March 2011 Writing Ideas
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There is no way I can write 365+ publishable stories in a year, let alone one publishable story. Last year, I started on 6 stories last year and wrote "the end" on four of them. I submitted one to a magazine and another is being edited to finished quality.
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 Fourteenth 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 )
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I listened to some birds singing. This popped into my mind.
Gierheart had a curse. He had a bad reaction to angry words. He almost felt it as physical assaults. He avoided anybody who spoke angry at him. It really bothered him. He could get sick if someone was really angry at him. He never used the language himself as he hated it so much.
Once in a while he would have to drive through the Ghetto. The people there were cussing and yelling at each other each time he passed. It was all he could do to keep driving as the angriness of the conversations battered him horribly. One time a street man noticed how he reacted and laid into him with full angry abuse. He did not know how he got out of there. He seamed to remember car tires skidding. He seamed to have driven through a number of red lights, almost getting into an accident several times.
One day, he was "blessed" with the ability to understand the language of animals. He could not talk to them, but could understand them. At first he thought it would be wonderful. He would hear the love songs, the animals having intelligent discussions, Not the angry language of the streets.
It was weeks before he had the opportunity to get out into the wild. He came to a park and lawnmowers were running, drowning out the animal sounds. Gierheart got himself all comfortable and relaxed and he waited. When the workmen left, he was all alone with the animals and birds. They were silent at first, then they started talking.
Tweeting birds overhead sent Gierheart reeling, They were using language at each other that would make the street people blush. Dozens of kinds of birds, each speaking their own language, shouting nothing but obscenities at each other.
It was all he could do to keep from retching. He slowly rolled out of his chair and fell to the ground. He was really sick. He has no idea how he did it but he somehow gathered his stuff and got into his car. He cranked up the radio and slowly recovered.
He found himself in the middle of the ghetto and one of the street people came over cussing his head off, sending out insults like mad. Gierheart got angry, He remembered the words the birds used, and he lit out at the street person, using those insults back. While he was shouting back at the man, He got out of the car and faced him. He felt a release. The man he was cursing at backed down at the insults he was using. Gierheart felt powerful, invincible. The man left him before he finished the words the sparrows had used and he had not used any other bird language. It was enough.
He heard other curse words as he drove and it did not bother him. The next day, he drove through the ghetto and the same man was shouting at him. Gierheart just looked at the man and he shut up, "sorry sir, I did not mean it to be you."
Gierheart drove off and realized that he did not react to the curses. Over time, he started yelling back when yelled at. He stopped being battered into a fetal position by angriness. Later he went to the park and just heard birds singing. He realized he lost his gift, and broke his curse.

02 )
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The police tried for nearly two years to catch their suspect in the act. They could not keep their people on the scene long enough. Essentially any movement warned their suspect of their presence.
Gobart was a police robot. He had been at use at several police stations around the country. For a police robot, he was brilliant. As a police officer, he was acceptable.
One day he was placed in the detective department. He drove some detectives around. Police robots are instantly recognizable so they cannot be used in undercover work.
The battery power of the police robots are limited and there are regular cases where the robots run out of power on the job. It is also common for robot police to sit in a police car for weeks before the station can get someone over to pick them up.
Gobart's detective is put on stake-out duty. Gobart stops to fuel up, topping off the tank, then drives to the location and parks. He got out and stuck a transponder on the car and got back into his police car. He plugs himself into the car system and works the keyboard for about half an hour.
"What are you doing?
"I am setting the car to share power with me."
"Is that really necessary?
"It will help."
After about twelve hours, the detective had to be going. Gobart said he would stay on watch.
The detective went home, and then stopped at work where he was put onto an emergency case. Gobart stayed in the car. The car's batteries slowly wore down due to the electronics running. Gobart fed power to the system. When his power started getting low, he started the engine until he and the car was fully charged, then would shut the engine off and feed off the batteries.
The detective knew Gobart was on stake out and he just had to get there to relieve him. He presumed that Gobart would follow the stake out orders until he ran out of power. He was on the other side of the city and there was no way for him or anybody else to get there.
A week had passed. Gobart was ready to shut the engine off as he and the batteries were near full charge.
Their suspect showed up, watching, checking a device in his hand. Gobart just watched, analyzing, recording, classifying data.
The suspect got into a car and started driving. Gobart slowly pulled out and followed at a distance. He wondered how to tell that he was on the road. He then passed a police car going the other way so he sent out a signal giving data. The other police car might be suspected of the signal.
As he went, he sent out signals when he calculated that the suspect might not be sure it is him. the transponder he had placed on the car sent out a signal when it passed certain points on the highway. It was quite innocent. He just followed the signal several blocks away.
He started timing his send with the signal the suspect sent out. It would confuse the suspect a little bit.
The detective pulled his team off their project and they headed to intercept the suspect. They were already operating on a form of radio silence so they were able to get into position with limited communications.
Gobart knows the suspect is coming into a trap. He speeds up a little and cuts the distance. He sees he is running low on fuel. Sitting and running the engine ate a lot of fuel.
The detectives move out to stop the suspect. Gobart pulls to a stop and blocks the road a block away. He is fully charged but the car is just about out of fuel. He gets out and walks down the block a short up the road.
The suspect skids to a stop at the detectives blocking his way, he kicks the car into reverse, then spins around so he is driving forward. He drives past the robot officer and then skids to a stop when he sees he cannot get around the squad car.
Gobart walks over, waves his police key over the lock and pulls the door open. The suspect tries to escape but Gobart grabs his arm and holds it tight. He then freezes, like he ran out of power. The helpless man struggles, his arm trapped in the tight grip.
The detectives run up. "Oh Dear, the robot ran out of power when he grabbed you." he says.
"I knew I would run him out of energy, I just did not expect it to be when he grabbed me."
They put the cuff on him. The detective discuss how to get Gobart moving again so he can release the grip. His detective gives the statement of rights and tells the man he is under arrest. The man says something quite incriminating, figuring that without the robot operating, they would have some difficulty proving it. Gobart then "wakes" and releases the man. He plays the recording of the man and his words, including the exact notice of rights.
The man is taken away, in total shocked that he was tricked by the robot. The detective gets in with Gobart and Gobart stops for fuel, plugs himself in and then drives to where the detective had been all week. Being gone for a short time, their suspects started operating, getting ready to leave. the detectives come in fast and catch all of the suspects with their evidence.
It is later found that the two stake outs were interrelated. their first suspect on the move was why the group chose that time to be ready to move out.
They were all caught because Gobart was a mighty smart robot.

03 )
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He was not from there. He had seen that the land had a thin sheet of water and the people lived in homes raised up on pilings. He also saw that cars drove on the roads kicking up "rooster tails" water sprayed up directly behind the for a distance.
He had seen many cars splashing water before and they usually kicked water to the side. to have the water go behind them was rather interesting. He also noted that they were not going as fast as such a rooster tail would expect.
He got into his landing pod. It was very much like a minivan in size and shape. It could float on water and drive on land, along with flying in an atmosphere or in space. It could also go under water but was not really effective in such a thick substance.
He came down to the planet and landed out at the edge of civilization on a two lane road. He sprayed water all over the place until he came to a stop. He sat for a short time, letting the heat dissipate from the entry and the steam die down, before he started driving. The water was lapping at his floor boards but he was driving on his tires.
He was not getting a rooster tail like what he saw when he studied the planet. He wondered how they were designed to get that.
He gets into traffic and keeps his distance. He sees that people are looking at him, but there is not much he can do about that until he can understand the propulsion system they were using.
He found his turn off onto a side road. He turned early, figuring some wash of water from the rooster tail of a car would not do any harm. He hit the rooster tail and it felt like he broadsided a car. The car he hit spun around, the rooster tail swinging around.
He sits there, wondering what happened, then saw that the rooster tail was there even when the car he hit was not moving. He then saw it was a bunch of fine clear wires, the ends move up and down, forward and back, the motion moves the cars along.
A police car pulled up. He heard "That idiot spun me around.
He realized that he was not licenced to drive here, his vehicle was not registered, he was here illegally. He flipped several switches and as the officer turned and took a step toward hi, He lifted off the ground and flew into the air.
His systems said that his car was not damaged enough to worry about space. he returned to his ship and told the computer to leave orbit and get out of there.
By the time he was back in his cabin, he was out of their jurisdiction
How was he to know that their propulsion was not water spraying out? He put that bit of information up in public record. he headed off to a different place of equal interest.

