December 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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This came from a comment from a radio host. He said that the nation should be divided politically. Give the right and left coast to the other mind set and keep the central section of the country for those of his mind set.
The nation decides it cannot operate the way it is going. "flyover country" is completely ignored by the political powerhouse sections. People start migrating to the areas they agree with. The two mountain ranges that run down the sides of the country become the barriers between them. Up north, there are coastal politics areas and rivers are used as barriers between the areas.
Since they were once the same nation, they do have trade agreements and allow people to leave or come in. Both require passing tests to enter to show they understand the mind set of the area they are escaping to.
Flyover country has access to the sea to the south so they can trade with the rest of the world. With a new set of laws that allow better use of the land, they increased production. While they could and did sell to the higher population regions of the land, they did not have to they did sell to them, but more of their production went out to sea to nations that really appreciated their value.
The coast lands chose to follow tighter environmental regulations, got people to walk rather than travel, made their cities more compact. Over time they became almost like city states surrounded by wilderness.
The flyover country on the other hand became more technological and efficient. Because the people actually owned their lands, they did what they could to improve their lands, using the best science they could find. The population of flyover country grew.
The population of the coasts started reducing. It takes energy to keep a civilization high in population. They gave up a lot of that energy.

02 )
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I am going to put this in a form of music, though it could be almost anything.
Galluccio was thought of as the greatest classical singer known. people paid good money to hear him. He sort of disappeared when the style of music lost popularity, just as everybody else in his style did.
Over the decades, the music styles changed. In each style, a very popular band appeared that wore heavy makeup or even costumes. they were leaders in the styles, then disappear.
Decades pass and the old classical musicians are brought out of retirement for one last big show. Typical of such shows it is really to make fun of the out-of-shape singers and musicians. They get humiliated for money. It basically gets them out of debt and gives them something to retire the rest of their lives on.
Singer after singer, they get up and really sound horrible, out of practice, out of shape. Many cannot remember the songs and others cannot carry a tune any more.
Galluccio comes on stage, He is the last singer of the show. He waves the house band to not play. He steps up to the mike and sings a solo of the most difficult song he ever sang, and he sounded just as good as he ever did. His voice changed due to his age, but he sang it with the perfection of a master.
No one has any idea how he remained in practice. One cannot even work in a tavern and sing this stuff. He gets a standing ovation. His band comes on stage and he sang another song using his band rather than the provided orchestra. they were as good as ever.
He smiles, and then sings the most hard core popular song that the presently popular band ever sang. It happens to be a band in costume. He then goes through history of the make-up and costumed super bands. He sings every song perfectly. He ends with the biggest hit in classical singing he did.
Everybody now knows he and his band was the top band through the past decades, in every style that had intervened. He was in practiced because he was still working.

03 )
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In the hall of super heros, the super heros are like kings. One shows subservience to them. they can do just about anything they want to you and no one is going to punish them. They tend to be royal jerks at home, even if they appear to be so kind and thoughtful in public.
Revelli was a handyman who worked hard on repairing the damage that the super heros did to the hall intentional or not. Many times a couple of them would break something right after he fixed it just to be mean to him.
He seemed happy and energetic in his work, never complaining and never acting like any of it bothered him. The rules said that damage had to be repaired immediately so he was busy.
He happened to be a short thin man with mousy hair and a tiny mustache. He looked more like an accountant than a handy man.
One day, one of the heros said something about their being so powerful that they were totally immune to someone like Revelli.
One thing that Revelli did was he learned the habits of the super heros. They all had habits that never changed.
One day, he decided to put them in their place. The real jerk super hero was known more for his invulnerability and speed, rather than strength.
Revelli came to the dinning room table just before the food was to be served and "cleaned" the jerk's chair really good. It was still wet when he walked away. the jerk came in and sat down.
Revelli wiped the table at the seat of another jerk, placing the dishes and stuff back exactly the way the hero liked it. That super hero was known for his strength of five men.
The second super hero tried to lift his silverware and it would move. He tried harder. he could not budge it. His plate would not move. They were all stuck to the table. Everybody started teasing him about how he lost is strength and could not lift a piece of silverware. he was so embarrassed and insulted that he got up and left without eating.
the first super hero finished his food. Revelli walked up to him and placed his hands on the hero's shoulders. "by my powers, you are not getting up from the table." He then walked away.
The hero sat and they all laughed at the joke. He then tried to get up. He was stuck. Try as he might, he could not get off the chair. Strength super heros had to break the chair apart to free him and his tights were torn in the process. He was humiliated and embarrassed.
Revelli came over to the second hero's table setting and secretly sprayed a release agent and lifted the silverware and plates off the table and put hem in the cart. He then cleaned the glue off the place and left. that added the final insult to that hero.
Revelli used his knowledge materials and the super heroes to embarrass each one in turn. They all figure out that he is doing it. He has had his effect and then leaves them alone. they stop being as big a jerk as they were.

04 )
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As children, we learn games, songs and rhymes as part of our development.
Their myths said that they once were very powerful magic users. Magic was now just a myth, stories told to the children.
Their society had some iron fast rules and no one dared change them. Otherwise they were quite advanced technologically.
In children's education, they learned rhymes, songs, letters and dances of a long dead language. No one understood what they were, but it was believed that they would lose their souls if they did not learn them.
In every generation, the debate as to whether to drop them raged. The rule of thumb was to earn it until a final decision was reached. The biggest reason to keep learning them was that no one had anything really worthy of replacing it.
There was the temple of crazies, as it was referred to. They were said to be priests who have lost their minds after a special initiation. The temple taught the teachers how to teach the children the language. It was part of the curriculum to become a teacher, one had to spend six months in the temple. They went through an initiation and if they went crazy, they were isolated in the high temple. That was the chance one took to become a teacher.
No teacher ever spoke of the initiation or their time in the temple. They tend to shiver when they think back to that.
One of the myths said that evil showed up and the people combined their magic to become powerful enough to drive the evil back to where it came. The evil was not destroyed, just contained and it would return.
Strange things started happening at the edge of the wilderness. Hunters were feeling like something, such as the deer they were after, was stalking them, hunting them. Loggers got the impression that trees were going to cut them down. Children lost interest in getting near the forests. Those that did not have to deal with the forests, stopped going in and those who did have to, decided they did not want to go alone and worked as teams.
The feelings got stronger and they started seeing things in the distance scurrying around that was nothing they had ever seen. They only got glimpses but the sight always unnerved them.
The whole forest industry stopped. The army went through the forests searching for anything and saw nothing, but no one who was on that mission wanted to do it again.
Researchers of old texts ran across a passage and now knew what was going on. It was the rise of evil. Once that was reported, all research turned to finding anything they could in the texts about the evil. There was not much.
Finally, the temple was consulted about the evil. an order came went out from the temple that all teachers were required to return for special training.
Those who were closest to the wilderness was taken in first, those farthest from the forest was last.
The teachers then required people to come to the schools for special training, especially the leaders. There, they learned that they could do magic, really powerful magic. it was a total shock to those who wanted to stop the required training. the things they had learned was actually part of magic.
The evil sensed in the forests were just shadows. When the evil became solid embodiment, the population was ready for it. A war began. The high technology they had was quite useful when combined with the magic.
Children stood beside the soldiers and did the children games, songs and rhymes to suppress the power of the evil, while the soldiers, which was every adult, used their weapons to mow down the embodiment of evil. The crazy priests turned out to be master magic users and they guided the magical barrage against the strongest of evil and also provided some protection to the defenders.
Being ready for evil, they drove evil right to the core. they considered sealing evil off completely, but realized it would bore its way out once it got strong enough. It could not be destroyed even with their technology. It would be a whole lot longer than the time that had passed from the previous attack. the pressure to forget the magical foundation was strong after this short time. it would be forgotten in that time.
They left it as it was and returned to civilization. The society was not devastated, but was shaken. it would take some years for it to recover.
They returned to practicing the games and rhymes as they did originally. A few dabbled in the magic, and they learned some new techniques. They were asked to go to the priests to show what they learned. After a time, people returned completely to their lifestyle and the battle was essentially forgotten.
What was being taught to the children was the motions, rhymes and practices for doing magic, but it is changed slightly or slightly corrupted so no magic is actually done. Knowing the basics of doing magic, it takes just a little bit to teach the actual use of magic.
The teachers are given a hint of the magic they are actually learning during the initiation. those that show to be really powerful are taken in as a crazy priest. The teachers don't actually know magic, but they know for a fact that magic exists and they are teaching the foundation for magic.

