Challenge #02593-G036: Safe As…
True friendship is letting a small havenworlder ride around in a pouch that you’re wearing so they feel secure surrounded by the other deathworlders that they wanted to do business with in the first place. Seriously. Why do you do this to me? – Escla
Size is something interesting within the boundaries of Galactic Alliance space. Intelligent life can take very many forms, depending on the gravity they evolved in. There are some, like the Xyrak'l, that have shown signs of intelligent behaviour, yet exist in a gigantic grey zone to everyone attempting communication with them.
Most life exists in and around one Standard Gravity[1]. In that, there are certain forms that occur for cogniscent lifeforms. The anthropoid form tends to predominate with some… peculiar modifications on the central model. Evolution only has so much to work with. You can find cogniscents in the one-gravity realm in sizes between that of a terrier, and that of a bear. Which lead to some… interesting solutions for communication and social mingling.
Consider… the Buddy Livesuit. A larger cogniscent carrying -on their chest or over their back- a smaller one in a reinforced pod or bubble. A larger cogniscent - usually a friendly Deathworlder - carrying their smaller Havenworlder friend around for trade negotiations and sometimes simple transport. Human Engineering, so you know it’s tough[2].
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Challenge #02592-G035: Critical Flaw Located
A: explain to me why again you were fighting?
B: I was getting rusty, I needed someone to spar with.
A: was it necessary to create a hole in the floor?
B: you said it was reinforced! – Anon Guest
Human Sym was embedded in the flooring. Her legs were technically within the floor below, but also tangled up in sensitive, very important, and also more than a little delicate - wiring and equipment. Human Per, her sparring partner, was crouching and blushing nearby.
“We were cleared for recreational simulated combat exercises in this space,” she said. “We didn’t know a flying leap would have this effect.”
“It’s the weighted anklets and bracelets, I’m sure,” said Human Per. “The floors are cleared for us jumping about and wearing livesuits for that, but not powerful actions with extra weight load. Combo of errors on both sides.”
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Challenge #02591-G034: Conspiracy to Spread Joy
There are those that are not fans of the holiday season. The reasons are as myriad as the individuals themselves. But then there are those who not only enjoy the seasons, but absolutely revel in them. All around the station they were showing up outside of doors. Showing up at people’s workstations and amongst ship supplies. Carefully wrapped gifts. It only had three words on it “From a friend”
No one claimed responsibility for these actions and no one was usually around by the time they were found, but when the gifts were opened, they would be gifts appropriate to, and for, the individual the gifts were meant to be for. They were safe, they were lovely, and each item was always carefully settled in their gift boxes by a hand that obviously cared a great deal.
And yet, for some odd reason, surveillance could never find out who was doing this. On occasion one might catch a shadowy form, they obviously knew their way around enough to avoid getting caught, but that was all. And, through the month of what humans called “December”, through the month that was the holiday of gift-giving, this continued. And the gift giver? Each time they heard of people discussing the gifts, they smiled softly to themselves as they went about their work. Why did they do it? No reason, it just felt good to make people smile. – Anon Guest
Space, as a philosopher once wrote, is big. Really, really big. In the gulfs of darkness, the only spots of civilisation are the ones you bring with you. Nevertheless, it is there. Far from home, you bring home with you. Far from love, you share love with those you happen to be with. Well. That’s the Human philosophy.
Human pack-bonding is weird like that. Which the crew of the Twitching Whisker found out during a period of three Standard weeks[1]. They didn’t precisely know it was one of the Humans, but this particular level of chicanery fit almost exactly with other Human nonsense, so the odds were high.
The whole thing started with a box. Just a box, wrapped in bright coloured paper, and the whole thing was topped with a bow. This was immediately treated with suspicion. It had been left just outside of G'harth’s door and the Vrothiin was uncertain of what to do about, or with it. This was not the usual season for Human Pranking, and the calendar showed no other nearby events of significance in the Offensensitivity calendar.
