26 )
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Scientists from elsewhere, created devices that emulate the exact center of the universe. They had previously created, accidentally, objects that follow the center of the universe as the planet, galaxy, galactic group, moved in relation to the center of the universe. The universe also was expanding unevenly, so the center moved also. The objects, luckily, were very short lived, but still did a lot of damage.
the universe center emulators were used to tether the objects to the motions of where it was, rather than the motions of the real universe.
The scientists arrived as the planet had the technology to make the mass objects larger than they could ever make. There were a number of applications for such masses. Moving the emulator, about the size of a computer monitor, takes little energy. Attach the mass to a bog ship and the power of a single man ship could move a mountain massed star ship with ease. Of course, the mass has to be big enough. the mass can pull only a limited amount of extra mass with it. Luckily, it is far more than the mass itself. Efficient interstellar travel.
With the galactic center emulators in hand, the scientists arrived to the planet's research centers. They were not shown the technology to make the units, but traded the technology to make the mass for making of the masses.
The locals were worried about transporting the mass. The scientists made them understand that without the galactic center emulators, the masses were uncontrolled weapons. The scientists chose not to show how to make the emulators.
The technology to create the masses gave the locals technology to do other kinds of research, gaining them half a century on their normal development. A trade. manufacturing cheep interstellar travel in exchange of new technologies.
The locals were surprised at hoe easy it was to move the mass around. The masses, which were thousands of tons, were moved easily by the galactic center emulators. by moving a control, the object could be tipped up, and down, gain or lose distance, however the emulator was pointed, that was where the object would be. There was even a setting where the emulator could be turned all around in all directions and the object would not swing around, just stay there until the emulator was moved more than a few feet.
These control settings made transportation easy. They set the mass to follow the emulator with a few feet of give, and tow the mass along like it was on a trailer. the mass interacted with the fabric of space, not with any mass within the fabric.
They had a mass of a million tons. Since the mass was not gravitational, there was no effect on anything around it. People could even touch it, handle it. it would not move no matter how much they shoved on it. the scientist transporting it, took the emulator and, after changing the settings, set the emulator onto a cart. Locked down, he then pulled on the cart with one little finger. the mass followed.
the mass was pulled over to a pickup truck. the tail gate was out down. By adjusting the controls, they were able to put the emulator in the middle seat belt in the cab, then maneuver the mass into the back of the truck. They even put about five hundred pounds of force on the bed to make it look like it was actually carrying a mass.
The tail gate was closed and they were able to leave. The scientist in the passenger seat and the native driving, they headed across town.
They stopped at a light. A big truck carrying a full load, came up on them. it was not stopping. Both in the pickup truck cringed. It was all they had time to do.
the big truck impacted. the space behind the mass compressed, folded up in an instant. The mass, between them and the truck, did not move. the rest of the truck moved only a little. The emulator strained against the constraints.
The big truck stopped instantly and folded like an accordion. Smoke, steam and debris flew all over everywhere. They sat there for along moment, until the last sounds stopped. When the two in the pickup truck looked back, they were shocked at how crumpled the big truck was. They got out. There were no survivors in the truck. They examined the pickup truck. the wheel wells were badly rippled. The truck might not be in line any more, the frame might be bent, but it looked like it might drive.
Police arrived and when the investigation was done, they were told that they can try to drive off. they started moving. Somehow, the two trucks were not tangled up with each other.
the truck was in bad shape, but they delivered the mass to the ship and the ship launched with the mass, easily.
it turned out that a group thought they would stop the shipment of the mass, which they thought was dangerous as it could run off, uncontrolled. The loss of the truck against the mass shook them up. that was not what they expected to happen.
the masses were shipped out regularly and safely. The scientists learned that there was some bleed of the energy from the emulators and that kept the truck from moving far too from the impact, which should have sent the emulator through the back of the cab because of the acceleration of the truck from the impact. The energies held the truck in place.

27 )
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It is popular to have pictures of people with their mouth open to show that they are having fun, like they are excitedly saying "wow!" There are times when I get in the mood where those pictures bother me. I finally figured out a story idea that uses those pictures in a bothersome way.