05 )
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I saw a travel show where people were floating flowers on a river.
The colony was established to grow a plant who's seeds were useful in industry. The upper plateau of the island continent was planted entirely of that plant.
A century later, the industry found a better plant for the same purpose that was closer to the factories. Those plants were not up to production level so the only real change was the price the colony got for the seeds dropped some. A short time later, someone came up with a better system that did not need the chemicals from the seeds. The companies supporting the colony went out of business in the period of two years. Within one year, the colony was isolated with half the continent covered in a useless crop.
The people learned that the plants could be used for other things, but was difficult to clear out to grow other things. Every seed that hit the grown sprouted. They started a campaign to kill off the plants. They went from one end of the plateau to the other, picking the flowers before they budded and dumped them into the river to flow to the lower elevation where they could not grow. When they got to the sea, the salt water killed them.
They dug and hacked the plants out of the ground starting at the prevailing up wind side and worked their way across, planting acceptable plants and natives to make sure the ground was completely covered to make it more difficult for the seeds to get hold.
After a decade of work, the only plant was around their civilization where they had full control. By then, the communications between the upper and lower continent ended as both civilizations died. They began to forget the other existed.
They had a use for the plants themselves, but they worked hard to make sure no seeds developed or escaped. Without the flowers, the plants provided products the colony needed including fodder to animals and compost for the gardens. The area they allowed to exist was about a quarter of what they could most handle, just in case something went wrong. The rest of the plateau developed as if no one had ever been there.
The lower lands had completely forgotten about the upper lands. they had lost all their civilization and was just getting back to an effective small city level of civilization with no real mechanics. Animals did the work.
There was a holy time of the year. That was when the river sprouted gorgeous flowers. The flowers simply appeared flowing down the river with the petals aiming up to the sky. they waded, boated or swam into the river to gather the flowers. they dried them they crushed them for scents and in making soaps and other cleaning stuff. they dried them as decoration that lasted through the whole winter, at the height of the season, they took the petals off and covered a path that their children would walk down for graduation or marriage.
Neither society knew about the other. One was keeping a pest under control and the other was making use of the buts that opened once in the water long enough.

06 )
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They crept carefully through the ruins. The devastation was evident. The buildings were blown out by something physical, not explosives. Some of the rends were from outside, others were from inside.
They found places of broken weapons and armor in specific areas. The people were primitive, swords, shields, bows and arrows. Based on the amount of piles, they could easily determine where the main army met whatever it was that took out the walled city and each subsequent place of defense where less and less pieces of armor were found.
There were no signs of bodies anywhere. Looking at what was food stores, they found they were torn up and emptied also. Whatever it was came to the city to eat.
Going into the lower areas, they started hearing a growling heavy breathing. They also heard huffing. it was coming behind them, so they kept going without loitering. Whatever it was, was following them. They seemed to outrun it and took time to examine a few areas. then they heard the sound again. the lower areas was not of great interest so they went to the walls. It was getting dark and they decided to spend the night in one of the towers.
Early morning, the one on guard heard something and woke everybody up. they listened carefully and also heard the sound. Whatever it was, it was coming. By the time they were fully packed, they knew which direction the sound was coming and headed off in the opposite direction.
They spend several days in the city, stopping to take short naps with a couple people on guard, moving when they heard the sound. they would go to areas they had not explored then go some place to nap again, for times in a day-night period. They were not getting really enough sleep, but it was enough to keep going.
They began to notice that the sounds were not as loud or varied as when they first came in and they also found the sounds got a lot closer before they would hear it.
One day, they were exploring a section and they only heard what could be a single sniff. they turned to leave and a monster blocked their only exit. they could see why nothing the natives used would injure it. they had nothing to harm it either and they had more advanced weapons.
One of the people saw something dripping from what passed as a nostril and said, "Look, it has a cold."
The leaders mouthed some curses. The reason they were hearing the thing was it had a cold, and they stopped hearing it because it was getting over it. It had healed enough to sneak up on and trap them.

07 )
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They woke in a place they had never been before. They had no idea how they got there. Several knew their minds had been wiped in some areas of knowledge. Together, they determine that they must have been abducted and their minds interrogated.
In their discussions, their common knowledge worked out what kinds of work each other did. Good physical condition must be a soldier, flexibility and balance must be a dancer, great with math must be an accountant of some kind. There was a teacher, a doctor or nurse, an artist. One guy was either a politician, business leader, or military commander as he was good at getting them to be organized.
They explored their world, and found that they had food, water, some form of recreational facility, sleeping quarters, and offices and separate rooms. No one else was there.
One thing they found was there was really no tools at all, and the place was quite warm. There was no thermostatic control anywhere. Not one environmental control was to be had.
`One person who apparently was a surveyor, went as far as he could in one direction in the building and started mapping the place, trying to find out how big it was. He found a door that appeared to be to the outside, but he could not open it. There was no other door. Once he mapped the outside walls, he gave a report. The place was octagonal He showed his sketches to everyone. there were three places where it looked like a closet was closed in.
Others went to the door and tried to open it. It was stuck tight, apparently locked from the outside. They talked about how if they could open the door, they could let cold air in and make the place more comfortable.
The surveyor ended up with a map of the whole place and drew the wall configuration on the wall of the main meeting room. Others added designation of what the rooms were.
Many people looked the door over very carefully. One guy who apparently was an engineer, worked out the shapes of tools needed to take the door apart. Another guy, who apparently was a mechanist, took some little used or confusing kitchen utensils and worked them into the tools needed.
A guy who was a mechanic got to work and removed the panels. He was very careful not to do damage and would consult others before he did too much.
They got to the latch mechanism and everybody gathered. They opened the door to the cold. The blast of heat nearly knocked them over. It was a desert out there, The building was chilly in comparison. They ventured out a distance and came back in. it was too hot.
They checked the door over a period of several days. they saw from the shadows that they were located at the pole, the sun going completely around them.
The surveyor, the engineer and a few others packed up a bunch of pots of water and some blankets and headed out to look the building over from the outside. They took their time. they started at the rear of the shadow and followed it to the front edge as it went around the building.
After a day out there, they gave a report of what they found. The building was octagonal, the walls were about two foot thick. The building was about four stories tall with a dome, and there was no way to climb the wall anywhere. the entire area was a desert as far as the eye can see and they were on a very high point. They were not exactly at the pole, but likely a thousand miles from it.
They vote and decide almost unanimously to put the door back together Being open, it was easier to do. they were able to work out a way to open the door from the inside if needed. The door closed and the building sealed. It had warmed up during the time they were using the door. It cooled down to where it was. the thick walls were checked and they found conduit and venting pipes in them, but nothing else of interest.
They consigned themselves to be stuck in their building, making it into a colony away from home.
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My note said "they find a door. Open it to let cold air in. it is actually a desert outside."

