Challenge #02755-G198: Five Under Five
There were four of them. They were definitely human, and the biggest was still less than 1.5 sidu tall. Probably. The biggest one was also at the bottom of what could only be described as a pile of babies. The second biggest and the smallest were using the biggest as pillows. Those three were asleep. The second smallest was reclining on the second biggest, and giggling at a repetitive song accompanying dancing cartoon fruits and vegetables playing on a tablet.
This scene would be less of an issue if it wasn’t in the middle of a walkway, and accompanied by a distinct lack of guardian.
On questioning by security, the second smallest said “shhhh, sibling sweeping” and “mama feel sick” before pointing to the nearby restroom. As if on cue, the sound of violent retching emanated from the toilets.
After a small amount of panic and a large amount of ruckus, not helped by the sleeping children waking up (and being corralled by the largest one, who turned out to be younger than estimated by size), the medical team that was summoned determined that the human in the restroom was pregnant, and suffering from rather severe “morning sickness”, a clear human misnomer given that it was the middle of the “night”, and hadn’t been able to keep anything other than cold tea down for almost two days. – Anon Guest
[AN: Corrected to Sidu (from SDU - Standard Distance Units) because Siwu is for weights. It’s a cultural peculiarity that things are measured in Sidu and -somehow- people are measured in ancient Terran Imperial units (feet, inches, pounds, stone etc). It’s weird and Humans are very likely to blame. For those wondering, the largest sibling in the prompt above is 4'11"]
This is the Edge. There are all sorts here. If that isn’t enough warning, then there probably never will be enough of a warning. Such was nearly the case for Plem, who was ‘browsing’ through some of the extended pan-polity markets in this particular ramshackle trading station. They had been doing rather well, absorbing some of the local customs by osmosis, and remaining out of trouble… and then they took a turn to an alleged shortcut and encountered what appeared to be a living roadblock.
Plem would later learn that this was referred to as a 'baby pile’. Four bodies in various stages of undress, one in hygenic pants only, were tangled together and blocking the pathway. Not one of them was taller than Plem. The tallest of them had fallen asleep, arms wrapped around two other sleepers, one of them rousing at Plem’s approach. The smallest shared possession of a datareader with the tallest, and the screen seemed to be displaying anthropomorphised foodstuffs singing repetitively and bouncing about in time to their song.
The second-smallest rubbed an eye and stared at Plem, who was busy trying to figure out this particular puzzle. Plem consulted their datareader and found salient information that these beings were Humans, and worse - Human young. Very young, as it happened. Every single one of them was likely preliterate and at least one of them was preverbal. Worse and worse, they had at minimum one parental, who was nowhere in sight. They had to be cared for and their carer was nowhere to be seen. Humans were Deathworlders and Deathworlders were even more dangerous when they believed their young was threatened. Plem risked, “Where being parental?” in GalSimple.
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Challenge #02754-G197: Panem et Moribus
There are always people who do what people in positions of authority say, just because those people are in positions of authority. There are also always people who stop and think before they act, but rarely do anything to try to stop the first kind of people from screwing themselves over. And then there are preppers.
Preppers stockpile. They stockpile food. They stockpile toiletries. They even go so far as to fret over all the different ways that civilization could collapse around them.
They seem pretty crazy, right up until they get proven right. All but the craziest of them are less than pleased about having been correct. – Escla
Some people just like to be prepared. They see which way the winds of change are going to blow and they ready the sails so they can -at least theoretically- navigate their way through the storm. Some believe in revolution. Some believe in a global pandemic. Some believe in a literal disaster as the stars fall.
Most of them seem to believe they can solve these incoming problems with a combination of bunkers and bullets. There are, however, the rare few who truly think about things and actually prepare to help as many others through the storm as they can. Some of them just drift into this via other occupations, like Extreme Couponing.
When the revolution came in the arms of a plague, Cassandra had been predicting it for years. They had been working on systems to manufacture emergency supplies on the spot since they saw it coming, some decades prior. Old, slow technology that was carefully maintained. Newer technology in the same state. Non-perishables by the crate. Things and methods and instructions that could be of use when the time came. Of course, everyone watching Cassandra from the illusion of safety thought they were overreacting. Until the inevitable, of course, happened.
