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Challenge #01640-D179: Wonderful Things?

[Blunt summary of situation]

So your job is, as our mutual boss put it, to "swiftly unfuck this shit posthaste." Good luck. -- RecklessPrudence

It had made the news a year before Rael was recognised as a cogniscent being by the CRC and the lawsuit began to completely free him and his kind from corporate slavery. Four years into relative freedom, and the Archivaas, Forensic Analysts, and assorted science crews had finally finished scouring the area for the slightest clue. News like a pristine and untouched 'bubble' in the Glunk is the sort of thing that gets nerds of all kinds excited. Even the SPOEns got involved, though there was really nothing for them in it.

Now it was his turn.

Rael now had a special pass that let him this close to the Treatment Lock, where crews of technicians were using whatever worked on the current boundary of the Glunk, and a series of mobile walls and automated decontamination machinery.

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Challenge #01639-D178: Unexpected Co-resident

What to do when a 'Skitty' decides Your space is a nice place to live. -- Knitnan

There was a cat sharing his sleep nook. Curled up in the crook of his knees and purring loud enough to simulate a malfunctioning cooling fan. It was the same cat that came into his domicile every evening and Cal gently but insistently shoved out of his doorway before retiring to bed.

He had no idea why this was happening to him. Some folks fed

Challenge #01638-D177: The Gone Bag

Some of us have to grab what's needed and go! What we grab is a "go bag". -- Knitnan

Officer Lyr Marken had a Go Bag, and the ability to tell what days she'd need it the most. All emergency respondents had their pack of whatever they needed for an emergency. Including a coverall variant of their usual uniform, that went on over whatever they'd worn to bed.

JOATs had the Big Box, and plenty of warning that they'd need it.

But

Challenge #01637-D176: The Last Beauty Contest

Alien species may not have the same standards of "Beauty" as us humans. Beauty contest for alien species . Maybe the Alien equivalent of the types who watch wet T shirt contests? -- Knitnan

Of all the wide and varied species in the known universe, only Humans are insane enough to judge each other based strictly on a narrow and nigh-unachievable set of aesthetics, and give people prizes for adhering to them. This has baffled the Greater Galactic Alliance, especially when some human

Challenge #01636-D175: Just in Case Heroics

Can we please have more of O'Ranges (Uplifted Nufurria large dog/wolf mix). -- Knitnan

Ambassador O'Ranges had only one really annoying habit, and that was checking in every box left by the wayside. Even if it was upside-down. Even if it was clearly empty. He would stop in his tracks, check the box, and check the area around the box. He rarely spoke, so finding out what he was looking for took a significant amount of time.

Hitchhiker/Assistant Aelki put

Challenge #01635-D174: The Most Unsuitable Food of All

Further to the "cotton candy" prompt, more empty calories of the "moment on the lips" variety. -- Anon Guest

Humans had a knack for making foods that could kill them, Rael reflected. Often within twenty consecutive servings. Not that anyone ever tried to end their lives that way, but the potential was there.

Take cheesecake, for example. And Rael often did. In one neat package, humanity had managed to encapsulate a nigh-lethal combination of fats and sugars. That should have been plenty

Challenge #01634-D173: Non-liquid Investment

"If the shoe fits, buy lots of them, and in every colour you like." Fashion advice read somewhere. And it's Oh so true. -- Anon Guest

Finally, they broke into Mlle Arianna's secret vault. They expected jewels. The fortune of five kingdoms. The lost crown of Baba Ganushe.

What they did not expect, once the lights were made to work again, was row after row of shoeboxes. Shelf after shelf of them, all through the cavernous depths of the vault.

Sorted by

Challenge #01633-D172: First Fair

Fairy floss, Cotton Candy whatever you call it, it was pure Empty Calories. -- Anon Guest

The refreshment booth was called Simple Carbohydrates and had display cases full of complicated things made out of those simple carbohydrates. Of course it was run by a human. Humans had had centuries to create astonishing things out of flour, potatoes, and sugar.

