Instant Story

Challenge #01487-D026: On the Other Side of the Fence

“I have at least 14 bad angles” - Carrie Fisher -- RecklessPrudence

Carl made a career out of being abnormal. As one of the rare few who could not be cured, he told the jokes than nobody else dared make. Like, "Hey did you hear about the dyslexic biker? He joined Hell's Angles." or, "Public transportation is a real pain. You just try catching the sub every day."

And it worked. People laughed. He earned a living. He kept a home and had what passed for a life. But because his condition was so very rare... certain things just did not exist. Fonts, for instance, that 'weighed' the letters into their places and made it easier for him to read anything at all. Those were relics of a bygone era and far more expensive than they had to be.

Amazing how the system could force a person to pay more for something that allegedly nobody wanted. Now there was a joke. Supply and demand. They had the supply, so they could demand what they liked for it. Fonts, reader software, audio books... anything that could make his life a little more tolerable... it cost upwards of five figures. Because his condition was so rare.

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Challenge #01486-D025: Worth a Life

“unfortunately it hurts all 3 of my feelings” - Carrie Fisher -- RecklessPrudence

Oh crap. She'd tripped over a Faerie nest.

Of all the authors who featured the Fair Folk in their modern writings, A. A. Milne said it best: Their bodies were so tiny that they could only process one feeling at a time. What hardly anyone remembered about Faeries is this: immortality can drive cogniscent beings insane. Milne's traditional cause of faerie death is not what these hyperactive creatures needed.

Challenge #01485-D024: To Fix a World

“No motive is pure. No one is good or bad-but a hearty mix of both. And sometimes life actually gives to you by taking away.” - Carrie Fisher -- RecklessPrudence

He only wanted to do good. To improve things for everyone. To make the world a better place. There were just a few things that he needed to make sure of. For the good of everyone. Well. Almost everyone. There were some... bad elements... that needed dealing with.

The drains on society,

Challenge #01484-D023: Subtle Dangers

Why should I go crazy when I can just as easily wait for it right here. Who wants gum? - Carrie Fisher -- RecklessPrudence

Something had to exist that did not like quiet, and M'prax was reasonably certain that it was the Ship's Human. The dangerous deathworlders had a reputation for being unstoppable protectors and, more to the point, profitable creatures to have. But they were also... well... deathworlders.

It was hard not to think of the being named Sally as an

Challenge #01483-D022: Portents of Doom

“You know the bad thing about being a survivor… You keep having to get into difficult situations in order to show off your gift.” - Carrie Fisher -- RecklessPrudence

"I wouldn't ordinarily complain about your... shenanigans," said the Cuidgari Security Chief everyone knew as Sherlock, "you have such a finely-tuned sense for skating on the borders of legality. But this is the third time this week. Are you bored, or have you and Rael had a... 'tiff' as you call it?"

"In

Challenge #01482-D021: All the Luck

“If my life wasn’t funny, it would just be true, and that is unacceptable” - Carrie Fisher -- RecklessPrudence

Kyle was a Lucker. One of the unfortunate few with the Luck gene. His bad luck was everyone's good, and vice versa. His 'range' was five Standard Distance Units, or he would be isolated on a small station just big enough for one. The universe, it seemed, liked balance.

Fortunately for Kyle, he had found an 'out'. He moonlighted as a stand-up

Challenge #01481-D020: Carry the Light

'I don’t want my life to imitate art, I want it to be art." - Carrie Fisher -- RecklessPrudence

Auntie Mame is famous for saying, "Life is a smorgasbord, and most poor souls are starving to death." But even she would believe that Taerl Vincetti was taking things a bit too far.

