Amalgam Universe

A 2297-post collection

Challenge #02036-E212: One Question

A new revolution was in motion and it’s progress could not be stopped.

After all, nerds are nothing if not stubborn in their pursuit of knowledge.

They were going to enlighten (pun totally intended) this oppressed world, plant the ideas and curiosity that the new power tried so hard to exterminate. They were going to return to the world the gift Aelria gave to them when she told them “look up”.

After all, nerds never die out. They just go stealth. -- A-Literal-Fan

[AN: Callback to this story for those of you who don't want to go archive trawling]

It's easy to be angry at something that you don't understand. Many chose the easy path. Screaming, yelling, or firing weapons at the unfamiliar lights in the sky. Many were hit by falling projectiles. A few died. Some called it the Reckoning, and said it was an indicator of their God's wrath for sins real, imagined, or impossible.

Some stared, stunned, not knowing what it was they saw. And when the power went back on, and the night sky returned to its familiar black under the glare of the city lights, they went back indoors and swallowed what the media told them. Hook, line, and sinker.

But a few. A rare and precious few. Wondered. They wondered, What was that? and, How did it happen? and, Why did a power failure cause it? The news reports said it was a terrorist act, but never explained how it was done or what had been used or even what the message was besides, "A message of hate."

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Challenge #02034-E210: Incident During the Building of Antagulus IV

[Words you learn to dread hearing. #3.] "It seemed like a good idea at the time." -- Knitnan

Something, somewhere, was on fire. Aarblax could see the smoke curling through the air. This was, thankfully, a facility with a generous amount of atmosphere to share, so it wasn't that worrying. Yet. The Public Address system was making bizarre, intermittent noises. This meant that someone had manually disabled the alerts and the system was attempting connections through the network. Which had also been

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Challenge #02033-E209: So They Noticed

[Title: Words you learn to dread hearing. #2.]"So who's going to notice?" -- Knitnan

The little vessel was lost. Broken. Limping through a Sargasso of wrecked and abandoned vessels in the middle of nowhere. No radio. No comms. No chance of making it to civilisation as the occupants knew it. They were losing air and hope at the same rate.

"I found a vessel with compatible air," said one occupants. "With the 'locks together, we can minimise air loss for evac.

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Challenge #02032-E208: Least Threatening Silhouette

[Title: Words you learn to dread hearing. #1.] "I was only..." -- Knitnan

[AN: Once again I have to remind my dear readers that I don't usually pay attention to the titles of your prompt posts. Doing this sort of thing throws off my rhythm and I've already had a crowded day today]

Humans. They do all kinds of hazardous things without thinking about it. Playing gravity games and forgetting that other beings find these unnerving. Singing songs about death and murder[

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Challenge #02031-E207: Needs of the Many Can Bite Me

“You’re risking the lives of millions - millions of lives! - for the sake of one.”

“Damn right I am! And besides, I promised I’d get you out of this mess alive, didn’t I?” -- Anon Guest

"But... the needs of the many," objected Koraz.

"Flakk the needs of the many, I made a promise." Human Kaf had his head down and his shoulders hunched. "I keep my word. Wanna fight me about that?"

"No," sighed Koraz with a

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Challenge #02030-E206: But Not My Friend

“I refuse to let you die”

-- A surprisingly common (and even more surprisingly functional) human phrase.

More lives than can be counted have been saved due to this statement. -- Anon Guest

Flaax had expected to die. That was what happened when the Vorax attacked. People died. Civilisations ended. If one was lucky, wreckage containing last messages to loved ones could be found after the fact.

And then the Humans became part of the Galactic landscape, so to speak. They hunted

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Challenge #02029-E205: Humans Are Breakable

How do aliens deal with humans on board missions/crews with serious mental illnesses? As even those who have “recovered” can relapse and have issues now and again, especially after certain triggers. I know this isn’t as interesting or fun as some of your other prompts but I’d really like to see what you would come up with. Thanks! -- Anon Guest

Human Polli was a Team Mom type Human and the gentlest soul anyone could care to meet. But

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Challenge #02027-E203: Waifs and Strays

"We have a problem sir. We found the hostage. She looks safe but.... there is an human with her. He is hurt and his translator is broken, but he seems to have protected the hostage, and continues to do so. The fact is that he doesn't want to leave her alone, and she doesn't want to leave him too. And he kind of scares our man." -- Anon Guest

Humans. Some were aggressive. Enough to make Havenworlders like the Graacil extremely cautious

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Challenge #02026-E202: Common Sense Human Medical Advisor

Under great stress, the human brain will launch the production of combat drugs to better face the situation. It will nearly always allow your fellow human crew member to survive and save you, even if the course of action seems stupid and dangerous. The biggest problem could be when those drugs leave the organism : usually the human will act as normal and go back to his/her normal behaviour. But in some case, the human mental will temporary "crumble to dust" and

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Challenge #02025-E201: One Confounding Encounter on Argus Seventeen

Like all great things in life, you need to poke it to get it to do anything. -- TheDragonsFlame

Draes boggled at the merchant. "That is such a uniquely Human phrase," ze said. "Is it absolutely true? Will patience reward those who wait?"

"Uh. No," said the merchant. "If you wait, it does nothing. You have to interact with it to make it go."

"Hmf," again, almost typically Human. Hir own peoples much preferred a fully automatic system. Humans were compelled to

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Challenge #02024-E200: Remarkably Similar

[ a race of sapient felines encounter Humans and their pets ] -- Anon Guest

Ahnrau hadn't expected a close encounter like this one. She had been hunting valuable asteroids when a shard of a distant impact sent her vessel spiralling out of control. The last thing she remembered before the spin blacked her out was identifying another vessel on a collision path...

She was messed up. She could feel it. But... she was also on the mend. The room she was in was

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Challenge #02021-E197: Volatile Situation

“Hold on. YOUR PLANET RAINS WHAT?!!?!”

“Umm... water?”

“Water. The highly corrosive, extremely reactive liquid.”

“I mean, yeah. But...”

“HOLD ON. WHY IS THE WATER ACIDIC? IS YOUR PLANET TRYING TO KILL YOU??!?”

“Oh that? It’s fine. Just the carbon dioxide in the air making it slightly acidic.”

“Define ‘slightly’.”

“Umm... ph5 ish? So about x100 more concentrated than pure water? It’s honestly fine, if you think this is bad, you haven’t seen the ACTUAL acid rain on earth.

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Challenge #02020-E196: Strange Bedfellows

Humanity as a whole is known as many things to many different species. Yes, while they are terrifying deathworlders more than capable of destroying everyone and everything, they’ve always been willing to lend a helping hand to all those who ask, and even those who don’t. So was it really that big a surprise when, after a powerful warmongering race declared war on humanity that half the universe flocked to humanity’s aid? -- Anon Guest

For every bully, there

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Challenge #02019-E195: Lost and Found in Space

Wait, what happens to the poor guy in space in “Show Me the Way...”???

Does he find his way home or does he make space into his new home? I’m so curious now. -- Anon Guest

[AN: The prompt throws back to this story for those who don't want to go on an archive crawl]

Personal journal: Stardate... I don't even know by now. Everyone has a different way of counting and the standard year is something I can't even figure

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Challenge #02018-E194: After Math

And then she spoke. She was xir’s friend, xir’s confidant, xir’s companion through thick and thin. She was the one xir trusted above anyone else. But she is also dangerous, deadly, and vicious; a deathworlder before all else, a human at heart. Xir will never forget those three words for as long as xir lives:

“Actually, I can.” -- Anon Guest

[AN: I'm going to take your word on the conjugation of this pronoun, Nonny. I can only handle

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