Challenge #03085-H177: Relative Luxury
The young deregger expatriate, somewhat reluctantly, but at Gorx’s gentle insistence, schedules a few days off since Gorx is very safely at home for a few days to relax. He takes his mom out, she is also trying to wrap her head around this concept, and they truly enjoy their first taste of what people would call, “a vacation from work with pay.”
https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-03047-h124-free-time – DaniAndShali
Humans Jef and Bea were learning to adapt. Transiteer Gorx would be properly proud of them after the infectious panic died down. When a Human was scared, it was easy for a Havenworlder take their example to heart and feel similar terror. Gorx had to remind hirself that these Humans could be frightened for non-logical reasons.
For example, Human Bea was permanently afraid of being caught and of breaking things. She had approached Galactic technology with a long stick and a philosophy of animism that would make even the Nae'hyn[1] roll their eyes. Gorx had had to hold her hand through a large number of procedures on board hir vessel and now, on station.
Human Jef was merely jumpy around anyone in a security uniform. Ze was certain ze was breaking the law just by existing. Gorx had quietly made certain station security knew about these Rescue Humans on docking, lest they gain interest by acting guilty. The patrols that Jef startled at glanced once, consulted their eyescreens, and moved on. All was, however temporarily, well.
[Check the source to see the full story]
(Source: peakd.com)
Challenge #03070-H162: Weighed and Found Wanting
Entitlement. When one thinks of that word, they think of humans, especially stuck up females, though some males are as well, that are self-centered jerks who thinks the world should do everything THEIR way. But it comes in all forms. This havenworlder was self-centered, a total brat, and thought that just because the humans were kind to their kind and often allowed their people to ride on their shoulders to get from point A to point B safely, that the humans were a servant race and MUST obey them. After all, they were their superiors, right? Humans were just… their horses. – Anon Guest
[AN: It is precisely “The Karen” and its effect on real people named Karen that I invented the term “Knomira”. Not only is it gender neutral, but it encapsulates the usual rallying call of their kind, “I know my rights!” Corrupt that into a jumble and you get, “I knomiraah!” Boom. Knomira.]
There are, unfortunately, people who trade on their assumed fragility. They use the people willing to defend them to get exactly what they want whenever they encounter the slightest kind of opposition. Even when their own kind call them out, they refuse to acknowledge anything but their own right to do what they please.
They used to bear a common name. A more accurate term has evolved based on their shared claim. One of them is about to learn a lesson. Meet Acquirer Vidath, known to many as, “That flakkin’ Havenworlder Knomira.” Usually, after the fact that they quit their service for good.
Human Karyn knew the type. She had used the lure of knowing her rights before she learned the corollary responsibilities that came with them. The right to remain delicate came with the responsibility to accept one’s own limitations. The right to be strong came with the responsibility to protect the weak. The right to enforce one’s will on others came with the responsibility to accept all of the consequences. That last lesson was about to come to land on Vidath. Karyn was going to make sure.
[Check the source to see the full story]
(Source: peakd.com)
Challenge #03069-H161: Steep Repair Work
Hello InterNutter, long time reader, first time poster here. I was wondering if you could give us the other sides’ view on this? How the parents, and students, felt and viewed things as they were being forced to watch the videos showing their actions and her pain? What the CRC’s reaction was seeing something like that happen in their schools? How the witnesses who watched the trial, and the others following with the timeline, reacted to it all? How the administrators thought and felt as they were faced with the enormity of the crimes they committed against an innocent child?
And also, did Barbara finally recover and become that bright, happy, girl again? Though we both know, emotional scarring never, ever goes away, not with pain of that magnitude.
https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-03026-h103-worn-away – Anon Guest
[AN: Hello and welcome to the process, Nonny. I hope you enjoy whatever comes out next]
It was a slow death by papercuts, in its way. There was nothing wrong with displaying fear of a Deathworlder. Children were allowed to express themselves, so long as they didn’t cause provable harm. That was the rule. None of the teachers saw anything beyond a natural reaction to an unwelcome Deathworlder in their midst.
Many of those same teachers hadn’t wanted to integrate with those mad balding monkeys in the first place, so some of their disregard for the finer points of the balance was… deliberate. None of it could be proven so, and skating on that thin ice was an art that many latched on to.
Now… the harm could be demonstrated. Lingering psychological scars, even in a species agreed to be insane, were a bad thing. Some insisted that the Deathworlder deserved it. Some fell silent about the entire matter, attempting to hide from notice. Many avoided Barbera, but far more quietly than before. Only a bare handful were remorseful enough to attempt… friendship.
