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Challenge #00620 - A255: Know Your Source

Step 1: Take your left hand or grasping appendage.

Step 2: Reach your left hand or grasping appendage and move it so it is behind you.

Step 3: Lower your left hand or grasping appendage so that it is perpendicular to your pelvis.

Step 4: Move your left hand or grasping appendage towards your body, so that it contacts the rear of your pelvis.

Step 5: Grasp the rear of your pelvis.

Step 6: Lift.

Congratulations, you are now flying by the seat of your pants.

There was an irate saurian in the foyer. And, judging by the copious bags at hir feet, they were prepared to wait until someone in charge could see them.

The gatekeeper-secretary tidied his hair before discreetly calling their ultimate superior. Editor in Chief, Sanja Elkrun.

“Sir,” murmured the secretary. “We have a camper in the foyer. They want to see you.”

“How many bags?”

“I’ve counted six.”

Sigh. “Well, at least it isn’t lawyers.” Editor Elkrun cut the comms. There was a twenty-minute window upcoming in her schedule that she usually reserved for window-time, but her psychological wellbeing had evidently been trumped, today.

She stepped smartly into her executive veet and pretended normalcy after the vertiginous drop to the ground floor. Even at max boost, there was not much time. Sanja left the veet talking. “Welcome, cogniscent, to the offices of MegaMagazines. I am Editor in Chief, Sanja Elkrun. I do not have much time, so please keep this quick.”

The saurian stood, revealing herself to be a female Enkapha. “I am Ligath. I came in protest to your instructions on page one five three of Human Comedy.”

“Sir…” said Sanja kindly. “The title of the publication is Human Comedy. We have disclaimers and warnings in pop-ups that you must read and acknowledge.”

“Oh, I had those turned off. They’re far too annoying.”

Once again, the forces of ignorance trumped the desperate attempts of the virtuous to help them remain educated. “And the title of Human Comedy didn’t tell you that any instructions in the main body of the magazine are not to be taken seriously?”

Great Powers, she could actually see the righteous indignation in Ligath’s posture drain out of her. “Uh. Er. When you put it that way…”

“Do you consent to having this event become material for our magazine?” asked Sanja. “You have had warnings turned off, so I must ask if you read the disclaimer at the door.” The disclaimer that plainly stated in GalStand and the five leading languages of the Galactic Alliance that people coming inside the offices to complain quickly became grist for the magazine mill, and entering was tantamount to consent.

“What? No!”

“Then in future, I suggest that you leave your warnings on,” she said. “For your continued wellbeing.” She turned away and strode back to her executive veet.

Sanja got all the way past the four hundredth floor before she burst out laughing.

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Challenge #00619 - A254: A Cunning Plan...

“Don’t worry. It’ll all go according to plan,” I reassured her that my plan was flawless.

Now I just needed to come up with one.

Rule one of coming up with a plan: work with what you’ve got. In this case, two rubber bands and a paperclip, and the clothes she stood up in if she was really that desperate.

Rule two: The environment is also what you’ve got. Nigh-seamless corridors made out of

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Challenge #00618 - A253: Anything That Can Go Wrong...

Farewell. Please say hello to Murphy when he clobbers you.

Those had been her last words to the human. They should have been the last words she ever spoke to the insane mammal.

Yet there it was. Hale and hearty. Enjoying a brew with the other Galactics in a seedy bar that also boasted Unsuitable Food on the menu.

“How?” she demanded. “How did you survive? I barely made it out of that melee with my hide intact!”

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Challenge #00617 - A252: Stick to the Plan

“This is according to your plan?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of plan was that?”
“The plan was -Do not die.- All is still going according to plan… barely.”

“This is why,” raged Krel over the gunfire aimed in their general direction. “This is why I never get involved with humans!”

“Awright,” admitted Jude. “This is something of a tight spot.”

“TIGHT? We’re cornered

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Challenge #00616 - A251: Adventuring with humans

Maybe, maybe not. After all his plan IS flawless after all.

He doesn’t have a plan at all so there can’t be any flaws in it.

“That’s a plan?” yawped the Princess. “How can the human’s plans possibly have a complete success rate?

"That’s the thing, it isn’t a plan,” explained Ax'and'l. “It’s more a succession of goals. You’ve heard the old

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Challenge #00615 - A250: A Lesson For Humans

Don’t want to have people commenting your sudden bout of suicidal stupidy by taunting murphy?