Rael watched as the vendor wound what looked to be coloured cobwebs onto a stick. He could smell the caramelised sugars in the

Challenge #01632-D171: Magical Memories

Smells, scents, can trigger memories. The hot tar smell of a Summer road combined with the distinctive scent of an Ice Cream Van. Opening a drawer and the scent your Grandmother always wore wafting up. Memories. -- Anon Guest

Humans can trigger their memories with an astonishing amount of things. Words, sensations in their pliable skin, sounds... and smells. They are so entangled into their senses that they have adapted their livesuits to give them sensory feedback from their surrounding environment.

Radiation

Challenge #01631-D170: What a Maker Wants

You make stuff, sometimes your shopping list is a bit weird. Then someone decides to search your bags (you're innocent), and then there's the explanations. -- Knitnan

There's Things and then there's THINGS!. The latter is a gigantic labyrinth of the former. There's also refreshment islands with ablution kiosks and Galactic Food Choices[1] in a mini-kitchen. People who go there tend to spend all day, and then bookmark their location so that they can come again.

Rael had set his personal

Challenge #01630-D169: Can't Eat Just One

It is so hard to eat just one peanut or popcorn. -- Anon Guest

The humans had a word for it. They had a word for lots of things. This one was 'more-ish'. As opposed to 'moorish', which meant 'a human with darker skin, usually originating from a specific area of the largest continent in the northern hemisphere', this one meant that the person eating the thing found it so tasty that they wanted... more.

One such food, easily digested even by

Challenge #01629-D168: Unfortunate For Some

Hell, as they say is other people. Especially when you are a school bus driver. -- Knitnan

The chant had started from the back of the bus. "We wanna, we wanna, we wanna wee! If you do not stop for us/ we'll do it on the bus![1]" The otherwise well-behaved kid in the front seat was singing X-1 Bottles of Beer on the Wall. The crowd of kids sharing music were singing both off key and out of sync. The people

Challenge #01628-D167: Honey Trap

When stepping into a Gods domain, enter as the supplicant or as something greater than a God. Never as a conqueror, Gods take a deep and personal delight in casting down challenges to their authority. -- RecklessPrudence

We apologise for the inconvenience, said the words in her head. We must quarantine you from reality as you know it.

After ten years of bouncing from reality to reality, the being who called herself Shayde had to wonder what these superior powers were up

Challenge #01627-D166: Desperate Invention

“The reasons that would not work are outnumbered only by the reasons it would be a disaster if it did.” -- RecklessPrudence

The ship's human took a moment to stare at Thorassik. "You and I have very different definitions of 'disaster'..."

"Yes! There is significant loss of profit in all scenarios, but if we die, the company loses the least."

"Well," sighed Human Steff. "I'm not about to lay my life down for the company."

"You are not a model employee," chided

Challenge #01626-D165: A Conversation About the Greater Deregulations

"Is this an argument you actually want to win?"

"No, but - "

"Then stop talking about it," -- RecklessPrudence

"But it's still an issue," countered Praal. "There are entire planets dedicated to hatred and spite."

"And you would stop them with more hatred and spite?"

"No, but--"

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Flash fiction fresh from my fingers to your mind!

Challenge #01640-D179: Wonderful Things?

Challenge #01639-D178: Unexpected Co-resident

Challenge #01638-D177: The Gone Bag

Challenge #01637-D176: The Last Beauty Contest

Challenge #01636-D175: Just in Case Heroics

Challenge #01635-D174: The Most Unsuitable Food of All

Challenge #01634-D173: Non-liquid Investment

Challenge #01633-D172: First Fair

Challenge #01632-D171: Magical Memories

Challenge #01631-D170: What a Maker Wants

Challenge #01630-D169: Can't Eat Just One

Challenge #01629-D168: Unfortunate For Some

Challenge #01628-D167: Honey Trap

Challenge #01627-D166: Desperate Invention

Challenge #01626-D165: A Conversation About the Greater Deregulations