26 )
.
One store has an advertizement where a smiley face with a hard hat, goes around the store and reduces the prices. Te advertizement is to show that they have the lowest prices. Being what my mind is, I had to make use of that.
The colony committed itself to the planet before they found out it was "infested" by entities. Most are harmless blobs of energy that feed on each other. A few will feed on animals or plants. There are also lower animals and plants and sea life and flying things.
The colonists did what they could to live with the entities. A few can be attracted to their doom with energy nets or power traps. Some are not easy to catch.
the stores have a computer system where one can set a price in the computer and the price will appear on the product and on the shelf, and on larger signs one might place before them. the prices can be fixed so no one can change them until a new entry is made, basically replacing it. Usually, one gets a supply of stock, and logs that stock number in and set the price. It will not change until that stock number It is great security, preventing most errors and debates.
The law basically stated that once a price becomes official, even if it is in error, one must stay with it. Of course, when prices are accidentally set high, the stores will have sales on the product to get it down to the right price. If the price is low, it has to stay there until new stock comes in. There are ways around it. most stores keeps the original documentation and will delete the listing and reinstall it with the correct price. it is a hassle though.
Word spread slowly through business channels that there was an entity that messed with computers. In those cases, the entity left after a short time after doing little damage.
A small grocery store was doing well. He was no different than any other store, but he had a prime location near a park. People would forget to bring something and buy from him. He also had his local residents and commuters as regular customers.
The size of his place and the fact that the shipping docks are open for long periods of times when shipment come in, tends for him to get a lot of entities inside. They leave fairly quickly.
One day he saw a yellow and grey entity come in. it was in a rough shape of a ball. He shook his head, as it shot past him. there was something about "inside" that they liked.
He took the documentation of the delivery and loaded in the information, setting the prices as he needed to. when done, he set the shipment paperwork on a shelf and went home.
the next day, he opened up and walked through the store. He saw the yellow blob up near the ceiling. It seamed to have markings that resembled a face and the upper grey part of it had lines. he remarked that it was like a smiley face with a hard hat on.
The computer system had finished the full start up and the prices appeared on the products and shelving. the entity shifted position, then came down in a fast swirl. It came to one of the product price tags. There was a flash of energy, the sound of breaking glass. and it flew up, hovered and returned to the ceiling. It glowed brighter.
He walked over to the tag. the prices were lower. He checked the tags and no apparent damage. He went back to the computer and found the prices were changed there. He could not change it. The system would not let him delete the price. backed up to the main listing of products. He heard the breaking glass and right before his eyes, the price changed on another product. The computer sort of flickered. He found he could not change the price there either. both were still higher than his costs, he was not going to get as good a price for them.
He contacted authorities. they came, saw the price breaker, which he decided to call it since it had that crash of glass sound when it changed the price. While the entity experts were there, the price breaker smashed another price. One of the entity experts had his equipment plugged into the computer. He saw the surge of energy, the scrambling of data and the price change. It was all there on record.
One thing that they saw from the data, was that because of the way the system was designed, they could not stop the price change. They could not stop the price being fixed.
The entity experts tried what they could to entice the entity out of the building or to capture it, but it would not come or leave.
The customers coming in, saw the lower prices on things and picked them up in volume. For a while, the store actually did better because of the price breaker. people were coming from all over to get products at a lower price, and picking up a few items while they were at it.
the owner had advertized once in an automatic updating flier, but cancelled that after a short time with the price breaker there. it was going to cost him big money fast.
About the time the last item became at cost, the owner went to a city council meeting, begging for someone to get the entity out of his shop. the discussion went on for a long time about solutions, then someone mentioned he would rather not have the thing in his store. the discussion changed. it would better to support this store with the entity in it, than to let the entity escape. they all agreed that as long as something had a price, the thing would stay.
the owner was stuck with the thing. The other stores promised to help on getting new products in to help cover the losses.
it took some time, but now the store was selling things at almost free. the stores were sending him outdated products marked at inflated prices. He actually only paid a pittance for them. He would set the prices at horribly high prices. The price breaker would work on the prices, it did not take long for his prices to drop below what other stores were selling the stuff. the other stores were paying good money to keep the entity away from their shops.