04 )
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The news was such that there was no delay in when the reporters get information and when it is broadcast. The people know what is going on within seconds and the information is in depth.
One problem with the news system is that there are no public secrets. This helps to keep government people honest as if they try something, it will be known as it is going down.
The news does try to keep private people out of the news as much as possible. It is not easy and if there is some event, the private people will be in the news.
The police have a love hate relationship with this system. They love to have their people watching the news and can get cruisers to a problem sight within minutes, many times solving problems before they start.
They hate the news because the location of every one of their cruisers are known at all times. When a crime goes down, the news has the location of the suspect and the cruisers highlighted.
A watching the news, decides the time is right. One police car is not in the right position, but he doubts he will get a better chance. He goes into a store and pulls a gun. The cashier hands over the money and the man runs out to his car. the news knows instantly that the robbery has gone down and his location is known.
He drives out of the parking lot, watching the news. He knows where all the police cars are and heads to a big gap in them. The police, knowing where he is and where they are, rush to close the gap.
he turns to stay in the center of the gap as the police cars converge. The police try to get their cars where needed in response to his moves.
It becomes a rabbit-wolf pack game, if the police can block all the roads, they can converge on their suspect and arrest him. If he can get outside the ring of cops, he can get outside the city and their jurisdiction. He can return later and he is just another car coming into town. The news will have lost track of him.
It is best if he can get by without actually being seen, as that will improve his chances of escaping without the police knowing who he is. The news shows no details of his vehicle, just where he is.
It comes down to whether that police car that was out of position can get into a spot to block him.

05 )
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Being a president is something that everybody dreams of becoming. It is very difficult. Few actually try.
To become president, one must battle for the right. One travels between the states and battle each other before the people. After all the state battles are done, the winner becomes president, master of the country for four years. One then has to go through the battles again. Many presidents fail in their second attempt and few ever last longer than two terms. The battles alone sap their abilities to fight again. Then being president is hard on the person.
There are advantages to being the president which is why people want to have that power. Most consider it well worth the effort and loss of capabilities to have the power.
When I came up with this concept, I was thinking strictly about boxing or martial arts combat, but decided that magic has to be involved. It will do more damage than simply punching each other out would do. There would be that too. Once one is president, one has access to other magical powers that one must control and may wield.
Thinking about it, some of the battle is as tests provided by the different states to make sure the candidates can handle the forces they will deal with.
People's belief in the person helps dramatically as they will chant, giving him extra energies and power. A really popular candidate will pass the tests without using any of their own energies so they can fight rested. Candidates not popular will be wore out just by the tests.
Sandolf spent time fighting, and was near champion for his league. He did well in magical school, learning more about management of magic than the wielding of magic. He ran a business that was almost like herding cats, and became mayor of a city. Mayor, governor, president, all use the same powers, but at different levels.
As mayor, he saw things getting bad and worked out strategies to keep the powers under control. No one knew that he was being tested as badly as the president was, because he was well ahead of the powers at work. He won several elections because he was in tune with the powers. The election tests were tougher than the presidential tests, but were nowhere near as tough as the job was at the time. None of the other candidates were up to the tests.
He was the only one who knew what he was up against. If he gave up or lost an election, the city would have been in serious hurt. He brought the powers under control to where anybody could handle it. That was when he decided to run for president.
No one knew who he was or really cared. He entered the first state's competition. He passed the tests with no apparent effort. That caught the people's attention. He then faced down the candidates. He looked at this as dealing with the forces of his city. The candidates were on sort of a ride where each platform moved in different directions so that each candidate had a chance to face all the others several times. One dealt with the candidate facing you.
The platforms started far apart then came together, touching as they pass, then go far apart, then go to the next candidate. One could not fall off. by the time the last candidates meet, they are wore out and there is an unquestioned winner.
They were all masters of their arts, all had the people backing them. Sandolf was still on his own. He treated this like he was still a mayor, rather than matching against a challenger. It made a big difference in the match. One used less power to handle the powers than fighting someone. One also used more finesse. The net result was he diffused their magic until they were close and then he used his fighting experience to batter them until they were out of reach. He then would use his magic to mess with them so that everybody thought he seriously defeated the opponent. At the end of the match, he was the least beaten up and most energetic. He won.
Each state he used the same tactic. He had a few new candidates to deal with, a few dropped out. In spite no one backing him, he won each match.
It was not until the last couple states that he felt the power of people chanting for him when the did the test. It was heady. He became the president. He went to the capitol and took on the powers of the office from his predecessor who chose not to do the job any more. He was given the weakest loads first. when the president gave up the last piece of the power, and the forces against it, Sandolf saw he was dealing with stronger forces than he did when he was mayor, but they were more predictable. That took a whole lot less energy to control.
He used the same tactics to handle the power and he wielded his powers carefully. There were points of problems that many presidents tried to deal with. He instead left those problems to the experts within their states. He would direct them as to what the actual problem was, but then let them handle it. He made things easier where the forces he should deal with was best. The nation stopped a decline it had for generations.
When the next election came, Sandolf went through the tests and combat about as well as he did before. He had experience in it and knew a few new tricks, he had a following now, but he was handling the forces of the nation at the same time so he could not concentrate completely on the competition. He won again.
People were positive he was not really as powerful as he seamed. He did not do great things with his powers. He seamed to sit in office. Presidents are classified by the great things he did. He continued to manage the powers rather than actually control them. It was easier than running the city. He did not over extend himself which would have weakened him.
A new election came up and he ran for office which was a shock. There were several brilliant people running, many were governors who had proved themselves. To the shock of everybody Sandolf won again. He did not have the followers he had in his second election. they all expected him to be wore out, used up. He was as fresh as his first run for office.
Back in office, he worked the same way, managing power rather than wielding it. It would be decades before he finally retired from office. He beat candidates that were far better than he was, simply because he handled them like the forces he managed in office.
When he retired, he was still in excellent condition and lived a long time after that. The people learned how good he was by how poorly his successors did.

06 )
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An advertizement for a job finding service on line, had a guy saying, "That was the largest add I had ever seen. The only thing not in it was the salary." "The first year you make nothing. We have to pay for the add someway." "Where do I sleep, what do I eat? "You sleep in the conference room and used the second floor bath. There are lots of cans in the cafeteria."
The advertisement were known as 'sucker nets' as they netted suckers into what amounted to slavery. One would apply for the job and be shipped across space. One then finds out that there is no money the first year and if one did not spend any money, it would take five years to earn enough to get a ticket back home, Of course, one could not live on nothing for longer than a year because they would require you to get a room in the company barracks, and their prices are set high and the same with supplies. One ends up having to work a minimum of twenty years to gain one's freedom.
These sucker nets are immoral, but are not illegal because if someone wealthy took the job, the company could not stop them from leaving. Even little companies got out of problems as there was an entire legal industry protecting any business that used such tactics and they never lost. It also helped that the lawmakers tended to come from their ranks and the judges was a common step up from being that type of lawyer.
There had been many attempts to trap companies by using secret agents but they tended to get into some document trap where they signed something that was not seen by their lawyers. Usually, though, If one answered such an add, one had to take one's chances.
Of course, there is hundreds of other jobs one can answer to by the same kind of add that one can become quite wealthy. They use such adds to get people who are willing to take chances and are willing to bet all to become rich.
The wording of the add is not a sign of which type it is. They sometimes use the same adds for different jobs. There is no way to know what one gets.
A story might be of someone who inherited a small ship and uses that to go to the job. At first they thought he arrived on a passenger ship they hired, but then find out he came on his own dime. it creates a number of problems for everybody. Their people are caught in their scam. they try to hold him but he has his ship which gives him an easy escape. The lawyers for those who are trying to stop the scams get involved in unison on the case.
He ends up being a seed for making such scams more difficult to get by with.

