Amalgam Universe

A 2271-post collection

Challenge #01594-D133: In the Cracks

Wants verses Needs on a tight budget. -- Knitnan

Plunt was not as lucky as others. Ze knew this. If there was some anti-luck where the cracks in any system for help neatly fit the description of Plunt, then ze definitely had it. Not poor enough for economic assistance. Not rich enough to shoulder emergencies with a shrug. Mentally disabled enough to make life difficult. Not mentally disabled enough to qualify for any kind of assistance. Able enough to pass for normal, but not able enough to be as completely able as everyone else.

Life, in essence, was a battle. Plunt was not losing it, per se. But ze did get just enough to keep on battling. Never enough to win or, for example, call for a medic to drag them off the metaphorical field for some respite.

And always, there were the impossible temptations laid in hir path. The better-quality clothing that cost Hours that Plunt did not have. The Nutri-food with thought put into presentation instead of the low-price goo baggies that were all ze could afford. The license to go picking fresh produce from the Station gardens.

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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

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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

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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

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Challenge #01589-D128: Hazardous Playthings

Yo Yo See what you can do with this prompt. it would have been just yo yo but they wanted a longer sentence. -- Anon Guest

There is a uniquely human term, 'toy'. Though the concept of play is nothing new to many species in the Galactic Alliance, the Terran concept of things designed for play alone is strange to many. The fact that many of these objects used to be used as weapons just goes to show that Deathworlders are creatures

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Challenge #01588-D127: Culture Clash

how to be a good (Insert name here) Citizen. Let's hear it from one of the Lizard cultures. --Knitnan

"And who's your daddy, little one?"

Preek didn't understand the human's question. She had never known the word before this moment. "I have a Pripa and a Seppa[1]."

"I have trouble with all these new words," confessed the human. "It's so confusing. What's wrong with 'he' and 'she' and 'mommy' and 'daddy'?"

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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.

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Challenge #01586-D125: Not the Best Intentions

The "nanny" in "nanny state" isn't for you. They're to keep the oligarchs from trashing every toy in the nursery and peeing on the ceiling. -- RecklessPrudence

"What this new world needs is the elimination of this Nanny State!"

Those who the government selected to start this world in their own image... reacted exactly as they should. They cheered and hooted and eventually overthrew the people who stood for reason and regulation. Those who stood to gain the most did indeed gain.

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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

(https://translate.google.com.au/) -- RecklessPrudence

"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

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Challenge #01583-D122: The Word Escapes

English is also a loose cannon cop-on-the-edge who doesn't play by the rules and will do horrible, horrible things if it solves the short-term problem in front of him. -- RecklessPrudence

There are moments when words escape the speaker. Rational thought, too, takes a temporary holiday and necessity mothers a great deal of illogical invention.

"I need a new..." the next word fled to the furthest reaches of Kathmandu. "...um..." What was the dang word for it? People were staring. She needed

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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

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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

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Challenge #01573-D112: The Aptly-named Terra

Correct dress varies from full formal to the Northern Territory Australian version 'wear a singlet And thongs (flip flops). -- Knitnan

Welcome to the Terran Solar system. All Havenworlder species are advised to engage in tourism inside a livesuit, and with a bodyguard if your Havenworld is of Class 3 or above. For those species who can endure a Class 4.5 Deathworld, acceptable dress ranges from "full head-to-toe covering if female" to "we don't care, just cover your naughty bits". A

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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

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Challenge #01570-D109: The Fall of the Hespruss

After two repetitions of a standard hazard announcement ("Warning: Shields Critical", or "Cabin Pressure Dropping", or "Warning: Heat Levels Critical", something like that) - something dangerous in meaning but pronounced in a calming voice and almost mundane, the ship says this:

Warning: Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here. -- RecklessPrudence

Alarms and klaxons filled the air with their noise. If it wasn't beeping or flashing, it was already broken. The computer struggled to keep up with the warnings.

"Warning: Lateral stabilisers

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