Challenge #03065-H157: All Life Feeds on Death

“How do you think I feel seeing you eat a salad??”

A die-hard vegan’s ship crash-lands on a planet that’s what appears to almost be a haven world, lots of small animals, lots of plant life, absolutely paradise. Except…that the vegan sees a plant suddenly snap shut when an animal gets too close and the animal is eaten.

The cogniscents there are green, skin, hair, eyes, and they move with a slight rustling. They are descendant of carnivorous plants that have learned to become intelligent to survive. – Fighting Fit

Some cogniscent beings just naturally come to blows. Be it conflicting biological needs, conflicting environmental necessities, or conflicting ideologies. It’s just better for everyone if they’re kept at least forty SDU[1] away from each other at all times. Some… do not have that option before they discover each other.

Human Lass was from the Ethical Superiority of Vigann. Ze had left to become a missionary of sorts and spread the good word of a clean, plant-based existence. Once the entire universe was completely in harmony, there would be no more need for wars, violence, or any nasty feelings at all. It was a lot of work to reform the universe, and Vigann made sure it was always sending out explorers to spread the good word.

It was astonishing how many cogniscents refused to listen to it. They used utter nonsense like the phrase “obligate carnivore”, or “unsustainable aspirations”, or “ridiculous pseudoscience.” Lass was not discouraged. For every two hundred die-hard unbelievers, there were as many as seven who could be convinced to begin cleansing themselves of the alleged necessity of animal abuse and the products made from it. That was until she crashed on the Phloranian colony P'taal.

[Check the source to see the full story]

(Source: peakd.com)

Challenge #03064-H156: Shall We Play a Game?

Anyone who ran a table would understand. – AmberFox

[AN: Yeah nah that’s a bad sesh there. And maybe bad management]

The life of the game master holds many roles. Storyteller, co-ordinator, plot-weaver… and primary parental to a group of people with the collective intelligence of a tadpole. It wasn’t their fault. Not entirely. Players in a game this complicated had other things to concern themselves with between sessions. They had lives, errands, work, trivialities, and assorted nonsense that obscured their memories.

That was why the pre-session recap is an essential part of the game. More essential than the puerile humour that runs through its metaphorical veins. It is, after all, a game that centers around escapism. Dumb jokes are one among the many ways that the players blow off steam.

It’s a game where memory skills are encouraged, but only one at the table is meant to remember everything. Therefore, only one is expected to have a ton of resources at their disposal. Beware the ones that have boxes of stuff. They have more than enough time on their hands to create just about anything. But those ones are rare[1]. It may reassure many that the game master is just as disorganised as the rest of them.

[Check the source to see the full story]

(Source: peakd.com)

Challenge #03062-H154: Monkey Gonna Jump

A member of a race of aliens new to the Galactic scene holds the misconception that life can be either land bound or aquatic watches a human climb a steep hill specifically for the joy of jumping off the cliff on the other end into deep water. – Anon Guest

[AN: I have a much more capable program doing the counting for me, so today’s full challenge number is actually correct. I’m not going back and fixing the others because that is full-on nightmare fuel. Just… no. I tried, I failed, and now I have a thing that counts better than I ever could. Also expect further shenanigans at the closing of the year, as my count is off there, too. There will be bonus stories for this year’s anthology. All so I can re-synchronise the calendar. (FYI, I’m out by at least four weeks)]

Companion Gann had heard things about Humans. Dangerous psychotic warrior race who didn’t take “no you can’t” as a warning that some things were bad for continued existence. Those weird hairless apes seemed to believe that they could do anything. Worse, most of the time they were right. There remained one sticking point upon which Gann remained adamant.

“There is no such thing as amphibious and mammalian intelligent life. Mammals are not amphibious. Amphibians are. You have aquatic mammals, or terrestrial mammals. Those are the limits of intelligent mammalian life. Even your lot can’t defy the rules of basic evolution.”

“So…” challenged Human Aura. “If I can prove to you that we’re semi-acquatic, what do I win?” This was the way of Deathworlders in general and Humans in particular. Everything was a contest to these maniacs, and there had to be a prize involved. If Humans didn’t win some form of enrichment to their existence, they could sulk about it for months[1].