08 )
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Mental powers were discovered and developed. Computer chips were added to increase the power of the mental powers to a point, at least in some people, to practical usefulness. Every newborn received the chip. Part of their education while growing up was on how to control the powers, and their actual powers would appear at different ages as they developed. Usually, by then they knew how to handle the powers.
With the powers, Baseball had changed. The best players were referred to as magicians. They could re-direct a ball in flight when pitched or hit. Adding in real baseball skills, their scores ran in the hundreds each inning for some teams.
Ruthson was known as the master magician. He was so powerful that he could dictate which seat he was going to lay the ball into, and do it. When he came up to bat, he would announce which spectator, by seat number, he was going to hit in the nose. There was big money if he missed. He never did.
Most pitchers would throw the ball and guide the ball to the plate. Ruthson would override that guidance and put the ball exactly where he needed to send the ball out of the park. He would then guide the ball to the destination. He was so good that even without his mental powers, he would be equal to Babe Ruth, Hank Aron, or other super batters. With his powers, he won games just on his own batting.
A contest went out to lower level baseball players. The best pitchers and best batters would be tested. The very best in each city would be allowed to play in one professional game. If one did well, the team would pick up their contract.
Micky played in a hobby league. The trophy and bragging rights was all they played for. They paid for everything themselves. Micky was a hot pitcher and fairly good at bat. When he pitched, the opponents had low scores, not that their scores were really big.
Micky entered the contest on dare by his league. The players generally played a game or two in each higher league to prove themselves before going up. Micky had good games each time. He shut down some players known for batting basketball scores and he batted well enough to embarrass some named pitchers in their leagues.
It happened that Micky’s catcher was also in the challenge so they worked together at each level. The two of them get to the real pros. Mickey is all right with the professional catchers. Not spectacular. He could be hit on during the practices. the team was thinking of going with someone else. Mickey asks to play a game with his own pitcher. It is the last test.
Micky plays the game, making all the contestants look stupid, and make the professional batters look clumsy. He and his catcher bats eighth and ninth, and they consistently get on base to rack up the score when the batter behind them knocks it out of the park. When asked why he was so good with his catcher, Mickey says that his catcher is his brain. They were accepted for as the contestants.
The big game arrives. It turns out that they are playing Ruthson's team. Micky and his catcher meet all the players and gets signatures. Micky says that he will be bragging in his old age that Ruthson had knocked a ball out of the park on one of his pitches.
The time comes and Mickey goes out onto the mound. After warming up, he is up against the first player. Micky throws a pitch and the player knocks the ball right back at Micky. Somehow he caught the ball. It hurt his glove hand but he caught it.
The second player only tapped the ball and was thrown out at first base. Now was time for Ruthson. Ruthson announces the seat he was aiming for. He focuses on that seat for a moment and then readies for the pitch.
Micky knew about Ruthson's ability to misdirect the "push of the pitcher. He sets, focuses for a low ball at the ankles, and then pitches a palm ball, which spins backwards and hangs. Ruthson was sending Micky's guidance all over the place and swings where he thought the ball was going. Strike one!
Micky then focuses for a slider and throws a curve ball. Ruthson tries to guide high slider and swings. the low curve ball zips below his bat. Strike two!
Ruthson now knows what Micky is doing. He is ready for it, going to aim just for the ball. Micky pitches the ball and at the last moment, shoves it down. Strike three! Ruthson's people has to pay out for the miss. The whole place goes silent.
Micky gets up to bat after his catcher gets on base. The pitcher is about to throw and the catcher steals second. the pitcher is so unnerved he throws a bad pitch and the catcher gets to third. the pitch to Micky is not good and he drops it between the outfielders. the lead-off hitter then knocks it out of the park. Mickey and his pitcher gets back up to bat and the catcher steals second again. Mickey gets on base and then steals second himself when the pitcher overthrows first base. The catcher steals home.
Mickey pitches to Ruthson again and Ruthson hits a lot of foul balls before being struck out. Mickey lets a single on base and then throws the guy out after the next pitch. He is taken out in the fifth inning after a hundred pitches. His team loses by one point, but Ruthson never hit a home run. his backers are likely very angry.
Ruthson signs a baseball for Micky and his catcher, and Ruthson gets the two of them to sign some balls for him. they thought it was cute.
They both get picked up for the game and are now professional baseball players. they meet Ruthson several times and they are always a battle that Micky does not always win. Mickey has a very long career and becomes a big name pitcher. His real secret for the game, even though he has very little mental powers? He is a good pitcher and most players focus on his guiding energies rather than the pitch. The balls that Ruthson had them signed turned out to be worth a big fortune, balls owned by Ruthson, signed by two name players before they were signed.

09 )
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People were sometimes born with super powers, others developed into it. When they were detected, the government would take the and train them to use their powers, not use their powers, and give them training so they could serve the government properly when they became of age. Every once in a while, someone slipped through the cracks, developing their powers without being detected. Some powers only appeared under specific conditions.
Vandan found he could change what he looked like. it frightened him so he hid it well.
Glinkerstein, "The old man" as everybody referred to him as, was a royal jerk. He could buy the whole city, really, and felt he could do anything he wanted. He showed no courtesy or respect for anybody.
Vandan was driving out of a parking lot. He needed to follow the building around the corner. The old man's limousine pulled in off the road and stopped where Vandan had to go. The limo was a Rolls Royce stretch in a gold tint. It had to be worth more than any home in the city except his.
Vandan honked to get the old man to move. It sat. He honked some more. the car refused to move. He got angry. He finally powered his junker and plowed into the rear wheel of the stretched car. Tires spinning, he shoved the limo around the corner until it spanned a planter and was up against a tree. Having enough room, he simply drove away, leaving the old man in his bad situation.
A week later, Vandan was contacted by lawyers. he was being charged for repairs on the car and legal fees. He had a very short amount of time to pay up.
The old man woke when someone shoved a rag into his mouth and covered his face with the blankets. That person then pounded him with a pipe, breaking bones.
Finally the blanket was pulled away. A really big, muscular goon stood over him holding a pipe. The goon grabbed his chin and made him look the other man in the eyes.
"Vandan told me about the grief you are causing him. I decided to have a talk with you. your car was messed up because you are a jerk. If you had moved your car even a little bit, by his description, that incident would never have happened. from now on, you can be as big an dumb-skull as you care to be in private. In public, you are going to be courteous to everyone. I strongly suggest you call off your lawyers and accept the expense as a learning experience."
With that, the big goon let go, picked up a woman's purse and put the pipe into it. Right before the old man's eyes, the big goon changed, becoming a small petite woman. When he was done changing, he was a passable copy of his daughter. "I will be watching you and you won't know where I am." With that, she opened the bedroom door. By daddy," she giggled and closed the door. "daddy wants some rest." was the last thing he heard of her. Her voice was not quite right, but both in looks and tone of voice, would pass for his daughter well.
Vandan received word that the lawyers were dropping their case. He still had to dig up the money to fix the damage on his car.
He saw the old man in public and saw him move the limo many times to allow someone by. He even heard word that the old man was actually becoming a nice person. that was the penalty of getting out of millions of dollars of debt to the old man. He also heard word that a new super hero working in the city. One that could emulate just about anybody. Vandan was not about to use his powers as long as he was left alone. He did know he was watched because was said to have "contact" with that super hero.

