Instant Story

Flash fiction fresh from my fingers to your mind!

Challenge #03028-H105: Swim the Light Fantastic

They flew past me all the time inside those massive metal machines. Though some were bigger than others. My people have been floating among the stars, bright spots in what, for most, would be otherwise pure darkness for as long as I can remember. We had bodies, once, and needed such machines before, but we evolved past that. My family called me, we were heading to a new asteroid belt. Holding out hands, we, as bright flames, flew to see those that had solid forms still. It was time to say hello. These ones were more adventurous than many had been. -- Anon Guest

In an eon past, we reasoned that it was next to impossible to take our bodies with us to the stars. So we transformed our minds into intelligences of plasma and magnetic forces, leaving our old bodies behind. We flew away from our world and those left who shunned us and our solution to the problem of vast distances.

We were immortal, feeding on the radiations of space, flying between the stars at speeds close to light. It didn't matter how long it took, or how rare it was to meet another like us in our flights. We could not touch the worlds we saw, but some of us thrilled at skimming their atmospheres. Peeking at the material worlds below.

We sang to each other between the stars, listening between the babble of others communicating on the hydrogen line. You can imagine, then, our shock and surprise when others came to the void in metal armour, in shells like snails or crabs, taking everything they needed with them. Some plodded slowly, but others matched our speeds at close to that of light. Curious, we swam close to them. Peeking in portholes. Singing to them. We did not understand how they could dare.

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Challenge #03027-H104: The Paper Anchor

The book was old, beyond old, really. It had been passed down from parent to child for a millennia. It was, now, so thick and large it was carried in a careful satchel and, due to being so ancient, the oldest of the pages yellowing, only carefully opened with gloves. The newest pages, however, were much fresher and had been added to the book almost weekly over the past hundred years. But now, the owner, dying gracefully of old age, called to

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Challenge #03026-H103: Worn Away

The family went to court just as the parent said they would. Recordings of the cruel abuse the students, and instructors, of the Alliance - run school were shown as evidence. And now these people were forced to see, and hear, everything they did to her and face their crimes. Of how Barbara would stop, turn away to hide her tears, something the cameras saw, though everyone else ignored. It wasn't just the parents who intended to teach the instructors, the students,

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Challenge #03025-H102: Illegal Tender

There is bad way to win and there is a good way to lose; what’s interesting while also being troubling is that it’s not always clear which is which. A flipped coin doesn’t always land on head or tail, sometimes it may never lands at all -- grimsley

Kosh hadn't expected to find a slice of home in the hoard. Precisely, an octagonal slice of gemstone engraved with the stylised castle chess piece that was Whitekeep's sigil. It was

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Challenge #03024-H101: Mostly Harmless You Say

Pib's parents are on a station for a while as the ship they normally work on was in for repairs, and these repairs were going to take some time. The instructor at the primary school reads the transcripts of young Pib from aboard the ship and sees the injury / kill count of the child and their jaw drops. Some of the pirates wounded, or killed, by this larval human were not exactly amateurs, or small-fry. The parents just smile. -- Anon Guest

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Challenge #03023-H100: A Day in the Life of a Global Villain

Another day passed by in this prison. Before I fell asleep I heard clanging on the cell door. Someone on the other side spoke “Package for prisoners 089” I pulled myself out of bed “that’s me” a small compartment opened up revealing a small box. “Who’s it from?” I asked, no response must’ve left. I slowly open the package, my cell mate chimed in “what’cha got there?” I raised an eyebrow “transport proteins”. “What?” I didn’t need

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Challenge #03022-H099: Situational Education

Human children have a propensity to pet anything that's soft and furry. It's just a part of what seems to be observable human nature from childhood into adulthood. However, sometimes children had to be taught to not pet the fuzzy. In this case, they meet a havenworlder who has a soft, fluffy, service animal that has a sweet, little purr. The havenworlder, due to very advanced age, has gone very hard of hearing, the service animal makes sure they stay calm. --

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Challenge #03021-H098: The Lengths Gone Unto

A man walk down the crossroad late that night that when he ran into a beast in black. The beast spoke “Boy that’s a heavy load you have on your back, I can take care of your troubles and your worry woes, all you gotta is sign.” Man said “beast I do believe another devil beat you to it this time. I do wish I had something to give but ‘fraid I’m sold out. If you ain’t looking for

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Challenge #03020-H097: With Stone Tools

The Vorax were stranded on a planet with several humans, both ships having been taken down by an unexpected solar flare of significant intensity. Due to the fact this was a survival situation, the two factions, for now, put aside their differences to work together. These Vorax, like many others, had heard stories of humans and their abilities. But it really did not hit home how true these stories were, until they insisted on going with the humans to hunt prey animals

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Challenge #03019-H096: The Walking Wounded

They had anxiety issues, didn't sleep well, often awakened in tears. After years of war, living in peace was very hard. They left to get groceries and returned to find a shocking discovery. A massive tank was in their apartment with an odd arrangement. One side was the life support system for the tank, the other side was a large metal box, almost as tall as they were, attached via wide metal tubes. Inside the tank was a huge octopus, or what

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Challenge #03018-H095: Time and Effort

A: Can I borrow a knife?

B: What do you need it for?

A: What do you mean?

B: What you need it for will determine which one I give you.

A: How many knives do you have?!?

B: What do you need a knife for? -- FightingFit

"No, no, no," said Human Arin. "I gotta go down this rabbit hole. How many knives do you own?"

"One for every purpose and then some," dismissed Human Bob. "I have a collection."

"That's

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Challenge #03017-H094: Benevolent Weeds

Those lovely blossoms known as dandelions to us. Whole thing is edible, though better when its young. There are a few other plants like that where the entire thing is edible. Well, she was a botanist, not that she let her family, or the deregger, government knew she'd become so well educated. A well-educated young woman there? They'd kill her for being too smart and her family followed the CEO's like they were gods.

Everyone thought her too simple to be of

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Challenge #03016-H093: Well, There Was That One Time...

Humans had just begun their exploration of space, they'd not yet met any other species. The first, early, days of human space travel. A kind and gentle elderly woman, who lived alone on a farm far into the countryside, found a very large, odd-looking, "bird" gathering seed from the open feeder she had and they seemed shaky and unwell. When they collapsed, she hobbled outside, loaded them onto the flat part of her walker, and hobbled back inside. Imagine their shock when

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Challenge #03015-H092: Minor Disaster Averted

H: Ow.

A: What happened? Do you need medical?

H: Second, I'm on my way to medical already. First, I jarred the ankle on my good foot while trying not to mess up my bad foot further. Um...one A I guess?... I think I sprained something again.

A: Stay right there, I'll get a chair with wheels on it.

H: Oh yeah, I didn't think of that. That would be WAY faster than trying to limp there...

A: And it would

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Challenge #03014-H091: To Find a Space

A: Get out, or things will get weird

B: Don’t threaten me with a good time -- Anon Guest

Sap had screamed for five solid minutes because he thought he had lost Lachasse forever. The fact that there were babies and children screaming at the same time was almost lost to him. The instant he saw his favourite Cleric, he had almost collapsed from relief. Thereafter, he hadn't left Lachasse's side. Desperately helping more desperate souls than his own debatable one.

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