July 2010 Writing Ideas
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There is no way I can write 365+ publishable stories in a year, let alone one publishable story. I started on 12 stories last year and wrote "the end" on four of them. None were at a publishable level.
Back on Prodigy Classic, in December 1997, I posted some story ideas I could not use. I soon found the story ideas flowed fast. I posted nearly all the ideas I could come up with, including those I hoped to eventually use.
I follow the belief that if 20 people wrote from the same story idea, we would have 20 different stories. This is why I don't worry about using these stories later, myself. Since then, I've learned that many people enjoy reading these posts, even if they do not write.
The way I work is, I come up with a basic concept which is seldom more than a paragraph long. I then spin a story around the concept, or explain what is behind the concept, so someone can see how to develop the basic concept.
I don't want these ideas to go to waste and hope that others might convert them into published pieces. I hold these ideas to be Public Domain (free to use in any way). They can be used in any form you choose. I hope you can use them profitably, but if not, at least enjoy reading these posts. Let me know if you make use of any of them. That is like a pat on the back and gives me an added incentive to keep this up (Like I really need it....).
I usually post about Four books worth pure drivel each year in these idea posts. This is my Thirteenth year of posting these story ideas. What they say is true. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Developed ideas are like gold. These are not fully developed...
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01 )
There is a series of commercials for a well known small truck company where the trucks show up with something or tows away something. The tag line is "helping get the job done for years." One of these commercials has someone say, "the new guy is here." Then a crate is opened and a guy stands up "where's the gig?" I decided I had to make use of this.
The population is growing by leaps and bounds. Planets are found and made habitable for the new populations. It takes time to travel between planets, so they came up with a method to transmit the people in a form of hibernation.
Now since transportation was expensive, they ran the people through all sorts of medical examinations, training and conditioning for their jobs before they stowed them away. That made sure the ones shipped out, were able to work long enough to pay off their debits.
More men went for the training and shipping, because of fear of the sex trade. Women tended to train for higher level jobs, scientists, administrators, engineers, highly educated jobs where skills are really valuable and they had more control over their contracts and conditions on the other end. Men tended to go for physical labor as it was easier to get into and resulted in a lower level of debt.
Most men would go for training and shipping as soon as they became of age so they could get the best deal and longest time for working and building a life. When a contractor at the other end opened a the crate the person was shipped in, they expected a really young person.
Davidson shipped out for the tenth time. He would ship to a new planet and work until they got the training and shipping center fully operating, and then train and ship out. Each time, he trained and shipped out to a new job.
He went through the training. It was a physical job of digging ditches and shoving a wheelbarrow. He guessed those in charge thought it was funny. He got physical treatments through the entire training, cleaning up any sings of age in his joints, helping him build muscles for the job in a fraction of the time. even his hands got hardened for the work, but still had the full dexterity of a watch maker. He was then laid down on a table, an IV was stuck in his arm and shortly after, he faded out, as preparation for hibernation.
The crew got a new shipment of workers. Crates were moved into place and dropped off. The head of the crew got out a crow bar and stuck it into the jam and wrenched the lid open. One was supposed to do the special combination and gently rouse the workers. Instead, he found he did not have the time or initiative to get them out that way, also they seamed to do a whole lot better when jarred awake.
He ripped the lid off of six of the crates and young, muscle bound men popped up to standing position, totally bewildered. On the seventh crate, they popped the lid and an older man, looking about fifty, stood up. "where's the gig? shall we get started?" The workers looked at him in disappointment. they needed young strong men. The last two crates were young, bewildered men.
the older man, Davidson stepped out immediately and picked out a ratty old wheel borrow and a well used shovel. "Where do you want me to start?" The young men had to be lead out of their crates. One of the existing workers lead Davidson over to an area in the yard next to the house. "dig a trench from here to the corner of the house." he rattled off some requirements and walked away.
Davidson got to digging and in a reasonable time, had dug the trench per instruction. the young men were still getting instructions on what to do and how to do it. the man came back to Davidson and looked over his job. "Hey boss, come and see this."
They look and the trench is done perfect. They were really shocked. They even brought the young men over to have a look at the way the trench was done. Davidson simply said that he was well trained.
Time after time, he was simply told to do a job and he did it without more than a cursory instruction. He always knew what they wanted with out being asked. It was as if he was reading their minds.
One day, they were working on a big project with tight schedule. One of the key workmen fell sick on the job. There was no one to replace him. Davidson stepped in and did the job himself, working as if he did it all his life. his work even passed inspections.
Later he filled in on another job when it had to be done and no one could do it. He seemed to know everything about every job, able to fill in for anybody. the boss could not believe it but was happy to have someone there who knew something.
In just a few years, Davidson was the key man, sent to do any job there was when the normal people could not do it. The boss eventually made him get licenses for all the different jobs. He even got into an intelligent discussion with an engineer on the design of stuff. A couple times, he made some mock-ups of joints with some scrap and they ended up doing some strength tests. He won the discussion.
He had worked for the company about twenty years. The transportation and training center was running at full speed now as local young men were moving out.
He told the boss he was moving on. the boss looked him over and asked how they would take him as old as he was. Davidson told him that he is much older than he looks. the transportation and training center reduces one's age a bit so one can get more out of his life.
He goes through training. they decide he should be a concrete man. He gets the physical corrections and training. He is then laid down on the table with an IV and goes to sleep.
the contractor gets the new workers. the crates are opened and the young men come out bewildered. they open one crate and a middle aged man pops out. "where's the gig?" He steps out of the crate, goes over to where men are pouring concrete and gets to work, without any instructions. while the boss is disappointed with getting an old man, this old man knew his job at a glance.
the reason Davidson knew his job, was he had done other jobs that depended on this work to be done right, and knew exactly how it had to be.

02 )
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The war was bloody, many planets were hit by a variety of weapons. Most left the targets unlivable.
The federation had to design a weapon to get to the hidden forces. They came up with a new weapon, a compression bomb.
The bomb rippled the fabric of space to smash mass together. The ripples did not expand too far from the bomb. It could not be detected in space. It was a local effect.
Soldiers would find where the Imperial forces were, and would then withdraw. The federation ships, which controlled space, would drop the compression bomb. The bomb would turn bunkers, hidden ships, tunnel systems into rock. It was cruel in some ways, but it was effective to end the danger they posed, quickly. The empire never really knew what was the cause of heir loses. The forces simply went silent.
The hold the empire had on the region was broken and they were forced back within their old borders.
Most weapons were dismantled or destroyed. Many times, the compression bombs were used since it was less likely to actually set off other weapons. They still had a whole lot of compression bombs left.
One planet was a trash site. Several centuries of garbage scows dumping trash on the planet from space made the entire surface of deep muck. someone decided it should be made habitable since good planets were hard to find.
They decided that the best way to solve the problem of he compression bombs and making the planet a place they could live in, they would use the compression bombs over all the surfaces.
When they went to the planet after the bombing was done, it looked sort of like a normal, uninhabited planet. Tests of the soil showed that it somehow cleaned out the worst of the poisons from the surface. it sort of layered the soil because of the way the compression waves worked, it split some of the more complex molecules found in the muck.
Other planets begged for the bomb Contractors were building super buildings and wanted the bomb to compress the soil on the site to rock hard.
The bomb was used to turn sea bottom into level rock so they could run a tunnel across the water way.
The maker of the bombs started having to build more as they became a popular tool all over the place. After a while, it stopped being thought of as a weapon. new colonies would crop up, and they would prepare the planet surface for colonization with the bomb, making fresh bed rock, making land a bit more solid, creating rolling hills and deep gullies into fairly level and flat areas for the cities.