10 )
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I remember reading about a palenotology dig where they found the remains of a person who had several serious injuries that had healed over and the person had become old. they were impressed that such a person was cared for in such a primitive time.
While fighting off a bear so the rest of the clan could escape, Gronag was thrown against a boulder where he cracked his head. his distraction allowed other hunters to take out the bear. Because Gronag was still alive, they carried him back to the clan where they fixed his injuries and nursed him back to health.
Because of his injuries, Gronag became prone to a violent temper, His intelligence was all that kept him from killing someone. He usually directed his temper against a tree until the anger waves passed. He broke a small sampling in half during his rages.
During the clan meetings, what to do with him became a common refrain. He was not controllable, dangerous. they traveled some areas where there were no trees. they worried about what he would do then during his rages.
One evening, a bear attacked the camp. A hunter was thrown across the clearing. Gronag grabbed a weapon and charged in. The bear knocked a hunter into him. That was it. He lost his temper. He attacked the bear with every ounce of his being, expending his anger against it. He lost his weapon early but he was pummeling the bear with abandon. He would not let the bear escape and he finally killed it. He was injured, but he had spent his anger out on the beast.
Before he fully recovered from his injuries, they found themselves confronted by a lion. Gronag grabbed some weapons and attacked. His temper sprang forth and he raged against the lion until it was dead. Again he was injured. He did not care. He expended his anger and was safe for a short while.
Time after time, Gronag would actually hunt down dangerous beasts and take them on, keeping the clan safe. Usually what would happen was that another hunter would spot the dangerous beast and then send Gronag after it. He got hurt about half the time, accumulating injuries. His rages, directed and dangerous beasts, was so valuable to the clan, that they came up with a way to carry him from place to place, he never walked until it was time for his rage. It made for faster healing.
His rages continued until his death from old age at fifty years old. By then, he was a crippled old man, yet he would take on any beast that threatened the clan. He had driven off a pack of wolves a week before he died.
The clan, so thankful for his rages, buried him in a cave with all the honors their society provided.
fifteen thousand years later, Paleontologists excavated a cave and found the remains of a person with a large number of debilitating injuries that had healed over and the person lived long after they had happened. they were surprised that such a primitive society would care for someone long after such injuries.

11 )
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There are those who say that anybody who is a millionaire does not have a right to exist. "Eat the rich" is the refrain of some of the more radical of these people.
The game show was a big thing. The money people made was meager and any extra one got really helped in one's life. Local stations had their own version of the game show that took anybody. This weeded out those who were just not subtitle for real competition. they one sixty four dollars at this level. this was about a week's worth of pay.
Local stations would then have their winners compete against each other each season. The best few went to regional levels of competition at the end of the next season. while the money at the regional level is small, six hundred and forty dollars, it is a big bonus to the lives of the people who compete.
Regional winners competed in their state and won sixty four thousand dollars. some winners bowed out of the competition at this level. Those who continued usually disbursed their funds among their friends and family.
The final, national, competition, was for a million dollars. This was the very best of the game. They competed at a level that was well worth watching. The came covered five grueling days.
The time comes when a winner is announced. They are given a million dollars in cash and it is piled around them. Since no one has never seen that kind of money, they get giddy and rifle through it, sometimes tossing some in the air just to see it flitter down.
Soon after they leave the stage, storm troupers show up and grab the winner. He is charged with a high crime of taking money that belongs to someone else. They take his money from him, which they say is being confiscated and given to the common people, and they are marched out.
A while later, there is a public eviction of a person who's crime was that of being a millionaire. No one seems to associate the person charged with being a millionaire and the winner of the contest. the contest winner is always said to have gone to one of six spectacular vacation places to live. Those places do exist and wealthy bureaucrats go there, but the millionaires never make it.

12 )
.
The star ship was going to be the best designed project ever. Nearly every brilliant mind in the world was involved. The weight was calculated to the ounce, the structure was super strong yet super light. Each piece of equipment was efficiently designed. Every part was custom made when possible to reduce weight.
While the ship was built, whole families were taken to special training to operate in deep space. Their personalities were analyzed and measured, their tendencies and interests were weighed. They were trained to run the ship on their own if it was needed, even though they were trained for specific jobs also. Even the children were trained the same way. They were all given special treatments which was known to give them an extremely long life.
The crews and the ship finished at the same time. The ship was purposely overloaded with supplies and equipment. This was going to be a generational ship.
One of the first complaints was that the rooms were small, the taller people touched their heads and feet to the walls at the same time when they laid down. All rooms seemed a bit small for some reason and they all mentioned it. The engineers said it was perfectly designed.
The ship launched on schedule and the crew got to work on living their lives on a ship that would take a thousand years to reach the destination. Their long lives would allow them to teach following generations, guiding them in the direction of the original plan as long as possible.
Marecella had brought in contraband. She easily found places to store it until they were too far and too fast to be caught and her brought back home for her crimes. She had all the training of the ship but she was mainly supposed to raise her children and assist in the raising of other children. The other women involved were better at it than she was, and there were a lot of them, so she got a job in the kitchen. That gave her the opportunity to make use of her contraband.
She dug out the packages of pots and potting soil, and planted a bunch of seeds. She took the kitchen wastes and put them in a compositor she also smuggled on board. Within two years, she was feeding the people fresh produce and had other plants developing such as fruit trees. She had half the empty rooms, intended for an increasing population, filled with her gardens.
She worked her way to become the head of the kitchen and that removed any question of the food provided. She found a way for old air to pass over her plants first, before entering the filtration system. Water was a bit of a problem but since none left the system, she figured there would be no problems with her watering her plants.
She also got with the people who were raising the animals and provided table scraps and cuttings from her gardens in exchange for the animal messes. They sort of raised an eyebrow over it but she got them. They ended up being the only ones on board the ship that knew about her gardening. Her garden remains allowed them to not depend as much on stored feed.
They had several generation of offspring. The crew was planning on expanding when they found her garden setup. There was question about power, water, soils, air, she was wasting. She asked what they had to eat, and then pointed at the plants they had eaten. She let them know they did not dig into their supplies hardly at all. In the balance of things, this was cheaper on the trip than not doing it.
They decided to do a full inventory of supplies because of her brag of not using very much of the stored foods. when they were done, they saw from the empty shelf spaces that she was telling the truth. They also saw that the designers had woefully miscalculated how much supplies was needed in everything.
They got in touch with the people at home. It took some arguing and cajoling, but they got them to reexamine the design from scratch. The size problem was mentioned to be checked out.
It turned out that the engineer company used a different measurement system based on a new numerical system. Those using the guidelines did not convert the numbers, but used them straight. The ship should have been half again as big. That limited the supplies on board which was what they found.
The crew changed their tactics on how to do thing. Marecella's gardens were expanded and her method of using everything was improved on now that it was out in the open.
Materials that were thought of as junk became valuable and was reworked, repaired or they came up with cheap ways of reprocessing stuff. They even rearranged the equipment in the ship so the heat from industrial processes fed the ovens and stoves of the kitchen, warmed the ship and helped run water evaporators and condensers.
It was not the mission planned for when launched but it was a successful mission and later colony when it finally reached the planets they were aiming for. It was all saved because Marecella smuggled contraband on board the ship.