[Check the source to see the full story]

(Source: peakd.com)

Challenge #03076-H153: Charms to Tame the Savage Breast

A first contact between humans and a new species almost degrade to a war, until they hear humanity music for the first time… – Tom

First contact is… risky. Both sides have no idea what to expect out of the other. One species’ friendly greeting can be another’s instant death threat, or grave insult to their grandmother. In a situation where any move could be hostile, it’s safe to move very still and do one’s best to try and read the other party. Which left the seemingly eternal question - eye contact or no eye contact.

Given these problems, it should therefore be no surprise that both parties, upon first meeting, make the very wise choice to run away. Those who dare return and take risks with their minds open to accepting mistakes are the ones who make great progress or, at minimum, interesting pieces of history.

Remembering this, Human Dio tried hir best. It was quite the process. Step one - divesting oneself of anything that could be a weapon but was also not hir livesuit. Which meant just about everything that wasn’t actual livesuit. Ze felt… naked. Second step - waiting patiently where the last sighting took place. Dull. As. Heck. At least there were games in hir eyescreen.

[Check the source to see the full story]

(Source: peakd.com)

Challenge #03075-H152: Life Unlike Your Own

Edda Nebulae tries to chase down Healer Allie and had confronted her trying to get her to work only for Mx Nebulae alone. Now that the person has learned Allie’s demand, in order to get better access to her healing ability, Edda decides to try to do what Allie has demanded and finds just how rewarding such actions can be.

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02739-g182-do-not-pay-your-heart – Anon Guest

At first, ze was offended by Allie’s hubris. How dare that little junk doctor living in filth and feculence tell them what to do? Following outrage, came thought. Allie would not be moved by rage. She would not be moved by inconvenience. She would not be bought out. She refused to be owned. Though that did rub Edda up the wrong way, Allie was clearly determined. Determined enough to make engineering inconvenience, ironically, too much trouble to perform.

There was only one condition in the deal. Help more people than I have, Allie had said. So that was what Edda had to do. First, find out how many people Allie had helped. Simple data gathering. Edda gave that task to a minion and carried on building hir empire. There was only so much time left and some things were more important than others.

Then came the news. The minion returned. “Uhm. Mx? The Lucky Medik Allie has -uh- helped… more than you might think. It’s.. five.” Halfytch had never stammered or stumbled like this before. It had to be five of something large.

[Check the source to see the full story]

(Source: peakd.com)

Challenge #03074-H151: Learning to Reach Out

From this prompt. https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02554-f364-learning-to-see – Lessons

[AN: Once more, blessings upon you for providing the link to the reference story. You have saved me many an hour trawling through my own database. May you never get a parking ticket]

She had been there for months before she trusted the bed. The aliens in the blue livesuits never hurt her. They obeyed her wishes even when those wishes were paradoxical, only ever asking which of her paradoxes she preferred. Pure food and pure water was bland as hell. Bathing to her specifications in pure water wasn’t as nice as a bubble bath or a hot shower, but it was pure. So pure that she couldn’t taste it.

She expected Them to be violent. They were not. All the violence came from her. Lashing out at Them, lashing out at her environment, swearing and screaming and hitting anything in range including herself. When she hurt herself, they coated her in an absorbent jelly that still let her breathe and move, but did not allow her to cause herself pain.

In the end, it was… boring. She was bored enough to argue points with Brikiefec and Medic S'karr. They would only let her cook if she promised not to harm herself. It was pointless trying to punch any of Them, as their livesuits were some spongy nonsense that didn’t let the aliens come to harm. She could not actually hurt anything. If she successfully destroyed anything, it was replaced before she woke up again.

[Check the source to see the full story]

(Source: peakd.com)

Challenge #03073-H150: Beware Their Bite

The human larva wasn’t cleared to interact with anyone more delicate than a level 2 deathworlder. Companion Rix wasn’t sure why… until they saw the toddler leave bruises on their mother by biting, apparently in play. – Anon Guest

[AN: I scoured my archives for Companion Rix, but I haven’t mentioned them before. Thanks for the new character, Nonny]

Human Nii seemed like an ordinary Human larva. Bumbling through upright locomotion like most of their age peers. They seemed to be of the correct stage of development to learn and implement concepts like “careful” and “gentle”. Yet this was a larval Human who had not yet been cleared for interaction with Havenworlders of level two point one and above[1].