Several times, he threatened to go to paper stickers. The business people vetoed him, knowing that if he did that, the entity would leave. With all they were paying him to stay in business, it was not enough to really stay in business. There were fees and costs that he could not get deals on or get waved or paid. many of his suppliers refused to deliver to him. Some said they were afraid the entity would follow their trucks.
He filed for bankruptcy and he was refused the right. He had to stay in business and keep the entity there. No one would let him just leave or sign it over to someone else.
He was a ruined man, who's sole purpose in life was feeding an entity so it would not go to some other store.

27 )
.
The government had gone beyond what people could accept. there was a major uprising. the government became trapped within the defenses, a beltway highway system. Temporary barricades and gun implements became walls and turrit towers.
The government remained "in power" but they were trapped. they could not escape. Anyone of the governmment who left the city, died when they were found out who they were.
The government people had to be replaced periodically. It became well known that anyone chosen for the office, would never return. they immediately became hated criminals.
Since the government leaders had to be replaced periodically, the elections became a search for people who one hated the most, ones who one would be happy to lose.
The government had its own rules for who would be accepted. The government refused to accept anybody with a criminal record. That meant that the G-city, as everybody called it, could not simply be turned into a prison.
The reason this system continued to exist, was that the government people outside the city, was still loyal to the governemnt. they reported what happened in the nation and carried out laws passed. They, living among the people under the laws, were also loyal to those that surrounded them, so they tended to follow state laws rather than national laws when the national laws were beyond the bounds that the population would accept.
The balance worked. If those in G-city were to undo the vast majority of the laws that caused the riff, they might eventually be allowed to return to the population. As it was, it was a seat of power and that was power that they did not want to give up, even if they really did no have the power.
Standista was said to be really sleazy. He had several businesses and was said to be a rip-off artist. He got a law degree and defended the worst kinds of cases. His reputation caused most people to not like him.
Some of his past started catching up to him. He wondered how he was going to handle it. I was checking to see where he might run to escape the consiquences. The election came up for someone to be sent to G-city.
two guys were being forced into the race. they did not want to run and spent their time trying to convice people to keep them home. they were afraid.
Standista decided to take a chance. It would be a place where he could escape his past. he put his name on the ballot just before the election. He figured the other two were better known and would be selected.
the election ran. The other two got three percent of the vote, and four percent of the vote. There was about twenty percent of the vote for no one, not to send anybody to G-city. Standista was stunned. He won by a landslide.
He stepped out his door the next morning to get the paper, and was grabbed by a bunch of thugs. Wearing just his bathrobe, he was hauled to the plane and thrown on board, buckled up. Several of the thugs stayed with him to make sure he got to G-city. He had no belongings, nothing of his own, just a bathrobe.
There was a parade as six elected officials were escorted with Standista to the gates of G-city. Two were clothed, but the rest were also in bathrobes. The gates opened and the seven of them were shoved inside. Standista lost everything, no money, no belongings, no momentos.
The guards on the other side grabbed them and dragged them into separate rooms. they were stripped, scoured, physically examined, and then given clothing. It looked like prison clothing. they were roughly handled, shoved if they hesitated too long. they were not allowed to say anything.
They went through a process where they were interrogated, humiliated, abused, interrogated some more, until they were broken. They all gave up all the knowledge they had, even the smallest secrets were told.
There were things Standista was not going to tell. He had no idea how he did it, but he was not broken. When they were released, the others were broken men. Standista imitated their demeanor, at least for now.
They were then put through training. How to dress, how to speak, how to eat, how to think. They were told who they were aligned with and who they would be required to obey. Standista was not going to, but for now, he would learn the job. it worked for him many times, gaining him good wealth.
Finally, they were introduced to the whole government. They were lead to their leaders and installed. Standista was introduced to the speaker of the council, the head of the strongest political group. The rules were simple. They would do exactly as they were told, until they gained the experience and reputation to become an independent thinker. considering that each person who came in, was broken down first, it was a system to keep the government under the same leadership. The interrogation was to find out exactly how their minds worked, so they could be placed where their personalities would fit best.
Standista fell into his job. He was not broken and it did not take too long for him to start applying his influence here and there. The department heads kept moving him to keep him from becoming too influential. It took him a fairly short time to where he had spent some time in every department of the council. He had some knowledge that none had.