13 )
.
He had messed up before. They decided to make sure he did not mess up again. He was given the brief case of secrets as he had before, but his time it contained a tracer and sensor system. He was also given a bracelet that contained a tracer and sensor system.
It was explained that if he was away from the brief case for too long and too far away, it would be hit by a missile linked to the tracer. If he ever removed his bracelet, he would be given a grace period to put it back on, or a missile would come after it, mainly to make sure that technology would not fall into the wrong hands.
He was given a car and an apartment and was told to wait. He could be away from the brief case for long periods or long distances, but he had to code in special commands to do so, giving distance and time away from it. Generally, it was not worth it.
He quickly started leaving the brief case in his car. It was close enough to the apartment for the tracer system. When he went somewhere, he insisted on driving or following any time he went with someone else.
He woke one morning and found his car gone. He checked his bracelet and it showed how long he had before the missile strike. He called the police about his stolen car. He was told the documentation was wrong on the car and it was stolen.
He then told them that they had better send a squad car to get him to the car before it blows up and everything around it. He was asked if it contained explosives. He said it contains a tracer and a missile is about to be launched, and he gave the time left.
He kept explaining that the tracer has to be close to something he has on himself or the missile will be launched. the dispatcher kept asking about a bomb in the car.
An officer arrived and instantly handcuffed him, charging him with making a fake bomb threat. He explained again about it.
His bracelet beeped once. Fifteen seconds later the sky flashed a distance away, then they felt the shockwave through the ground just before they heard the blast. The mushroom cloud rose up into the air. A white contrail, pointing out the path of the missile stuck out the side like a spike.
He pointed out the contrail to the officer as proof that it was a missile. The officer admitted to the contrail but took him in anyway. At the police station, they went through all his pockets. they then removed the bracelet. It pinged when they disconnected it. He explained the cuff has to be on him or else the same thing will happen to the police station as happened to the towing agency, which had taken out ten blocks all around it.
He was dragged away from his stuff. A door opened, and officer was coming in. He slipped out of the cuffs as he was trained to do, and was out the door in an instant. He was soon out in the garage. He grabbed a cruiser and raced out of the garage.
He got to the other side of the city just before a road block stopped him. A few moments later, there was another explosion, this time at the police station. In their shock, he slipped around them and escaped.
His people retrieved him before he was caught again. His bosses ripped him up one side and down the other about his incompetence. he then came back at them pointing out that it was their incompetence that got his car towed. If they had gotten the paper work right, there would never have been a problem.
They gave him some "time off" and then he was soon called back for another mission with a bracelet and brief case. They took extra care to make sure he was completely legal before they set him in his place. He would have to sit and wait before it was time for his mission. This time they got it right.

14 )
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Virtual reality games were popular. Some games allowed total immersion into the games.
People commonly created characters and would move them from game to game to gain experience. After a while, the character would be able to do all the skills like a master without even the gamer's guidance.
Sela worked at the university studying the programming and design of the various games and simulators. Her team was concentrating on what the simulations were actually designed to test for.
She was dating the instructor of the largest martial arts school in the region. She saw that the permanent students were tending toward trouble since they had a lot of time on their hands. She decided to redirect their activities.
Picking a series of worlds, she got the students to join her in a little bit of fun. They created characters and under her guidance, she got the characters into a clown school in the world they were in. She had them use the clown instruction to teach their characters how to fight. They would do all the exercises and motions, but would clown them up. She guided them through four worlds before she thought they were ready for the real plan she had.
One group of programmers created a battle world. The programmers combined their characters into the God Of War. This war god would guide armies against each other and test out a battle strategy and tactic. When the battle was over they would restart the battle with the same characters and fight it again making small changes. Any character that got into the world was stuck until the war god was satisfied with the permutations of the battle, which tended to be nine times. Each time, the character would have to be born, raised and then drafted into the army for the battle.
There were complaints about holding their characters hostage. The characters never ceased to exist in the battles unless they dealt a death blow to the war god. Otherwise, they lost a few points in their period in the world, but gained combat knowledge that was useful elsewhere.
Sela brought them into the war world. Because they were working together, they deduced where each one was and moved them to a central location, a major circus. There, they learned how to be clowns, and practiced their martial arts style. They learned things like the human ladder where they would climb up each other to a great height and then pull everybody else up with them. going over a wall without any equipment. There were other tricks and techniques they perfected.
When they became of age, they all left the circus and went over the main pass in the area. They came to the main fortress for the pass, went over the wall with their human ladder system and captured the fortress. they used their clown martial arts to humiliate and capture every soldier. They then shut down every caravan that came over the pass, capturing everybody on them. They used their humiliation tactics to train their captives in how to be a clown warrior.
The war god noticed quickly that nothing was coming over the main pass. The war god sent a division to check out the problem. The clowns detected their approach and attacked. The soldiers did not have a chance. Only a couple captive clowns died. About half the soldiers were captured and were being trained to be clowns. The clowns now had armor and weapons to really be deadly.
Usually, there were survivors from any attacks to report on what happened. No word came from the division. The war god gathered the whole of the adult population, arming them for war, and training hem as they moved toward the pass. The intent was to overwhelm any resistance.
The clowns detected the massive army coming and readied for the war god. The force was from wall to wall, as far down the valley as the eye could see.
The war god showed up. The clowns kept the gates locked and fully barred. It would irritate the war god the soldiers would not be able to get in without building siege engines. The clowns left the fortress over the walls using the human ladder technique.
The clowns did not have to fight in a regimented line. When the battle ensued, the clowns were doing stuff like leaping onto someone's shoulders and striking down, dropping low and attacking legs. Throwing things, throwing non weapon items to mess up the soldiers.
Sela had them go around the outside of the phalanx they were facing and then rush to the war god and attack. the regimented force could not handle the quickness of the clowns and the confusion they created.
The war god was a dozen men tall. the clowns swarmed it and would grab hold, Another would climb higher and grab hold. Sela got high enough and she drive the kill strike in the war god's weak point. The war god ceased to exist, blinking out. Sela character also ceased to exist. She would have to start the character over from scratch.
Without the war god guiding the battle, the computer took over the battle. The clowns were finally all killed, but only a quarter of the entire imperial force remained.
The war gods restarted the world to try the war again, but not until they had erased all signs of the clown army from the records. If something is repeated enough times, it becomes a permanent pattern in the world.
Battle after battle, the school would run their characters, creating clowns and taking over some key fortress requiring the war god to come and take them out. One by one, their characters were killed because they took out the war god.
it took time, but finally the last student's clown killed the war god and died. None of them were in the world now. By this time, Sela had gone onto other things. The students had gotten their trouble making out of their system and were finally concentrating all their time in learning their lessons. The war god world had shown them what could be done with the proper training and guidance.
The war god studied what had happened. The empire always won the war. The sheer number of soldiers wore out and took out the enemy. the one weakness they had and could not solve, was how to handle a mobile army that does not fight in phalanx.