[Check the source to see the full story]
(Source: peakd.com)
Challenge #03068-H160: We Agree With You
HAH! (Heavenworlders Against Humans!) stated as an small movement which mutated into an organisation that had only 3 “simple” demands/ goals
1 Rid Alliance space of humans
2 Restrict Greater (and lesser) Deregulations to their own space and strictly guard and monitor their borders
3 Return to the peace and safety that was pre Human Alliance.
the Alliance was at a loss as to what to do with this steadily growing absurdity, as Heavenworlders had never recorded instances of *rofanticising past civilizations.
*Rofanticise: the romanticised and fanticised way people look at past civilisations (living or dead), without taking into account the hardships, shortcomings, small mindedness, and general crappiness those ways of living or societies generally contained. see; 1940’s/50’s America, Hunter gatherer tribes, Ancient Rome, Ancient Norse, medieval Europe, Victorian England, and on and on and on.
(please note Rofanticise, Rofanticised and Rofanticising is a word group I came up with to describe this phenomenon, as simple romanticising and nostalgia did not adequately define what it is humans do, and i couldn’t find any word that fit so i made one in urban dictionary to cover it.) – Adam in Darwin
[AN: Rofanticise is a perfectly cromulent word. I fundorse it entirely]
“Back before things were ruined,” they whine. “Back in my day…” or, “Things were better when…” Always beware those who long for an era they weren’t an adult in. Those pining for a time long lost, when things were allegedly better because time has eroded many signs of the inherent flaws.
They don’t actually miss the entire era. Just aspects of it. Chiefly, the aspect that they imagine would give them everything they believe they miss out on now. When they would take their rightful place by the alleged natural mechanics of the cosmos. Havenworlders against Humans is just the latest iteration of the phenomenon.
All civilisations have had things like it. Vocal groups protesting the loss of an advantage they never possessed, fighting to gain it ‘back’ without fully examining the downsides of everything they seek to restore[1]. Never at any time understanding that, in their goal era, there were those who longed for even simpler times, when things were easier for them. Hindsight may be twenty-twenty, but Nostalgia adds rose-coloured glasses.
The Havenworlders at Edge Trade Station were rowdy. Specifically, those who wanted to revoke Humanity’s general acceptance into the Galactic Alliance and put Humans back onto the planets they had already 'infested’. It’s language like that that lets a casual observer know that they’re not welcoming all of the facts.
[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 #03045-H122: Medicinal Purposes Only
Stranded Human: Does this look infected to you?
Stranded Alien: It looks…abnormal?
Stranded Human: Yeah…I don’t think treating this can wait for rescue…
Stranded Alien: (starting to panic a little) How do we treat it????
Stranded Human: We start by collecting some of those plants that were too toxic for me to eat…. – Anon Guest
“The ones we have to handle with gloves, or the ones that we need a livesuit to go near?”
“The ones we have to handle with gloves. We shouldn’t ever try to mess with the other kind,” clarified Human Gia. “That stuff’s all kill and no cure. Also, advance warning, the whole process is going to get nasty.”
Companion Lyl tisked, “This is Deathworlder nonsense. Of course it’s going to get nasty.” Ze got on hir very special gloves and dialed up the imagery. “These ones, yes?”
“Yeah, those are the ones. There’s going to be the kind of processes that can’t get anywhere near anything we use for making food.”
[Check the source to see the full story]
(Source: peakd.com)
Challenge #03016-H093: Well, There Was That One Time…
Humans had just begun their exploration of space, they’d not yet met any other species. The first, early, days of human space travel. A kind and gentle elderly woman, who lived alone on a farm far into the countryside, found a very large, odd-looking, “bird” gathering seed from the open feeder she had and they seemed shaky and unwell. When they collapsed, she hobbled outside, loaded them onto the flat part of her walker, and hobbled back inside. Imagine their shock when the old woman was gently singing to them, giving them sips of water, and their wing was bandaged, and all the grandmother wanted in return was a quiet afternoon talking to a new friend. – DaniAndShali
The claim of “first” is always a nebulous concept. Just ask the people who add it to the bottom of amusing video hosting sites. The first person to discover a distant land full of “uncivilised” natives never ask the natives about who was the first of them to set foot on that land. Or who might have already been there when they arrived.
Such as it is with the “first” encounter with Humans. The Sol system is a surprising font of one-way wormholes. Approximately five minutes after Humanity realised what was going on with them, they immediately used them for disposing of the unwanted sorts. Sending like groups of people down deep time so they could flourish or perish on their own merits. Some deep time colonies arrived centuries before others who were sent earlier. It’s all concerned with FTL, relativity, and Humanity’s natural egotism.
There are Human colonies that have been in existence for millennia before Humans first landed on the moon. It’s complicated. Add technically-timetravel to anything and it definitely gets complicated[1]. Who got in touch with whom and when is very complicated. History is twisted into a pretzel and many ways of logging it involve notes like (Subjective) and (Relative) years. This one is one of the top ten contenders for the First Contact with Humans.