07 )
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Planetary defenses had been in existence for over two centuries. It was under continuous upgrading the entire time.
Practical Interstellar travel became available late first century. Early second century, there were battles with some aliens. One planet changed hands several times. The last signals were that the colonists had taken the planet back for good.
Mid century, designs for a new planetary defense system was coming from the planet. It was brilliant and the home government accepted it wholeheartedly. They immediately started building the new system based on the designs that kept coming in. Even the programs were included that looked like it was genius.
There were those in the military that did not trust the new system. They could not find where the problem was. Instead of dismantling the old system, they simply left it to sit, waiting.
Eventually, the new system was on line. One nature of the new system was that it could never interact with the old system. It was assumed that the old system would have been completely removed.
Another feature of the new system was that it had to control every weapon on the planet. Those who did not like the new system simply left the impression that entire sections of the old system did not exist so they did not have to tie into the new computer.
Inspections of the entire planet said that the whole planet was on the new system. It controlled the entire planetary defenses. Ten years later, remote sensors detected something but since there was this perfect new planetary defense in place, they were not worried about being vigilant. No need for it. the computer system would do the job.
Aliens suddenly appeared outside the planet and they attacked the space defenses. The politicians ordered the military to defend the planet. The military went over the system and found there was one little weakness to the system. There was no ON button for activating the attack. They found they could not disable the system to take control over even one weapon. The planet was completely defenseless.
The aliens were almost done eliminating all space defenses. The politicians were in a panic, the military establishment were hunting through every system and every program to find a way to get the system to fight.
One officer who early on said he did not trust the system. He had shut up quickly after he was berated over being stuck in the old days. He was near retirement. He and a few others had put together a program and they used military systems to take control over all communications. They broadcasted the words of the proponents of the new system. he then said he was following the orders given to him.
Suddenly the air was filled with defensive weapons. The aliens, rushed right into the rounds, and were caught off guard. It was still a royal battle and it looked like the defenses would run out of ammo before the aliens could be stopped.
Many of the weaponry shut down, out of ammo, before the last aliens turned and ran. Space forces from other areas caught the aliens on the way back home, leaving no survivors to go home to tell what happened.
The military that had saved the old system had a little secret. Those studying the new system found that if the new system was ever shut down, it would launch everything and destroy the planet. The secret the old system was that a few codes were added to the system. They sent the commands. The whole system shut down within a minute.
The new system was completely dismantled and the old system was built to replace it. Studying the codes and systems, they learned a lot about the alien technologies. they did incorporate some of that technology to the rebuilt system, but they knew exactly what each thing did.
Defensive forces went to the colony that gave the systems and it was found to be an alien colony. There were some human colonists there but they were slaves serving the aliens. It was all an alien plan to destroy the home world. When the battles were over, the aliens were removed from the planet and space and several other colonies were cleared of aliens. The alien war would go on for some time, but they would never reach the colonies.

08 )
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Miquile was under medical care for a psychological problem. He was under judicial orders to be on the medicine and while he did not like the medicine, when he was off it, he knew he needed it and would work to get back onto it.
This medicine was expensive, and bordered on being illegal because of the potency and side effects. Nothing else worked for him, though.
One day, his supply of medicine did not come in as scheduled. He contacted the supplier and was told he was being taken off of it. He asked who he could talk to and they said he should try his doctor.
He made some phone calls and could not get anywhere. He finally ran out of his drugs and started the withdrawal process. It bothered him that he could not have his drugs. He went to the doctor's office. His old doctor had retired and a new doctor was there. He got into the doctor and the doctor told him that the drug was unavailable and the doctor would never give it to him anyway.
He left the doctor in a condition that a hospital would have to treat. He was now angry.
Miquile went to the court house and located the judge that put him on the medicine. The judge's face went white on seeing him and nearly fainted when he heard his problem. There was nothing he could do about it. The judge needed hospitalization when Miquile left.
Miquile problem was that when he was off his medicine, he got the desire to get revenge. It did not matter what it was. He got revenge on anybody involved.
he checked the supplier for any sign of the drug and left the place burning when he could not get any.
he finally goes to the legislature that passed the law. He left some badly broken guards and kidnaped a bunch of the politicians. On threat of killing them, he made them write a law that allowed him to have access to the drug, even if it is not available to anybody else. He made sure the one that had passed the ban in the first place, was going to vote properly. It only took one hand to place the vote.
The legislature passed the law and it was sent to the executive branch. He sent a message that he was watching. They knew what he was capable of and it was signed into law.
A medical person arrived and gave him his medicine. A few hours later, he let them take him out of the building as he calmed down enough.
By the time he got home he was his normal calm self. He went back to work and his medicines came in on time every time.
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If he were not a person but something else, then he could be invulnerable to being harmed by the government. A monster, or demi god, or an alien. He could be something they are not about to mess with, or cannot mess with where the medicine is the best way to keep him from devastating things in his desire for revenge.