03 )
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The SuperStar Bar was a bar for having the best people in sports available for patrons to meet. They were all sports stars from the distant past, the biggest names of their games.
No one ever bothered to ask how long dead people could be in the bar all the time. but they were there. The stable of stars were on a rotation, half a dozen stars were there on any day, usually while their sport was having a game. During championships, one would only find the very best of that sport there.
The bar made great money and there were always lines of people waiting to come in. The stars met the people, shook their hands, answered questions about their life, about their times, about players in their time. When a game was on, they would comment on the plays and the people.
One day, a regular mentioned that there were no fight stars among the stars that were there. The owner said that there had not been any fights worth watching, so the fight stars have never bothered showing up. The answer was accepted.
One day the fights had a series of championships. They gathered the best fighters and had an elimination tournament with them. Somehow, they got the sports stations to pay attention to them from the beginning. There were over a hundred fighters at the beginning. After the first round, people were asking to watch the fights, rather than other games. still no fight champions showed up.
The second round was nearly finished when Baxolt, the greatest fight champion showed up. He seamed a bit disoriented at first, and watched the fights with interest. He commented on what the weaknesses of each fighter was. He even called when many of the fights would end, what strike and where.
It took some time for the champion to realize that he had died long ago, and he was brought back to life. In the forth round, he asked the bar owner to return him to his death. The owner told him that it is not possible. He must serve the customers.
His original picks when he had seen all the fights, as to who was going to be in the championship fight, turned out to be right. The final fight was worth everything anybody put into it. everybody got their money's worth.
A month after the fight, the interest in fighting was dying down. Baxolt was just another champion there, no one cared much about him any more.
while talking to one of the ball game champs, Baxolt mentioned that they should force the bar owner to send them back. he was told that it could not be done.
Baxolt decided to see if he could do it. the next night, after he bar was closed, the owner was the last person there. He had to finish some paperwork. Baxolt met him. "send me back."
"No."
Baxolt lost his temper and pummeled the guy. He did not have the strength, speed or impact he had in his day, but he put "a hurt" on the bar owner. The bar owner made it out of the bar.
Every night he caught the bar owner alone, he hurt him, demanding to be set free. the bar owner always said no. he was showing black and blue marks in the mornings when he came in. People asked who did it but the bar owner could not tell them.
Baxolt found he could actually slip through walls, becoming solid for a short time, then slipping out again. He started showing up in the office, punching the bar owner in the stomach and leaving. He found he could not do anything else, such as hide things, damage materials, change data. It just was not in him. Beating up the bar owner was something he seamed to be able to do.
It took six months of this before the bar owner finally relented. The bar owner pulled out a glowing brick and chanted. Baxolt watched through the walls as all the other champions faded out. Baxolt was the last to go. He warned the bar owner that he would find a way to take revenge if he was called back.
A week with no champions showed a drop of people coming in. it had become just another bar.
The bar owner took out the glowing brick and chanted. he slid the brick in place and turned around. Baxolt was standing before him. An evil look was in his eyes, a menacing grin spread across his face. "You called me?"

04 )
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I glanced over at the TV and thought I saw a girl with glowing fingernails. I have no idea what I actually saw. It did get my story idea mind working.
My thought was a video screen in the fingernails. The first thing I did was to pick up a pen. I instantly saw that generally, only the thumb nail is visible in normal use.
I just now thought of something that was fairly true when I was a kid. When a woman looks at her fingernails, she splays her fingers and looks at the back of the hand When a man looks at his fingernails, He curls them so he sees them while looking at the palms of his hands. That may well be a period stylistic thing where it was in style for a man to be a man, and a woman to be a woman.
If this old rule was still true, one could put the video screens in all the fingers. The woman's screens would have the top toward the finger tips so they could splay their fingers and see the screens upright. Men would have the top towards the wrist so when he looked at the fingernails, they would be upright then.
Be as that may, the idea is that the fingernail lights up. It would show an image, or scroll small words or scroll individual letters for the person to see. The way people are Twittering, the characters could scroll into and out of view on one thumb nail or across the collective fingernails.
One thought is that the computer could be in a ring, and a watch could be the power supply. They have electrical paint where one simply runs a line of paint to carry the power, or one could insert micro-wires under the skin to provide power.
They already have thin screens in testing, so they could easily be made to fit on top a finger nail.
There might be some sensory system that has them show only when facing your head. That way someone else cannot see what is being displayed unless they are looking over your shoulder.
There are better ways of doing the same job, but much of this would be for fashion. One could have them show just a color all the time, or even have them flash or scroll colors.
I don't have time to spin a story around this one. I might use the concept later.

05 )
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It is well observed that cats and dogs tend to be very frightened by thunder. fireworks also frighten them, but thunder really sends them into hiding.
Whenever there is a big storm, the cat goes into hiding. If the storm is a distance away, the cat might come slinking out, belly inches from the ground and will settle between our feet, quite alert.
Usually, animals will learn to ignore things that are usual and don't prove to be dangerous. Young birds will take flight as a car goes by. older ones will know that as long as the car does not change speed or try to stop, the cars are not dangerous. In parks, a bird will almost walk on your feet because it knows it is safe and is used to people being there. That same bird, two blocks away, will take flight if they sense a car slowing down as that might not be safe, and is unusual.
So the question comes up, why would the animals get panicked by thunder, if they are in an area that has a lot of thunder and lightning such as where I live.
There is the cartoon of the cloud with a man's face on it, lighting flying around, with arms reaching down and tearing apart a house, and the insurance agent saying "I am sorry, that is not covered, that is an act of god." The Greeks had Zeus throwing lightning bolts. Popular culture has had the voices of the gods sounding like thunder, deep and rumbling.
I then got an idea while talking about the cat and thunder. Maybe they can hear and understand voices within the thunder.
What is happening, is that the supreme beings are having arguments, even fighting each other. The lighting flashes could be strikes at each other, then the thunder is them yelling. The thunder would actually be very short, but their yelling at each other strings the thunder out quite a bit. Because of the nature of the world and the physical laws where lighting bridges between positive and negative charges, they have really bad aim, and usually miss. Trees, people, buildings and the ground are the common victims of their attempts to take each other out.
Really, cloud to cloud lighting tends to be the only time they ever hit each other and they tend not to do too much damage, if any at all. Mostly they yell across the distance at each other within the rumble of the thunder.
Cats and dogs, along with some other animals, have some ability to translate the words the supreme beings are yelling at each other. The words, threats and curses, are so frightening, it sends them into hiding.
Some people can feel the tone of the yelling, even though they do not understand a word or even know there are any words in the thunder, and it sends them into a panic too.
For a story, scientists would be studying thunder and running the recordings of thunder through computer processors, seeing if there is a pattern between the shape of the lightning and the sound of thunder.
they start seeing a pattern that should not be there since they are studying thunder differently than anybody else. Based on the shape of the lightning, thunder should only last a quarter as long as it does.
Some one, as a joke, runs the thunder through a language processor, one that tries to find a pattern of a language in it. To their shock, there is a sign of a pattern that could be language. it is strongest after the theoretical length of the thunder. the pattern is not strong enough to translate the language, but the pattern is there.
A historian was translating languages carved into a wall of a newly found cave. She happened to be visiting the lightning research and just happens to be listening to the thunder recording as the translator suggests it might be heard. Those around her sees she is blushing, looks totally embarrassed.
She does not want to say what caused it, but they insist. What she heard was similar to the language she is translating. She is embarrassed because what she is hearing is very vulgar and obscene.
The historian and the thunder research help each other translate what they are studying. the thunder research figure out, based on the tone of the thunder and the way they are worded, there are five different ones that are always fighting. They will team up against each other in different ways depending on the day or even the part of the storm.

06 )
The Savolons wanted to take over the place but the government was really strong. They had a lot of what was needed in place but had to get past some of the strengths of the government to do their job.
They were then shocked when all of government shut down for a day. It was a special holiday where no government worker could work.
The Savolons were caught totally off guard. The day was almost over before they realized they could have taken out the government.
It took them some time but they found out when the next holiday was, and got ready. People were trained, equipped, had their instructions on what to do.
To know where all the government workers lived they simply followed them part way home. they would wait there another time and follow them closer to home, until they found where they lived. The homes of the police, elected officials, appointed officials, clerks, legal people were all located. It was going to take some work but the group figured out exactly how they were going to operate.
It was expensive but they also had plans for that. They were ready.
The day came and the government was not coming to work. The Savolons simply stole a bunch of trucks to use as temporary jails and spread out across the country side. they rushed in and arrested the police first, then the critical personnel next. By showing in a good sized group they got no resistence at all. They swept the city methodically.
Others of the group went to the government buildings and broke in, taking over. They did not mess with most of the information, All they gathered at first was evidence of the crimes they felt the government had committed.
the government people were moved to a location The Savolons selected for the temporary holding cell, a fenced in park.
The next day, there were no police on the road, the government offices were still closed. The Savolons did patrol the highways but there was no problems.
the news then reported authorized declaration by The Savolons saying that they were now the government and trails for those involved was about to start.
With the press watching, broadcasting and reporting, each official was placed on trial, showed the documents they hid and made them account for their crimes.
When it was all over, only a few of the people were actually convicted. The rest got off as what they did was not against the laws that The Savolons were following.
The Savolons also never considered what to do with the ones they convicted. Their thinking never got that far. They chose their punishment after much deliberation. The guilty were taken to the far end of the city and were required to make their way to the government building. any that made it, would get their offices back.
on the day of their punishment, they were all dressed in prisoner's clothing with big signs of who they were and what they did, and released. One made it to the government building. the rest suffered from punishments delivered by the population. The Savolons made sure no one got more than one strike against any of them.
After that, The Savolons disbanded, forbidding any of their members from joining any other organization.
The government holiday continued to be observed and it would be decades before anybody would consider taking over again.

