Amalgam Universe

A 2308-post collection

Challenge #03096-H188: Grey Goo Economy

They seemed like the perfect set of employees. They actually begged the CEO's of the Deregger colonies to be allowed to live there. They offered to work for almost no pay, even less than what the other workers got. Odd, the other workers were not complaining as this group seemed to do a lot more work, but for less shelter and less pay. But the other workers were getting healthier, the air seemed to be getting cleaner, the stacks were not producing as much emissions, and then.... everyone stopped listening to the CEO's. -- DaniAndShali

There were four metal people. Snappy dressers, the lot of them. Very sleek, but still obviously robots. If CEO Kleethon Fyncribb IX knew anything about history, then things might have gone differently for him. Premise one: The word 'robot' is derived from the Czechoslovakian for slave. Premise two: Slaves break their chains. Nevertheless, all they said they required was a space safe from rain and dust, some power to recharge with, and no food.

Even with four of them, it was a massive saving. They could do twice the work in half the time for a quarter of the cost. It was almost too good to be true. Premise three: Things that seem to be too good to be true - frequently are. A CEO of any Deregger colony never learns the basic premises of life, caution, or the patterns of time. Most of what they learn consists of I want, I get, I benefit.

So of course CEO Kleethon Fyncribb IX welcomed such an obvious profit into his corporate empire. He didn't even mind that each of them had to have four hours off for their self-maintenance cycle. That was still less than the organic components in the rest of his holdings. He didn't notice the rot he allowed to creep in, but then... Deregger CEO's are trained to ignore anything that doesn't directly and immediately benefit them.

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Challenge #03095-H187: Only Among Siblings

Human: We're going to die.. it's over, we're done for.... I'm.. so tired.

Havenworlder: Stop that, we're NOT going to die, you're the human, you're supposed to be comforting me!

Human: I can't do this anymore.. I want to go home, this is hopeless it's over....it's over.. it's over...

Havenworlder: I beg forgiveness in advance for this! - gives the human a sharp slap! -

Human: -- startled --

Human: Sorry... sorry... yeah.. needed that... c'mon, little brother, let's go home

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Challenge #03094-H186: They Will Write to Each Other

A human child, hearing a loud bang, finds an alien who looks, at least to the human, like a medium sized dog that's hurt. The child picks up the alien to bring them home and then gives them a bath since they were covered in mud and sticks. The alien wakes up realizing they're now wrapped up in bandages, stuck in what looks like a makeshift "hospital gown", and the child is rocking the small bed they were put in, reading them

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Challenge #03093-H185: The Wait for Travel Services

The Humans were sitting around the fire with several of their Havenworlder friends. The winds outside the shelter were howling loudly and they were still waiting for the rescue vessel to bring them the rest of the parts they needed to repair the ship enough to limp it to a spaceport for a full refit. It was a stormy night so the Humans decided to have fun and tell ghost stories. -- Anon Guest

It was a dark and stormy night. The

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Challenge #03092-H184: Ozymandius Syndrome

"Yes, I was a CEO. Yes, I am, was, the richest person on my home-world. So why am in this cell? I surrendered myself. Why did I do that? After what I saw, how they helped me, I grew something I didn't know existed. I gained humility. I hurt them. It's time I faced justice for my crimes. I deserve it. I'm so very sorry." -- Anon Guest

A wise man once wrote that it is often considered criminal to live in

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Challenge #03090-H182: Baby on Board

A Human toddler is flying for their first time with their parents. They'd never been off-world before and they were excited. The toddler was being brought to a medical facility on a station for a surgical procedure, though as active as they are people would never realize they were sick. With them were several Havenworlders including one who looked for all the world like a large, fluffy, bipedal canine in basic ship's skins. Problem is, the toddler would not stop trying to

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Challenge #03089-H181: One Confounding Morning in an Off-beat Security Office