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Challenge #02589-G032: Deception
Anyone who’s had humans aboard their ships will know one thing for certain, even when asleep, humans can be very loud. They call the harsh, almost predatory growling-like noise, snoring. There was a reason if you want to allow humans to have quarters aboard your ship, you sound proof it. However, it’s also often an indication of the human having an obstructed airway when they sleep, which could be, from a medical standpoint, worrisome. However, once you heard that sound, you knew they were well and deeply asleep. But then again, enemies also knew that sound meant they were asleep, too. What they didn’t know, was how well humans can fake the noise and take someone off-guard. – DaniAndShali
Science has attempted to figure out why Humans snore. Some theories say that the snarling growl would be enough to frighten predators from attacking their sleeping bodies. Some insist that it’s merely a byproduct of evolution going with whatever worked well enough at the time. Whatever it is, it has become very important for a crew to know what their Human(s) sound like when sound asleep. Of course, there’s always the ‘light sleeper’ who can go from unconscious to wide awake at the least provocation. In all cases, sound proofing is beneficial to the crew.
What’s important about knowing the Human(s) normal noises is the simple fact that Humans know they snore. Some are even aware of the exact sound they make. Humans are also mimics. It’s what has made them foremost in xenolinguistics in all of known space. All of these things can create a perfect storm, just like the events that occurred on the Miss Adventure.
Piracy, the Vorax, or both are common hazards in the outer space lanes. One of the many reasons why it’s advisable to have at least one Human aboard. One or the other had happened to the Miss Adventure, the records were never clear and the combined efforts of witness testimony and forensics on the remains were unable to determine which forces were at work. Either way, they used a chemical sleep agent and literally dragged the crew to a holding area whilst they raided the ship.
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Challenge #02588-G031: Find-a-Family
He had stolen a lot of items before he was caught. He wasn’t a pirate, he didn’t go raiding ships, but they treated him nearly as badly as if he had been one. He would sneak aboard stations with lax standards, swipe small but expensive items from cargo holds that were in the process of loading, and escape. Problem is, all thieves get caught sooner or later. And a teenager like him, homeless and no longer caring, didn’t normally have a future in this galaxy anyhow. At least that’s how he viewed it.
He was young, not unintelligent, and he wasn’t crazy, he’d just given up living any other way. He was a perfect candidate for their new trial prison. Bought into a building with no bars on the windows, no locked doors, he was stripped down, made to thoroughly wash, then dressed in what appeared to be very comfortable pajamas. He was laid in a pod bed with a hood of electronics that slipped over his head covering his eyes and ears. He felt the slight sting of a shot in his arm and then.. when his eyes opened again, he realized he was a small child again, but in a home. A home that loved him, something he’d never experienced before. This was the experimental Virtual Prison. While the prisoners slept, the special pod keeping their bodies healthy and clean, the virtual helmet with its careful programming, gave the prisoners at rehabilitating into a new life. This was a new, humane, place with no violence, no cruelty, and the condensed virtual program meant the prison terms, which often in normal prisons could last decades, needn’t last more than a single year. – Anon Guest
He was thirteen, borderline starving, and unhealthy for certain. Filthy, wearing clothing that fit only on a technicality. Rags protected his feet from anything too sharp or too cold, though a solid layer of horn-hard epidermis grown in defense of the world helped with that. His eyes darted back and forth as he tested the chains and their hold on him. The cold metal desk he was chained to was bolted to the floor, and so was the slotted chair he crouched in. Anyone looking at him could see that he was a lost cause.
The Human who entered was clothed in Public Services grey, striped with Security Purple and had highlights of Maintenance Orange. Their identity patch had the Multilingual White boundary. This, the child could read. The letters on it meant nothing to him, they were just… shapes. This, to the boy, meant A Person Who Must Be Avoided. A Hazard. He flinched and failed to escape. The chains held him fast.
“You speaking GalSimple?” cooed the Hazard. They had a small object in one hand. Round, golden brown, and smelling fresher than anything he’d grubbed out of a refuse receptacle. He watched in terror as the Hazard carefully placed it on the table within his easy reach. “You having name?” The Hazard retreated, putting their hands up and away from their body. “Is good. Is food. Is good food. Nom nom?”
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