07 )
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A young man is new to his world. He just arrived. it is a dangerous land. He is kept inside the barriers where it is safe.
After a couple nights, he is dreaming and a slightly older boy appears. they run around and play. it is also a dangerous world. When the boy is there, they stay together and the dreams are different. When he is not there, the dreams shift and change at random, but when the boy is there, there is like a story to it.
The dream world is dangerous and his friend guides him on dealing with the dangers. At first it is quite safe, but gets worse as the dreams go on.
During the day, they are allowing him to go outside the barrier, under armed guard at first. it is all new, just like the dream world.
In the dream world, his friend teaches him a method of learning about the world in a safe way. he uses that in his own world, getting the feel of it without getting into too much danger.
In both worlds, he is exploring more and more, and it is getting more dangerous. He has had several run-ins with local wild life. some are more dangerous than others, but what he learned in his dreams kept him safe.
He took sick and is in bed for several weeks. he goes to sleep and stays asleep, running around with his dream friend. they get trapped away from safety and are wandering the wilderness together. they have to go the long ways around to get back to safety.
As they go, things get more and more dangerous, they even have to fight for their lives. It is hard work. The dream friend tries hard to avoid dangers when possible.
They are both trapped by the most dangerous creature in the world. The dream friend tells him "I try to avoid real dangerous situations as when one of us dies, it is final. I cannot remember if it is you or me. I am not taking chances."
Using their head, forethought, and their courage, they escape the dangerous beast when they should both have been food. They finally get back to safety.
The boy wakes from his illness. A bit later he is fully recovered. he goes out into the wilderness and ends up getting cut off from safety by a flash flood. A gully he crossed regularly was now full of raging water. He has to go several miles to get to a bridge.
he runs into dangerous creatures. He handles them as his dream friend taught him. He grabs some rocks and sticks and actually backs down a creature that is the local equivalent of a bear. The courage he learned with his dream friend saved him.
He arrives back at home to the shock of everybody. They gave him up for dead the moment he got separated. Not even adults could survive out there. Whole groups of men were chopped apart by the bears.
...
I don't know whether to include this or not. That night, he sleeps and meets his dream friend. He tells about his adventure in his real life. His friend is shocked at the revelation but excited that what was learned actually worked.

08 )
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The government decided security was the most important thing. They did not want secrets to get out. Over time, it became excessive. The security agents would come to a company and declare what it made as a security item of the government and would start applying security controls within the company.
At first, they would apply themselves to the things one would consider true security but after a time, their security would creep lower into the company, to the point where no one could talk to or otherwise communicate with each other for fear some critical information might get passed on.
Of course, most companies require communications in all directions to operate. These rules as the government eventually applies them, causes the companies to collapse.
Spensor created a product and went literally from a garage to a company that had five hundred employees. He himself, still dabbled with making his product out of his garage equipment and a small store front shop he first moved into when the product became known. He was real tight with his money and has actually acquired a lot of money in reserve. He was considering a big increase in size.
A holiday approached. the company would shut down for a whole week. A man walks into the office and tells Spensor that he is a security agent. two customers removed is involved in a government project and the government decided that his product cannot be replaced by something else. Because of this, his company has been declared a security risk. he was going to take over the company security this instant.
Spensor still opened the office every morning himself, He had the only keys. the security agent walked around the office for two days, frowning deeply as workers talked about the product, the equipment the process and the company. Spensor made himself scarce, working at the little office after opening the building. Without being able to talk to him, the security agent was hampered in applying his security requirements.
The office leaves for the holiday. The building is locked up.
Spensor slipped into the building and opened the shipping doors and got to work emptying the building of everything that belonged to the company. most of the furniture was rented with the building.
All the equipment, all the documents, files, parts, were out of the building before the holiday was over. The company ceased to exist.
While he was doing this he sold his house and the little shop, and moved out of them too.
The holiday was over. The employees went to work, only to find it had not opened. After many calls, security broke open the door and they went in. It was an empty building, nothing that belonged to the company was there. there was nothing for the security agent or the people to do.
Spensor was nowhere to be found.
After a couple weeks, Spensor mailed out checks for remaining pay for the workers, final pay to the businesses he owed. He could do this as he had saved that much money. He sent out the last of the orders to companies who he agreed to send shipments. He made a bunch of his product to finish the orders.
He finally opened a shop in a new location and started producing product. He found out how his product came to the attention of the government and cut out those customers. he now refused to send big shipments to any one customer.
when the government finally located his new company and the security agent showed up. it was just Spensor and four people in the company and the security agent was essentially kicked out of the building, for his skills were not needed.

09 )
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Globrob was a native shaman of some power. He sat in front of his hut, sprinkling colored sand on the ground in front of him in a special pattern. He chanted as he sprinkled the sand down, never placing more than a pinch at a time.
Globrob saw the future of the world in flickers and scenes. He saw that the local invaders wanted a blessing and the blessing would go bad and drag onto his own people. He saw that his sand painting was marred in some way.
All these images were not actual images, but the way he translated the images he saw them. He then reached the height of the chant and the painting was completed. he now felt the blessing of the powers and knew how the season would flow. As that completed, he asked how to protect his people from the local invaders. he backed out of the view of power, still chanting his spell. A new chant placed itself within his mind in bits and pieces, not exactly in order.
He finished his chant and was done. he said some magic words, then evenly mixed the colored sands together into one pile, and then scooped and swept them into a little bag. Later he would use magic to separate the colored sands out.
He went to the clan leader and told the visions of the year's harvests. He then retired to his hut to rest. The words of the chant he was shown, mulled through his mind. He had said them in order given, within his mind, several times before sleep swept over him.
In his dream, he heard the chant as it was supposed to be said. He saw trees, animals, rocks, dirt, coming at him rapidly. He barely dodged any of them, bits and pieces brushing at his clothing.
He woke the next morning, exhausted. He now knew the spell as he had to say it, and knew the effect. He went out to gather enough sand and had the women make him the bags he needed.
A few weeks later, one of the local invaders showed up. the man asked if their shaman could bless their mansion. They would make it worth the village's efforts.
Globrob went with several elders to the home of the local invader. A whole forest was removed and replaced with strange plants and walkways. whole meadows of one type of plant filled the spaces in between.
The home was a hut that was as big as a mountain. They entered the building. The ornate beauty and craftsmanship was obvious and impressive. Shown around the house, most of the rooms were as big as a hut. Most of the things in them was of unknown usage.
When they got to the entry again, the area was as big as the village. Their guide told them that this was the area that the shaman was to do his good luck sand painting. They wanted the whole area covered in sand painting so the whole place would have good luck.
The elders tried to say it was no something they should really do, but Globrob said he would be happy to do it. He said that he would do it but no one was to mess it up. He had to do it or the luck would not work. He told them he would do it at he full moon.
The entire village, including children, was needed to carry all the sand to the mansion. There, he placed the bags in a pattern so he could draw from them.
He made sure his guide understood that everybody, even teenagers and children, understood that bad things would happen if the design was messed up. He pointed to the balcony that ran three sides of the entry, and said they can view it from there, but none were to come into the sands.
With their help, he placed barriers at every entry. They were surprised he moved a couple pieces of furniture in front of a section of the wall.
He set himself in the exact center of the area and got to work. He reached into a bag of what looked like grey sand and sprinkled hand fulls and pinches on the floor, chanting. The observers, including his villagers, were shocked that the sand landed on the floor in the various colors, even though he dug into one bag.
The design expanded as he chanted. Observers got tired and left.
A couple times, the wall section he blocked, moved. The furniture prevented it from opening. He heard loud cursing as they could not get it opened.
He finally finished. He was tired. He was also worried if he made an error.
He went to where everybody had gathered and called them in. They came to the balcony. they saw the ornate design and was impressed. Then three teenage boys barged in from the front door, breaking the locks. Before anybody could say anything, they were kicking the design apart as they marched through, laughing. As they crossed the center, a wind picked up. Sand and dust swirled around them. quickly one could see that the sand stuck to them.
They struggled to get out but could not move. One of the invaders commanded Globrob to stop it. Globrob just shrugged.
The wind died down and the sand stopped moving. IN the entry was a set of sand statues of the young boys, only nose, mouth and eye holes were open so they could see and breathe.
Globrob waved his hands to the stairs. The invaders went down to the boys. the sand was hard as rock, yet they complained that it hurt when it was tapped on it.
Globrob spoke very carefully so all could understand him. "They were warned that bad things would happen if the sand was messed with." He pointed to the section of wall. "They could not get in that way, so they forced themselves in." He turned to the leader of the mansion. "With their," He pointed to the boys. "Blood line gone, Your descendants will be thrive for more generations than you will hope for, and this land will be prosperous."
He gathered the empty bags and stopped at the broken door."Feed and water them, and they will live a full life, but unable to move.
A few years later, some invaders showed up at the village. they were from the mansion. they were told that the last harvest was better than anything they had ever seen. They now realize that the boys was the reason they were doing poorly.
The village received payments for what Globrob did. One part of the payment was that the lands the village lived within was now part of the mansion and would be protected as long as the village existed.
The elders did not like that idea, but Globrob told them that now they would also have the good luck of the mansion. They would thrive forever now.

