27 )
.
A cartoon has a big bull dog named Spike and a little mutt. In the many cartoons, the little dog is trying o get Spike to like him, be his friend. The little dog is always trying to do favors, to show he is worthy of being kept around. The big dog is always swatting him away. In the specific episode I am thinking of, the little dog finds a way to get Spike some steaks, and each, after he eats, he asks where the gravy was. In the end, spike gets into a meat house, and is then in the hospital, for over eating. The little dog then sticks a funnel into Spike's mouth and says "here's the gravy."
Gradar is a battle robot. He is big and powerful. he is also out of the army, lost in the city. he is hungry.
Gradar needed a solid material as food, common for all robots, commonly referred to as meat, but he also needed oil, which was slangingly referred to as gravy. The oil was where his real power was from. the meat kept him going. While some of it was used as fuel, it also was drawn into the hydraulic systems to increase the strength. The main reason he was out of the military was he could not get enough gravy to meet the combat needs of his design. the military had decided that all robots needed just a certain amount of the gravy, which was very expensive
Syd was a service robot that needed someone to serve. It was out on the streets. Syd ran across Gradar and tried to become his service robot. Gradar had no need for a service robot. He was designed to take care of himself. Syd was persistent. It was only when Syd said he could get food, Gradar agreed for to let him hang around. Of course, Syd only knew places to get steaks. Not any oil can do for gravy. It was a special product.
Each time Syd was able to get a steak, there was no gravy and Gradar was irritated. It was never enough steak anyway. Gradar was still near starving.
Finally Syd found a meat processing plant. He also found a way to get Gradar inside. They get inside and Gradar starts eating, he turns on his power systems as high as possible to power up. He screams at Syd that there is no gravy, but continues eating.
Gradar finally over powers and passes out. Syd cannot do anything about it. When Gradar is found, he is taken to a "junk shop" which is the robot equivalent of a hospital. If a robot can be made useful they do so, but if it cannot, it disappears.
Gradar is in the equivalent of a coma and the hospital has decided that there is nothing they can do for him. Syd, in the mean time, finds a source of gravy and gets a bin of it on a cart and drags it to the junk yard. Being a smart little robot, he bypasses and talks his way in through the security and gets to Gradar. He hooks up a hose and pump and starts dumping gravy down his mouth. "here is your gravy." Syd says.
the gravy gets into the system, starts burning, and then gets into the hydraulics. Long after Syd thinks that Gradar should be full, the gravy keeps flowing. Gradar's back up power systems were being charged by the addition of gravy, and the steaks were also now being processed properly. Gradar was awake and aware, but he was playing dead to keep the gravy coming, as he knew that Syd would pull the hose.
Gradar was sucking in the gravy almost faster than the pump could supply it. Syd was afraid he was going to get into trouble.
The gravy container was suddenly empty, the pump, detecting nothing coming in, shut down. Gradar was still sucking at the hose. When he got no more gravy, he finally sat up. Syd was excited that Gradar was alive. Doctors came in and were shocked he was moving around, then they saw the gravy canister. Syd was going to be in trouble, but Gradar stopped that.
Gradar was able to return to the military, but now he had syd to find gravy for him when he needed it.

28 )
.
Mike and Gill had not met. They both were great about getting into scuffles at schools and in later years, at bars.
The council was made up of unions, clans, gangs and armies. they were all from violent pasts, and they brought with them the belief that power was the best position to negotiate. when two groups had a dispute, they simply came together and had champions fight it out. The winner won the dispute. The champions wore protective suits and while they could cause some hurt, they could not do real damage to each other. Many times, the fights ended when one champion was wore out and the other was able to continue fighting. It worked for a lot of years. The ones with he best champion got their way.
Mike and Gill got a job with the council in the position as general drudges. Both quickly got a reputation of fighters. Gill got into an argument with champions of two small organizations and beat both of them up. Mike beat up, in individual fights, three champions. Because several groups wanted them, they became classified as for hire. any group who thought they were better than their champion, hired them to negotiate for them.
Mike and Gill did not lose fights. They threw the balance of power off. whoever hired them was going to win their case.
It became common where the two men would simply be called to fight without warning. they would walk in and after a short scuffle, beat some champion up.