She could have been the living embodiment of vanity, were it not for her belief that her life was a performance piece for all who happened to be in

Challenge #01480-D019: Facing Doubt

"Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow." — Carrie Fisher on pursuing dreams despite mental illness -- RecklessPrudence

Rael woke from his haze. His body hurt. That meant that the surgery had gone ahead. In lieu of recovering in an Intensive Care Patient Drawer[1], he and his warming tank were in a dimly-lit shelf in Medik Central. A young

Challenge #01479-D018: To Meet Like Minds

“Movies were meant to stay on the screen, flat and large and colorful, gathering you up into their sweep of story, carrying you rollicking along to the end, then releasing you back into your unchanged life. But this movie misbehaved. It leaked out of the theater, poured off the screen, affected a lot of people so deeply that they required endless talismans and artifacts to stay connected to it.” – Carrie Fisher, The Princess Diarist -- RecklessPrudence

Some stories, they say, are timeless.

Challenge #01478-D017: Popular Lies

Write about a false prophet. -- WriteAboutNowBlr

"And in the bright new age of reckoning, we will no longer have freeloaders sucking on the government teat," preached the man in the large, bright suit. "There will be no need for government! No need for taxes! Those who can fulfil a need will do so, and those who need will be sated!"

The crowd cheered. Of course they did. It was a message they wanted to hear.

"In this way, and in this

Challenge #01477-D016: One Fine Day in an Impoverished Neighbourhood

“I wish time would skip ahead. I got here too early.” -- WitterPrompts

Paul checked her watch. "You're right on time."

"No. I mean... the whole future thing. It's like... most of my time has been spent waiting for stuff that should have been here, already. Like... I dunno. Tablets should have always been there since my childhood, you know."

"And flying cars?" teased Paul.

"No. Dur. You can't have flying cars until after self-driving cars have taken over. Because, look at

Challenge #01476-D015: Historical Hysterical First

the madness has begun -- MaxMundan

The Tri'li'ol had heard the news. Having a human aboard a vessel, especially a vessel in uncharted regions of space, was good luck. Even though they were Deathworlders, they were a statistical anomaly. They would pack-bond with the crew, adjust their interactions for the benefit of others, and generally behave themselves. And if one human aboard a vessel was good luck, then more had to be better.

And it worked. For a short time.

Nobody else

Challenge #01475-D014: Signal Lost

"It matters not if you have stood with the great. What really makes a difference is if you have sat with the broken, walked with the lost, and loved the lonely." — Sheri Bessi Eckert -- Ariestess

"And what have you done?" asked the man in the yellow robes. He was Important. He would not be in this meet-up if he wasn't. The people demanded it, and he had to suffer it. For the good feelings of everyone who supported him. And for

Challenge #01474-D013: Stranded on a Hostile Planet

2157 A.D.

Captain’s Log: Alpha-Foxtrot-Lima - 1129.

It’s been 63 days and they have yet to realise that I am not one of them. -- Here-is-the-Story

This only shows that my disguise is effective, and my camouflage as well. These Deathworlders have no idea that I am not one of their species. This is well and good. As a pre-spaceflight civilisation, I have seen what they do to each other for the most trivial reasons. They are not ready

Challenge #01473-D012: Life is But a Dream

Imagine waking up from a coma, in a hospital where you were no longer called a patient, but the term 'consumer' was used. That the care you received was based on the cost of doing business, not your outcome as a patient. That the normal systems and avenues to access resources had all changed massively, and when you ask how long you were in a coma, you find out that the coma didn't exist. That your family was changed, that the people

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Challenge #01487-D026: On the Other Side of the Fence

Challenge #01486-D025: Worth a Life

Challenge #01484-D023: Subtle Dangers

Challenge #01483-D022: Portents of Doom

Challenge #01482-D021: All the Luck

Challenge #01481-D020: Carry the Light

Challenge #01480-D019: Facing Doubt

Challenge #01479-D018: To Meet Like Minds

Challenge #01478-D017: Popular Lies

Challenge #01477-D016: One Fine Day in an Impoverished Neighbourhood

Challenge #01476-D015: Historical Hysterical First

Challenge #01475-D014: Signal Lost

Challenge #01474-D013: Stranded on a Hostile Planet

Challenge #01473-D012: Life is But a Dream