Human Fen, Nii’s primary parental, had warned Rix to at minimum wear their livesuit gloves when ze came to visit. The reason behind this became apparent when Human Fen picked their larval young up for some simple maintenance.

Human Nii had four very new teeth and knew how to bite with them. Without missing a beat or batting an eye, those four new teeth sank into Human Fen’s hand. Human Fen seemed to carry on with only a laughing, “Oww…” as acknowledgement of their injury.

[Check the source to see the full story]

(Source: peakd.com)

Challenge #03070-H147: Inherent Hazards

The human got a new little friend, a therapy animal to help them deal with being in big crowds. The puppy, one of the breeds that would always be small in size, played happily as the human was house-breaking them, playing with them, and teaching them. The companion came into their quarters, after knocking, to visit, when they noticed several air fresheners, one in each room. They asked why that was necessary before they caught the whiff of a very strong, very offensive, odor, wafting from a sleeping pup, and realized… it wasn’t just humans that did that, it was their deathworlder pets, too. – Anon Guest

The lingering objection to inviting Humans into Alliance spaces was, for many years, “But what about air quality?” Deathworlder digestive systems, just like the Deathworlders themselves, were toxic. They could vent just about anything with their unreliable upsets. Corrosive acids and noxious gasses were just the beginning. Won’t somebody think of the pathogens?

The Humans argued that the Alliance had already accepted dogs, which were just as noxious in potential. Enough carbon in their diets and just about any problem could be solved. For everything else, there were air scrubbers. Besides, said the Humans, you lot are capable of many of your own noxious emissions anyway.

Says you, muttered the assorted objectors in the Alliance. They didn’t mutter too loudly, because some Humans were just a little too manic about providing proof. Humans were allowed in on a provisional basis. They had to contain themselves in livesuits when in public areas and report any and all emissions in the same areas. Thankfully, livesuits already had autologgers for just that purpose. Personal habitats were not public, and therefore anyone entering did so at their own risk.

[Check the source to see the full story]

(Source: peakd.com)

Challenge #03069-H146: Big Disasters, Little Agent of Chaos

OK, tell me again, with a bit more attention to detail… How did this happen? – Anon Guest

Lam looked around at the mess. Obviously, “Because bird,” wasn’t going to cover it. All they had to do was focus on the important bits. “So… you’re aware of the presence of a bird…”

“How did the bird get in? This was a protected environment.” Exhibit A was a pink and grey parrot with a white crest. Currently contained, under strenuous objection, under an overturned basket. It was also dangling upside-down and spiritedly attempting to gnaw its way out.

“I don’t know,” protested Lam. “I was gonna clean the vent filters like you told me, but when I had the panel off–”

“Wait. You took the whole panel off?”

[Check the source to see the full story]

(Source: peakd.com)

Challenge #03066-H143: Could is Not Should

Human: “Excuse me?”

Alliance Member: “Yes?”

Human: “I .. um…. kinda… messed up again.”

Alliance Member: “Oh it’s you…. OH! You didn’t, please not again!?”

Human: “I really thought I could do it this time.” The human held their broken arm and looked over at the trees that looked as though something large had just ripped through several of the small branches and leaves.

Alliance Member: “HOW many times do we have to tell you? Stop trying to get to the very top the branches are too thin!”

Human: “I know.. just… I thought I could make it this time.”

Alliance Member: Face-palm! – DaniAndShali

Humans do not easily accept defeat. They have to be trained to it. Spacers, especially, know better than to resign to hopelessness. This can often work to the Humans’ detriment, often through their own actions. Such as the instinctual action to climb something very tall.

Humans, descended from arboreal apes, have an innate desire to climb things. Though the instinct is stronger in some than it is in others, it is advised that trained Companions watch out for any Human they see evaluating any tall structure in their general range.

All of this came with sharp recall as Companion Zuuk turned to see Human Ford in the entrance to her personal habitat, one arm cradled carefully in the other, a collection of bruises and lacerations on hir exposed flesh. She had only turned away to fix something for a minute, and Human Ford had gone and done something… silly.

“You did not,” sighed Zuuk, her hands already reaching for the emergency medkit. “Not again. Please not again.”

[Check the source to see the full story]

(Source: peakd.com)