Challenge #01593-D132: Understanding on the Brink of a Fall
“The stars died so that you could be here today.” —Lawrence M. Krauss – @recklessprudence
Shayde found Ambassador Gunther on one of the uppermost balconies of the Elemeno, looking down at the bottom in a way she knew too well. There was a time when the word “Jump!” was a cruel joke, and a time when it would be taken as a serious suggestion. This was one of the latter cases.
Much though she’d love to see all the Greater Deregulations and their accumulated isms go take a long walk… She leaned on the railing beside him and said, “Don’t do it.”
“How do you know what I’m thinking of doing?” he snarled. He, too, would much prefer Shayde to take a hike. Preferably into uncharted territory, never to return. To say that he and she would never get along is an understatement comparable to stating that the Big Bang was an impressive firework.
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Challenge #01592-D131: Takes Me WABAC
“The universe is change; life is your perception of it.”
— Marcus Aurelius – @recklessprudence
What alarmed Rael the most about Ambassador Shayde was how quickly she adapted to the latest in technology. Only B'Nari tech confounded her, but then, it confounded everyone but the B'Nari, who were made to merge with it. Shayde had the annoying habit of treating anything knew as if it should have existed some years prior to its actual invention.
When given something from her own past, it took her a moment or two to remember how it actually worked. The Archivaas called it the Reverse Connecticut Yankee Effect, and many of them were working on papers about it that only other Archivaas would bother to read.
So far, she had attempted to touch the screen of an early generation iPod, nearly set a turntable stylus on a DVD, and tried to speak to one of the Macintosh personal computers via its mouse. But that last one may have been a joke that only she understood.
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Challenge #01590-D129: Concerned Citizens
This is like watching a train-wreck and the 1812 Overture happening simultaneously. – @recklessprudence
The Good Gastronomy Association had been trying to ban Unsuitable Food for decades. They protested that too many people were indulging too often in imbalanced, improper, and unscientific nutrition. The people opposing them protested that that was kind of the point. While it was possible to live forever on Nutri-Food, with all its variations in taste, flavour, and presentation, it was also a very dull life.
There is something contrary about cogniscents in general and humans in particular that makes them crave that which is unhealthy for them. Besides, the protestors against the GGA argued, everyone who chooses Unsuitable Food knows exactly what it is. It’s right there in the name.
But now representatives of the GGA were gathered on the observation deck of Unsuitable Food Eat[1] and watching Shayde teaching a small horde of Gyiiks how to make ancient, Terran, Unsuitable Food. So far, they had counted seventeen flagrant violations of nutritional balance, and she hadn’t finished making the beef patties yet.
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Challenge #01587-D126: Care Worn
it’s made by hand, piece by piece, often with the recipient in mind, and often prayed over. – @knitnan
Rael took some cumulative Standard months to realise that Shayde was winding him up. Apparently, in her version of reality, true friendship meant that there was a certain volume of light-hearted teasing between… alleged allies. Humans still did this. Hostile speech in a friendly manner between allies that knew that it was friendly. Slurs used freely between those who used to be slurred. And, especially amongst N'Ozzies, vile curses used as a friendly greeting.
With Shayde, it was, “Got yer travel blankie, then?” whenever they were packing for a rare journey.
“You know very well it is my travel suit,” he would ice, before he realised that this was something of a bonding display. “It was made for me by my tutor and it is the first thing that was made strictly for me. With consideration for my needs. Which you still lack.”
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Challenge #01584-D123: Ancient Wisdom?
:Said in a tone of imparting great wisdom, to someone who does not speak Norwegian:
Aldri skal gi deg opp. Aldri skal la deg ned, gonna aldri løpe rundt og svikte deg. Aldri skal gjøre deg gråte. ĺ aldri si farvel. Aldri skal fortelle en løgn og skade deg
“Please?” they said. “Give us some words of wisdom from Ancient Earth?” They had a handful of Hours as an offering.
Maybe it was their adoring looks. Maybe it was the fact that they were Havenworlders, and therefore cuter than a bag of buttons. Maybe it was that they were excruciatingly polite. And yet, she couldn’t really encourage this sort of behaviour, because the entire Galactic Alliance would come knocking for some words. Every hour of her days. Waking or not.
“This one’s free,” she said. She couldn’t really take their money. Not for a prank. She took on an attitude of wise and thoughtful recitation. “Aldri kommer til å gi deg opp. Aldri kommer til å la deg ned, aldri kommer til å løpe rundt og forlate deg. Aldri kommer til å få deg til å gråte. Aldri kommer til å si farvel. Aldri kommer til å fortelle en løgn og skade deg.”