10 )
.
Tesla suggested that there was a way to transmit energy through the air to power our devices, no wires or cables required.
Power plants generated energy and it simply bled into the air. Anybody who had a device could power it for free. the power plants were almost free to operate so paying for the power was not done. Taxes from other activities paid for the generators.
Unlimited free power allowed for technology to advance beyond even the most wild imagination would allow.
Weaponry had become powerful. one could fire at will with deadly force. Of course, even with unlimited power, it takes time to build up enough of a charge. had gun might fire a stream of rounds almost like a hose, while a cannon might take a minute between rounds.
The weaponry fired balls of energy. The diameter really was what dictated the deadliness of the weapon, like caliber of a rifle. The length of the round only dictated how much additional effect, like melting of materials, that happened, but the initial impact of the ball of energy did the damage.
it was said that if the power generators were all to be shut down, civilization would collapse. The joke was that even people would collapse as they would not be powered either.
There were constant wars between planets. It was never said anywhere, but power generators are off limits. it was not in the thoughts of anybody to ever do anything to a power generator. Invaders depended on them as much as the locals. Luckily, the power generators were set up well away from any civilization, usually inside some mountain.
Samuel was an archeologist. He had never been to a dig, but he was studying writings of those before him. He read several places about projectile weapons that used a chemical reaction to launch the bullet. He decided to experiment and learn how that worked. He essentially worked his way backwards in his designs. He used rocket powered bullets using a power sparker to launch them, he then came up with a powder that had a material that would use the power to burn. he fired at a lot of targets using that gun. His studies indicated that was not what they did. He could not seam to get the power right but got closer with each attempt. He finally came up with black powder but used a power sparker to set off the flash powder. he was frustrated. He knew it would have to work without power supplies.
An army was being built up and the government knew about his tests. they made him give his design to them. they had to go to several places that would have no power and his guns were perfect. He tried to explain they would not work, but the government people refused to listen.
He let them take all his equipment and designs. He went back to his normal studies.
He then ran across references of flint. He did a few tests and found it worked a flint stone striking against a roughened metal to send off a spark.
He had a few pieces so he built himself a flint lock rifle. It was rifled, but it was a muzzle loader. He made black powder cartridges that had everything it needed o fire. He just had to feed it into the muzzle the right way, holding by the ball end, and ram it in place. He had a coating on the paper of the cartridge that would set off the powder once it reached a spark. He used a firing cap also.
He fired this rifle many a time, and it worked well. not accurate at any distance, something he could fix, but it could kill at close range.
The army trained with their normal weapons and with their black powder weapons. They were getting good with them.
An entity appeared to be devastating planets. it would arrive, enter the body of someone and then travel around, soaking up all the energies from the air, knocking out the power supplies. their civilizations would collapse. it would then leave to devastate another world.
This type of entity was seen before and if their bodies could be killed while they were in it, it would kill the entity.
the entity arrives on the planet. The army goes to meet it trying to shoot at it from a distance. They cannot seam to get it. Once it gets to a generator, the power goes out and their weapons are useless.
the army finds their black powder rifles are not working. they cannot get them to fire. One guy tried to light a match and found that it used power to light.
Samuel is with a bunch of people who end up at a power generator. He has his musket with him. They have to go into a systems lubrication area and the "oil" used is highly volatile. He is required to remove the firing mechanisms from his rifle. a spark could cause problems. He takes off the flint from the striker and makes sure the rifle is not loaded.
The entity arrives and the army is trying to put up a fight. A couple soldiers try to hit the entity with their rifles. they are knocked away by a high intensity energy shield and are left smouldering
it is coming at them, Suddenly the power goes completely out. it can be seen in the distance, glowing in the night.
Samuel cannot see what he is doing, but he fits the flint onto the striker, then fits a bullet into the muzzle. He somehow tamps the bullet in, and then gets a cap in place after spilling a whole bunch of them on the ground.
He takes aim and pulls the trigger. nothing happens. He then remembers he has to **** it. he pulls the hammer back, takes aim and fires.
there is a moment of darkness, then the systems come back on. the body is laying there. they go up to it and the clothing is charred, the entity is dead.
.
My note says "weapon power supply has to go in, in a special way. no lights, struggles to get it to work just in time." It dawned on me that a musket would be tough to load in the dark so loading and firing it would fit the story. I then made the world power failing as the reason a musket would have to be used.

11 )
.
There is a song that says he went to church and was told to prey for those who did him wrong. So he is praying that a pot will hit you in the head, your tires blow out at sixty, the engine dies when you are in a plane. You keep messing up and I will pray for you.
Blackrock earned so many favors of his god. The god owed him more than he could ever use.
He worked hard in his community. He had no family but accepted a family under his care and protection. In his work, he had good luck and while he was successful, he was not doing the best one could do.
One day, he got on the wrong side of Drago. Drago was the god's most important believer. While Drago was not a priest, he had the god's ear with his prayers.
Drago saw a way to get wealthy on the efforts of Blackrock, and they worked together for a while. Then Blackrock decided he would do better on his own and ended the relationship with Drago.
Drago was furious that Blackrock was not going to serve him, so Drago started praying in earnest.
The god immediately saw a problem. The most devoted demanded punishment, bad luck, on one the god owed a lot of favors to. The god had to decide whether to use of the favors by refusing the prayers for bad luck, or decide that the bad luck prayers are not proper.
Blackrock has no idea that anything is going on, and Drago cannot understand why Blackrock is not suffering bad luck. The god also has the option to hold off on making a decision.

13 )
It was the race of the century. They were in race vehicles referred to as worms. The mining companies had created the race. The worms were vehicles that moved by boring through the rock at speed. The mining companies got the advantage that these worms broke up the rock to make mining the planet easier.
The worms required physical work by the pilot. The pilot basically hung in a harness and walked on a treadmill to move the worm along. his arms worked controls cranking levers and flipping switches. The best description that came up for operating these things was to do movements of shoveling snow while walking up a steep grade. If one is good at that, one can move quickly through the rock.
What the worm did on the outside was different than what the pilot was doing, but that was the way they were created to keep the speed of the racing worm from being pure mechanical power.
Several hundred worms lined up at the base of a cliff. They would enter and drive for about a mile, then go down about a thousand feet, then follow a course under the mountains to a finish line.
Valiant had a used worm. It was mechanically good but he questioned the electronics. He was lucky to even be in the race, let alone to have his machine perfect. He tested it and practiced by breaking up rock for a strip mine.
The start signal sounded, and the worms moved forward and met the rock and started digging in. Valiant gently brought the point up to the rock and then started the drill. Others rammed the rock as hard as they could to dig in. Several were already inside the rock, showering the area with debris, when his the digging systems were fully engaged. When his tail finally disappeared, the hole he created started filling in with the broken rock.
About a hundred yards into the rock, he accelerated, the digging and the push. he was well behind everybody else when he reached the point to head down. Now he got to work, operating at the edge of his training. His sensors flickered and blinked. they were acting up.
He then leveled out and continued to the turning point. The race was designed to spread the racers out, not all would reach the turning point at the same time, so running into each other would be reduced. Til then, one was supposed to stay on one's lane.
He reached the turning point and made his turn. he could feel broken rock ahead of him. he was not in the lead. His sensors blinked out. He still had some sensor data coming in, but he could not tell where he was or where he was going. He decided that if he got lost he would head up. Right now, he still had broken rock in front of him.
A couple hours of heavy work, he picked up that a worm was ahead of him. When he got close enough, he signaled the communicator.
"Hello there. I have an offer if you will communicate with me." He got an answer. "My navigation systems are down. I have no idea where I am going. In exchange for you leading me to the finish line, I will break rock for you so you can rest."
"If you cannot navigate, how are you going to lead me?"
"When we get near places where course changes are required, you go ahead and lead. then when we are on course, you go back behind me and rest while I dig the path."
"What exactly do I get out of it?"
"Two things. One, you don't have to work as hard. Working the gravel is a heck of a lot easier than fresh rock. Two, you might set a new record."
"What if you decide to take the lead at the finish line?"
"I don't know where the finish line is, and won't know until we get there. You will be more rested and could out do any efforts I do, and if you want, I will hold up and give you the lead you want, just for the chance to get there."
"We have some maneuvering coming up, then you can lead."
"Thank you."
Valiant followed his leader through some maneuvers, then Valiant was allowed forward. He dug his snow up hill, pushing hard the entire time. He and his benefactor talked. he received corrections along the way, but mostly went straight. They then swapped places and his friend took the lead. His friend told him there was little or nothing on the sensors to the rear. Either they were on the wrong path or they left everybody behind.
His friend took the lead and they popped out of the rock at the finish line. Both were exhausted, but positioned their machines properly. they got out and met.
It was several hours before the next racer appeared. It showed damage of having a run-in with another worm. Rescue ships were sent into the rock by the end of the day. There had been battles along the path where one would not lead, the other would not get out of the way. No one wanted to lead, or if they lead they did not want anybody to follow.
there were not deaths, but extracting the stuck ships without harming the drivers was a problem.
Valiant and his partner got the idea of teaming up on the next race. it worked great. The promoters decided to change the rules, having racers work in teams, and give them all different routes.