Mike and Gill were working for two different point of view on things, they had no opinion. they just loved beating up on other people without getting thrown out of a bar. They were simply hired by different groups.
The best champions of the two coalitions found themselves fighting Mike and Gill. Of course, Mike and gill won their fights.
It was the biggest decision of the council. the money went up and Mike and Gill were the only ones who were willing to fight each other.
the day came and the two came together. To both of them, it was just another fight.
They tore into each other and found the fight was not going to be quick. The fight started to drag on. They fought tooth and nail, pummeling each other in a constant attack.
Their fight came down to where they separated and leaned up against the walls of the room they were fighting in, gasping for air. For the first time ever, the fight was declared a draw.
the next day, they were brought together again and they fought with everything they had. Again a draw. By the forth fight, the entire council realized they had a problem. They expected one of them to not want to fight any more. Instead, both were excited to meet in battle again, and they fought to exhaustion each time.
Soon, the council decided that the fight was not going to solve this problem. They started actually talking, negotiating, compromising on what they were after.
It was a month without a fight, when Mike and Gill got together. they decided they wanted to find out which was better. they got into a fight in the back yard. They did this every day of the month. They forgot about who was better, they were just having fun fighting someone who was their equal. They were already the very best of friends.
The council stopped using fights to make decisions and the remaining champions had other jobs. they never bothered re-assigning Gill and Mike, just let them fight each other for the fun of fighting. It was good enough entertainment that it was worth their not doing any real work.

29 )
.
The planet opened for colonization. While it was really nothing more than a big moon, The atmosphere was a little thin, but fairly high in carbon. it was stable enough to have a full underground society.
A group of wealthy kids purchased rights to the planet. Since the facilities were already in place, the kids had to do nothing to move in. These kids had no rights to any inheritance and were not in any social standing, so their sort of dropping out was actually to their advantage.
After getting settled in, they started a planting program. They covered several thousand square miles with junk plants. These were more like weeds than anything, plants selected for gardens, but found too aggressive or problematic. here, that was not a problem. They even had more plants shipped from the original planet to keep their planting program going. The summers were very long which was not a problem.
Fall came and they found that there was a thing in their contract that they were required to go into hibernation for a period of time. They knew this was part of an age extension regiment. each day they were in hibernation, they gained three days more of life.
Because they were children of the wealthy, they understood that it was part of their duty to their families. The time came and they entered the hibernation chambers.
They finally woke and got the colony operating again. they checked on their vast gardens and were shocked that most of the plants were devastated. Many kinds of plants did not survive, others were in horrible shape. The kids scanned data and they worked to remove the plans that simply were beyond survival. They paid to have more plants brought in.
As the spring and summer passed, they got more plants in to replace the ones that were beyond recovery, though they left some in place just to see what happened.
they tested for all sorts of diseases and conditions and nothing matched what they were seeing.
By fall, they were back into their idyllic mode. then they had to enter hibernation. they closed up their shop and entered their chambers.
They woke and found their gardens devastated again. They hunted for causes and they examined what died and what survived. they checked for data on the planet and nothing gave them a clue.
ten years pass and this was very expensive. With some plants, they decided not to even bother replacing them. they were wracking their brains trying to find a solution to it.
they are supposed to go into hibernation. One girl refuses. She complains of horrible nightmares. She is not allowed to be up alone. Soon, they all decide to keep working, figuring that they can go into hibernation at any time.
Fall ends and winter sets in. they pass behind a sister planet and the two planets walk in step for a long time, their planet in the shadow of the other. The water freezes out of the air, the ground covered in a thick snow and everything is frozen. Now they have the reason for their garden dying. The world was freezing while they were in hibernation. The station systems was struggling against the cold. Finally the kids go into hibernation and the station shuts down.
When they wake in the spring, they look over the damage and now know that the plants are getting frost damage.
They decide to change tactics. they bring in tundra plants and start a program to collect seeds of plants that do not survive the winter. In the fall, they collect all the seeds and even take entire species of plants into the habitat for the winter.
The next spring they take their wintered over plants out and plant them, and they spread seeds around for the plants to grow from.
Realizing what they are dealing with, they start selecting for short season plants to harvest, or plants that can survive the winters. they start exporting products now that they figured out how to get regular production. They are even using many winter over sections of the colony complex for growing plants not suited for outside.