15 )
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Billy was working in the media center at his office. He made some copies and shredded two pages that could not go directly into the garbage. He then reached for the stapler.
He sneezed and knocked the hole punch onto the floor. The holes it contained spread everywhere around it. Since it was a mess already, he tapped the hole punch on the floor to knock the last of them out and put the hole punch back onto the counter. He left for a moment to get the broom. Searching, he could not find the broom, dust pan or anything else to clean it up. Not wanting to leave the mess there, he got down on his knees. He swept his hand over the holes. They did not move. He tried again, shocked that they had become part of the surface.
He picked up one hole and it had a three dimensional feel to it, like it was a ring rather than a flat piece of paper. He picked them up one by one. Since they were not acting normal, he was not sure if he wanted to put them into the garbage. Some were jet black. He looked down at one and saw stars. Another had a green field. He kept looking around, hoping for someone to come and prove he was not losing his mind.
As he gathered the holes, he felt them tickling his hand. He was not quite ready to look to see what was happening, until he saw something trying to crawl out of a hole. Little creatures were trying to escape the holes. One hole started stretching when he tried to pick it up off the floor. He rolled it into a cigar shape until he lifted the other side and put that into his hand. He shoved one creature back down the hole and pealed that up.
He finally got all the holes into his hand. He now wondered what to do with them. He figured if he ran them under water, it would just send water through the holes. He was not sure he wanted to put them in the garbage where the critters might escape and fill up this world.
He then got an idea. He folded a piece of paper over twice and dumped the holes into the paper. He then set the paper shredder to maximum security and slipped the paper in. He caught the shreds and put them through again inside another piece of paper. He did this several times and then left it as that.
He left the media room, wondering if he dealt with the problem properly. He decided to let someone else deal with the problem.

16 )
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A special weapon was used against the colony. It sent most advanced life into another dimension or universe. The creators of the weapon did not care which. They were happy that dropping the bomb ended any war in that area. Nothing was there to stop their advancing.
Yaman was deep in a mine when the bomb went off. He got only half the effect of the blast. He could walk through any solid material, but he could also manipulate any solid object that he could normally have moved. When he got to the surface, he found he was walking about seven feet above the floor wherever he was. This usually meant that he was walking through the floors of the building rather than on them.
In buildings where the floors were eight foot up, which is normal, he was walking in the floor above.
He could reach things on the floor by essentially hanging upside down. He felt the effect of gravity when he did it, but could easily pull himself back upright with a fraction of the normal effort. He spent most of his time on the floor above where he was walking as it was easier to handle stuff. The building he chose had a basement so he could work fairly normally on most floors of the building. He used the stairs and could use the elevator if needed.
He found he was never hungry or thirsty, never cold or hot. He also was never tired. He spent most of his time writing his musings in the computer and when he had enough, put it into portable memory as a backup. He had a safe to store his musings in for others to find.
One day, he saw a ship arrive. He went on alert. He did not like being outside as the wind blew him around. He had poor purchase on the surface he walked on. He simply looked out the walls and windows, watching as a lone space man searched through the buildings and carried valuables to his ship.
The thief finally got to Yaman's building. Yaman readied to deal with the thief. He got to the floor above the man and waited.
The thief walked through carrying a bundle of jewelry. Yaman took a pipe he set on top a book shelf and rapped the guy on the back of the head. He then stepped into the wall and held the pipe in place by a finger on each end. He used a beam to hide his nose as he looked down at the man below.
Time after time, he hit the man and hides. He used different things and hid is weapon in different ways. Many times, he also stole the loot the man gathered and put it in a safe place for the moment.
He tried to make ghost sounds but found he could not speak, or utter anything. He seemed to have forgotten how to speak.
Yaman decided to take a chance and went outside. He used the buildings as a wind block until he was in line with the space ship and then headed right there. he went inside the ship and the same rules applied. He searched the ship and found the stolen loot. He moved the stuff out of the ship. Later, when the wind changed for the day, he brought them back to a building the thief had already searched.
Yaman already figured out that there was no way he could leave the planet. He was stuck. He tried to climb a tower and found he ran into a ceiling before he reached the top. He climbed down, knowing he would be hurt if he fell or jumped.
The badly hurt bandit finally left, thinking he had a big stash of stuff he stole. Yaman got nearly everything off the ship so the man was leaving with a pittance.
After the thief left, Yaman settled down in his building, reporting on what he had learned about his condition and the thief and other musings.

17 )
` A hundred multi generational star ships launched at the same time, aiming for different stars. Half the planet's population had left in the stars, those left behind would have to rebuild society the best they could.
A meteor shower was heading toward the planet. Some were like medium asteroids. While most would miss the planet, some would hit and that would cause serious devastation. It was decided that for mankind to survive, some people had to escape. Several major cities were dismantled right to the ground to provide materials for the ships.
Each ship was built by different groups, based on different designs. Some ships launched with the idea of being an ark, saving the genetics of the planet. Others were strictly to keep the passengers alive.
Alpha Seven was a ship intended to have what was needed for a colony to start anywhere it ended up. there was a lot of genetics they left behind, taking only what could be stored and started just about anywhere.
In the forth generation of the trip, a survey of the ship showed it had some problems that might not be repairable. They decided to do some tests and found their ship would not maneuver. it was essentially operating with the momentum started from the last burn of power. A probe sent ahead of them sent back a signal that said there was a planetoid, a moonlet in their path. They triple checked the data and found it was right in their path. The whole population of the ship was brought together and they were shown the data and shown the problem. They decided to go into an emergency stop. More discussion and one of the main opponents of the emergency stop suggested that they dock with the planetoid and colonize it. they had fuel, supplies, and could make use of energies from space, even though they were not near a star, to provide some axillary power. The fact that this person was against the emergency stop was really shocking that he would suggest this.
They started turned on the reversing thrusts and settled into getting the ship ready for stopping. They worked on the maneuvering thrusters and systems that were near failure to try to figure out how to make the ship last.
It took a generation and a half before they reached the planetoid. It showed up on sensors though it was jet black. It was about the size of the moon. They entered orbit and dropped sensors everywhere including in planetary orbit. it was alone, nothing for a half light year in any direction.
They were deciding whether to stay or continue on. The probe detected some debris ahead. The sensory signals was a thin nebula that was not detectable ahead of time. The probe then blinked out, the last data showed it was ripped apart by dust. Data showed that if the ship had continued, it would have run right through that dust too.
They decided to land the ship on the planet since it now had that much maneuverability. First though, they dropped down robots to build mines and process materials they would need. After a couple decades, the ship landed on the planet in a hanger and the people accepted they were stuck on the planet.
the planet rotated slowly and was heading parallel to the nebula that destroyed the probe. They were fully installed on the planet when they started receiving word of other ships failing for one reason or another. Word from home showed that the damage the planet received was worse than expected. massive extinctions, small populations survived, barely.
They dismantled the ship and found the parts that actually failed would never have been found without the dismantling. They were irreplaceable and the ship never had the technology to build anything close to that part.
The ship's design gave them all the power they needed. The planet gave them the materials to keep their power going for nearly forever. The planet between all the stars became their home. Included in their cargo was biological samples of all the plants and animals of the world. Working with plants and animals they already were using, they recovered the technology to start plants and animals from tissue samples and eventually, once they had hollowed out enough of the moon, were able to have entire biospheres operating, saving life that went extinct. Of all the ships that had launched, theirs was the only one that reached ANY destination.