14 )
The people were really irritated with their elected officials. In every case, they would say they would vote a certain way, see that certain things either happened or did not happen. In every case, though, within a year of being in office, they became just like those they were replacing.
If one was voted out of office, they would sort of disappear, only to have their names appear on the ballot for something else. One could not get rid of them once they were in office for a short time.
The people got very angry and a real radical firebrand ran for office. He was one who no one could keep quite. He was going to either make changes or go down in flames, trying.
He got elected by a landslide. He sent rapid reports of what he was doing, mostly getting oriented with the place. then his reports got farther apart. then they stopped.
for nearly a whole year, no one heard from him. when he was heard from, he was "one of the suits" working with the establishment just as his predecessor did. the people were furious but they could do nothing. When the people finally met him face to face, they could not tell him apart from any other politician in what he talked about and how he talked about it.
Wallace decided to run for office. He was not a firebrand and actually acted fairly dumb. He said he was perfect for the office. He was running because he did not like what was going on. He also wanted to find out what happened to the other guy.
The people did not think much about him because he seamed so lacking in intelligence, but since he was new, he was better than who he was replacing. He told about the things he wanted to do, but he always said he was really out to find out why there was a change in the people who ran for office. He won.
He went through orientation, meeting people, learning where to go, how to get there, what to do to get in, every step of the process of being a member of the government. He quickly learned he was not going to be in any committee that could do anything of use. He would have to earn it.
He learned they wanted to place a communications chip in him. this would allow him to communicate with the government system. he played a bit dumb and asked innocent questions. His handler was a bit too wordy. Wallace learned that the government was run by a computer system and the elected leadership was controlled by the computer, told how to vote, how to speak to the public, how to react to certain questions. Everybody who had the chip, loved it.
Wallace got that information out to a contact that spread the information through the rumor lines. The information spread by the least credible sources, but they were spread.
Then it was time for Wallace to get his chip. The doctor gave him a medical examination. The doctor had a needle and was about to give him a shot. Wallace, acting as dumb as he did with the handler, asked about what was going to happen. The doctor said the shot would knock him out for the chip.
asked him what it was and the doctor would not say. he ended up decking the doctor and sticking him with the needle. the security did not like that.
Wallace, at the last moment, grabbed the doctor's hand and stuck the needle into the doctor. the doctor passed out.
He swapped clothing with the doctor. they did not fit he figured he would get in trouble anyway. The doctor laid on the table in the robe, and Wallace went out, grabbed his clothing and left the building.
he learned later that the doctor got the chip since the orderlies found a man laying prone and followed their instructions.
Wallace knew he was a wanted man. He let out a bit of a half truth that someone, pretending to be him, committed a crime and now the police was after him.
He figured he was done with. either he was going to get the chip, or he was going to be snuffed because he knew too much. He decided to travel the country, hitchhiking, he would take just about any ride, even if it was not going where he was going. he was seeing the country before he was done.
When the government finally caught up with him, he claimed he got lost and could not find his way back to where he was. By then, though, the government secret was actually being carried in the news and there were reporters who had followed the officials to Wallace. they ended up sending him home, the doctor having taken his place.
Wallace made sure he acted somewhat dumb after that, and never got into government again. they would give him the chip the moment he announced his candidacy for an office.

15 )
.
The space station culture of the high lords was civilized and had eliminated all physical violence. Their battles were with words, logic, reason, facts and citations. They would have all out battles of words, drawing on vast libraries of data to defend their sides until one finally gave up. Punishments to the loser could be dramatic, but they accepted the consequences of losing.
There were fights everywhere, but not a punch was thrown. of course there would also be fights where one would run away "crying" after being beaten up, an there were gangs going around town, surrounding someone and using their combined skills to "beat up" the victim.
The pirates arrived at the station and after getting through security wandered around, observing. They watched entire fights from start to finish and the way the loser gave up and accepted whatever was going to happen to them. They saw that the police simply had better information than the common people in stopping crimes.
The pirates found they were thought to be a step above animals, not smart enough to deal with the violence of high society. the pirates did not have a clue about any of the information the locals, and saw there would be no way they could memorize it even if they started as children.
The pirates, though, saw that there was an opportunity to get extremely wealthy after this visit. They cased space station to figure out where the valuables were and how to get past whatever security that existed. As they returned to their ships, they "corrected" the locks to make it easier to get in. It was easier than they ever expected. On board ship, they got into their battle suits and armed up. they decided they did not need heavy weaponry and would need the space for the heavy loads of wealth they were going to steal. They went into the station, and spread out to do their crimes.
Hubert was with two others to rob a jewelry store. they walked in and a security man faced them down. "You must consider that a life of crime would not look good on your record." the guard started his fight with him. Hubert punched the man and said "shut up or I will kill you." he then looked to the others. "That goes for the rest of you too."
His partners went behind the counter and into the vault and took out all that looked valuable. Packs loaded, they headed out. "See, we can out talk them." Hubert said as he had forced them to be quite the entire time they were there.
The police were outside and they were speaking sharply about the law and punishment and such. Hubert ignored them, walking right past them, knocking into one of them as he went. His partners knocked into two more officers as they passed, not even a word. one officer followed them a short time, almost shouting, but then gave up. "see, we can also beat them with silence."
They reached their ship and launched with their stolen wealth. they felt sort of sad that their prey would likely come up with a response to them, but at least they gathered some good wealth.
Hubert told his captain that in a battle of words, a swift left hook usually wins.

16 )
I drove past a place with big signs saying "Eye Laser Center." My story idea mind kicked in.
We know that this is a center that uses a laser to correct problems with the eye. There is no fun there, unless it accidentally turns the patient into a smouldering charcoal.
My mind instantly went to that being a place where they insert weapons into the eye, allowing the person to blast things to smithereens.
The space station was a medical center. They specialized in recovery or repair of those injured in combat or in the line of their work. they will recover released spies, removing programming, chips, chemicals and injuries that was done to them to get information or make them dangerous to their employers. Soldiers will be rebuilt. they will also take people and give them the bodies for combat or spying, adding equipment and devices, increasing their muscles, training them for their jobs.
Each person that arrives, goes through a security screen, separating them from anybody else in their party, and they are suited up to hide their identity. They then go to where they need to go, if their procedure is already selected, or let out into the "city" if they are to select it. They only get out of their suits as their medical treatment begins. The only people who know exactly what is done to them are the medical staff who won't let out anything about their patients.
Katerina signed up to do some security work Her employer signed to have her modified for her job. she was fairly well trained in what the employer wanted her to do, and she had already done her job well on a local level. they decided she was to be made better in her job. She was sent for training to be professional in her job, and was told to have a modification that will give her an advantage when the time came. She was not to tell what her modification was.
Katerina went through half her training, then was sent to wander the station, look at the different options, talk to representatives and be modified.
she could get her muscles enhanced to give a fatal punch, she could get fingers that spit flames, record everything she heard and said, she could leap high, super hearing, throw her voice, eye mounted cameras, receive communications signals, breathe under water, be fire proof. the options were almost endless.
With her experience and new training, she eliminated each thing, one at a time. She checked out places in the back alleys to see if they had something that was useful or interesting. Many would be good in combination, but she could only get one treatment.
She had a day to go before she must make her selection. Walking past a brightly signed place, she saw EYE LASER CENTER. She thought about being able to go unarmed and be able to blast opponents, being able to cut through safes or destroying evidence, she went in out of curiosity. She had seen the place every few hours as she wandered around and it had never clicked in her mind.
Inside, she learned the systems were even better than she could imagine. different wave lengths allowed her to place a tracing laser on something for a missel to hit it. She could also see in all those wavelengths. There were hundreds of models she could select. She talked with them for three hours and made her decision. It was not the top model, but it would do everything she imagined such device could do.
the next day, she came back and they put her under. Surgery added links to her brain, inserts in her eye. The way it was set up, one would have to know where to look using medical equipment to see what was done. It would not burn a tank, as she sort of imagined it would. It was a pin sized beam. It could kill if aimed right and it could cut a line through any solid material. It was tiny and since the eye does not stay put, but wiggles around all the time, one could not cut a perfect straight line like cutting a door in a wall.
It also drew on your body's energies while it worked so it was like running a marathon if one used it heavily.
She went through training on how to use it, and not use it, before she returned to complete her physical training. She felt she was ready when she left the medical station. Her employer was not even sure if she had any treatments at all as she looked no different. She did not look like she had any more muscles, though she act more confident.
She was sent on a few or her normal missions of industrial espionage. Her skills seamed to not have changed, until she returned and filled in the experts what she learned. She had gotten a whole lot of information they needed, and they saw it was not stuff to be transmitted either. She had learned that much.
She then went on a mission and slipped into the records room of a competitor. She could see the laser trips they had all over the place and got past them. Checking the information, She saw that there was no information that would help her boss, but there was information that if disappeared, would be devastating to the competitor. She got back past the trips, set her eye laser to set documents on fire. She fired several hundred pulses all over the records room, then slipped out the way she came. The key records were destroyed before they got the fire out. they knew a laser was used, but they could not find any sign of the laser as hers was biological.
She goes on other missions, using her eye mounted lasers to her advantage.