09 )
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I hear advertisements for learning tapes that will teach you any language very quickly, naturally, and easily. I decided I could not let such an advertizement go without my unique treatment of it.
There was a need for learning languages. Hundreds of methods were in use, but none were really effective. One day, advertisements came out for a new system that guarantees that one will learn a language, any language. it was expensive, but the offer was such that was too good to be true.
Vanderbrogon was not going to learn any language. He felt his brain was not able to handle it and he figured anybody can learn his language instead.
One birthday, he was given that language system advertized. He got other gifts that were desirable. He tossed the language system to the side, not interested in it.
Months later, his company was on strike and the company was threatening layoffs. He was told that if he learned some languages, he would be more useful to the company. He had sprained his leg so he was stuck at home anyway. He could not walk around offices in his condition so he was home anyway.
Sitting at home, He ran across the language system and opened the package. It suggested that it is best run when you have plenty of time, like a weekend or more. He knew he had a couple weeks off.
This is easy to work with if I am dealing with a world of magic. It is a bit tougher if it is using a technological world. I will try to do it with technology and see how it goes. Magic can do it with greater simplicity.
The package said to place the head set on, with the screens down over the face. Sit relaxed and turn the system on.
The head set was heavy almost unbalanced, and had wires connected to a large box. Not having anything better to do, he followed the instructions. he then hit the on button. The screen showed the logo and then a voice told him that he was activating the language system. If he does not have an hour to give to the program, he should hold off on using it.
He keyed the continue button. Music started images of many languages scrolled. he felt a vibration and then his entire head bit like a nest of insects biting at once.
He shook his head and found himself not at home, but in a village. "There he is!" a voice called out behind him. Suddenly he was surrounded by a bunch of thugs who grabbed him. He was dragged, forced to walk down the road. He wondered how this could be because of his condition.
Other than the first words, he did not understand anything and they did not understand him. he was taken to a small building and he was forced to say words for things properly, chair, table, window door, wall, ceiling, floor, carpet.
For hours on end, he was made to say things properly. He got slaps and cuffings when he got it wrong. He soon learned how to ask for things in complete sentences.
he was taken out of the room and walked back out to where he was found. They turned him around. Suddenly he was sitting in his chair with the helmet on. He through the thing off his head and stood up, gasping.
He made an exclamation, and was shocked it was in the language he was speaking. He named each thing around him he fixed a meal, took care of some other things. curiosity got the better of him so he settled in and slipped the face mask on.
Again there was the bite of the bugs. then he was in the world again. He tried hard to carry on a conversation with the guards. they were amused and helped him a little. This time he was enthusiastic. He explored the language in full. The people helped him. He learned it fast. Soon he was in a discussion about his profession with a guest in the language. They also showed him the basics in reading the language. He picked this up fast. He even wrote in the language to the guest who helped him out when he could not find the right words.
He then found himself back in his chair. He was able to talk in the language with ease. He went on line and found the language he was speaking and worked on reading the text. This was great.
It was bed time and he decided to take the language system to bed with him. He got comfortable and turned it on.
He was in another place and he was given a new language to learn. He picked it up so fast and was transferred to another place where he was given a new language. He worked hard each time. Somehow he was becoming fluent in each language, speaking, reading and writing.
he eventually found himself in bed. he got up very slowly tired, like he had done physical labor. He got up and found he had missed a couple days. He ate cleaned up and checked the net. He located each language and was able to read them. He knew a contact in another language and it was a language he learned. He made the call and they talked for about an hour. He was pretty good in his language. His contact was really surprised.
He sat down in his easy chair and closed his eyes. he was back in the language world, learning a new language. He had no idea how that happened as he was not in the headset. He learned several more languages. He woke in surprise. He looked at the language machine and he had left it on. For some reason,
He felt his head and there were a bunch of bumps with little wires on it. Antennas, is what he deduced. Somehow the system had stuck some chips into his brain and could communicate with him through the chips, giving him the images and language training. He walked over to the machine to turn it off and he blacked out. he did feel himself getting comfortable in bed. he learned more languages, each time being forced to learn them through hard work, step by step.
He was in one world, but he knew he actually stood up and got food, cleaned up and took care of some things around the house. he was in a conversation with several dozen people and he was following their discussion, each in some language he learned. They all understood each other but he had to address what was said in their language.
More times getting up before he slipped the hood back over his head. There was some pain and disorientation, but he then fell into a true sleep. When he woke, he was well rested. He was able to get up and walk around with a minor limp. He checked his head and the bumps and wires were gone. He had missed the entire week with this system. He called and found he needed to go to work.
At work, he went about his job. A couple co-workers were talking in a foreign language, sort of practicing it. He corrected how they said something, to their shock.
since most of the people were still out because of the strike, he answered a phone that was ringing off the hook. he had a conversation with the customer who was from another country. he ended up making a sale. when he hung up, he noticed he wrote the note entirely in that language and he could read it. He finished writing the form and sent it out. He got back a signed contract from the customer.
he started answering the phone quite often and got other foreign customers. he was nearly fluent in each one.
A week went by and his bosses noticed his work. People were sending any foreign language person to him and he was making deals, making purchases, handling any language that came to him.
they finally asked him how he was able to do the languages and he said he got one of those language things. it really worked.
the weekend came and he stuck the face shield on for the language thing and it said it had an error and would not work. he checked it all over and it was useless. he later had a friend try it and it would not work for him. People had to purchase their own unit.
The company sacked two thirds of the workers. Better workers went but Vanderbrogon was kept as he suddenly became quite useful. he could talk to just about anybody and took the place of half an entire department.

10 )
.
The planet had many intelligent beasts and all were dangerous. Melvin was a big game hunter and came to the planet to hunt big game. There were a couple hundred hunters, assistants, guides, and hanger ons. It looked like an army campaign with all their equipment and weapons.
Once they left the ship, they marched into the wilderness with all their equipment. About three hours after they lost sight of their ship, a man was noticed missing. The group back tracked and found some scattered equipment. some animal got him. They turned and headed on and found the remains of a man that was at the end of the line coming back.
Near the end of the day. the group got split up into little packets. A group of five men were attacked. One killed the beast that attacked it, but not before losing the other four. Within view of the following group, he was attacked by another animal which carried him away. There were a number of shots but no one got that beast. they gathered the dead beast and carried it with them.
They had many guards around the campground when they went to bed. When they got up in the morning, they had lost three.
By the time they reached the place they were licensed to hunt, they had lost half their number. It took them twice as long as they were looking everywhere for any sign of movement and keeping track of each other.
They stashed their supplies along the trail since there was no way they could carry all of it. They carried only what they themselves needed.
They started actually hunting. It did not go well. For every kill they made, they lost two people. After three days of hunting, they decided they had better get going home. Their losses were too high.
Melvin reached a supply cache alone. A baby creature was sniffing around. He carefully approached it. It sniffed his hand. he then petted it. Soon he was leaning against the tree, petting and playing with it like a puppy. A couple more appeared and joined in the attention. It never occurred to him that he was near a nest until he heard a growl. He breathed deep, sort of setting his mind to meet his death. he then saw a dozen adult beasts appear, surrounding him. he continued to play and pet the babies.
One adult came close and sniffed him. He gently reached up, holding his hand by the muzzle, then touched the side of the head. Soon he was petting the beast all over. It licked him and kept turning different parts of its body to him. He later learned this was a female.
He picked some bugs off her and scratched some sore spots. she sort of chattered to the others.
He found himself grooming all the beasts. During a short break, he located a pack from a woman and brought out her hair care kit. The animals watched him carefully. He went to one male that was in pretty bad shape and brushed him down. He looked a lot better than he did.
Dark approached and he was brought to the den. It was just big enough for him to go in. He had not choice.
He curled up in a chamber curled up with the babies. Early morning, he was let out. He went to his equipment and cooked a meal. A bit later, the adults came back with loads of meat. he tasted some raw, and cooked some of it. It was actually better raw.
He then had to turn his attention to grooming the pack. He realized they were letting him live as long as he gave them the attention.

11 )
.
I heard that during a political event a while back, a guy in a wheel chair was beaten up. I decided to change the outcome, and then had to figure out how to make that work.
Wheel chair basketball, wheel chair marathons, wheel chair hockey are popular sports. Of course, technology such as practical prosthetics, is eliminating the need for wheel chairs for many injuries. Artificial legs allow people to compete in track and field almost on the level of regular athletes.
The people who are stuck in wheel chairs are essentially ones where the prosthetics won't work for them. Of course, they love to be active, and love to compete.
Jasper was wounded in the military. He was a martial arts teacher and was injured in a traffic accident when the truck he was in went over a cliff. He lost his legs and the movement of his lower torso, and went through extensive therapy.
One day he fell out of his chair when he leaned over to far and lifted and swung the chair around over head to a better position to get back in. He realized the chair could be a weapon. He taught martial arts so he decided to modify what he knew for his condition. He kept his chair unchanged for his work.
He got to where he could swing himself into and out of the chair, using the stubs of his legs as weapons. He wore shoe like attachments to the base of his legs to protect them when he is out of the chair, even though he walked on his hands and not with his leg stumps.
He started training others without lower torso use on how to fight effectively. Word got out and soon other fight clubs started developing, some of his students later moved to those clubs or opened their own.
After a decade of martial arts, they started having competitions that got notoriety. they were quite effective even against regular fighters.
Jasper finally retired from fighting and was working part time as a assistant trainer. He was still in excellent condition and he knew he could compete if he had to.
One day he was at a political rally and opponents to his side showed up with thugs in their midst. Jasper was very vocal about the issue and got in to an argument.
the thugs got into his face and when he would not back down, They laid into him. While Jasper was caught off guard, he blocked the worst of their punches. There were several dozen thugs around him making sure no one would get involved.
He then decided enough people saw him getting beat up. Witnesses said he uncoiled and lashed out at the thugs with such efficiency that the thugs did not know what hit them. They fought back but only one actually hit him. He spun in the air, dropped to the ground and sung the chair over his head and then used its momentum to swing himself back into the chair to take on a few others. He even leaped across distances with the chair.
None of the thugs were standing when Jasper settled in his chair and rolled away from the battle.
A reporter caught up to him later and asked what happened. At first he acted like he knew nothing about it, not wanting to get into trouble. He did say that not all handicapped people are helpless. Whoever beat them up showed them that one should be very polite unless you know who you are dealing with.

