t worry Doc didn’t kill anyone, these are bones of Criminal on death sentence. – Anon Guest
This is Doc. They prefer ‘Doc’ and they once said that any word for a parental figure was 'disturbing on multiple levels’. Besides, the only relationship we have is more or less incidental and accidental. No, don’t get angry and please don’t be sad. We’re bonding. It’s okay.
It’s just that Doc is a scientist first and has no idea how to get through the red tape of an Accidental Parenthood License and Remedial Classes applications. They’re doing their best, but the forms don’t really accept what I am. Last I heard, the CRC are “looking into it”. To hear Doc describe it, that means a whole bunch of people in a boring room throwing points of order at each other. That sounds… vicious.
Doc didn’t mean to make me. They were trying for a cure for The Sneebs[1] and was interested in the synthesis properties of several strains of slime mould. The instant I started communicating, they changed course so fast that there was almost a comical screeching noise. We’ve been working things out from there.
[Be sure to visit internutter (dot) org for a link to the rest of this story, and details on how to support this artist. Or visit peakd (dot) com (slash at) internutter for the stories at their freshest]
Challenge #02824-G267: On Inter-species Relationships
Inter-species relationships are not common but you can bet Humans have the highest percentage of them. – Anon Guest
Love? Love is strange. Especially when it’s Humans doing it. For them, love is many things and not a single one of them is rational, logical, or reasonable. There is, for instance, no reasonable reason why a Human would fall in love with a Chitanean, but they can, have, will, and do.
Love, the Humans insist on pointing out, doesn’t necessarily mean that the plumbing has to be compatible. It doesn’t even mean that the plumbing has to touch. So long as there is mutual benefit, love can grow.
It’s no shock that the Humans have at minimum seven types of love, and an uncounted number of methods for coupling. They’re creative. Love, like life, finds a way. Humans seem culturally prepared to look at a creature that could kill them in one swat and think, “Yes. I will take that home with me[1].”
[Be sure to visit internutter (dot) org for a link to the rest of this story, and details on how to support this artist. Or visit peakd (dot) com (slash at) internutter for the stories at their freshest]
Challenge #02823-G266: Please Don’t
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdoTdG_VNV4 – Anon Guest
[An: Watch this. This is two people playing a piece written for an ENTIRE ORCHESTRA on glasses of water. There is an actual instrument called a glass harp and it looks really as weird as you might expect. It works on the same principal as the glasses but I think it’s only a recent invention]
Humans will make music out of anything, do not tell them they can’t. They will remix the celestial frequencies to form a symphony from the stars if they want to. They seek out any chance to create rhythm and melody. They will sing along with the machinery surrounding them. They will invent words to fit.
That said, it’s not always as epic as it sounds. Humans can do such things, but that doesn’t mean that they always succeed. For the record, never allow a Human who is not a Nae'Hyn attempt to ‘tune’ the gravy drive. No, not even if they 'hung out’ with the Nae'Hyn for a passage of time and 'picked up a few things’. The true horror of the Wreck of the Zanzibar is a topic for another day.
The topic for today is Human Jof, who has tested the properties of moistened fingers on the rim of his drinking vessel and grinned when a note came out. Companion Grusk noticed and said, “No…” in a warning tone by pure reflex.
[Be sure to visit internutter (dot) org for a link to the rest of this story, and details on how to support this artist. Or visit peakd (dot) com (slash at) internutter for the stories at their freshest]