17 )
.
They arrived and took over. They were the bosses and each one had final say over everybody. It appeared that either they had recording devices or they were mentally linked, as when one made a decision about a person, every one of them knew of the decision.
Factories, mines and other production operated at maximum output, but supplies going to the people was rationed. The rationing was not across the board, but applied on an individual bases. If one decided you were using too much of something, they would decide to apply a ban on that product for that person.
Stanley drove a big pickup truck and used it for his private business. He drove around quite a bit and had to beg for fuel each time he needed to fill up.
Stanley was once in mob as a hit man and enforcer. He had been laying low after a hit when the bosses arrived and took over. The bosses were not interested in minor crimes such as killing another person. They were now the law and all crimes started with their arrival. He was now essentially a free man.
He came to a gas station and pulled into the permission line. When it was his turn, he pulled up next to the boss and was ordered out. the boss looked up, out of the corner of his eye at the sky a long moment. "You are refueling too much. you are not allowed to refuel."
"May I get the opinion of a higher authority?
"It is my decision and it is final, no more gasoline."
Stanley was angry and decided to chance the law. "You don't want to make another decision?
"That is my final decision, you get no more gasoline."
"So be it." Stanley said. He then made his hand stiff and flat, and then in a quick move, drove his hand into the boss's chest and pulled out his heart. he had never done the move before but had plenty of instruction. He was trained not to show any pain, but he would love to jump up and down, shake his hand from the pain. Instead he tossed the heart on the ground at the feet of the boss after he said. "You said it was your final decision. You now have kept your word. You cannot make any more decisions."
The boss fell to the ground dead. Stanley turned to the next boss. "My truck does not use gasoline. It uses Diesel. My I fuel up my truck?"
"No, you may not."
Stanley hoped the man changed his mind, but he put his painful hand back in the "knife" position, aiming at the boss. "Is that your final decision?"

18 )
.
I go to a lot of yard and garage sales, tag sales as they are referred to up north. I picked up my favorite hat at one such sale a couple months ago. I saw the hat and picked it up. without even trying it on, I purchased it, then put it on my head and looked at myself in the reflection of the car window and liked the way it looked. This is the seed of this concept.
The Rangers were a very selected group of people who were of great courage and honesty, who earned the respect of the people around them. They were known to wear a dark green felt hat with a special crease on the top. Some said it was the hat that granted the rangers their greatness, some said it was the rangers were like that already and the hat just let the people know who they were. There had not been many rangers seen in the past decade.
McElroy was not a great worker, not a great personality. He was, in the minds of most people, just a level above "trailer trash." He would go to sales people had on the side of the road to extend his meager income, picking up stuff he could not possibly afford normally, for a few bucks.
McElroy picked up a jacket at a sale and left. He sorted through the pockets at home and found there was a roll of money. He got into his car and rushed back, hoping the people had not picked up their display, and that he could recognize them again.
He found the people and asked them if they sold a jacket. they said yes. He asked if they could describe it. it was them. He showed the jacket, then pulled out of the pocket the roll of money and gave it to them. They were shocked he would do that. He said he purchased a jacket, not the money.
One day, he was at a sale that had several hats. he saw a hat that caught his eye. It was not a style of hat he wore but he just liked it. Without even placing it on his head, he purchased it cheap
He never wore it at work, wearing company clothing instead. He noticed as he went around town, people started treating him with a bit more respect, women who would never even notice him, looked him over a second time.
He was naturally polite people would give him a second look when he would hold open the door for the next person, he would speak kindly, maybe share a joke. most people would look surprised at him when he did this. Now, wearing the hat, they seamed to have that look that it was expected of him.
He saw the difference but had no idea why. He did believe that the hat looked good on him and that maybe why.
He is with a group of people when some thugs come in, brandishing weapons. others shy back, but McElroy finds himself standing before them. He does not want to give up what little he has. He also seamed to know these youngsters were not experts at this, this being their first time at this time of crime.
He picks out the leader and stares him straight in the eye. "son, You really don't want to do this." he told the boy.
"I am not your sun so shut up or I will blast you."
"This is not the kind of trouble you want to be involved in."
"I said shut up." the boy waved his gun.
"It is better to leave now like it was a some stunt." McElroy jerked his head to the door. " And we will forget about it."
He turned on his serious face. Than to face those who will hunt you down like they did the Grey-stone gang (a gang that died in a battle with swat teams)."
The boys looked at each other, then at McElroy. The leader swallowed as he was looking around. As one, the boys filed out of the building, the leader being the last one out.
One wealthy looking man then said he were going to press charges. McElroy turned to them and asked what would be gained for them, or the boys, if that is done. The man sputtered, then went silent.
McElroy told them that the boys likely won't try to commit this same crime again. If they do, then come forward to identify them.
As McElroy opened the door to leave, a young woman called out "thank you ranger." McElroy closed he door before it hit him what she said. He almost went back in to tell them he was not a ranger. He looked at his reflection in a mirror and realized he was wearing a ranger hat.
It got on the news, without any pictures or names, that a ranger backed down a gang of robbers, preventing them from committing their first crime of that kind. the fact that there was a ranger in the area was exciting news.
McElroy now understood why people reacted to him the way he did.
.
I had difficulty coming up with something courageous for McElroy to do. I decided facing down the gang was quick enough to write. With a little more thought, I would have him face real danger and show courage that no normal person should have, to prove he really deserved to wear the hat.

19 )
.
I am having mechanical problems with my truck. Today, I went to a couple stores to see about pricing for the repair parts and saved myself a lot of trouble by parking across the road, on the side of the road, in an open parking lot to avoid messing up traffic because of my mechanical problems.
Space ships, like cars, will have various levels of maintenance. You will have old ships that look like they just came out of the show room, and you will have ships that are on their last legs.
I can picture that there are ships where the crew has to be in space suits all the time as the hull leaks too bad to walk around in shirt sleeves.
Bradcost had ship problems. Most of the maneuvering jets failed to work. He needed to make a dozen paying shipping trips before he could get the ship fixed up.
The two hard parts was getting the paying trips and keeping the ship operating until that point. This was going to be tough as the usual way to get loads brought up the problems with the ship.
Most ships entered the enclosed space station ports to load and unload. Bradcost found he never needed those controls except in the ports.
His insurance would never cover damage within the ports, and he could not maneuver within the ports well enough to avoid damage at some time. He had to stay out of the ports at all costs.
Bradcost approached the Adelli space station, listening to the communications of all the ships in the area. a ship pulled out of the port. the pilot's voice got excited as some problem appeared. in the background, people complained about having to get the shipment to its destination. Traffic control was a bit bothered by the problem too. Having a ship loop back really messed up the traffic patterns.
Bradcost pipped up on the communications, suggesting that they exchange loads in space. They could even out the cost of the loads during the exchange.
the other ship loved the idea. Traffic control brought them onto a safe orbit and Bradcost said his ship would drift, letting them maneuver and dock.
that ship had plenty of spare space. Bradcost unloaded his ship first, then took on their load. It took some tight fitting to get it all on board. Bradcost paid a full docking fee as the difference between their loads. that ship headed back with a load to help them out and Bradcost had a load to go to a new destination.
There, Bradcost found that the port was packed with ships. He took an orbital path and negotiated having a ship come and exchange loads while he was in space. they loved the idea. He and a ship stuck in space, exchanged loads and he headed off on his way.
the loads were good and he saved money on other expenses involved with docking. Of course, they were getting a bit stir crazy with being stuck in a ship all the time, but it was worth avoiding problems of docking.
They have almost accumulated the funds needed for the repair. they have one more stop before they can go home and get the ship fixed. They try to negotiate to have a ship meet them. those on the station will have nothing to do with it. Bradcost uses all his persuasion and still fails. They want the load.
Bradcost then finally officially admits he has maneuvering problems and do not want to damage the station. There is a tone in the official's voice that indicates that is something they want to hear.
Bradcost calls his insurance agent on the station and lets her know he has a problem and that he suspects they are after the insurance money for damage he might make.
the insurance agent gets a lawyer involved and there is a lot of negotiating and arguments.
He finally has to come into the space port. he comes in slow, which irritates the traffic control, but they knew he was dong that. As he goes through the entry, ships are cutting in front of him, coming close which he would normally maneuver around.
A ship stopped in front of him. He communicated for them to move, he complained to traffic control. he even told the insurance company. the ship sat in front of him.
To avoid ramming it, he goes into maximum reverse for a fraction of a second. That ship did not like it at all, and the space port people hated it even more.
The other ship then moves out of the way. There is a burn mark on the side of his ship. Moving forward is not a problem, so Bradcost then goes on gently. He is given a difficult spot to dock, and while it takes him ten times as long as normal he docks properly. The load is exchanged and he is ready to go out. the traffic control locks down the bay and allows him out of the dock and out of the port. Officials complain to high heaven about fees and penalties he was supposed to pay for damages he did. He uses good power to leave the jurisdiction of the space station quickly while there are loads of complaints behind him.
he arrives at his home with the load, which he exchanges with a really sick ship that should never be in space. that ship takes his load on to the destination and he takes their load into the station.
He gets his ship repaired completely as he had done better than expected. When he leaves for space, he finds that there is a lot of load exchanges in space rather than in the ports. ships not viable in a port can skip some problems with a space exchange, the thing that saved Bradcost's ship all those times.
He finds he seldom enters port any more. short distance ships are actually making good money with load transfers from ship to station.