Since he was not broken, and his nature still existed, he was starting to apply his nature where he was. If he had been broken, they would have stuck him with the smallest political group, just to keep him from gaining power.
Those who were broken, automatically obeyed those who were dominant. Standista was dominant. He was no fool. He never showed what he was capable of. He did not try to out-dominate anybody higher than him. He simply applied dominant pressure.
By the time the leadership realized what he was doing, he was already in the leadership, about to take over the speaker's position. The existing speaker, who was now really sick, could do nothing to stop Standista's rise. There were other branches of the government, which he would never get into. He was the sleaziest of the sleaziest in the nation.

28 )
.
The cratts arrived and took over the space station. Cratts were a short form of bureaucrats. The cratts demanded permission be gotten to do anything, and, of course, there was no one to "give" that permission. The space station was operated by the people who did the work. there was no command control system. Each person learned their job, then learned other jobs so they could fill in. There just was not enough people on the station to have a overall command system.
The cratts demanded authorization fo everything and would block any work from being done. Systems that needed careful and constant adjustments were left fallow. other systems started failing.
The cratts then complained that the place is being operated poorly and must taken over by professionals. Of course the space station could not afford the kinds of professionals that cratts desired to bring in.
The workers started fighting back in many ways. Several Cratts disappeared without a trace. A few demanded to see the authorization the cratts were using to ask for their authorization. Many workers operated as a team, a couple would delay the cratts while a couple would do the work that needed to be done.
The space station was showing signs of failing. A couple people were getting sick. Oxygen was not flowing properly through the system and gas poisoning was becoming prevalent.
The cratts finally gathered all the population in one place. They announced that they were going to treat the diseases that the people had.
Blackman always carried a jug of water with him. He had a problem with swallowing and dry mouth. He always took a swig of water before and after eating something, and many times while talking. it was an easy treatment, but they did not have the money to get it done. The space station had until now, paid for its existence. It was going broke fast.
The Cratt handed Blackman a pill. He was order to swallow it. He tried, but could not get it down he finally, against orders of the cratt, lifted the jug up to his mouth to take a swig. the pill came out of his mouth and into the jug. He looked disappointed as the pill floated to the bottom
the cratt was screaming and shouting over the wasted pill and how it was going to be docked from his pay. Blackman kept saying he will get the pill out. Just give him a chance. He put the cap on the jug so he could tip it upside down. He intended to let the pill float to the cap, pop the cap off and, spilling a limited amount of water, get the pill so he could swallow it.
Bubbles started coming from the pill, the water around the pill changed from clear to a green. the water started to boil around the pill, the green spread through the water.
Blackman held the bottle out from his body in disgust. the plastic crazed, becoming filled with fine lines, then the bottom of the bottle gave way and the water splashed to the floor.
Blackman and the Cratt next to him got water on their legs. Both screamed out as they leaped away. They both picked at their pant legs as their flesh stung from the water.
The liquid gurgled on the floor there, then calmed down. Another cratt came over and started yelling that he was supposed to swallow the pill. Blackman screamed that the pill would have killed him. reached out and decked the cratt.
Another cratt made a move for him and he decked him. he grabbed the leader and after punching him a couple times, he dumped the pills down his throat. "I will show you about trying to kill me. I do not take that kindly.
Others natives moved in and subdued the Cratts. The leader wreathed in agony, then died. Then the Cratts were all given a pill. "There is an old saying. Let you have a taste of your own medicine."
The cratts were given funerals, but nothing was placed on record. they simply ceased to exist.
the population went to work to undo the damage the station endured. Others worked to get productive work done so they could meet their obligations. Many left unessential jobs to help get the economy back where it needed to be.
The Cratt's three ships were disassembled and the parts either stored away or reprocessed. there was nothing that could be traced to the ships.
Star officials asked many times about the missing Cratts. The station had no answer for them. Even when an official ship arrived to look for them, there was no sign of them. there was a strange green mark on the floor in the meeting hall where the flooring was etched slightly. the star officials said nothing about it, they did not know what it was.
When asked, who was in charge? the people of the space station said they did not have the funds for a leader. they learned their jobs and did them.
the station was finally left alone. A plaque was placed in the small museum the space station had. A jug of water was on a table in front of it. Blackman's picture and history was on it, telling about how he single handedly saved the space station.