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Challenge #01581-D120: Something For Everyone
There are some entertainments that have a guaranteed audience. If you can find the cast you will have an audience. Which explains why Swan Lake is such a regular item in ballet companies and why people dress up for Tristan and Isolde when they stage Wagner’s ring cycle. – Anon Guest
The more things change, they say, the more they remain the same. In five hundred years, one thing had stayed true. Soap opera. Some were so popular that one episode ran multiple times a day, just so that the world did not stop for half an hour. Interestingly, the daily replays only succeeded in making the dramas even more popular than ever.
Such is the case with All My Daughters, a drama that has, so far, spanned an even longer air time than Coronation Street[1]. Over the passing centuries, the entirely fictional Harmony Station has expanded to impossible dimensions in order to accommodate representatives of every species[2] in Galactic Society.
Those who follow it, follow it wholly. And those who never want to follow it have to at least tolerate it because, in the end, there’s no real way to escape. Rael had since learned to nod and smile as Shayde ranted about the latest episode she’d caught and why certain executive decisions were either phenomenally stupid or pure genius. There was no middle ground.
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Challenge #01579-D118: Care and Attention to Detail
Something made for the buyer/giftee only, made to fit Them. – Anon Guest
Getting used to a new Anywhere was an emotional task. Different customs. Different standards. Different ways of making clothing. Different standards of decency. And very different ways to treat people. This place… this new home of hers, was so very different from the home she still sickened for.
It started with the medical treatment. Waking up inside a medical coffin is no great for a claustrophobe. But… for the first time in her life… people listened. They accomodated. They treated her with respect and care.
The next thing to get used to was what they called underwear. The knickers were something she knew as “witches’ britches” but skin tight and elastic. They clung like a second skin and, after a self-conscious half-hour, felt like they weren’t there at all. The same went for the weird little crop top that was apparently made for all genders. T-shirt sleeves, and the length of the ‘top’ finished just below her ribcage. It lifted and supported her bosom without making it sweaty and, soon, also felt like it wasn’t there. Unnervingly so.
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Challenge #01572-D111: Sauce of the Issue
Someone re-introduces the ‘tomato sauce sandwich’ N.B. There is a difference between tomato sauce and tomato ketchup. – Anon Guest
Security went on high alert whenever Shayde felt ‘out of sorts’. The fact that there was a permanent Security Counsellor assigned near the Ambassador was merely an indicator that 'trouble-magnet’ was her default state. This time, she was 'out of sorts’ and displayed it by wandering aimlessly through the byways of Amalgam station.
Rael walked with her for one day during this particular episode of extended 'out of sorts’. He knew her tells better than anyone else and, unlike anyone else, was more likely to get a straight answer out of her. Which he attempted to do one hour into the absent rambling.
“What’s the matter?” he asked. A blunt question for -he hoped- an informative answer.
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Challenge #01548-D087: The Good Word
We all know “Abracadabra,” or, “Hocus Pocus,” and sometimes, “Just Like That! Just Like That!” Then of course there’s, “Please,” “Excuse Me,” and, “Thank You,” which might stop you getting hit by someone. – @knitnan
There was one door in the Vault that had not been opened. The SPOEns had been at it for almost a year. And it wasn’t often that Shayde took her Ambassadorial Yacht anywhere at all, because she didn’t like to travel without Rael by her side. And Rael… didn’t like to travel. This was obviously a special occasion.
The vault had a series of locks that only “a child of the 20th century” would be able to open. The SPOEns may know a lot of history and, for a change, be more than helpful… but Shayde had lived a part of it. Nobody else could know that time as intimately as she did. The particular lock required a live, human voice. And the answer to one question.
What is the magic word?
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Challenge #01534-D073: Wyrd Customs
“How normal is this occurrence that there’s automated vocal procedures to talk about the demonic presence?” – @recklessprudence
This lot of magicians had graduated through technology and out the other side, never once stopping in at Global Pollution Station for a long debate about how dangerous pollution was, when you really got down to it. Shayde was impressed. Not many worlds actually noticed the long-term effects of certain technologies and decided to look at other ways to do things while the water was still potable and the outside air still healthy[1].
This particular example, a tower with an impressively crystalline doorway and no door, was some form of scanning and capturing device. Once through the door, the building would either offer stairs to the larger bulk of the city, or pull away a drop to an oubliette where the officials could deal with an offender at a later date. Shayde had no fear of it, not even when their team wizard insisted that one among the party was evil. This… was just another test in a long string of tests that kept revealing that she was no more demon than -say- a rock.
She was the fourth of the party to stride in and take the stairs. And it was only slightly alarming that this lot had invented escalators without first inventing conveyor belts. The stones of the tower had a limited sort of life to them, and moved under her feet, transporting her safely to the exit platform.