20 )
.
Science had advanced greatly. They started finding evidence of a god. They needed the high technology to find he evidence.
As they learned about the god, they found that there was an alphabet involved in his works. they slowly translated the laws of the universe from the God's point of view.
While they had a lot of the laws of the universe right, the previous findings were not exactly right. Seeing the laws of the universe as they were written, explained everything in fine detail. Many scientific developments came from knowing the actual laws of the universe.
As they read the code in more detail, there were things that were interesting but not really useful, sort of preferences of the god that really effected nothing.
The most interesting, most testable finding of such detail code was that the god had it where piles of debris, dropped from above, will give the starting letter of the material.
They now knew the alphabet the god used, so scientists started scanning millions of images to find the letter for each kind of material. This would be useful in classifying materials at a glance. To know iron, chalk, sawdust, ice, at a glance by the letter formed on the pile, would be quite useful.
Computers all seemed to find one letter in all the piles they studied. People started examining piles pictures and still the same letter.
This was frustrating. The scientists decided they needed to do scientific tests. they gathered different materials and very carefully dribbled he material into piles, being precise and examining the forms therein carefully. They found each one was just one letter. this really bothered the scientists. The god went through the effort to add this command when he created the universe and they could not find the other letters.
They were not sure of the words being used, but that all the letters were the same should not be.
A historical biologist had studied on the home planet and was now at the research center. She listened to the scientists complaining about all the problems they had of finding any other letter.
She offered a theory as dumb as it was. At first, they were not interested as she had no concept of their science, but soon decided to hear it.
She told them about the biologists of the old world. Before the 1600s, those studying biology were not really interested in fine classifications of animals. They worked with the general forms of creatures unless they were useful.
It happened that one general classification of life had a stage of life where they were limbless bags of life. They had a weak resemblance to a creature well known as a worm. Because of this, the entire classification of life, which were all tiny, were said to be worms.
Later, as scientific knowledge developed, the worms were separated into types of creatures. There became insects, arachnids, worms, and other creatures. Insects became finer described and named. ants, beatles, cockroaches, flies,
they asked her what she was getting at. She pointed to the single letter of all the piles of materials.
The god may have classified all matter as one name, like all small creatures were worms.
The scientific people scoffed, said that was really dumb.
She told them to prove her wrong. Go through the code of the universe and find the words for matter and see what letter it has.
The scientists derided her for the suggestion, but one old timer spoke up and said since he had studied the code the longest, he was going to prove her wrong.
They even made a bet where losing would not be satisfactory.
The old man got to work. He went through the known code word by word, examining what it did. The rules of the universe was very much like a computer code. He went through it and actually discovered several new findings. He also found holes in the knowledge of the whole code. One was where matter was described.
Soon the entire scientific community was examining the code for matter.
About a year passed, and they finally found the section that involved matter. He did not like what he saw. there were holes in their knowledge and soon almost the entire scientific community was trying to understand the matter part of the code.
A year and a half after the bet was made, they found the answer to the bet. The biologist was there when the scientist learned about the answer. He screamed out "How stupid can a god be?"
The god only had one word for matter, like early biologist had the word worm, for all bugs.
The biologist won her bet, but chose not to "take payment." The fact that she was listened to and everybody gained from it, including answering a key question, was payment enough.

21 )
.
In our present economy, some people are investing in valuables because they believe the valuables will be usable when the value of government money collapses. Also, you buy the investments now while they are still cheap, and when you need them, they will have greatly increased in purchasing or conversion value. Of course, when things start getting better, people sell their valuables, preferably before they reach the level that they were purchased, so one has extra money to work with.
The economy was roiling from bad news and bad conditions. some people were buying all sorts of valuables in hopes that it would protect them from the money collapse. Others were selling their valuables to make payments or to cash in on the great increase in value of their holdings.
the economy reached a bottom, and started the rise that was expected. Those who purchased valuables during the fall, started selling them so they could have money to take advantage of the new conditions. During the entire time, valuables were sold and purchased in high volume.
The economy finally fully recovered. Something was wrong. Valuables were far more expensive than they should be. jewels, precious metals, collectibles, were in short supply. As the economy improved, such valuables became even more rare.
The economy reached new heights. Money was plentiful, but the valuables were not. The law caught interest in the problem and investigations started.
someone noticed a lot of traffic in one general area of a country that is normally without any population. As officials worked their way there, Strange events were detected. Then it looked like a volcano erupted.
when the officials arrived in the area, they found an unnatural crater. data showed something had entered space and disappeared. There were some detections with other scientific equipment but it took time to find out about them, by then whatever it was, was out of range.
examining the area, they find signs of equipment that was destroyed by whatever left there. then they found a few items that there was no question, was not made here. A couple items ended up giving away a bit of technology.
valuables of all kind were no longer available. That which remained became out of reach in value. They had become pieces to be placed in museums.
tracking down people and places, they finally learn that the valuables were purchased by aliens and taken off the planet, never to be seen again.

22 )
.
"I don't know what's wrong with my television set. I was getting C-Span and the Home Shopping Network on the same station. I actually bought a Congressman." * Bruce Baum
The federation was a place of wealth. Even those who were considered poor, was wealthy anywhere else. The federation had also expanded their technologies well beyond anywhere else, because there was value in getting something better or new.
When the federation met the empire, war did not start. The empire saw it was not equal to the federation and decided to trade. Quickly, the federation sort of absorbed the empire. They were separate entities.
The federation, though, had unquestioned access to anywhere or anything in the empire. the empire sold its soul to the federation for a little bit of the wealth the federation controlled.
The federation enforced strong patent and copyright laws so the empire was not gaining technology from the interactions. Half the technology was so advanced that the empire could never decipher it with help. Since the federation was in control, that help would never come.
There were leadership of the empire that was still wanted to fight the federation, but their power was waning.
To get more money for the imperial military and government, they were willing to sell anything. planets, populations, companies and even their leadership of the federation.
The leaders were elected or selected by the planets, which became part of a regional government, which selected a leader to go to the imperial governments.
When some wealthy person of the federation purchased a leader, the leader would then vote according to the wishes of the one who purchased them. The rule was that the federation person could only purchase a leader who agreed with his point of view. It would not do to buy a leader who hated the federation.
A quarter of the imperial leadership was up for sale to the federation, only because the rest had some reason to not agree with the federation.
The imperial congress was the regional governments, while the central imperial government was a senate. The senate is extremely expensive to purchase.
An extremely wealthy businessman in the federation is visiting a new factory within the empire. he is scanning through programs, searching business channels for auctions. He thinks he is on a channel to purchase some minerals and only when it was too late, because of language problems, he ends up purchasing a congressman.
He has little idea about imperial government and nothing about imperial politics.
Owning his congressman, it takes him a bit to figure out what to do with him. He finds that he can influence the empire around him for the benefit of his business, and he can also help his congressman raise in rank a whole lot faster.
Working together, they both gain, the congressman ends up being elected to the senate and the businessman's company expands to the advantage of the region he is located.

23 )
.
I saw a program where they had a fish farm. The water went through several filtering steps, and he solids went to fields to grow some of the foods for the fish. I thought I would take that idea a bit further.
This was in a dome where it gets a lot of sun, maybe with no night. While light enters the dome, the heat is collected in the outer shell for use as energy.
They farm fish as their main stated business. The water the fish is in, is in constant circulation. The fish production is moved between different ponds, the ponds are scraped clean and refilled for the next batch.
The water flows from the source through small streams and into the pond. The filled with fish droppings flows into flat areas of settling ponds, and then into hydroponic gardens where the roots of the plants dangle into the water, not into soil.
The water then passes over rice patties, then into other fields to be sprayed or flow as ground water. polishing pollutants out of the water, fertilizing the plants.
The water finally passes into evaporation ponds. At the top of the dome, the cooling caused by the energy collection, causes the water to condense on the dome and that either drips off as rain, or flows down the sides to collectors which feeds the streams to start the water cycle all over again. Some of the collected heat in the dome is used in the evaporators.
The pollutants, fish droppings is collected and spread over the fields as fertilizer, some of it is composted first for maximum nutrients. There are chemical tests all along the system, including when they scrape the evaporators, to see if pathogens or unwanted chemicals are entering the system. Most of the wastes collected are sterilized then composted with clean microbes to covert it into quality fertilizer.
This is not a closed system. the fish and harvests go to the city. Clean city wastes return to be composted and spread over the fields, closing the system. The fish farm gets extra water from the city dome condensation and the city can get excess water from the farm dome condensation, keeping a balance.
The city and the dozen farm domes around it, become a closed system with the constant sun providing the energy to power the system.