[Check the source to see the full story]
(Source: peakd.com)
Challenge #03011-H088: The Soft Spot
Defiant Human: “You can’t make me talk! You know damn well how tough we are, so do your damndest I won’t break!”
Interrogator: “Are you sure about that?”
Defiant Human: “Try me.”
Interrogator: “You asked for it.” Calls to their associates who brings out a box of the cutest, most adorable, little fuzzballs on the planet. Several young kids giggle and begin to play with, and cuddle the fuzzballs that coo and burble sweetly.
Human: “What’s that supposed to do??”
Human - a few hours later: “Ok, ok enough, I’ll talk! I’ll talk.. please! Please… just let me pet the furballs already!” – Fighting Fit
Violence does not work as a means to extract information. Even if the interrogator does know what levels of violence are appropriate for the subject, the odds are that the subject will say anything at all to make the torment stop. This includes what the subject thinks the interrogator wants to hear.
There are less destructive ways to gain information out of an uncooperative subject. Ones that don’t leave trauma in their wake. Ones that are effective even against the toughest of the tough. It did require very specific knowledge of what the species in question found tempting.
Humans… are relatively easy. They will pet anything, but they are particularly vulnerable to soft, fluffy, baby animals. Humans have a knack for being able to identify the young of any species and it is astonishing the range of creatures that they find adorable. To that end, Interrogator Zeph employed three larvae from the corporate daycare, and an entire nest of Floffles.
[Check the source to see the full story]
(Source: peakd.com)
Challenge #03001-H078: How to Befriend a Monster
An alien meets human’s pet cat and has an existential crisis dealing with the fact that their seemingly sane friend keeps a tiny ferocious predator around and thinks it is cute. – Anon Guest
“[GENDER PRONOUN] is just an old softie,” should definitely be classified as words of impending horror. Brex had just been told not to mind Meep, and then spotted a low, fast shape zip through his peripheral vision. Human Pod had assured him, “He’s just an old softie, really.”
It was at that moment, several doors and opening procedures away from the airlocks, that Brex remembered that Humans regularly make pets out of predators. That was why he scanned the room for safe retreat areas and said, “He’s not going to attack me, is he?”
Human Pod looked up from inspecting various vessels. Ze hadn’t said anything about small fast streaks of motion in random corners. “Huh? Oh, he might find your feathers interesting, but if you stay still, he’ll get bored pretty quick.”
[Check the source to see the full story]
(Source: peakd.com)
Challenge #02994-H071: Survival’s Edge
One of the squishier, timid alien species is marooned on a dangerous planet with their ship’s human. The escape pod has disintegrated ejecting various components over the landscape. The human is injured and unconscious through the ordeal. The alien survives by initially reciting the mantra of “What would Human Sal do?”. And then venturing out to retrieve bits of the craft to create a shelter, healing technologies, food, etc… Macgyvering all the way as they have seen their human do in the past. Even managing to unlock the mysteries of duct tape. All while fending off dangerous wildlife and even a near deathworlder sentient to save them both. In the end the mantra changes to the last lie “everything will be alright, you will be right behind me” when they realize they will have to leave their human behind to venture out of the makeshift camp to save them both. Later when they are both safe – To save their own psyche they can only praise the human for saving them both and attributes their own actions to the human even so much as saying you were right, you were right behind me. The human of course having no memory of these events is totally baffled. And even though they can’t admit to their own actions a seed for adventure has been planted in their heart and is passed on to their offspring. – Random Paine (Sorry if this was a bit long for a prompt. I love your work.)
[AN: There are long prompts that make sense, and then there’s long prompts that boil down to “tell this story your way”. Of the two, the latter give me less of the flexibility I like when making a story.]
Beeping. The sensation of a bigger pain lurking behind the ache Sal felt and a sensation of floating pink haze. The distinctive squish of antibacterial phage virus jelly. The whirr and squeeze of a blood pressure monitor. Blink. Medik cream surroundings. lights and graphs and a calming message on the screen directly above.
You are experiencing medical care. Please remain calm. That message faded out and another faded in. If you are claustrophobic, the panic button is in easy reach. It came with a diagram. Nice to know the Alliance medical profession had learned from a few surprise claustrophobes. Many spacers discovered to their shock that they weren’t cut out to bide their time in an ICU drawer.
There was soft and calming music to accompany the soft and calming scenery playing on the overhead screens. It was comfortable, but Sal was not yet inclined to sink back down into dreamland. The last thing ze remembered was… putting all the safeguards around Myrdd. They’d been about to crash the lifepod and…
[Check the source to see the full story]
(Source: peakd.com)