Blackman went to the museum each month, stared at the plaque and shivered. he came that close to being the first of many to die. he still had his jug. He stopped saving for the surgery. He was not going to change something that saved his life, no matter how bothersome it was.

29 )
.
The church were rounding up demons in the world. they had found a way to permanently eliminate the demons it was a long, drawn out process. they could only do one at a time.
While they were rounding up demons, they needed a way to store them. They chose to use a specially trained host to contain them till it was time to dispose of them.
Seven people were selected for the job. they were people totally devoted to the power of the church, but not priests. The God would protect them from what they chose to do.
The were given intense training. The church had started with two hundred, but these seven were the ones who survived the whole process.
They were brought to an exorcism and the priests got to work. The demon was focused onto the "vessel" as they were called. At the right time, the demon was forced from the victim and into the vessel. The vessel then was lead away. the demon was trapped.
the vessel kept the demon suppressed, under control. it made them a little crazy, but there were priests with them at all times to aid them in their job.
When the temple was ready, the vessel was taken in and the demon was exorcized again, but this time to cease to exist. the vessel was given a vacation, then taken to another exorcism.
Lancaster had become a vessel. He had contained dozens of demons and had an easy time of controlling them.
He returned from vacation and was told that they had found an extremely powerful demon. it had already killed two priests during an exorcism. he could bow out if he did not want the job. He said he would do it, but he wanted to take some drugs to keep himself calm.
They found a reputable doctor who found a medical condition that would fit what was needed and prescribe the drugs he would be taking.
He tried them when he was normal and it really knocked him out. The bottle he had prescribed a large number of pills but he only had a couple. that was part of his cover. At the town of the exorcism, he would get the prescription refilled so it did not look like he was importing drugs.
He went to the pharmacy and put in the order. He had several pills left. The prescription went through the approval process where the doctor was contacted and such. he went to the exorcism. standing before the victim, he took one of the pills and waited.
the demon fought hard against the process. the priest were all protected against it. Lancaster was not protected. He stood there quietly. The demon finally left the victim and entered Lancaster.
He was suddenly in a battle of control. this demon was stronger than anything he ever imagined. his body was buffeted by the powers of the demons, his belief in the god and the protection that the god gave, was all that kept him in control. the effects of the drug slowly came on. the demon soon realized it was trapped. Lancaster had control and the demon was the one who was zoned out from the drugs.
Lancaster now had to be taken some place to wait until it was his turn to have the demon destroyed. The priests were not sure they had that kind of power. they decided that they would have to have him wait for a council of priests, nearly every priest with the powers needed, would be there to drive this demon out of existence. that would take quite a while.
Lancaster took to traveling around. the demon could not escape. Lancaster was stronger. the demon, though was making Lancaster act a little crazy.
They were visiting one country where they looked poorly on crazy people. while going through a check, the demon decided to test Lancaster and was putting up a fight. Lancaster was acting extra crazy while he was suppressing the demon.
The police dragged Lancaster to a separate room. they demanded him to do something. He never heard it as the demon was shouting in his mind extra loud. He had his jaw clamped tight to keep the demon from using his mouth to say something that should not be said.
when he did not respond to the demands of the police, an officer stuck him with a taizer. Lancaster's knees buckled. He reached down to catch the floor to soften his fall. He stopped before his hands touched, as he was able to stop himself. He stood up and looked around. the room was covered in blood and filth. Lancaster looked at his hands and they were clean.
Other officers rushed in and froze right where they stood. One got sick all over the floor. The demon was quite, sort of chuckling inside.
Lancaster was interrogated and he told everything he knew except for the part about the demon.
Lancaster was watched carefully, but not mishandled after that. The priests started their process to dispose of the demon and stopped. they found it was way too powerful for them. the told Lancaster that the demon was going to have to stay for a while. he accepted it. He knew the power of the demon now. it let him control it. it could rule him absolutely if it wanted to.

30 )
.
This was originally a totally separate story idea. But when I wrote story idea 29 this month, I saw I might as well use what I had created for this story idea too.