The time Havenworlders trained in a dojo run by humans, defeated and imprisoned a human who was a pirate. They delivered the pirate to the other humans, who were, to say the least, rather impressed! -- Anon Guest

A large number of things are inadvisable to the boundary of impossibility. A number of other things are inadvisable - like telling a Human what's impossible. Humans tend to take these things as a challenge, and there is inevitably fallout as a consequence. Current

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Challenge #03085-H177: Relative Luxury

The young deregger expatriate, somewhat reluctantly, but at Gorx's gentle insistence, schedules a few days off since Gorx is very safely at home for a few days to relax. He takes his mom out, she is also trying to wrap her head around this concept, and they truly enjoy their first taste of what people would call, "a vacation from work with pay."

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-03047-h124-free-time -- DaniAndShali

Humans Jef and Bea were learning to adapt. Transiteer Gorx would

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Challenge #03084-H176: Hello Again, Little Friend

They had crashed on a planet where the atmosphere was toxic. The pods were safe and able to be moved together to create a larger shelter, and with only four of them, the shelter was big enough for at least a month, though rescue stated they'd be there in about two weeks given the distance and lack of short cuts in that area. Their patient's infection showed by day two. The human frowned, seeing it, then began to cut apart citrus peels

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Challenge #03083-H175: Anything is Ammo

A: "What's that?"

H: "What's what?"

A: "That odd thing you're working on." Indicating the odd contraption attached to the human's suit that the human was carefully adding conditioning agent to the strong, stretching, straps

H: "Oh, this? That's just my wrist rocket"

A: "Wrist Rocket?"

H: "My slingshot"

A: ........................................... -- DaniAndShali

"Aw, don't look at me in that tone of voice," said Human Ess, still tinkering with the simple device. It was nothing more than a forked frame, some stretchy straps,

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Challenge #03081-H173: Assisted Retirement

She was middle aged, approaching her 50's, her lower back hurt so bad she could barely move. Working in those damn factories for so long, ever since she was orphaned when the last big fire that swept through the city killed hers and so many others' families, had broken her. Then they came. It was late in the night, she'd gathered a huge amount of old, scrap, cloth stolen out of dumpsters and did her best to make it comfortable for her

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Challenge #03080-H172: Defeating Monsters

There was a sign on the door. It read "Warning! Deathworlder story time! Humans inside!" Faintly, through the budget soundproofing, a cogniscent with good hearing could make out the wailing cry of an alarmed human larva. One with even better hearing would be able to make out the voices of other young humans, saying "It's OK, it's OK, it's not real, it's just a story. Right, Miss? It's not real, right???" -- Anon Guest

Fairy tales do not exist to tell children

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Challenge #03078-H170: The Inherent Hazards of Knomiras

Common sense is not that common, this most people know.

When you lack even that basic knowledge, it's sad how things can go.

They were listening to the instructions of the flight attendants as they had boarded their flight from the station. It was the usual routine safety instructions that all flights normally gave, and the usual "Here is what we do for this type of emergency" thing. Except, this time, a person scoffed, rolling their eyes, refusing to listen to a

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Challenge #03077-H169: Constant Vigilance

A Companion notices that the ship's human's livesuit is picking up on wild, unusual fluctuations in hormones related to emotions and high stress. On questioning, the human informs them that, due to a somewhat negligent upbringing and poor socialization as a child and adolescent, they suffer from underdeveloped emotional maturity... that will never fully develop. That ship has sailed, and they were NOT on board.

The explanation is delivered in a calm, somewhat bored tone, with a bland facial expression. The livesuit

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Challenge #03074-H166: Homo Insula

Libertarian "paradise" world found by the Alliance. Probably called "Freedom" or something similar. -- Anon Guest

Imagine a world where there is no need for government or law, because the only rule is that of righteous morality. Laws come from God, as was intended by the Good Word. All that is right is moral and all that is moral is right. It's all about the fundamental rights of man.

Everyone else can suck it.

The strong rule the weak. It's the way

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