24 )
.
The leaders served the god well. They expanded the lands of her worship and increased her status among the people with their constructions of her temples and edifices.
She wished to thank them for what they did, and decided to add to what she would gain in the process. She put a blessing on them so selected of their children would have natural talent, be good in all they did.
The parents knew nothing of it, but found one or another child was able to do anything they were shown. The parents had their children shown how to do everything, giddy about the perfection of their children.
As the children grew older, a side effect of everything coming easy, was that they grew bored easily. "been there, done that" was their attitude. they never mastered anything, simply proved they could do it.
When the time came for them to put their skills to work, such as in combat or command, they failed as they could only do it, but not with any real skill or knowledge.
Several generations passed when the god saw her blessing was not working. she watched, though, as this was entertaining to her.
Grapesmack was given the talent, which appeared around six years old. The first master he faced, was a true master martial artist. Grapesmack showed he had talent, making moves he was shown. The master demonstrated some skills only a master could do. Grapesmack could not do them and demanded he be taught them. the master said Grapesmack would have to earn them.
Grapesmack was forced to practice his skills even if he could do them easily. the master punished him if he got them just a little wrong at any time, which was common as Grapesmack was bored. After a few months of intensive training, Grapesmack realized that there was more to what he was doing than simply doing them.
He was then shown to other master, wood working, metal smithing, music, dance. he took with him what the martial arts master taught him. There was more to doing something than simply having done it. He practiced the skills over and over again, not just dong them, not just mastering them, he made them part of him.
His parents wondered if he had any talents as he was not "blasting" through the trades as others had. They did note he was better than any of the natural talents they had seen.
Before he was eleven, Grapesmack seamed as if he had lost his talent. He was not pushing to advance, seamed to be struggling to get good at skills.
Grapesmack kept learning from the master, mastering the fighting styles. As he got older, he was learning military command, strategy, tactics, different weapons. The boy slowed himself down as he wanted to understand why they worked, rather than just make them work.
In everything he did, he worked on mental and physical muscle memory. he could do things well without thinking about it such as when utterly exhausted, which his hard work kept him at most of the time.
His parents stopped talking about him being talented. He just had no talent. Other talents had covered a lot more professions. He is not even offered to learn other professions, sticking to the ones he had already started learning.
He twenty when his martial arts master finally teaches him the forms demonstrated on their first meeting. Grapesmack did them instantly after being shown, then practiced them for the rest of the day, the master correcting him each time.
He could now open his own school if he washed.
In his other professions, he continued to advance, just at the rate that kept the masters from thinking him to be talented, and wondering about keeping him. He also became a master at those skills at twenty.
Another god starts invading some new territory, knocking down a couple temples. An army is called and any youth over fifteen is called into service.
They trained while they moved, learning to work as a group, learning to be a soldier, not just a fighter.
Because of his parent's status, Grapesmack was standing beside the general as they faced the enemy, along with all the other talents. The general asked each talent what their battle plan would be. each one told something rather stupid if one looked at it. there was proof they had not trained to be a commander.
When asked he told the general what he thought the enemy was going to do from their position, and what he would do if he was commanding them, and then told what should be done to counter the obvious position and what to watch for and how to react when the enemy changed their arrangement for what he would do. The talents around him said that was utterly stupid.
The general said he would give the battle plans a thought. He got with his captains for a meeting, without any talent nearby. A bit later, the general ordered the force to march forward. As they got close, the enemy phalanxes started moving in different directions. Grapesmack yelled to the general, "they are doing it."
The general called out an order and the phalanxes were now shifting position. The enemy made a change. Grapesmack barked out for his talent phalanx to go straight instead of shifting. the captain followed his order for some reason.
When the two forces met, the talents had plugged a hole the enemy had caused by the change in strategy.
Grapesmack got into the battle and plowed his way deep into the phalanx he was against. When the two armies withdrew. most of the talents were dead and the bodies were piled up around him. The two phalanxes were about the same size. the two forces regrouped and fought again. The talents that were beside Grapesmack had acquired some fighting skills in their lives. they held their own while Grapesmack lead them deep into the enemy.
the two forces spiraled around each other, mixed around, exchanged sides, then returned to their own sides. When they separated, both sides had taken a beating. command was decimated and a lot of equipment was damaged.
Grapesmack got to work, fixing the equipment then fixing weapons. He suddenly became like a super man, working magic with the equipment that remained.
the general was badly wounded and unable to command. Grapesmack brought the remaining captains together and explained what had happened and what he had seen might work to prevent that from happening. He listened carefully to the experience of the commanders and corrected his battle plan accordingly. they liked his plan.
the next morning, the two forces lined up again and fought. the enemy left the field to Grapesmack's army.
The last of the talents faired no better than a normal soldier. Grapesmack had lived up to expectations of a talent.
When they returned, Grapesmack was asked how he was so good and the talents were not. He told them that talent was only good if there was mastery behind it. make the talents master their skills, not simply do them.
after that, talents suffered the curse of Grapesmack, being made to do things they already could do, over and over again until they perfected it, before they were allowed to advance.

25 )
.
Watching a show on painting scenes on site, the a weak, dumb, joke crossed my mind. I decided to write it as a story idea.
A new type of art developed. It was holographic painting, where the artist would select the scene, an then click on each item, background to foreground, developing a scene. This click method allowed them to remove parts of a scene, like power wires or trash.
The masters developed a method to click in a way to cause items to shift position slightly in the scene. filling in empty areas, for example.
One art technique is to click on the same element in the scene, like a moving shadow, so there is like a record of how the light is effected by time of day.
For display, the artists can select how the image is displayed. Most will show it as a single image picture. Others will "film" it, showing movement through the scene, either as the light changed, or like one moved through the scene.
Clapstand taught classes on the art and set up a film to show how the art was done. He explained as he worked, pointing out tricks and techniques. Just as he was adding the final touches. a tourist in a denim vest stepped in front of him. when Clapstand clicked, he got the solid color of the back of the vest as his screen. He yelped.
His painting ended as one solid color. He left the scene, wondering what to do with it. Looking at it, he found he really liked the way it looked. He left the painting as a deep, three dimensional painting, pushing the limits of the display equipment, but it was also a fixed image so the only thing you saw was the color of the jacket.
He decided to make another painting. He had an assistant come with him wearing a similar vest. He did the painting from beginning to end, filming the process as he taught the painting. At the last moment, his assistant stepped in front of him and he clicked. Another solid screen of color.
He had no idea why he liked it, but he did this a dozen times. He carefully edited the films of painting to be as interesting and of high quality as possible.
He applied to have his own showing. He did not have the guts of just showing the paintings, so he had clips of his demonstrations showing along side each painting.
The show was well received. He sold several, with the film displays.
He painted more and then did another show, this time without the films of making them. He really developed a reputation on his work. He always filmed his making them.
A couple artists started imitating his work. The artists had works that just did not seem to look as good. They never filmed the creation of their works.
There is a method in this system to see the whole paintings. beneath the layers. Researchers took the paintings and examined them. Clapstand's paintings had the whole detailed scene, from beginning to end, really high quality, well done. They then examined the whole finished scene and there was "shadows" of previous layers in the painting, which was seen more subconsciously.
The other artist's works had no painting behind them. It was just a shot of the denim. Because there was no image shadow, the images lost something in the results. One painter did do a single screen image of the scene, and it was a bit better, but it was not as intense or vibrant as Clapstand's work.
A different artist had little skill as a painter so he covered his mistakes with the denim. Again, there was something different about it. The painting was somehow bothersome. when the image was actually viewed, one could see that it was poorly one. one detected the lack of quality behind the color.
That quickly proved that Clapstand was skilled, just looking at his work, one could sense the quality even though one could not see it.
This became a Master's Only technique.

26 )
.
I heard many years ago, that because of preservatives in our foods, our bodies are lasting longer after death than they used to. Remembering that, seeded this concept.
Preserving foods for space travel was a problem. even in cryogenic freezing, foods went bad. it was an effect of space travel. This was a problem as space travel took ten to twenty years for long trips at faster than light speeds.
There was no budget to have room for farms to grow food for the passengers and crews. People survived the trips, but it was not pleasant.
One day, a chemical company tested a preservative that kept food good for the whole trip. there were no tests to show there was any problem with the chemicals so the preservative was added to the space foods.
Soon the preservative entered the regular food chain and soon became dominant as foods that went bad quickly, were kept well for many times longer.
Because of the preservative, the cost of foods actually went down, they did not have to be replaced quite as often, and there was more available. Of course, it could not be used on fresh foods, just processed foods. The fresh food market grew well as there were those who avoided a chemical that a long history of experience was not available for.
As people died, embalmers did see that the fresh food people had to be taken care of sooner than those who ate foods with the preservative in it. it was a minor effect.
It was when a second generation of people on the chemical were getting old, it was noticed they had a longer life span. it was not obvious with those who were first generation.
Third generation chemical eaters lived even longer. Instead of an average of seventy five years life span, they were averaging almost ninety years, and those over a hundred were very common.
The fresh food people were dropping in numbers as people wanted their offspring to live much longer. the advantages of the chemical outweighed other problems the chemical might bring.
The space travelers did not gain the additional life span. That was likely because of the effects of space travel on the foods.
Of course, the bodies after death lasted longer. That was already seen.
Scientists were trying to figure out how the chemical worked on the body and on the food. It was not an easy thing to work out it did not appear to survive digestion.
It was found that certain populations were getting average life spans of over a hundred, and their maximum life span was exceeding the previous maximum life span of 120 years.
The people were physically able, far longer than they used to be as an effect of their longer lives. Retirement became a failed system. No one except for the most wealthy, could save up enough money to afford to not work to the end of their lives. This effected the way the society, the economy, families, all worked. Old people commonly trained for other work several times as their physical abilities changed.