18 )
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The union really bore down on the company. The company purchased the necessary equipment to meet the demands and the technology to meet safety requirements the union demanded.
The company did get some concessions in exchange, namely, employees cannot bring anything to work, not even a wallet. They wear company clothing and no other personal possessions, no matter what. The company even made sure there were no pockets in the uniform for anything to be put into. Workers were not even allowed to carry things around.
They key demand was that the workers will work till five an not a minute later. After the contract was accepted the union began to regret the demand. It was something, though, that the company would not give up on, no matter what the union was willing to give up. It ended up saving the company a lot of money.
Victor was fifth in line at the counter, waiting to be taken care of. He looked at the clock and hoped they would speed up a little. this was his third attempt to make a purchase.
At about till five, the company guards showed up. They went through the isles and talked the people to stop shopping and head out the door.
Victor stepped up to the counter to make his purchase. he heard a click, then there was a soft pop. The workers disappeared. There was no one around other than customers and guards.
"Darn," Victor said loudly. "three times in a row!" he complained. A guard stepped up to him, gently took the purchases out of his hand and guided him to the door.
The union had the company set up a teleport system. At exactly five, every single union worker was teleported back home. The building was emptied in the matter of fifteen seconds. It did not matter what the worker was doing, all work stopped. on the button by their disappearing.
Guards arrived about an hour before leaving time and took their position as soon as they had their instructions. Workers took that as a sign to finish up what they could and prepare themselves for leaving. They checked out what the workers were doing and helped people leave.
Clean up crews arrived about half an hour before the workers left. The clean up crews went over everything and shut the equipment down, put materials away, before actually cleaning up the place for the next day.
The building is empty for a few hours, then a team comes in and sets up for the next morning so the workers can walk right up to their station and get to work.

19 )
.
A mall advertized that special crystals are hidden in various stores. Find one and get a special deal.
People were allowed into the caves once a year. The entity shifted the people into the cave which had no actual entrance to the surface. A display near the entrance told about the one who finds the Crystal of the gods, will be king for life. They only had one day to do their searches.
The caves were so extensive that if the people used a systematic search system, it would be a decade before they searched every piece of it.
At the end of the day, people were drawn out of the cave system, shifted back to the surface, fairly close to where they were taken. If one was in danger or lost or not where one should be, one would be moved to a new location.
Gabriel was too young to look for the Crystal when he first entered the cave. He stood at the entry and studied the display, practicing his letters on the signs. He noticed that no one ever found the Crystal. He studied the Crystal in the display, wondering why there would be two of them.
Over the years, he studied the display case, and worked out how to open it. One time, he was alone for a couple minutes and actually opened the case, then closed it again.
Gabriel was finally old enough to search, but chose to stay put at the display case. A woman who normally stayed near the entry took her entire brood with her. He could hear the foot steps leaving. When they were fully far enough away, Gabriel opened the case. He studied the Crystal carefully without touching it. It was very pretty, very well cut, it sparkled almost like it was from its own light. he put his hand behind it to see how it effected the color of his skin. He bumped it. He grabbed it to keep it from falling to the floor.
A loud gong filled the caves, echoing everywhere. In a panic, thinking he was in trouble, he put the Crystal back in place about the way it was before, and closed the display case, thinking he was now in really big trouble.
A voice boomed into the caves. "The search is over, you now have a king."
Moments later, everybody was gone from the cave except Gabriel. He now knew for sure he was in trouble. He wondered if he was going to be stuck here forever.
A ghostly figure appeared. it came up to him. He backed up a step. It then touched him and pain shot through his entire body. It was all he could do to keep from falling to the floor. The pain disappeared and he straightened up. Knowledge flowed into his mind, like long lost memories.
"You are now the king. Rule wisely." the ghost said.
Gabriel suddenly was in the old palace. It was dirty, dusty, cobwebs everywhere, all from a lack of use because there was no king. The spirit appeared and it waved a hand. The air became cloudy and then the clouds went out the window. The place was now spotless and polished. "You have your palace."
Gabriel wandered the palace, looking into every nook and cranny, learning what was there. There was enough food for him for about a week. Three days after he arrived, a man walked in, then bowed to him. "Your highness."
People were soon visiting him, taking care of his needs. He would rule for many decades since he started young. Each year on the anniversary of his becoming king, the spirit would return, and judge how he did the past year. He was a good king.
People asked him where he found the Crystal. While he knew exactly where he found it, he could never remember when they asked.

20 )
It was a dog fight. Irish Wolf Hounds, Scotties, English Sheep Dogs and Germain Shepard went up against the Afghan hounds. While there weren’t as man Afghans, they had the advantage of protection of a blanket of their name. The attacking teeth would catch the blankets rather than the hair underneath.
The Afghans also knew the area and knew where to hide for ambushes or to escape.
Ok, I don't know what to do with this, but had to get this far.

21 )
.
A form of magic existed. One could not send out fireballs, and one could not foretell the future, but one could transfer sensations and emotions to others.
The king ruled all the people. there was no other nation. He was old and had worked hard and played hard. He was not in good condition, but was bright of mind. He acted as the final decision maker, the final court when disputes could not be settled by other means. He was wise and was able to weed out the real cause of the problems between people who did not want to say why they could not agree.
His activities as a younger man had caught up to him and he could not move fast and had to hang onto things when he walked. to alleviate his discomfort so he could concentrate on his judicial decisions, several people volunteered to be the royal pain.
The royal pain received the pain sensations of the king through magic so he would not suffer from them. Each volunteer carried his pain for about four hours. In the several minutes to transfer from one royal pain to another, the king felt the aches and pains he truly had. This was good as it kept him from over-doing his activities. The royal pain would always be near him so he could see how much he really hurt.
Each town had a town crier. The town crier sobbed continuously. this allowed the rest of the town to feel better. Again, there was an exchange of volunteers several times during the day and night and the population felt the sadness that they really had. One knew a town was happy if the town crier was relaxed, happy.
I have no idea where to go with this, but thought it would a good start of a concept.

22 )
.
He was a very weak magician. He was though, very good at solving problems of his customers. He was a good business man and was effective with the magic he did have.
A couple other magicians learned of, or suspected, his lack of power. If they got rid of them, they could take his territory. His palace and his customers were valuable.
One of the competitors sent a thug to kill him. Looking over the property, there did not seem to be any defenses. the thug entered the property.
Nothing stopped him from exploring outside the palace. There was no magical trips or tricks anywhere. The magician had to be as weak as everybody said he was.
The thug entered the palace and was easily able to avoid the staff. They did not pay attention to what was around him
The magician was at the west tower. The thug started up the stairs. The urge to cough developed. It got stronger as he went up. He finally coughed and had difficulty stopping.
He got higher and his eyes started watering. He finally met the magician, drew his sword and attacked.
The magician grabbed a candle stick that was taller than he was. Just as the thug was about to strike, he sneezed. The magician rapped in on the shoulder with the candle stick. The thug sneezed again and got hit across the head.
The thug was definitely a better fighter, fighting with a better weapon, but this sudden cold gave him such problems that he was driven backwards. He took one more step backwards, was hit in the chest and there was nothing beneath his foot. He tumbled down the stairs. He was dumped out by the main road between towns. He died of his injuries just after his people found him.
Time after time, the assassins failed in their attempts to kill the magician. No one could figure out how that happened. Word was, that there was no defenses at all in the palace. No guards, no traps, nothing that would be used as a defense. After nearly a decade of attempts, the surrounding magicians gave up. this one was too good to be killed.
While he had no real defensive magic, he used what he could. The cough spell warned that someone was coming. the watering eye spell hampered the attacker, making it difficult to see well. He then used well timed sneezes to counter other advantages of the assassins. He was fairly good with whatever weapon he had available and that was the final step in his defense.