The priests had come up with a way to eliminate demons in the world. they brought a possessed person to the main temple and followed a ritual that would drive the demon out of the person and to its destruction. Because of the length of the process, they have to store the demons until it was time for the destruction.
They had worked with, and trained a couple hundred people for the job of containing the demons. the process winnowed down the number of vessels, as they are called, to seven.
Lancaster is possessed by a very powerful demon. When they started to drive the demon out of him, they found it to be too strong for them to handle. they had to stop the process.
Lancaster was at fairly good terms with his demon. it preferred him to anybody else, which it could take. there had been several incidents since it entered him, where Lancaster was zapped with a taizer or hit on the head. He was never knocked out, but the demon left a bloody mess that Lancaster could never have made.
Over time, Lancaster was needed to accept another demon. seven vessels were not enough. They had no choice. Lancaster took on each new demon. the one he had, put them in their place.
The priests tried to get the demons out of him, but the strong one would not let them leave. it would start to leave first, forcing them to stop.
Lancaster was stuck with half a dozen demons possessing him. He did have the advantage that they seamed to like him. In quite times, they would "talk" to him, occupy his mind. With the drugs he was on, he stopped acting obviously crazy. He now was just a little strange. the difference was enough to keep him out of trouble that had killed a couple dozen people. It was even more important now, as he knew that if he was momentarily disabled, one of the small demons would be let out into a new victim. that might be good in that it could then be rounded up by one of the other vessels, but that was not what they wanted.
There is a saying that EVERYBODY HAS THEIR OWN INNER DEMONS. Lancaster had several, and he was on good terms with them. He was never lonely.

31 )
.
They were a magical people. They set up camp in places of power, do their magic, living off the land for a year, then move to a new location. Besides using up the resources in the area, they moved because they needed to do different kinds of magic.
They belonged to one particular god, but they had to do ceremonies and acts to please other deities and forces. Each place of power allowed them to please a select group. By doing their jobs properly, their god was pleased.
To aid the people, one of their group was given the ability to sense the lines of magic. to do his job, Malayan was given a long life. He was many generations old, but no one was sure how old. Being touched by the god, he could hear the god's voice easily. Others could but they had to work at achieving their proper state to join in communications.
The penalty of his power was that Malayan could no do magic.
In their journeys between places, he could sense when they passed through a line of power and they would spend a day serving those the line of power could allow them to serve.
The people were changing, becoming less devout to the god and the powers. Malayan kept warning them that they needed to change their ways or they would be punished. The god had not spoken to him in a long time and he suspected it had something to do with the way the people were reacting. The people ignored his warning.
Giving it a lot of thought, he decided to try to trick them, to show them what really could happen if they continued in their ways. He had the advantage that he could not do magic. He also had the advantage that no one would be able to prove himself wrong. They would never try to do magic until he said they were ready.
Malayan decided to take them on a new route. He had seen this was into an area he had been in when young, that seamed not to have much magic. No one questioned what route he chose to follow.
As they entered the area, the bands of energy rose higher above the ground. He kept telling them that they would be punished if they did not change their ways. At first, they did not noticed that the magic they wielded was getting weaker. they got deeper into the land before they found that their most powerful magic was not working.
He finally found an area where the energy bands were really high, and spaced completely away from the space. There was what seamed to be a good place to set up camp and declared this was the new power place. they set up their camp to stay for a year.
their magic did not work. Try as they might, no magic would work. Within a few months, they were running out of food. they searched farther and farther for food and supplies. many tried their magic while they were out and there was nothing.
Malayan lied when he told them it was a very strong place of power. Why could they not do their magic. He suggested that they needed to change their ways or they would lose their magic completely. he also told them that he had not heard from the god and was being punished with them.
Soon after he got a single word "Good" from the god. The god approved of what he was doing.
They were starving by the end of the year. They were ready to move. A few had changed their ways, but most did not.
Malayan was going to head north, but he got a strong signal to move east. He bowed, knowing it was from the god.
they found a new place, a wider area without magic than the last place. Malayan told the lie again, saying that this was a very strong place of power. The camp made, the people could not do any magic. They automatically went farther around the village site for supplies, they only dealt with the close areas when the weather was not good for them to travel.
Several more changed their ways, returning to what they were supposed to be, begging for mercy. The leadership and influential refused to change. The "little" people were getting angry.