Money starts coming in as they start selling the results of their planting, and they are developing wealth on their own. About half the kids leave the colony to marry each other since they have proven themselves. Only a quarter of them return, but new wealthy kids come to join the colony.
The colony remains an exclusive destination for wealthy kids that are out of the path of success, giving them a chance to succeed on their own right.

30 )
.
Ardunt served well in the military as a special forces soldier. He had many missions where he found himself fighting the enemy alone and wiping out entire divisions on his own. He also acted as a Military police between campaigns, but mostly in very dangerous locations where a heavy hand was needed to keep the police.
The riggers of war, and changes in the type of fighting needed, caused Ardunt to become retired. He went to a large number of schools to retrain himself for civilian life, learning how to act, what the rules were, how to make different kinds of living. He was not bright enough to get into advanced skill and knowledge professions and he found his military training left him not greatly skilled at anything that the civilian life needed. He knew he would mostly be a physical worker or an office drudge.
He decided he was ready for civilian life when he ran out of education funds. His first act among the civilians was to apply to be a police officer. He was disappointed that the police were all robots. He had fought with and against robots and mentioned that they had problems with their programming. The commander (all office personnel and command are human) said that their programming was perfect for any situation they might meet. Ardunt registered himself as an ex soldier, while he was there.
As Ardunt walked out of the police station, in full view of the commander, he stopped to look at a tall building that shown in the sun. A robot officer bumped into him. he did not go down or even move. the officer, almost falling, lashed out, attacked. Ardunt's training took over and he instantly "killed" the robot. The last thing the robot said was "officer down."
Another robot cam running and attacked. Ardunt had to defend as the robot was using deadly force. More robots flowed out of the police station and out of the streets.
Surrounded by robots trying to use deadly force, he had to fight with all his training and skills. If they would back off, he would surrender easily, but they kept coming in to kill.
The commander sat there at his desk, watching the officers attacking the soldier and dying rapidly. "officer killed, officer killed was reported in rapid succession. The commanders and staff struggled with the programming, trying to force them to back off, but their program was to swarm and deal with any cop killer. there was no off command.
Ardunt had stopped being a civilian and was back in the war, fighting off robot armies. He did notice after a short time, that new robots coming in from the city had a different emblem.
He was utterly exhausted when the last robot police officer rushed in to die. He stood there, watching for anything moving in his area. There were people ringing the area, broadcast cameras. A voice behind him called "Ardunt, here, safety." Ardent glanced in and saw a man in a police uniform. "You will be safe in here."
Ardunt crawled over the pile of robot bodies and got to the building and was let in. He was given food, water, a comfortable chair to sit in.
The commander talked softly and asked about the problems with robots. Ardunt described how they could not be programmed to handle all situations, and any swarming command could not be made to stop when halting it was necessary, even by the best programmers. He described other problems that they had, based on his experience.
the commander asked how the lost robots could be replaced quickly, and Ardunt said they should get soldiers with military police experience in until real police or more robots could be brought in.
Since Ardunt had no place to go, they offered him a cell to sleep in. He accepted that.
he was in there for almost a week when he was released. he was given a uniform and then went through a quick orientation with other military people, a couple he recognized to be temporary officers.
A year later, the bottom fell out of the robot police market. Soldiers, even without MP experience were made into police officers.
Eventually police schools were reestablished and the soldiers were required to go through the training when they got out of the service.
Ardunt made the police force his career and got plenty of merit rewards over his career.
.
My note said, “Killer bees, kill one and the entire hive will attack. Robotic police force.”

31 )
.
I had to wait for a cab to pick me up at a grocery store and when I had hung up, this concept came to me.
The imps were people who could create a holographic shape around themselves. they could appear to be like anything they wanted. They had the problem that they lacked imagination and could not really come up with good forms without being told. Usually, they would simply shimmer and flicker various colors around themselves.
Their lands were taken over by the people and civilization developed. the area was more like a well populated tourist destination than anything.
There was question as to what the imps lived on. It was not important. It was later that the imps were found to live off of certain plants, and on emotional energies. if they could strike fear in someone, they got power.