12 )
.
Evil was on the land. Evil was very frustrated as they were not gaining the souls they expected when they took over. The population developed a method to protect the souls from evil. It was so simple it was not noticed, but it did take vigilance.
Frandolf arrived in the lands. While he was a master magician, he was spending his time as a batonist. He would watch for magical and medical plants, but was just interested in different types of plants. He drew them, described them. He used his magic to capture detail images and properties for other magic users to examine. It was almost like taking a sample but one did not have to carry around plants all over the place.
In his search, he came to a grave site. he noticed that some graves were covered with some pretty flowers while others had one or two plants growing in the center. There were graves with amounts of the flowers between.
He sat down at one grave and made note of the grasses and weeds surrounding the grave site, something he always did when he sat down. A lot of plants were completely ignored, thought of as insignificant. He would use his magic as he pulled on a plant. The entire root system came out as one. He could then stick the plant back in the ground as if it were never disturbed. It was a problem when the plant sent rhizomes all over the place becoming a bunch of plants attached. He still was able to put it back the way it was. There was only a slight lingering of magic left over from his activities. That might attract magical pests to the plants, but it was not as hard on the plants as pulling them out.
A grave site proprietor came by. Frandolf explained about what he was did and why. He asked if he could study the flowers on the grave site. The proprietor did not like the idea. There were things that did not need to be known.
He took him out of the cemetery and showed him a sick looking flower in the nearby woods. This flower was a relative. It will tell him enough.
Frandolf was really curious now. Most people, once they were over dealing with a stranger, were happy to show off their plants. This person was not bothered by strangers, but bothered about the plants.
Frandolf sat down beside the flower he was shown and checked the plants around him. With just a few exceptions, most of the plants around him were the same as in the graveyard. He studied them carefully as he normally does, recording their every nature. he then turned to the flower. the first thing he found was it would not pull out by magic. It resisted his magic seeing. Touching it with magic caused a tingle and he could not describe things magically.
He drew it, wrote descriptions, looking carefully at the detail parts and drawing them. While he was doing this, he delved carefully into higher magic, more a listening magic rather than sending magic into something.
His studies did not tell him anything about the magic involved, but his training and experience did. He did not write his discovery down, and he did not voice it. He now knew why the flowers were there.
He thanked the man at the cemetery for his help. while they talked, he sensed the flowers of a nearby grave site. His suspicions were correct. He noticed that a new grave was just finished digging and they took a flower from an old grave and planted it over where the heart would be in the grave. He talked the man into giving him a flower.
Frandolf immediately headed back the way he came and did not dally on the way home.
It was only at home that he finished his study of the plant.
The flower was a Bane. It repelled evil. When the plant was laid on a grave over the heat, it sealed the soul in the body, protecting it from rampant evil in the land. As the plant spread over the grave site, It fed the trapped soul. Once the plants covered the entire grave, the soul was strong enough to leave and not be taken by evil.
Frandolf propagated the plant and soon made popular the idea of planting the bane on all grave sites to protect everybody's souls.

13 )
.
I cannot believe I have not done this story before, but I did a search of keywords and did not find them.
The prisons had a new lock system that was impossible to break out of. The locks had no wires running to them, no electricity. They had integral nuclear batteries that were sealed within the impervious material the doors and hatches were made of.
The way the locks worked, was sonic tones were sent out and the doors would open and close, and would lock all on their own. Being totally integral, prisoners could do nothing to them. there had been imaginative break outs before when aliens and travelers combined their skills.
Now the prison was solid blocks of an impervious material with nothing else. Escape was impossible. the prisoners could have all sorts of tools and equipment, explore all types of activities, with the full knowledge that escape was impossible.
A new type of music became popular among the worlds. The best description was that it raised the hair on the back of your neck. It carried a simple tune, melody that was laid over strange sounds and effects in a pleasing manner.
There were vague reports, not substantiated, that here and there some lock was found open after the use of the music, but like anything, operator error was more likely the cause.
The music arrived in the prison system. Music of all kinds were pumped into the system, no style of song played more than twice in any week. The music was constant which drowned out the noises and talk of the prisoners. The security filtered out the music and listened to any discussion.
One day, the music played in one of the prisons. Several hours later, a dozen prisoners nearly escaped. the only thing that stopped them was the retractable bridge to the outside world was not out. No one knew how they got that far. Even recordings showed nothing.
At another prison, two of the songs played in sequence. Nearly a hundred prisoners were stuck at the outer gate. They could not figure out how that did not open.
Prison after prison, there were breakouts. each one were lucky that some final piece of security worked when nothing else did. Two had all out battles with the guards. The guards always won.
A high security official was on vacation on a planet and was listening to a station that played that music exclusively. He had it playing loud. He locked a door and then tested it and it was unlocked. He tried it again and it unlocked. this time he heard the click. He turned the music down, locked the door. It was solid. He turned the music up and caught the click. It was unlocked.
He then heard the Disk Jockey say that "you are listening to music that sets you free."
When he got to a communication center, he told his people to check the effect of the music on the sonic locks.
Immediately the music was pulled from even the history of the prison music. there was no record of it.
Because of the equipment that the prisoners could make, there was a chance they recorded the music. Prison after prison, cell block after cell block, they changed the locks. They were still sonic, but a completely different type. there was no way they would be triggered by the existing music or by just about anything that the prisoners could make.
Quickly, the style of music lost favor, far faster than any other music had. It was figured out that someone had gotten the sonic pattern of the prison locks and included them in the music. The ones who might be involved were taken in for questioning. A few did not return.
They now tested any song on the locking systems before they went into the music play. No longer would 'music to set you free' be played in the prison systems.

14 )
.
Gilroy ran out of his drugs and it would be a bit for more to be shipped. While playing outside, He noticed a boy his age out by the edge of the yard. It took a couple days for him to get the courage to go over and introduce himself. The boy was strange, but interesting. They talked together a couple days but they stayed on their own side of the hedge.
A shipment arrived and Gilroy got his medicine. The next time he was outside, he could not find his friend. He was a little disappointed that he could not show his new toys, but since he had new toys, he was happy.
Time passed and Gilroy ran out of meds again. After a period of time, he saw his friend. It was just a few days when the meds came in and his friend was gone again. This happened several times. Gilroy had no idea why. To him, his friend would come and go unexplained.
The shipping company went on strike just before a shipment was supposed to come. Gilroy medicines ran out.
His friend showed up and, being a little older, Gilroy was allowed to run around outside the yard. He and his friend went as far as the edge of the forest in their play.
Gilroy finally asks where his friend always went. The friend tells him that he was always there, but Gilroy never saw him at times. he asked Gilroy what might have changed. Gilroy says that shipments did not come in and he ran out of his medicine.
The boy tells him that he must take his medicine. It is protection against other things. It also keeps Gilroy from seeing him.
I figure Gilroy has some powers and there are entities that would love to gain control of them. The drugs suppress the powers so he can have a normal life. The boy is one of the entities but is protecting Gilroy for himself. He might age as effects of Gilroy's drugs wear off. It is only when he becomes a bearded old man that it will take control of Gilroy's powers.

