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Challenge #01550-D089: Inspired Desperation

This is dumb, like dosing Tasmanian Devils with meth and then stuffing them down your pants dumb. -- RecklessPrudence

"So let me get this straight," said B'tiz. Who clearly thought that ze was in error. "You are building a catapult to literally throw yourself at the enemy ship, where you will somehow infiltrate and then suborn one of their vessels, rescue me, and leave them stranded on this micro-planet."

"Trebuchet, but yes. That's the gist of it. Trebuchet's are easier to make. Well. Slightly easier to make. I had to fudge on the weights with springs because the gravity here is almost negligible. Almost has a lot of problems." Starting with the fact that this little planetoid's weak gravity made it physically possible to shoot oneself in the back of the head[1]. "Deathworlder, remember? I can survive the G-forces involved. You can't."

"But... this is madness..."

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Challenge #01549-D088: Reminiscing

How do you know I was cursing at you back then, love? You didn't speak my language yet, and I doubt you remember exactly what I said. For all you know I was paying you lots of loud, angry compliments. -grin- -- RecklessPrudence

"You forget," said Pal. "My livesuit was recording everything. I got a full translation in time, and you were cursing me out for everything under the sky."

T'tin was taken aback. "You knew what I was calling you, and

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

Challenge #01547-D086: Custom Made Babies

"No matter what side of the argument you are on, you always find people on your side that you wish were on the other." -- RecklessPrudence

"All I'm saying is that a certain amount of strengths are needed in the human genetic structure," argued Doctor Vardian. "My plan was to eliminate genetic disorders. Not... what has happened."

"Purity is more important than anything else," shouted the skinhead in the gallery. "We need to separate ourselves from the filth that has come to

Challenge #01546-D085: Proof of Concept

The concept of sound didn't exist until roughly the 1870s, when the gramophone was invented. -- RecklessPrudence

[AN: Which is weird, because Aristotle linked hearing with the element of air. Source. And more than a few attempts were made to record sound. Source2 ]

"A listening engine?" Clara repeated.

"To aid the deaf, I initially thought. Something to translate the noises we make into a visual medium, and thereby aid understanding. Of course, its spelling would be atrocious, but the message should get

Challenge #01545-D084: Hoarded Labyrinth

Unpacking a Packrat's Hoard. -- Anon Guest

It was a lovely old house, that was certain. It was such a shame that it was filled, floor to ceiling, with packrattus. Great-Aunt Shirl had been one of those people who kept the wrapping paper off of her presents and the stubs from her movie tickets. Everything she had, was kept in the box it came in. And the shopping bag it arrived home in. About the only thing she threw out was the

Challenge #01544-D083: Il Pleut

They can make it rain, some perform Arcane rituals, some pray. But of course there is the old tried and true methods. -- Knitnan

There's a reason why the Affiliate College of Rainmakers is on a boat. And why the uniform contains rain coats and wellingtons. You don't collect so many Rainmakers in one place without taking precautions. It's only by the third year of attempting control that many students actually achieve it.

Though it is hard to tell without field trips.

Challenge #01543-D082: No More Tea!

"What are They doing here?" he pointed to a pile of colourful objects.

"Oh, the Tea Cosies, we find them very handy in the Experimental Maths Lab."

Kudos for referencing The Goodies, "I'm a Tea pot! I'm a Tea pot" meltdowns. -- Anon Guest

"People actually go mad and think they're tea pots?" said Kerl. "That happens?"

"Not... quite," allowed Mars, who was the head of the department. "Have you any understanding of five-dimensional math?"

"I don't think five people alive have

Challenge #01542-D081: A Painful Setback

Like most toilets in Educational facilities this one was littered in graffiti, some of it actually, (a) anatomically correct and, (b) spelled right. Someone had scrawled 'Plumbing does not define Genius or Worth!' -- Anon Guest

Those were inspirational words, but when one was battling digestive upset, plumbing certainly interfered with one's ability to learn. Taerl read arguments from other scholars, including one who repeatedly asked for proof of assorted statements. Someone else, irritated with the non-rebuttal, had scrawled, DO YOUR

Challenge #01541-D080: Soured Gift

Wings are the symbol of mages, a manifestation of their powers. But magic isn't something easily accepted. People will do anything to be normal. -- YizukiKhons

They appear with the first use of magic, which can happen at any time following the day that a child first recognises that their own actions have consequences beyond themselves. Some say that their size indicates the mage's power. They are made of light, and it is not their size, which is illusory, but the luminosity

Challenge #01540-D079: What Do You Mean, 'Mostly Harmless'?

Before we made contact, humans were considered a myth, the Galactic Governments greatest hoax. No one species could possibly be THAT insane.

It's very stressful for the rest of the Galaxy when they discover humans are indeed real, and just as insane as they'd heard. -- Anon Guest

Everyone in the Galactic Alliance knew the stories that spacers told of humans. Near misses. Close encounters. Abductions. Scouts told stories of dead worlds where relics of these peculiar, hairless, bipedal mammals had once

Challenge #01539-D078: Strangely Met

The world's reaction when a ship looking a lot like a vaguely aerodynamic brick lands at Cape Canaveral, looking for some fresh fruit & veg ("Reconstituted is good, but fresh is always better"), a top-up on hydrogen for their fusion reactor ("Haven't seen a depot for twelve jumps, and my magscoop's on the blink again - old damage from some pirates, probably should replace it"), a repair tech for said magscoop ("Got anyone qualified in Grade As? It's a Lurrkon Class Three,

Challenge #01538-D077: A Stay in a Haunted House

Just because something is supernatural doesn't mean it won't follow a learnable set of rules. It just means the "why" of those rules isn't bound to make logical sense. -- RecklessPrudence

It was an old house. Of course it came with a ghost. It had been a farm in the ancient days of yore, before urbanisation subdivided the land again and yet again, and it became the last house along a new street that had once been its driveway, and, simultaneously, the

Challenge #01537-D076: No Place Like It

It was a Trucker's Drinking Hole, beer on tap and lachrymose songs on the Juke Box. It didn't matter that 16 wheelers were replaced by space haulers, some things never changed. -- Anon Guest

After months of monotony, hauling whatever the cargo was, even an AI would crave variety from the humdrum. And this place was the one-stop shop. Inebriants for those on rest cycle. Stimulants for those just stopping by. The inevitable tones of Cryin' Joe Bardnaw on the jukebox, jukebox

Challenge #01536-D075: Dire Times at the Dog and Duck

It was one of those places that people went to, to drink as much as possible in the shortest time. There were tiles well above head height, the floor was tiled and covered in sawdust, at shift change staff hosed it out and put down fresh sawdust. -- Anon Guest

There wasn't a menu. There weren't interesting bottles on the back shelf. There was barely a back shelf, which held a bottle of suspicious pickled eggs, which also held a pickled vermin

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Challenge #01550-D089: Inspired Desperation

Challenge #01549-D088: Reminiscing

Challenge #01548-D087: The Good Word

Challenge #01547-D086: Custom Made Babies

Challenge #01546-D085: Proof of Concept

Challenge #01545-D084: Hoarded Labyrinth

Challenge #01544-D083: Il Pleut

Challenge #01543-D082: No More Tea!

Challenge #01542-D081: A Painful Setback

Challenge #01541-D080: Soured Gift

Challenge #01540-D079: What Do You Mean, 'Mostly Harmless'?

Challenge #01539-D078: Strangely Met

Challenge #01538-D077: A Stay in a Haunted House

Challenge #01537-D076: No Place Like It

Challenge #01536-D075: Dire Times at the Dog and Duck