Challenge #02551-F361: You Hear Me
“Get back to work and if I see you with something in your ears again you’re fired!”
The human just stared blankly
“Do you understand me? Is your universal translator even working?”
It took the human a moment then wrote something down
‘My translator is with my hearing aids you took’ – Anon Guest
In all things, communication is important. This is why any given traveller will find far more accessibility options available in Galactic space than many other places. It is also why many Alliance polities despise working with, or for, any of the Greater Deregulations. Mostly because those in positions of power in any given Greater Deregulation has never been very involved in communication. They insist on yelling at people until they give up.
They also insist on applying their moral values to everything that offends them[1] and yelling about it until they get their way. Such an exchange has already happened between CEO of CEO’s Hal E. Burridin and one of the Alliance’s Ronin Humans named Quo. Unbeknownst to Hal, Human Quo is wearing assistive devices. One among many that help those with hearing disorders. Hal has just processed these particular devices as ‘headphones’. Let’s watch the chaos.
“YOU!” Hal bellowed, marching over to the offending Human. “Are you listening to music on company time?” Without any heed to Galactic laws concerning approved personal interactions, interference with physical being, assault, and removal of equipment, Hal reached up and removed what he saw as an offense. “If I see you with something in your ears again, you’re FIRED!”
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Challenge #02548-F358: Expect Them
Disasters happen and they turn up, usually in a camper-van/workshop. Mechanics, Electricians, Plumbers, the good ones keep their rates reasonable and do the insurance stuff for bread and butter and a bit of jam. The money is good, they leave behind grateful people, and good work. Their bonus is they have contacts everywhere for the next disaster. – Anon Guest
No good deed goes unpunished, – Ancient and confusing Human saying.
Disaster is inevitable. They divide a little patch of the world in which they happen into three camps. Those who suffer from it, those who attempt to profit from it, and those who come to do whatever they can to help those in the first camp. Fortunately for many, the profit instinct is the rarer of the three. Once divorced from the need for plenty, Humans are generally empathetic and compassionate beings.
When disaster strikes, the Humans swarm. They bring tools, they bring solutions, they bring themselves and whatever skills lie in their knowledge and recall. They bring all their tricks, from the seemingly daft to the ridiculous. Sometimes, they come when they sense an impending disaster, which is even more ominous than it sounds.
There are many kinds of disaster, and Humans have been through all of them. Natural disasters are the worst for their unpredictability, but the ones caused by society? Those can be predicted, almost to the second, by the patterns in extant history.
Challenge #02546-F356: The Piracy Solution
The incidents of piracy were dropping dramatically since humans came on the scene. It wasn’t that noticeable, at first, but it soon became ever more apparent. The fighting prowess, and sheer terrifying ferociousness, of humans in battle was considered a part of the issue, but the odd thing was, many pirates were now giving up piracy for more honest, and often more profitable, trades. And almost always it was after tangling with humans. A study now was being conducted. Were humans, with their combat skills, to blame for this? Or was it their ability to pack-bond with all other species? Or was something else at work here? – Anon Guest
But many a king on a first-class throne, If he wants to call his crown his own, Must manage somehow to get through More dirty work than ever I do – Ancient Human Opera concerning piracy [AN: Thanks to elyrics.net ]
The Galactic Alliance is not an empire. Not exactly. The problem with empires is that they have to keep expanding their borders until they become too big for one centralised organisational structure to manage, and therefore fail and fall as all empires must. It is, however, a loose conglomeration of interstellar polities who have decided to put aside the various means of combat in favour of swapping cool things with each other in a system of mutually assured assistance.
It’s amazing how many Human polities have trouble with this concept. They’re Deathworlders. They can’t help thinking of things in terms of who has the biggest and most fearsome means of destruction ready to hand. Fortunately, there are plenty of instances of self-sacrifice being the ultimate noble act in Human lore to gently remove any fingers from any associated triggers.
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Challenge #02543-F353: Good Kitty
A nonhuman deathworlder learning about major depressive disorder and suicidal ideation from a human so used to suffering from those that they treat the loss of their medication as an inconvenience, and apologize to the poor sap they got stranded with while they ask them to keep an eye out for self destructive behaviors.
“So, I’ve only got a few days worth of my meds, and it’ll be at least a couple of weeks before we get rescued. Mind keeping an eye on me so I don’t off myself?” – Anon Guest
Human brains can be sensitive organs prone to disorder. Thraak knew this on an intellectual level. Humans had all sorts of things that could go wrong with their ever-profitable, yet squishy brains. Ze had not known until Human Gar told hir that he had some troubles with his own vulnerable organ.
They were in the middle of jury-rigging a life-boat to get off the planet they had accidentally become stranded on through a series of bad mishaps and accidents. They were both determined to prevent anything further, but Human Gar had re-sorted their inventory and muttered, “Aw, flakk.”
There was a problem. Of course. Humans tended to downplay those things for the ease of their companions. Nevertheless, ze had to know what the problem was in order to defeat it. “If it’s something I need to worry about, I need to start now. Please.”
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Challenge #02541-F351: Labels and Assumptions
Several humans were starting to get more than just a little annoyed at constantly being called insane. Even at school, when their kids would goof off during breaks or if the kids were in the park playing, others treated them as though they were mind-damaged. When they joined the Galactic Alliance, they thought they would be treated like equals, but instead, they find that they tend to be treated like savages even by other Deathworlders. Sometimes the view that, simply because they were human that they were automatically deranged and dangerous, was hindering them finding good jobs or having the lives they’d hoped for when they left the harsh, pollution-choked, worlds they’d come from. But would anyone listen to their complaints? And, more important, would anyone even try to help? Or, as one man put it as he angrily spoke with another who, like so many, told him he was nuts, “Humans are NOT insane! We’re just different!” – Anon Guest
[AN: Actually, there’s nothing preventing Humans from finding the jobs that fit them best in my pet universe, and being a little bit off the wall isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I say as much over here More on that philosophy here, I should think.]
There’s two ways to go when the world around you keeps telling you that you’re bad. You can be everything they expect you to be, playing into every trope, or you can fight your whole life against it, breaking your heart and soul in the process. Plenty of Humans had tried both. Sometimes, it’s easier to surrender and agree with everything they say about you until you believe it yourself. On this day, Human Sal had just… had enough of it.
“We’re not insane,” he protested, apropos of nothing in the middle of the Valiant Star’s mess hall. “We’re different. Why does everyone think we’re going to just fly off the handle and hurt everyone and everything around us?”
The rest of the crew stopped what they were doing. Some put potentially dangerous tools down or at least rendered them safe for the interim. Companion Ulla gently put hir hand on Sal’s and said, “Why do you think we think that?”
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