February 2012 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 9 stories last year and wrote "the end" on four of them. I submitted one to a magazine and the rest need serious rewrite.
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. I took one of the story ideas from this year and when I fired it off to the publishers, my version had only a slight similarity to the original story idea. 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.
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 last year I posted two books worth pure drivel, down from my normal four books worth that I used to do 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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Someone I know wears hair extensions all the time. She changes her hair style completely once a month so it seams. She mentioned many methods to do the hair and that got me thinking in story idea mode.
It would be nice to have an easy, surefire way to extend the hair. Some way that would allow real styling without looking unnatural. I then came up with a great solution.
In a cave on a planet that was explored, they found what looked like human hair growing from the walls of the cave. There wasn't the normal cave structures where the hair was found. After some false starts, they found that a "worm" or more accurately a bug, was where the hair met the cave and the hair was exuded body shells that stayed together. The bug simply hung onto another hair or a grain on the wall, taking in the minerals that dripped over them. The nutrition was found to be quite simple. Samples were taken.
Back home, the hair was studied and was found to be safe in our environment. On a lark, someone stuck some worms to the end of their hair. Other than a slight color difference, it looked much the same. They chose to trim the ends of their hair just before the worm
Years later, the collection of worms had really grown and they found out how to make them reproduce rapidly. Since they were declared safe, a group of researchers decided to go into business. Using a spouse who was a beautician, they started using the worms as hair extensions. At first they died the worms different colors, but soon found by adding certain minerals, they could make them grow at whatever natural hair color they wanted.
The bug's hair could be trimmed to whatever length that was desired, but they decided to use the proper length worm for what they needed for the design. the long ones were more expensive than the short ones.
The grip on the hair was as strong as the hair itself so it was not going to come off. Each person was given a cream to work into the hair before bathing or showering, which fed the worms. When it was time to change hair style, they applied a chemical that caused the worms to let go. It did no damage to the worms and with a bath of the cream, they were ready for re-use.
If left in long enough, the worm would get longer, the hair essentially grew twice as fast, the natural hair growth and then the growth of the worms.
They were used on balding men where the worms were attached to the stubble, giving the man some hair to show off. the cream seemed to help with the natural hair and scalp.

02 )
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The resistance to the laws passed by politicians was getting worse as time went on. Finally several politicians were killed and crowds surrounded the hall of laws, preventing them from leaving easily.
The politicians needed something to get them out, something armored as several of the limousines were damaged in their attempts.
Phone calls went out and they found that the garbage company had several brand new garbage trucks that had never been used. Since the bins were heavier armored than the limos they used, the garbage trucks were brought in. the politicians got inside, complaining, and were trucked out. Limos met them at a common site and they went on to their homes. To go back home, they met at a common site and went in to work within garbage trucks.
After several trips, the trucks were modified. The back bin was really small, just enough to carry some garbage. The front of the bin had a hidden door, seats, lights and a few comforts.
Since there were more politicians than trucks, garbage bins were outfitted with a false top. They were brought in, some garbage was added on top, and beneath was seating for the rest of the politicians.
The politicians and other government workers started working shifts so they would not have to modify very many garbage trucks.
After about a month, they had the system in place. The protestors never bothered the garbage trucks. They also never showed any signs if they knew they were modified.
The politicians were excited that the protestors never knew how they were regularly escaping. One problem was they were not supposed to be seen in public and absolutely never tell how they were getting out.
The protesters had figured out instantly what the politicians were doing, but loved the fact that the politicians were like garbage and went with pretending to not know about it.
It would be nearly a year before the politicians would learn that their ruse had failed instantly, but they were committed to their new transportation and could not stop. it was perfect humiliation for the politicians