15 )
.
Why did the Police arrest the Hamburger? They wanted to grill him at the station.
The high lords took over the colony. The colony put up a valiant fight but was no match to the high technology the high lords used.
After taking over, the high lords found that the colonists tasted like animals they used as cattle. Since the colonists were "semi intelligent," they were allowed to live and work as they always did. Some were taken to be farmed, becoming breeding stock to produce much more food for the high lords.
The high lords figured out the legal system of the colonists, so they took over the criminal justice system and anybody convicted of a crime became food for the high lords, usually the police and legal people. It did not take long for just about anybody charged with a crime to be guilty.
The high lords learned slang of the colonists and added their own. The high lords made full use of the slang, but used it in a different way than the colonists did.
One thing they did was to give different kinds of people slang terms. Old men were steaks, young men were ribs, young women were chicken while old women were turkeys. Young middle aged men were hamburger, old middle aged men were pork.
A young man who was yelling at people parked in front of his home refused to be quiet. A police car arrived and the high lord officer got out. "Hamburger, If you don't be quite, I will have to take you in."
The man refused to stop shouting. the officer arrested the man. saying he will be questioned. No one liked to see this happen, but the man was out of his mind.
One old person came on the scene as the man was put into the car. "Why did they arrest the hamburger?"
"Because they want to grill him at the station."
The old person flinched. "Sad to hear that. He used to be a good boy."

16 )
.
Change the spelling of one word of a phrase and one ends up with a story idea.
People were extremely wealthy, and all had more money than they needed. Banks existed. they could not give any interest to anybody's money. No one needed loans as they did not need money. The banks were essentially free money storage places. They charged fees for their use but that was just at cost, just enough to keep their doors open. The people did not care, they had more money than they really needed.
There was a big banking convention at a big hotel. One hotel customer was walking through the convention center and was being bothered by his ex wife who wanted to get back with him. He kept telling her to go away, to leave. He finally shouted out, "leave me alone!"
Suddenly banking executives surrounded him, trying to push papers at him. He was caught off guard and was quite confused as to what they were saying.
He shouted out for silence and everybody went quite. he then pointed to one of them and asked what was going on.
Banker, in a kindly voice, said he was trying to do what he was instructed. He was trying to give him a loan.
"why would you give me a lone? what Instructions did I give?
"You shouted out give me a loan, and that is what we are trying to do."
The bankers started telling him their offers, interest rate, payment rate and so on. It crossed his mind that while he had more money than he needed, he could do some real projects and make even more.
he made his ex wife co-sign the loans and by the time they got home, he had made contacts to do the projects he was after.
He got the projects done, and got paying customers for them, and paid off the loans, others started doing the same thing, not because they were needed or that they needed the money, but it was something they could not do with their money alone. Everybody else started getting interest payments for the money used. Everybody seemed quite happy after that, especially the banks.

17 )
.
The revolt hamstrung the power of the government. Secret forces of the government still existed, all the systems still remained, It no longer had the force of law and now had to compete with other systems on a level playing field.
The government only could gain control by having people come to them. and agree to follow the rules it set up.
To get people to join the government, the government produced advertisement that were among the best in the business. One had to go fairly deep into the system after clicking on an advertizement before one became committed. Generally, the government provided a whole list of questions that would show that the person really wanted the government to be in control. It gave a final question where there would be no question of what one was agreeing to, "do you want the government to take control over your life? If the person answered yes, the government would then send out a take-over program to gain control over the person's computer.
It did not take long for about ten percent of the population to get drawn into the government take-over system.
Many people realized they made a mistake, so they would get a new computer. they also had to get a new on-line identity to escape the take-over program. More than enough people learned that just replacing the computer did not solve the problem.
Computer companies had fun purifying the computers of the take-over programs. One had to do several security formats to clear the computer.
It had become a real game. Most servers had log on instructions one could not avoid that said "do not click on any DOT GOV links, no matter how good they look." The servers have fines and penalties that they will assess if it happens, because many are just at the edge of being taken over by the government.
It was a tough challenge to keep especially kids from clicking on the links.
One server company was old and they figured out that all they needed was one more and they would lose control. In a discussion over what to do, someone asked if it was legal to block the DOT GOV sites entirely.
It was decided to do it and let the lawyers fight it out until it was decided.
the next day, boxes with Exes appeared on screens wherever the people using the server went. Any web site on the server had the same thing. Quickly, many web sites complained as that was their main source of income. The server told them they can move their site with no problems. None did.
The Government filed a complaint about unfair practices. The server lawyers asked for the specific law and then waited. The server had pointed out that they have the right to block any sight that was dangerous to the server system and the government had to prove that they were not dangerous by definition. They pointed out that the take-over programs fit the definition of being a virus. The filing stalled.
Other servers looked at the case. A couple others that were near the very edge, finally took the same tact, blocking any dot gov sites.
the government saw they had a problem and used their law teams to challenge them. They got documentation from the first server and filed them.
After several dozen servers blocked the government sites, One server tried a different tact. They blocked any server that did not have a block. They were not blocking the government, just blocking dangerous sites.
A fairly new site had a thing that "accidentally" corrupted the links to the dot gov sites. It was split up within the code so it was hard to point to as the cause.
The government lawyers tried to fight these new tactics, but there was not quite the wording of the law to prevent it. On a couple servers, the government "accidentally" sent out take-over programs to people who clicked just on the advertizement and took over their servers. There was a cry of foul, but since it already happened, they could do little about it. The server companies solved the problem by going dark, shutting their systems down "for maintenance."
They re-install the backups after they clean the drives and add the blocking program for any dot gov sites. The government then cried foul and demanded control. The sites said they had a problem and fixed it and they have no evidence of such control.
Other servers went down for maintenance fairly quickly and when they came back up, the government was having problems with them.
The battle between the government and the servers would continue on, but both sides were fighting with any tools they had.

18 )
.
The society was built into a mountain in the middle of a desert. It existed simply because of a machine that filled the base. it was a computer system, processing system, filtration system. It manufactured most everything the society needed.
The machine worked best under certain temperature ranges. Being a desert, the summer temps were extremely high, and the winter it gets really cold. Heating and cooling the inhabited areas and the machine can be a problem. The designers had a solution for the temperature problem.
One thing this machine does is run high temperature processes during the summer such as smelting and cooking, and low temperature systems during the winter such as refrigeration and cryogenics. Since deserts are cold at night and hot in the day, it also splits the processes day and night.
The big solution the designers had, was to pipe air systems through the mountain. While the rooms within the mountain itself stay about the same temperature all the time, all around the surfaces are habitations that need help in conditioning.
When it is hot, the machine draws cool air from the highest altitude and passes it through the mountain, lowering the temperature, adding heat to the air as it passes and enters the machine at near the right temperature to keep it running well.
When it is cold, the machine draws air from around the base of the mountain and uses it to cool the machinery, and then sends the heat up through the mountain to warm the habitations. The warm air is then expelled out the top of the mountain after all the heat is drawn out of it.
There are times where the air will pass through heat exchangers to warm up or cool down in the journey as sometimes the air is already at the right temperature.