About the only vehicles in the resort was Taxi cabs. the drivers became a prime target of the imps. The taxi would pick them up and one driving, the imp would suddenly become something frightening. The cabby would stop, get out running in total panic. The Imp would be well fed and leave.
the cabbies stopped picking someone up that had not called. They would pull up and pick up their rider. A new problem appeared when imp was the one who got in first, not the person. The cabby would be frightened by the imp, and the gang of imps would turn on the person left behind, sending him into a fright.
for a while, the operator asked for a description of the person and the imps did not get in. It worked nicely.
the imps were finally learning the language and they soon understood what the descriptions were.
A man called a cab. he said he had a yellow hat, beard, green shirt and blue pants.
he was shocked as the imps started changing. Soon they all wore something that would pass that description.
As the cab came up, he made another call and said he had a cell phone. Soon, all the imps put their hands to their heads and has shapes in their hands.
As the cab came up, the cabby looked confused. the man grabbed a dirt clod and tossed it at the car, waving it to get going. the cabby waved for him to come in, and the man shoved a bunch of imps out of the way and got in.
The Imps soon had the dirt clod and shoving each other, down pat.
Thinking about the problem with the imps. Charles got an idea. He called the cab while surrounded by imps. He mentioned a couple dozen imps. He then described himself, he had a wide brimmed hat, blue shirt, black pants, black belt. What he said, though, was "Not a baseball cap, Not a white shirt, Not a green belt, Not a yellow pants."
The imps did not notice the Not, in the descriptions and they did not actually see how he was really dressed, so when the cab showed up, there was no question who he was.
After about six times, the Taxi operator would give instructions on how to describe themselves. It was important to get it right or they will not be picked up. The imps were not getting the descriptions right so the people were getting their rides.
The imp problem stopped being a major problem and they had to now just frighten an individual on the streets.
It should be noted that the imps were not harmless and attacking one might come out bad, but they were not known to be violent so all they were after was the moment of fright and they would leave.

12 )
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Branlyn walked across a field one day, a thunderstorm was a distance away. the hair stood up on the back of his neck, but he did not link the feeling to the incident. He got hit by lightning and was unharmed. he got hit six times before the storm was over. Other than some charring of a few bits of clothing he was all right.
word got out and officials declared him to have super hero powers. He entered basic training for super heros, and was giving his tights that showed who he was. He decided that with the tights, he was an official super hero and went out into the world to do good deeds. One of the officials tasked with watching over him, got fired because he was not at his post. Branlyn was not supposed to leave the training center until the training was complete. the boy was too dumb to understand what his powers were or how to use them. He also had no instruction as to what to use them on.
Branlyn walked through town. thunder and lighting filled the sky. A kitten was curled up, afraid. He rushes over and picks the kitten up. the kitten fights him, trying to escape, but he holds on. He keeps saying that he will save the kitten. Twelve lightning bolts hit him in fairly quick succession. he is holding a charred mess where the kitten was in his hands.
After a number of incidents where he tried to save something and got hit by lighting, He finally gets the idea that he should be doing real work. He learns where a special antenna was located for the local super heros. A thunder storm is coming. he decides he has to save it. He breaks in, something he seams to be good at. He goes in, in a way that no one would ever think anybody would try. It would be too dumb. he is not smart enough to know they won't work. He gets to the antenna and it, and he, gets hit by lighting, damaging it.
Branlyn soon becomes a threat to the super heros and the local defense system. He keeps trying to protect people and things from the storms, not realizing he is drawing the lighting to what he is protecting.
With training, he would be doing this behind enemy lines, devastating them, rather than his own. the super heros cannot catch him because they do not know how to be that dumb.
they finally trap him. Thunderstorms are coming. they pile on him and try to hold him down, to stop him. he gets hit by lightning, and a good number of super heros are hurt badly. A few though, are immune in some way to the lightning so they make sure he feels the pain they do.
He does not understand why he is being punished, but he is put deep underground, out of reach of lighting and given brutal training, turning him into a fighting machine that cannot be defeated. He is trained in what to look for, what will do the most damage if hit by lighting, but they tell him these are parts that must be protected.
The last act is that he is dropped behind enemy lines with no way to get back. He hears lighting, and realizes he has to protect something. He looks around and sees an antenna that is exposed to the lightning.