Picture seeing lions roaring, their fangs and deadly teeth showing, like they are about to bite on something. If you had a race like that, that looked like they were about to kill, one might not want to meet them.
The population disappeared from the face of the earth. An energy field experiment went wrong. it sucked all life right off the surface of the planet. All that is left are some microbes.
The cities, towns, ships, air planes sit, untended, weathering, slowly being buried by dust and sand. There were fires in cities and towns from stoves not turned off, fires allowed to burn, factories not guided. Systems then shut down and now the cities lay vacant, no sign of what used them.
Aliens had detected some strange effect around a almost unseen star, and sent explorers to find out the cause of the effect they detected.
These aliens were based on a jawless creature, like a sucker fish. The dominant creatures on their planets also had no jaws or teeth. They had no concept of something that would actually bite down on something and slice off flesh.
They arrive at the planet. Their sensors detect the cities, but no energy being released. The planet reads dead. There is not even a sign of land life.
They orbited for a couple months, then sent their ships down to the planet at various places. They found remains of cities all over the world. Most cities were burned relics, but some areas survived as they were.
They were surprised at how advanced the race was. They had full transportation systems, indoor plumbing, a form of power, even some recording equipment, though they could not get anything to work.
Searching in some locations, they finally found images of the creatures that created the cities and towns. Most of the images they found, had dangerous, sharp-looking plates in gaping jaws
They saw the creatures everywhere. They were shocked and disgusted when they actually found pictures of these creatures feeding, those sharp plates in their gaping mouths, slicing into some form of flesh.
They then found grave yards and did a little bit of excavation. those were frightening creatures they found traces of.
Many of the aliens got sick at the view of those scenes.
Searching the planet elsewhere, they found a strange crater that had some radiation coming from it.
They explored it from the rim of the crater. It took a little bit but they determined that it had all the signs of a particle field experiment that went wrong. An opening to some other universe was the cause of their demise.
They finally leave the planet. just as well that such horrible species be destroyed. they would have eaten the entire universe with such deadly fangs they had.

28 )
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They were trapped, unable to escape. They had food and water, and waste removal facilities, but nothing else.
They received "treatment" or "damage" and have lost their memories. they remember everything when they are awake, but when they go to sleep, they forget everything and have to re-learn it all over again.
Things they learned and are ingrained in them, they continue to remember. They have a well developed language and are all college educated. they just cannot remember anything that was not training.
For a long time, no one knows how long, they would all go to sleep at the same time, and wake with no memory of anything before them. One night, one woman was not sleepy and stayed awake. In the morning, when the others woke, she told them everything she remembered about the previous day. There were skills they had to learn each day and she showed them the skills in a few minutes.
After that, they had a guard to stay awake all night, That worked until one guard fell asleep during the night. They were lucky that a second person had not gone to sleep and saw the guard fall asleep, so that person stayed awake all night to remember what the guard forgot.
After that, the entire population started sleeping in shifts all day long. Only a fifth of the population was asleep at any one time as the rest were awake and working. There was overlap of the people sleeping and waking, and everybody trained the rest, brought them up to speed as to what was going on and what was learned.
Slowly, they learned new techniques, and actually developed some technologies. They started taking some of their waste products to write instructions on the walls and they remembered how to read them. That developed the practice to walk along the walls, read all the notes that applied to them, then get to work.
By exercising their memories, more things were remembered when they woke as it was becoming trained into them. That helped them advance in their learning, spending a tiny bit less time in gaining their knowledge.
They also found something in certain parts of their foods were effecting them. A few people who did not like those things, did better than others. They found a way to start fires and started burning the foods that were bad for them, and then learned that cooking destroyed other things that were bad in their foods.
A couple years pass, but they finally figure out how to escape their imprisonment, which was designed for people with no memories. With their memories, they escape their prison.
Outside the prison, they find foods that are clean. They never regain full memory, but their memories last deeper into sleep. Instead of forgetting everything immediately, they retain some of their memory after a few hours. With that, they start sleeping only three hours at a time, relearn some, then sleep another three hours.
They find a place away from the place they were trapped, to live out their natural lives in something that resembled something normal. They have children which are not effected, and they grow up to help their parents in their last years.