The Third year, the god directed Malayan to another magic-less location. One of the people who had changed their way was doing the ceremonies with no result. the god gave the woman a sign of magic. It was tiny and momentary, but all had seen it and all but the most insolent, got the message. they were not going to get magic until all changed their ways.
They came to a new location after the fourth year. the people were barely surviving. Only the three leaders refused to change their ways. they refused to accept that their powers were dependant on the gods. Malayan had not announced that this was a place of power that they would make their camp for the year. The three challenged him, saying that he was leading them astray. He could not see places of power. They wanted someone else to lead. Malayan bowed and told them to pick their leader, the one who can see the magic.
The magic master said that if Malayan was killed, another would be given the power. Malayan told them that this was a choice they would have to make. then the god would have a choice to make. The choice could just as well be no.
The magic master took a spear and struck at Malayan. The point headed for his chest. He twisted and turned, stepping back. His arms swung with his motions. One arm knocked the spear to the side. He continued to spin around and his other arm caught the magic master across the jaw. the impact hurt his hand, but the magic master went down hard.
The whole village started a ceremony. None of them were in control. when they were done, they clapped their hands. Malayan now had the urge to head east.
They traveled for several weeks and came to a real place of magic. They suddenly had the powers, all except for he three leaders who refused to change their ways. they were devoid of magic.
They would never have magic again, nor would be leaders. the god talked to Malayan after this, letting him know he did his job well.
the people followed the proper way of life and thrived for generations to come.

32 )
.
The planet was strange. There were two types of flying bugs. One had a thick fur, and the other was much like insects. researchers who studied the bugs, found that the furry bugs were difficult to kill by insects. the fur made it tough for the insects to eat them.
they did see insects did have tactics for catching and killing them. one type was to start eating at the jaws, which was about the only part not protected, and eat it inside out. Another was to "stick a needle into them and suck the juices out.
In their examination of the life, they started finding bug carcasses that were really strange. they had black ended hair. It was really just the husks. In examining the remains, they found a clue here and there that indicated they were a bug they recognized. They usually found bits of hair on the tail that gave a clue as to what they were.
The planet had some creatures that were active at night, and exceedingly dangerous. The researchers went inside before the sun reached the horizon.
After several years the military came for a visit and built a fence around a large area of the research center. They then went outside with their heavy weaponry. they hunted down the creatures of the night, clearing the fenced area of anything dangerous, which meant that anything larger than a rabbit was cleared out.
The researchers now considered it safe enough to go outside at night. Of course, they examined the remains of the creatures of the night classifying them and cataloging them.
The researchers were now able to go out at night. that was the first time they saw the "fireflies." Little specks of light here and there that would flash on and off. they never seemed to get too close.
One night, a researcher was just sitting, resting. She was watching several of the furry bugs flying around. An insect that looked like a dragon fly zipped in, grabbed a furry from behind, the six legs holding it. Then there was the spark they had seen from a distance. that was no spark. That was a blast of flame onto the head of the furry. The fur shriveled. the dragon fly set it on top a twig within a couple feet of the researcher and started eating. It hit the body several times with the gout of flame before it was finished. the husk fell to the ground and the dragon fly flew off. The researcher retrieved the husk and returned with his recordings to the building.
No one would believe her images. They said that she must have faked the images. She then had them do image examination of the sparks when outside.
They did the image amplification and found that there were five different types of dragon flies that were shooting out flames. They now believed her.
It took a while before they captured a few of the dragon flies and examined them medically. it took them a while to figure out exactly how they were designed. they found that an oil was the cause of the flame. They found a chemical that combined with the oil to ignite the flames. The dragon flies had hard shells and rapid flowing blood to carry away heat. The flame was of very low temperature, just high enough to burn hair.
It took them even longer to figure out how to get the dragon flies to flame in a controlled condition.
When reports went out about the fire breathing dragon flies, requests for them as pets came from far and wide. The researchers were not equipt to deduce their life cycle. they were not going to just ship off adults without knowing the full life cycle. they were not tested for becoming a problem for elsewhere either.
The research contract had finished. The researchers had to leave. It would be a few years before anybody else could come.
The planet was not classified as the home of the FIRE BREATHING DRAGON FLY.