How about not taunt murphy?

[AN: I did leave instructions on the Submissions box to only pick up to three tags. Otherwise I have to whittle your collection of tags down to three so I can add my own tags. Please remember this when picking tags for your prompts.]

This media was not only old, but it had been played to the point of nearing uselessness

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Challenge #00614 - A249: Explaining Business

Don’t worry. He comes up with crazy ideas, but they’re so crazy they actually work half the time.

“…hey!” said exhibit A, aka Hwell Barrow. “I’ll have you know I have a ninety-eight percent success rate.”

“It’s the two percent that bites my tail,” Ax'and'l managed through gritted teeth. “And we agreed that there would be no bickering in front of potential clients.”

“If we agreed

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Challenge #00613 - A248: The Human Argument

And, isn’t sanity really just a one-trick pony anyway? I mean all you get is one trick, rational thinking, but when you’re good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit!”

“Awright. Yes. Humans as a race are kinda nuts,” Hwell admitted. “There’s lots of things I can’t immediately explain.”

“And your individual susceptibility to Silly Season,” added Ax'and'l. “What evolutionary advantage is there on picking up

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Challenge #00612 - A247: Universal Nevers

Quite honestly, you could strap those engines to just about anything and it could make escape velocity.

That’s what the man had said when he’d sold them the refurbished hulk for an amazingly cheap price. He’d said not to turn the gravity on until they were at least two hundred clicks on their way.

What he’d neglected to mention was that any motor can achieve escape velocity if used in a cumulative fashion. Especially

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Challenge #00611 - A246: Every Apprentice Does It

My god… it’s full of spelling errors.

Alani was going after Extra Credit. Finding the Original Source was always good for that. She traced it from planetoid to planetoid, from reference to reference to sub-reference and finally… in the Dark Rooms where only special lights were allowed… a yellowed and rather small booklet kept in its own rarified atmosphere and handled only through waldoes.

To show willing, Alani used the special scope to view the myopic scribble of an

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Challenge #00610 - A245: One Stormy Afternoon in a Spaceport Drydock

…but for all that they’re effective, they’re about as far from efficient as trying to run a car via rocket motors.

The geiger indicators were still rattling like a drawer full of loose beads as crew working on the dilapidated vessel did what they could to reduce the risk to other citizens on the station. They were dressed head to toe in anti-radiation armour. And worked in shifts of ten minutes at a time.

In the nearest emergency med-bay, similarly-clothed

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Challenge #00609 - A244: Intervention

[species] Science: It gets results! Just… not always the ones you want. (Alarm sound) Oh [deity] there’s another containment breach!

“Another? This happens frequently?” asked the visiting human.

“Oh yes. Researching the makeup of the universe is a dangerous pastime.”

“Uhm… It doesn’t have to be. You could make sure the reactor is secure before continuing your research.”

The lizard scientist stared at her as if she’d grown two heads.

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Challenge #00608 - A243: Wait, what?

Found embedded in the radio signature of almost every star that had a sapient species evolve in orbit around it:

Couldn’t solve the heat death problem in this version. By the time we figured that out, life had evolved. Sorry about that. Good luck.
-The Creators

“It’s the same message. Encoded into every star that evolved life over sixteen billion years ago.”

“It’s taken two thousand years of research and decoding to decipher the

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Challenge #00607 - A242: One Disasterous Afternoon, Mid-Alien-Invasion

Most certainly a [species] spy in disguise. I mean not. Not a [species] spy. Human. Completely human. Yes.

“Oh, now, come on,” said the Doctor. “That can’t be a Friendly. That’s obviously a Golgafraxan spy in disguise. Do none of you notice her complexion?”

“Doctor…”

“If it is a her. They get the genders mixed up.”

“Doctor…”

“Look I’ll prove it. Golgafraxans react

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Challenge #00606 - A241: Essential Equipment

Recalibrate your sarcasm detector.

“All right,” said Ama. “Where we’re going has lots of humans. So let’s make sure we’re prepared. Remember, even though they’re Class Four Deathworlders, they don’t mean to harm us. They’re aware of our relative frailties and will act accordingly.”

“Yes’m,” said the entire class. They were halfway into their safety suits.

El struggled with her Permaseal Line, panicking, and desperate to not be left

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