Amalgam Universe

A 2308-post collection

Challenge #03228-H319: So Sharp...

A human sets up a shop on board a particularly large station within Alliance space. Before too long, the person has a lot of other humans visiting their shop, especially chefs. What is their profession? Sharpening blades. And instead of using anything electronic, they have a large whetstone, a strop, and some pieces of material to test the sharpness of the blades. He's one of the best in his profession, though his alliance friends sometimes see all the blades, and get a little nervous. -- Fighting Fit

Small businesses usually have a mayfly existence in large stations, mostly because what worked in a small station doesn't necessarily work anywhere else. A bored transient can find, for example, a little hole-in-the-wall cafe that does the Alliance's best Haargin Dragonfruit[1] Toasted Sandwich. In a station where even the people living there know perhaps two percent of the total available territory, there's almost no chances to find a little hole-in-the-wall anything.

It pays to advertise, but you have to be able to afford it first.

This little hole-in-the-wall is not leading a mayfly life. In fact, there's something of a queue winding its way towards the door. Some in the queue are curious to see what the rest are queueing for, but are too polite to interrupt a stranger's thoughts and just ask.

Support me on Patreon / Buy me a Ko-fi

Continue Reading

Prompts remaining: 107 Submit a Prompt! Ask a question! Buy my stories!

Challenge #03227-H318: Should Have Listened

Capturing any member of Pax Humanis is no small feat, but capturing a Pax Humanis leader and not knowing who they are is a mistake you won’t live long enough to regret

https://www.britannica.com/story/the-time-julius-caesar-was-captured-by-pirates -- LatinoThor45

Pax Humanis don't form teams. They make packs. They don't plan to eliminate a large problem for the CRC. They hunt. They are, at their core, the Humans that all the stories warn you about. They are the very rare few

Read more »

Challenge #03226-H317: Those Who Cut It

A new cooking school opens up that is considered one of the hardest schools of that type to be in. Where almost all classes were like competitions and the instructors were very strict. Even to become a student, one had to sign a waiver stating that they knew they could be dropped from the program at any moment if their scores in the classes got too low. Still, for those that graduated, they were considered among some of the best chefs in

Read more »

Challenge #03225-H316: A Different Cause For Tears

A human was crying, their friend asked what was wrong. They'd heard all their lives of all the wild cruelties humans had done to each other, then found an ancient, archived, video of humans in the past acting in kindness. The video really made them smile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmcSh0GdPlc -- Anon Guest

Humans don't always have good angles. The stories of them having murderous rampages against species that wronged them abound. Other stories... not so much. The stories

Read more »

Challenge #03222-H313: Necessary Adjustments

Master Twii was taking a class on programming, taking time away from the Dojo, on a station when a lifepod, or what was left of it, docked heavily. The smoking maw of the airlock opening up to disgorge disheveled, frightened, and wounded kids, the accident had killed the very few adults that had been there. The most scared of the kids hid behind the first adult human they saw, never having seen any other species before.

From this prompt - https://peakd.

Read more »

Challenge #03221-H312: Sunshine - Guide and Guardian

I wonder... what would Mr. Sunshine do / think if Jay decided to ask the gentle Lilicoon on a date?

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-03030-h107-tea-and-socialisation -- Anon Guest

Mr Sunshine was calmly painting as Jay was attempting to calmly wait for Miss Lilicoon to show up. Jay had done their best to scrub up, and was now in the middle of Choice Anxiety. Otherwise known as Maybe I should have...

"Deep breaths, apprentice," said Sunshine, carefully adding gloss to the coat of

Read more »

Challenge #03220-H311: Pieces of a New Life

"You've been up for nearly 72 hours, again! Are you finally going to tell me what's going on?"

"Sorry, I'll get some sleep soon, I promise."

"Isn't your insomnia medicine helping?"

"I've not been taking it."

"Why not?"

Hesitation... a deep breath... slowly they turn around and present a beautifully carved statue of stone with small gemstones inlaid and the etchings reading "To my first true friend."

"Because I wanted to celebrate the anniversary of the day you took me from that

Read more »

Challenge #03213-H304: Human Violence

"My dear colleagues and guests, this morning we are going to study human games and how, throughout their history, their games have both brought them together, and caused some of them to tear their own cities apart." -- DaniAndShali

It is often said that many Human games are war by more civilised means. After all, people follow the rules when they're playing a game. The fans of the game are the most dangerous. Their tribal identity lies in the team they support.

Read more »

Challenge #03210-H301: Actually Fair and Balanced

A - "I'm innocent your honor, I didn't DO anything wrong!"

B - "You struck your employee for refusing to endanger their safety."

A - "I'm allowed to do that, though, they're my property, they work for me!"

B - Pinching the bridge of their nose in exasperation. "Ok, let's go over it again why that is NOT allowed in Alliance Space and why your employees are going to be compensated." -- Lessons

"It isn't Alliance Space, it's my space," argued CEO

Read more »

Challenge #03208-H299: Breaker of Bad Habits

The Human is only four foot in height, even with the battle-hardened live-suit. The recruits for this new marine outfit are six to seven foot Deathworlders from level three, and a couple near level four Deathworlds. The Human teaches them why you don't laugh at someone just because they're smaller. -- Anon Guest

Gurhag's Grunts were supposed to be meeting the maddest, baddest Deathworlder to train them in new combat techniques. When a child-sized entity in a livesuit appeared and took up

Read more »

Challenge #03204-H295: Surgical Precision Strike

A Human and a Havenworlder are both trapped in a cargo bay of a medical transport ship. The Human is in a support frame due to an illness that had created serious malformations in the spine before they were rescued as one of the last few survivors from a failed Deregger colony. The door is forced open by the pirates and the only one to save them is a Havenworlder with a scalpel. The Human reassures the Havenworlder, "you're not as weak

Read more »

Challenge #03203-H294: A Machine With Real Heart

They had an android body, they were an AI, and yet, we fell in love. Some in my family tell me they're just a machine despite the AI within and cannot feel real love. But, how do you define a machine? Can we truly be together? We love each other, this is so hard. -- Anon Guest

What is life? What is real? Does it even matter? My family thinks so. When I met P3T3R Five at Docks and Locks, it wasn't

Read more »

Challenge #03202-H293: Hey There Li'l Partner

A security officer aboard a space station has a nice, quiet, day with little going on, and happily entertains a human child who is well behaved and delights in being able to pretend they're "helping". At least until the parents show up, thank the officer for finding their child, who'd been a little scamp and had run off, and their shift ends without incident. -- Anon Guest

"Well hello there, Wandering Star," Security Officer Bytto had spotted the small Human in a

Read more »

Challenge #03201-H292: Therapeutic Tales

The Havenworlders who were saved when the scaffold fell decided to visit the Human that saved them. The medics realized having the Human sit alone in silence, while it did help the body heal, was damaging to a human's mind and caused them to become agitated. So the medics invited the visitors to come, to chat, and explained that it helped a human recover. The workers who had put up the scaffolding incorrectly, which lead to the accident, also visited, to apologize.

Read more »

Challenge #03200-H291: Between a Rock and...

The human had, somewhat grudgingly to start with, accepted a job from a havenworlder who read too much from the infonets and didn't always understand the gist of what was put there. The job sounded dangerous, so they prepared for the worst. The planetary survey, a small ship just big enough for the human and a very, very small crew, was likely the most boring one they'd ever been hired as guard duty for. It was like being paid to go on

Read more »