Challenge #03080-H172: Defeating Monsters
There was a sign on the door. It read “Warning! Deathworlder story time! Humans inside!” Faintly, through the budget soundproofing, a cogniscent with good hearing could make out the wailing cry of an alarmed human larva. One with even better hearing would be able to make out the voices of other young humans, saying “It’s OK, it’s OK, it’s not real, it’s just a story. Right, Miss? It’s not real, right???” – Anon Guest
Fairy tales do not exist to tell children that monsters are real, they say. Fairy tales exist to tell children that monsters can be defeated. That acknowledged, there are some who are unprepared for the finer details. Precautions are always taken, by necessity. Warnings for the literate. Pictograms for the less literate. Hazard stripes[1] for those who fail to pay attention to words or pictures.
Those who feel brave enough, prepared enough, or simply curious enough are welcomed, warned, and permitted to sit with the others. Most of them are under five. A few are a little too enthusiastic for their own good. The storyteller is on an elevated seat, gesturing as the words flow from mouth to listening ears. Offensensitivity shields stand between the room and an observer just outside the door. Unfortunately for Dyw, that shielding was the budget variety that was not as effective as it should have been.
“Strength was most important for the leader of the peoples, even though it had taken him many years to reach the seat of power and strength was fading from his limbs,” said the storyteller. “So it came to be that the appearance of strength was as important as actually being strong. They used chemicals to put colour in his hair, and more chemicals to add colour to his face. They used clever speakers to interpret his ramblings, and always, he had to maintain a show of moral strength. That meant beating down on those judged as immoral, and enacting harsh punishments for the unlucky–” they stopped as one of the children burst into tears.
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(Source: peakd.com)
Challenge #02885-G328: A Jellyware Issue
99 bugs in the code, 99 bugs in the code, you take one down patch it around, 173 bugs in the code – Anon Guest
[AN: I have lived that nightmare]
Picture if you will, a world divided in two. Strictly regimented by gender roles that only existed in a handful of halcyon days in certain areas of the united states. The people who made it wanted to return to those days of glory before realising that such glory was unsustainable.
Because the only endorsed science was the science everyone could understand at a lies-to-children level, the bigger brains were forced to make the world adhere to the ‘glorious’ model. Keep in mind that these alleged glory days only had room for one demographic at the top. They keep the 'poindexters’ around because they’re useful in maintaining a solid grip on the centre.
For some, it is paradise. For others, it is a nightmare. Welcome to Planet Stepford. Please dress according to your assigned gender binary. Also, if that binary ends in the female, you’ll also need this extensive manual of expected behaviour. It is, after all, a man’s world.
[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 #02710-G153: Paradox Wreck
As a warning for any future scientist: Do not hook up a warp-drive engine to a gravity-generator. you will create a gravity cannon that will obliterate 1/3 of a class zegalbond warship, but also lose 1/3 of you blood without any wounds. – Anon Guest
They called it ‘warp drive’ in flagrant violation of copyright at the time of the wreck’s discovery. What it did was create a temporary 'soft spot’ between real space and the parallel dimensional brane known as 'hyperspace’ in a slightly less dodgy violation of copyright. The experiments were successful in all but one detail - the 'warp’ drive was inexorably tied to the gravity generators.
Gravity drives and hyperspace do not agree. The artificial gravity forces translate into 'deep time’ pockets once inside. It’s basic safety to turn off the gravity drives before entering such a 'soft spot’. We know this now, but sometime between the modern era and three millennia hence, that vital information becomes lost.
Of the survivors, there was one in desperate need of urgent medical care. That survivor, the chief engineer of the experiment, was missing one third of their entire blood mass with no signs of injury. The crew of the Misty Hope were not much better, and very disturbed to learn that they had been thrown three thousand years into the past and some thousands of light years from their point of origin.
[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 #02219-F029: Fallen From Grace
“I don’t understand why you don’t understand.” – Anon Guest
This place was an outrage. Roman’s first thought as he returned to consciousness was that someone was going to pay for being so loud in his vicinity. It didn’t matter to him that the someone was a baby. It mattered that the baby was interrupting his rest. There was other hubbub. People talking. People clattering around with things. He opened his eyes to see dingy grey foam tiles in the ceiling. Who had under-bid for this disgusting decor?
It got worse. The dingy grey was everywhere. The whitewashed walls were grey. The privacy curtains were grey. The sheets were grey. Even the linoleum (someone was going to get sued for that) was a distinct shade of once-was-white. The place was full of people. He could see them bumping the curtain around his bed. He could hear them chattering away in an assortment of languages. He could hear a baby crying, he could hear someone coughing. He could hear someone else sneezing. And worst of all, he’d been awake for an entire minute without getting any kind of service or upgrade or even an apology. All he had was a button, which he spammed.
They took twenty minutes to get to him, and when they did, they were also wearing a white that had gone grey. They looked unprofessional. Tired, with a sunless pallor and an air that they were so very done with the world to date. Their first action was to move the button out of Roman’s immediate reach. “I understand you’re scared, but you’re relatively unharmed. There’s been an immense tragedy. An unregistered private jet lost control and crashed through two blocks of residential complexes with full fuel tanks. The resultant fire caused the collapse of the buildings and spread to five more blocks. You’re in triage while we work through more urgent cases. What do you remember before waking up here?”
[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 steemit (dot) com (slash at) internutter for the stories at their freshest]
Challenge #01964-E140: Pitch Imperfect — Steemit
Talthaxis was beginning to suspect that ze had entered another dimension when talking to these businesspeople from Greater Deregulation West-Northwest. They had an impressive trade empire, but in retrospect, that empire was across a number of Greater Deregulation colonies and not with the larger Galactic Alliance. Talthaxis reminded hirself that ze and hir people were new to all of this and new peoples were expected to make mistakes.
Such as attempting to communicate with a subclass of humans that spoke exclusively in buzzwords and catchphrases.
“Okay. Let’s run this up the flagpole and see if anybody here salutes. We take over the financial details of your trade and shipping company for a completely reasonable compound rate of twelve and a half percent of the gross. We synergise your profits, expand your outreach, diversify your brand and re-invest the excess capital into several promising companies within our own trade network. It’s pure profit!”
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Challenge #01945-E121: Caveat Emptor — Steemit
Tyn could not understand why Thel had gone through so many spouses. Thel was the dreamiest star of romance and song in the entire world, and Tyn counted hirself lucky to share a minute with the famous and wonderful Thel, and now ze was sharing hir life with them. It was the life of Tyn’s dreams.
Red carpet. Glitz. Glamour. The intense and burning jealousy of her friends and age-mates. And of course an entourage. And a security team to protect hir from angry fans who thought that killing hir was going to clear their path to this rarified position. Like killing anyone’s spouse would make that person love you. Tyn remembered being that demented, once. Before ze thought things through.
It was a year of fun and bright lights. Fashion and fame. Attention and adoration from the entire world. And then the entertainments showed how Thel had been carrying on with more than one of their co-stars. And more than one of their fans. Tyn sighed and remembered that that was how ze had gained the exalted position of Thel’s fifteenth wife.