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Challenge #02753-G196: To Win By Technicality
In arguments it’s okay to swear. Usually many times your words must be quick witted and sharp like a rapier, other times, you just need bash your enemies skulls in with the metaphorical folding chair to get you point across. – Anon Guest
Arguments are peculiar things. Some people believe that the winner is the one who remains calm and logical and debates all relevant points with scientific sources, and the loser is the first one to drop a sample of foul language. This is, of course, the perspective of people with no skin in the game and nothing to lose.
Other, more rational people know that arguments come from places of passion on both sides, and accept a certain amount of foul language. It serves the purpose of emphasis, emotional venting, and filler words as the arguer figures out the next phrase to drop from their mouths. If you’re articulate, they say, you’re doing it wrong.
Then there’s the Loudest Wins versus the Calm Rational Debater, which is always fun for the spectators. One keeps the words flowing, as many per minute as they can, at the most volume that they can, while the other keeps attempting to interject in a calm and rational voice. The louder one moves ahead, claiming that the quiet one is interrupting and starting their train of thought barrelling through again and again whilst also making a mockery of the quiet logician.
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Challenge #02752-G195: For the Thrills
The human is sitting with aliens who study the weather and they show some old videos, first giving offensensitivity warnings, of human storm chasers. They explain the jobs of the storm chasers, the dangers, and what was learned from those brave men and women who sometimes lost their lives in the pursuit of scientific discovery. They also explained of storm-tourists. Those insane adrenaline junkies who would go with storm chasers to catch a glimpse of storms like tornadoes, to be able to photograph and video them, sometimes taking their children with them. Just to have an adventure. – Anon Guest
Humans have to be insane. No other species they knew of did things like this, not even in more dangerous times when lifespans were understandably shorter. Not a single intelligent life form known to the Alliance had ever willingly gone into dangerous phenomena for the thrills. When they had gone, for science, for discovery, for a desperate chance, they certainly didn’t take their children with them.
This was clearly footage of Humans going towards a highly dangerous storm. A storm that destroyed property, destroyed lives, and caused intense damage wherever it went. Not only were they going towards clear and evident danger, but they were doing so with their fragile young in tow.
“What could a pre-verbal Human possibly learn from this excursion?” asked Companion Thrik, staring at the still frame of the adult Human with a much smaller Human strapped to their body. “Is that harness safe for such unsafe conditions? How does the protection from flying debris work?”
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Challenge #02751-G194: You and Your Hobbies
The human got a job at a rather busy space station as an IT person and as a structural engineer. They did a lot of work with computers and with keeping up maintenance on this place. But when they signed the contract, they had an unusual clause, one that, it was discovered, they always asked for no matter what place they worked. Their quarters must be at least twice to three times the size of normal crew quarters. This was not too big a problem, but curiosity got the better one of one of the haven-worlders on staff who came to visit. Inside it was like they stepped back in time. A large loom in one area with a half-finished rug on it, a floor harp sitting by a very unusual, if small, canopy bed, wooden bowls and cups, a fake fire burning in an artificial fireplace, and there was the human, sitting by illumination of a fake candle, just bright enough to read by, writing a letter using an old-fashioned dip-quill and ink bottle. – DaniAndShali
Humans are strange. They have their odd little ways about things in general and what particulars they have in peculiarity. Other cogniscents would have things the other way around, but that’s Humans for you.
One such example was Human Bee. They worked mostly as a technician with assorted computers and some structural engineering when necessary, but their particular peculiarity was a set of personal quarters twice the size of the standard residence for a singular Human. Speculation, naturally, abounded. Humans had concealed family and friends in the fear that their discovery would lead to retribution, or through some desire to help their pack-mates escape a terrible existence.
A Human protecting a fellow Human and pack-mate from even imagined retribution would not reveal the presence of such until they were close to death, and despite repeated assurances, would continue such practices for as long as they could. The most famous example was the Trent Twins’ Two-For-One Sale, which continued for the better portion of a decade before their discovery as two beings instead of one. Therefore, the crew of Distant Star Station suspected that Human Bee might be concealing a pack-mate in their quarters. The next problem was how to broach the subject.
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