23 )
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One of the South Florida malls advertizes having snow during Christmas. One can play in the snow or simply watch it snow. One of those commercials gave me this concept.
It was common for the malls to select a climate that they did not have locally, and create it for their "Great Room" so the people could have something else. A particle accelerator ring would be mounted on the ceiling and high mass anti particles would be accelerated. creating a link with the other place. Whatever the weather was, bright sunlight, snow, rain, wind, that was what the great room got.
No one knew if it was in this world, this galaxy, this universe. it was simply different from what they had. The mall owners would then place plants that could handle that kind of weather.
Most malls could adjust the frequency of the accelerator to get weather from another place each season, but most kept the weather in the Great Room some place different from where they were.
The Suniland mall was located in one of the hottest deserts that was habitable. To please their customers they set their accelerator to a snowy region. Cold air always came in, but it also snowed very often. Regular air conditioning would be cheaper than running the accelerator.
Their main advertizement was to come in and watch it snow. Most people living there did not know what snow was until the mall opened. It was now the main tourist destination for the whole planet. to actually see snowfall. That was worth the trip.
One evening, the mall shut down so only the security was walking around. In the world of the accelerator, a super storm hit. They had big storms before and it was part of the fun of the great room. This storm as different. Strong winds blew into the mall building, snow piled in like an avalanche. Wherever the opening was for the accelerator must have gotten hit by a snow slide. The wind blew the snow into piles from door to door, up against all the stores.
Security had reported what was going on and then excited the building. The ownership had police surround the building while they figured out what to do about the snow. The storm was over by morning, but the doors would not open, too piled with snow.
The ownership got an idea before it was time to open and advertized that people could get their own bucket of snow for free,
Buckets would be made available at a charge. People from around the community showed up with buckets and carried them out. Most was able to get it home before it all melted. some ended up with buckets of water. People burrowed into the snow, played, had fun.
In two days, the worst of the snow was carried out by customers and clean up crews went to work. A snow cave was dug in the great room with a fine mesh to act as a support in case it decided to collapse.
It was a mess, and many stores had damage, but even those with losses ended up making money by people coming to play in the snow and spend money, even buying snow damage at a special price.

24 )
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They were overrun and taken off their lands. Generations later, the government decided to eliminate them as they were a bit of a problem. They were a bit too independent and always resisted changes, demanding why the change was necessary.
The enforcement came into the community to wipe them out. they resisted, fought back and destroyed the enforcement. Realizing the crimes they committed, they gathered their families and belongings and left.
They defeated each guard and force they met along the way until they found themselves at their old temple. It was in shambles. Not having anywhere else to go, they prepared the temple for a religious right which might be their last.
There were stories of great hosts that came to defend the temple. they were always stories.
The temple looked something like a temple and was purified. They did their prayers. the great army appeared, marching on them.
They called for everybody to come together with what ever supplies they could gather. More and more people arrived until there was as many as the army marching at them.
The leader realized what was going on. He ordered that those who were known by two people were to get together around him. The small group around him was those who had left the home land, along with a few people who joined them along the way. The rest were strangers though everybody seemed to know them. He made sure his people ate or drank nothing the strangers provided.
The mighty general came to the leader. "What are your battle plans?
"I am going right down the center with my people and try to take out their command."
"What are we to do?"
"You were created by God and are only there to defend the temple. You don't have the power to follow us into battle." The leader was guessing and half lying. He hoped the general's answer would tell him differently. These warriors did not defend the temple the last time so they were not going to be good in a real battle.
The general flinched. looked to his men, then bowed. "Few have ever known us."
"March to our sides to distract the phalanxes we don't face until we have done our damage. If you can do more than that, then bless you."
With that, they waited until the army was as near as safe and then the leader lead the battle. The host sort of paused, advanced, paused, keeping the army's forces in position as the people plowed through the phalanx before them. they came out the back side. It was only when the people attacked command that the host and real soldiers met.
The people captured the whole of the command, and found that the king himself was among them. The host had distracted the army just long enough. The war was over.
The king was held until the whole army had surrendered, and then the king was put to death and his body was given to the army with the admonition that the people belonged to this land and it was theirs. They would stay and be left alone.
The army left. The people settled around the temple and thrived in peace thereafter.

25 )
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The aliens took over the colony with little effort as there was no army. Because there was no fight, the aliens simply left the colony operating as normal, even letting the government and police operate, and did their own thing.
Computer experts figured out how to translate the alien signals. It was far from perfect but they could work out much of what was said. It was proven when the computer people would announce what the aliens were going to do, and the aliens did it.
The broadcast news started reporting the alien plans as they were known. This helped to keep the colonists out of the way of the aliens. The aliens, learning that the colonists had cracked their communications, gave a few tips to make the translations more accurate. Keeping the colonists from being underfoot was an advantage to the aliens.
Word came out that the aliens were going to relocate part of the colony population. The colony was located on two nearby valleys and the surrounding hills. The aliens were located on the farthest hills, overlooking the most populated part of the colony.
The colony population started packing their stuff in preparation of the move, getting their most important items boxed up to take with them.
Communications was that the event was going to happen soon. People were where they just about felt they were ready.
Vickmore had vacationed out of the main colony area and had his family and some friends with him in his motor home. They were all sleeping. He was driving over the crest of the farthest hill from the alien camp. He crested the hill and saw a glowing rectangular light. The road took him down into the valley.
The sky flashed bright. There was a defining crack, then ground shaking thunder. A wave of hot air hit Motor home. He turned his air conditioning on. Behind him the trees were set a blaze in an instant inferno. At the crest of the hill in front of him, flames leaped up.
The road he was on zig zagged going down. The fire was catching up to him. Fire at the top of the other hill was visibly coming down the hill to meet him. Everybody was now awake, the children crying.
He got to the river at the base. The road crossed a bridge that had a long sandy beach in the center.
Vickmore pulled off the road and drove onto the downhill side of the island since the river widened in that direction, and parked.
While waiting for the fire to reach the river, some of the adults were talking about how the forest people would come soon to put out the fire, others saying they would be glad to get home and forget about the fire. One girl said something about telling her friend about this.
Vickmore realized that if the fire was going to reach here, the colony itself would have no chance at all. The translation of relocating the colony was wrong. It was really the word move, and that went with REMOVE.
Vickmore snapped. He turned to the others. "There is no school, there are no fire fighters, there are no friend. There is no colony." He saw shock and disbelief spread across their faces.
The cause of this was from the alien base. If it was this hot here, it had to be worse in the city. No one is going to survive there." He pointed to the fire coming down the colony side hill. "Few will survive elsewhere either." Tears were coming to his eyes as the weight of his words came over him. "The aliens burned the tops of the hills with a power to make green forests burn this intense. Their tower was high enough to burn the hill tops well beyond our vacation spot. If any body survives, it will be pretty much a miracle."
The fire was getting closer and it was getting hotter. "Our survival is going to be in question too." He wanted to get them into the water, but decided that since they were farthest away from any greenery, had the river between them and the air conditioning running, they would be safe where they were. The end of the island where the water was actually the widest was too close to greenery. The paving was visibly burning just past the ends of the bridges. He doubted he would be able to get the motor home out of here or very far because of the damage.
The fire finally burned itself out and the world cooled down. Two days after the fire, Vickmore and his friend walked to the top of the hill on the colony side. Vickmore assessment of the situation was true. all the hills were not only blackened, the rock was melted above the level of the hills in front. They checked a couple houses in the valley below and found a woman tending a badly burned man. Getting some help, they were brought to the motor home.
The others wanted to see if there was any more survivors they could rescue. Vickmore pulled the motor home onto the side of the bridge, let much of the air out of the tires and drove slowly and carefully away from the colony. The low air pressure allowed the tires to give over the sharp rocks of the buckled pavement.
They ran out of gas passed the place they vacationed, an area not touched by the energy. They ended up starting a colony there. They eventually went back to the colony area to see what happened there. The aliens miscalculated at how intense the fire was near their base. They destroyed themselves.
Future explorations found several more patches of population. The colony grew fast as the forests recovered. It would be centuries but the colony would match what was lost.