19 )
.
There is the law that was in force until recently involving homosexual members of the military that was called DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL, which was were as long as you were not found out, you could be gay in the military. the military could not go through efforts to search you out. When It was up to be repealed, someone asked what a soldier should do if another came onto him since it was no longer illegal. Change the situation slightly and one comes up with a story idea.
They practiced a religion that was nearly banned. They started using politics to gain a little bit of social acceptability and have made it among the more free-acting part of the society somewhat acceptable. They showed that their religion had a place in society.
Their religion had the sacrament of feeding on another person. For the most acceptable part of the religion, they worked with the hospitals and the funeral system to be allowed to eat recent deceased. They sold it as the family member living on inside the religious person. A small percentage of people accepted that for their loved ones.
Most missing person's reports resulted in the police checking in on the religious groups to see if someone showed up there. it did happen, but it was rare.
It was a problem in the military. Examples of a soldier killed in battle and being eaten by the religious members, possibly even getting other soldiers to partake in it. There was a couple very specific events where a soldier was eaten before they were dead.
This was a big problem with the morale of the soldiers. The idea that a fellow soldier would eat them rather than getting them back to the medics was unacceptable. the known cannibals were not trusted and were more likely "left out to dry" in a battle than other soldiers. They had little trust for the other soldiers.
cannibals were soon banned from the military, any suspects were forced out of the military, no matter how good they were at their job or even the amount of evidence against them.
to solve the problem due to political pressure, the government passed a don't ask, don't tell law where any cannibal could not be asked if they ever at human flesh and as long as they were not found out, they could stay in the military. Of course it was tough on the cannibals as they had certain days they needed to practice non-cannibal parts of-their religion. That in and of itself was a problem. The religion itself was in question.
A new political thought came into power. they rose on the tide of cannibal political pressure. that political group removed all bans involving the cannibal's religion. The laws ended up giving protection to all cannibals and their activities.
An immediate change was in battle, if a soldier's body was not going to be able to be brought back behind the lines, they were fed on. Because a lot of the cannibals became cooks, just about every soldier ate their comrades. Two effects of that was that the soldiers thought twice about going into a fatal act, and when they did, they fought with everything they had to keep from being eaten.
The rule has been in place for a while. Charles laid in the rack and dozed off a while. He then feels something on his foot. He kicks and screams, leaps up and the lights come on. A known cannibal has a bloody lip. Charles felt pain on his foot. He looks and sees bite marks on one of his toes. The sergeant cannot stop Charles from turning the cannibal into a pile of blood and no one else will stop him. When Charles is done, the cannibal is out of the military permanently. Charles tells the others that there are many ways for a soldier to get hurt. Hands off or injuries will happen.
The command wants to know what happens, but no one will speak up, even other cannibals. They don't want what happened to that one, to happen to them, and they were all warned.
One by one, aggressive cannibals are used as an example for what happens when one messes around. Don't touch becomes the law of the military.

20 )
.
People have been hearing voices for centuries. They have always been thought of as crazy, some even talk at the voices, and a few actually have conversations. No one knows exactly what the cause is.
Cell and mobile phones, along with radio and television communications have been in use for a little over a century. Most people figure that these and other communications will be in use for centuries more.
I remember reading about a theory where antiparticles might actually go backwards in time. there is a lot about physics we still have to learn.
What if communications signals went back in time? Also, what if some people's minds are able to detect the signal?
I usually sneak up onto the concept but this idea required telling the concept first.
Mobile / cell phone communications is comparatively new, starting in the 80s from what I remember. They operate on a different system than radio or television, where the signal goes to an antenna and then to the system and from the system to the antenna to be picked up by the phone. The wavelength and system is different than other communications.
The phones are getting smaller and smaller, and I would not be surprised if someone eventually implants a phone into the person so they don't have to carry a device. While that would still require someone to talk and listen, it makes it an easy step to where one uses the mind to communicate by thought, rather than words. We already have the technology in test form to guide devices by thought, by controlling the electrical patterns around the brain. one could develop a system where one can think the words and have the phone pick up the brain signals and send as if one talked.
I won't write an actual idea this time because it would be a detective story and I am not really good in detective stories. It would really depend on how the evidence is figured out.
The signal from the cell phone goes back in time. A person makes a phone call and gets a wrong number. The thing is, is that the person on the other end has no phone. It is someone who in their time, starts hearing voices. I intended it to be simply cell phones and they just hearing the communications on the phone, but having the mental connection would work better for the concept.
It would also work better if the communications works in reverse order, the farther along in time one goes, the farther back in time the communications also goes. That would mean that those hearing "god" are hearing someone who is near the end of time, who is wiser and knowledgeable than us.
For a possible solution as to how it is found, a researcher starts hearing voices. At first he thinks he is going crazy. While walking, he hears a couple people talking on their phones and realizes the style of communications is the same as the voices he is hearing.
He listens carefully to the voices he is hearing and realizes that they are the same style as the people on the phone. I don't know if he can hear both sides of the conversation. He might start writing down what he is hearing recording what the voices are saying. since most phone conversations I have heard carry very little real information, He might pick up little bits and pieces that actually have meaning.
He hears about a company that is worth billions. He searches and finds a tiny start up company that is really out of someone's garage. He invests some good money into the guy, figuring that if he lives long enough, he will be wealthy (think start up Microsoft).
He starts investigating communications signals. He eventually finds out about the theory that particles go back in time. He cannot prove it, but he is now positive that communications go back in time.

21 )
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The Master had the blessings of the gods and had lived for centuries. He built a fortress the size of a respectable country with whole cities, utilities, farms and gardens.
A tsunamis hit and drove the people to him, begging for relief. He took them in on the condition that he was the final judge, the only one who could legally kill except in self defense and if a trial came to him, he could well punish the innocent.
A few soldiers tested him and he killed them easily, proving he was not going to be one to mess with. The people accepted his rule. He let them choose their judges and leaders and get to work in living. the lands outside his fortress did poorly because of the salt water and a lack of rain.
One day there was a horrible murder and the suspect went to trial. he was convicted in a lower court, and then sent to a higher court where he was tried again and sentenced to death. A third court examined the court records and sent the man to the master to suffer his fate.
The master had most of the population at the arena to watch the man's death. the master had a thousand weapons and armor pieces on display. No two were the same. He made the man pick out weapons and armor and make two sets he was willing to fight with or against. The master then had the man suit up and the master suited up to match him.
As they faced each other, the master asked if he had anything to say in his defense, anything that might prove his innocence. The man, facing him bravely, said that several people he wanted to testify was not allowed and several pieces of evidence was banned from the trial.
The master stopped and ordered the man to disarm. He was taken to a prison cell where he interviewed the man in fine detail.
A week later, all evidence, all witnesses, the police, detectives, judges, court people were brought together before the people. He retried the cases, making sure every bit of information was learned, not accepting any questions unanswered.
He declared the man innocent. He then told all the officials that they are to find the actual culprits and not to make any mistakes.
Two months later, three men were brought before him. He interviewed them and they all said they committed the crime and explained how they did it and why.
the next week, they were brought into the arena with most of the population watching. A large fire with hot metal burned, surrounded by a pit filled with water. One could see that the stepping stones were balanced so they would tip easily. a couple rocked in the wind.
He orders them to set up a set of weapons on each of four tables and make sure they all agree they are equal and fair.
It took some time as they were not happy with each other's choices. they came to an agreement. They did not know who would get what.
The master told them to come to an agreement, either to wear all the weapons and armor, one can choose just what one felt was needed. They decided to wear all the armor.
He gave them the sets they were each most happy about and he took the one they least liked. He told them that they may fight him one at a time or all at once.
They attacked as a group. In a few moments, they all lost their hands. He shouted to them that if they can stem their wounds by the heated metal, they will be free men.
One man fell into the pit but somehow dragged himself out. all three stemmed their bleeding and were free.
the officials asked how the master could let the men be free after what they had done. wasn't it a death penalty?
The master tells them that no one in the room is to say anything at all. the three men cannot feed dress or work. If they cannot find people to care for them, they will not live long.
Murder became a very undesirable crime in the master's fortress.

22 )
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She was studying to be a commander and she fought the methods of the school tooth and nail. The end of a term arrived. Students would have to go through a command test and if anybody passed the test, all who failed would leave the school. No one had ever passed the test.
Something strange was detected on a planet. One was to drop scientists on the planet to study the strange thing and figure out what was going on.
There were a large number of failures All that was known was that they followed standard procedure.
The way the scenario worked was that something strange is detected on a planet and scientists are sent to examine it. The strange gets stranger and the scientists got in trouble. They called for help and when help comes, they get caught up in the problem. Scout fleets are sent and they are ambushed. soon several battle fleets are being attacked by unknown assailants. In almost every case, the battle fleets are destroyed and the area is found to now belong to aliens.
She enters the test. She orders a full battle fleet to go and investigate. She also orders the battle fleet to launch a cloud of sensor probes ahead and slightly behind them, each probe is detected by two probes in any direction. They send two kinds of signals, one that is picked up by the other probes to be passed along, and a general signal that goes directly to the battle fleet.
Command dislikes this plan but she is in charge. The battle fleet nears the planet in question and they are picking up all sorts of signals, as the probes pass the star, there is signs of space stations and battle fleets nearby. They quickly determine they are alien in origin. Three more battle fleets are immediately called to the area, with orders to use the cloud of sensor probes around and ahead of them.
As the third battle fleet arrives, the aliens start blasting the sensor probes as the battle fleets are receiving all sorts of security data from them. More probes are launched and they are brought closer together so there is more coverage as they enter the alien controlled space.
The probes show that there is an alien base on the planet right where the researchers are supposed to go.
When the last battle fleet arrives, they follow the probes in. They start sending probes at full speed into the alien areas, aiming to impact the alien holdings. The aliens are fighting, blasting the probes with everything they have.
All the battle fleets converge on one alien installation and as a group destroy it, it not having any chance against such fire power. they go to the next. each one overpowering them because they know exactly what they are doing because of the probes. When the space is completely clear, they remove the alien base on the planet.
The scientists have no interest in going in. Some marines do drop down and check the place over. They find the villagers who reported the strange events, but they won't be coming, the aliens made sure of that.
She leaves the command center, being the first to ever beat the test. Instead of sending the whole class home, they return the rest of the class to a lower grade where they are now drilled in what she had done. Higher students also learn what she taught. She sits in classes to hear what she already knows.

23 )
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Entities were experimenting with the universe. They selected an intelligent being and turned them into a god. They would then sit back and watch what happened.
In every case, the god would go back to the beginning of time and start the universe. Because they did not fully understand the nature of the universe, they induced little changes in the laws. They suddenly no longer belonged to the universe, being of the old laws, and would slowly fade away. Their kind were different now, so they would find a suitable planet and create some beings in their own image and teach them to worship their creator. That helped them survive, but they would all eventually fade away.
Each time a god stopped being part of the universe, it opened for another being to become a god. A few times in history, there were a couple dozen gods in existence.
Grandwall was selected to be god. It was a total surprise to him as he did not believe in gods. He found himself floating above his planet, the powers he gained flowed into his mind. He searched the world for himself and there was no sign of him. He had been alone when it happened and there was no trace of him or his belongings. Seeing into the minds of people, he saw they were curious as to what happened to him, but it was no more than idle curiosity.
having such great powers, he explored the universe at first. He read the minds of scientists all around and learned about the workings of the universe, and then verified or corrected their observations with his own close up observations. He found every intelligent life forms in the universe and learned what they knew.
Curiosity lead him to look deep into the future. There were thousands of possible futures for some things, and just a few for others. He saw that his people's only future survival would be to travel the stars.
His curiosity then lead him to go back in time. The entities smiled, figuring he would end his existence as all the others did. He stopped an hour before the very beginning of time and examined the conditions and used what he learned from the scientists to understand what he was seeing. He now felt he fully understood the laws of the universe. Something inside him caused him to lose interest in starting a universe. It was good enough for him for now. He could have that joy at some other time. His curiosity was satisfied.
When he returned to his normal time, his people, his friends, his world remained as they were. the entities were highly confused. They knew he went to the beginning of time. Was he the first one to start the universe exactly the same? They saw they could not create a new god yet.
He did find other gods in his exploration of the universe. they were minor and insignificant. Even the last god was not of much power. They looked on him with awe. he met a few after he came back from the past. They knew he went there. Each one bowed to him as one of great power and knowledge.
Because he was still of his universe, he got no energy from prayer. It was meaningless to him..
He started helping his people along, planting little ideas in those who were close to discoveries. He also planted ideas in those in leadership, directing them away from violence and toward discovery.
It was only when they were about to develop successful interstellar travel that he found his understanding of the universe was not quite right. He tested and experimented based on what his scientists found, and the tests were not working as they were supposed to.
It was then he realized how lucky he was. Had he used his presumed knowledge of the rules of the universe to start it, he would have become like the other gods.
His people eventually solved the problems with the rules on their own and were able to travel the stars in years rather than generations. He watched and learned, finding that he was not as all knowing as he once thought he was. He likely could now start the universe over as other gods had tried, but the shock of the almost error eliminated all desire for that.
The entities complained constantly about how Grandwall was messing with their plans. Grandwall finally detected them and started learning from them too. He would never achieve their powers as he was bound to the universe and they were not, but he used what he learned from them to lead his people into what would eventually be their immortality also.

24 )
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It was a colony planet where all civilization was lost, and it slowly recovered to a late dark ages life style.
The planet had a single moon. It looked about the same size as our moon but was closer. The moon was in a near geosynchronous orbit so it took a month to go from moon rise to moon rise. During the orbit, the people watched it go through the phases every day and pass through the shadows of the planet on most nights and Eclipses during the day. Because the orbit was not quite round, and was slightly tipped to the equator, the moon rocked back and forth, and up and down each day.
The people had their lunar celebrations. They were sad when the moon fell below the horizon, not to be seen for the rest of the month. There were celebrations when the moon rose above the horizon and when it reached the noon position.
Because they were able to study the moon, its phases, the movements, they developed an advanced understanding of planetary motions. Most of their astronomical studies were when the moon was not in the sky. Having just developed primitive telescopes, they saw that the planets close to the sun also had phases. They also calculated the distance and size of the moon and the sun.
I had this concept a dozen times over the past few years and never got it written down until now. I have no idea what to do with it now that I am writing it. It would be more something to show this is not Earth. Our moon that close would be quite gigantic, but could also be a sign that things are not normal here.

25 )
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The few islands on the colony planet were used for farming and processes that were best on islands. The rest of the population lived and worked on islands.
The city was a floating city tethered to a under sea island. The buildings were built on barges and the highways were mainly floating platforms. All were bound tight together so that there was limited movement even in the worst storms.
The nature of the construction system made the highways unable to take great loads that large trucks would normally carry. Basically two ton trucks were about the maximum size the highways could carry.
Small trucks became the most common form of transportation because there were so many were needed to transport supplies where needed.
Busses were too big for the highways. Because there were a lot of pickup trucks, a new transportation system developed. Any time an empty truck came to a stop some place, a pedestrian had the right to get into the bed of the truck and ride to the next stop or until they got to their destination. The truck drivers drive and stopped to help the passengers as needed. This was the public transportation system for city.
Most truck drivers had a box where people insert donations for the ride. No one was required to pay. Many truck drivers will stop even if they have a load, if they have room.
There are a few truck drivers who seldom carry loads, who add seats and even steps to the bed of their trucks to make it more comfortable for the passengers. There is one company that has sort of an awning on their trucks to protect riders from the weather. These are the closest thing to a bus. They are not only a bus company. They do go between offices delivering things but mostly documents that are carried in the cab. They follow a schedule in their runs to allow people to know they are coming. No one checks to see if they are carrying documents.