03 )
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One thing I love to use for my story ideas are puns or play on words. In the back of my mind, I seem to remember having this idea before, but a search of the key word said that word had never been used in my story ideas. It must be an idea I forgot to write down one time.
The monsters were a problem. They were fairly resistant to available weapons. it took a lot of effort to kill them, and there were a lot of the creatures.
It was strange that while guns and projectiles did little while knives and swords seemed to be quite effective. The thought is that there is some magic or other power that protects them from projectiles and explosives.
Getting close enough to use a sword or knife was really tough and the examples were found by accident, a soldier getting trapped and running out of ammo and having to fight for their lives. In the six battles, only a few soldiers survived actual contact with the monsters. No soldier or monster bodies were found as the surviving monsters fed on them before they retreated.
The military was getting a little desperate. They had to stop the monsters and little in what they did worked. They were lucky that the monsters retreated to the cave systems they started from. If they stayed out and continued to advance, the city would be overrun in a couple days.
Ghary was just a private. He was among the riflemen trying to provide support to the soldiers that went into the battle. He saw the monsters eating the other soldiers. He had nightmares over the view, just as most of the other soldiers had.
He decided that since he was going to be food, he was going to make himself taste good. He broke into the kitchen and dumped a bunch of seasonings into a pail. Just before they were supposed to move out, he filled the bucket with water and essentially bathed in the seasonings. It was close to being a paste so he was well covered to marinate until it was time to be eaten.
His squad knew he had done something as they could smell him. He found the grit was making him uncomfortable and he wondered if he made a mistake. He would now die uncomfortably.
His squad mounted bayonets on their rifles and they entered the battle. While the monsters were not bright, they had a very good technique. they applied their numbers in a couple points, then circle around to envelop a group of soldiers. Ghary's squad was surrounded.
They stabbed then fired into the holes made by the bayonets. Ghary found that the monsters shied away from him when he came forward. That left them vulnerable to attack. His men soon gathered close to him since he seemed to be protected from the monsters.
The battle continued to be waged. One by one, the monsters got Ghary's squad members. Finally Ghary was alone. He was injured and got bit several times, but he survived the battle. His squad did more damage than all the rest of the force had, and there were bodies for command to study as the monsters did not want to eat here.
Checking him, they found the seasonings all over him and he explained what he did and why he did it. He explained what happened in his part of the battle which helped in recordings command made from behind the line.
Ghary was cleaned up and his wounds buttoned up. He actually was not badly hurt over all. He could fight if needed.
The command placed orders for a number of specialty items. The squads were given new uniforms. Their uniforms had little packets sewn into them. they reeked of seasonings. Command would love to do tests to find out which seasoning was most effective, but they did not have the man power to waste nor the time. The monsters were coming in a bigger force than they had before. It appeared as if all of them woke up.
The squads even had new bullets for their rifles. there was a cap on the end that would break off once it hit. The cap contained a seasoning mixture.
The soldiers marched into battle. Ghary begged to join the battle and was given a new squad. He was forbidden to bathe in the seasonings and instead wearing the new uniforms.
the two forces met. The monsters cringed from the smell of the soldiers and the soldiers gained the advantage. Stabbing and firing, or firing into the eyes was the best tactic. Hand to hand combat against monsters who's hands had a dozen sharp claws. The soldiers resorted to old time sword and spear tactics and formed jagged lines. The points broke up the charge of the monsters and the sides of the points attacked the monsters on both sides.
The soldier's lines did not break. The seasoning was working great, especially since the wind was at their back, blowing in on the monsters.
The monsters continued to come, but the soldiers marched into the face of them and pushed deeper into the monster's territory. the monsters retreated without very many meals.
It was determined that there were likely just enough monsters for one more attack. Reinforcements came and the soldiers were ready for battle. Being SEASONED soldiers, they entered the battle against the monsters the last time and chased them into the caves. By the end of the day, no living monster could be found. That did not say they did not exist, it was just that the caves were emptied of living soldiers.
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I had heard about experienced soldiers being seasoned soldiers, and just had to do something involving soldiers with seasonings on them.

04 )
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Mankind had populated the space between the planets, with dozens of mining operations on the asteroids and a couple small moons. There were a couple space stations out past the last notable planets, studying the energies of the relatively clean space.
Travel around the solar system did take some time, but it was relatively quick between space stations and asteroids as they did not have to escape any substantial gravities.
As much as everyone wanted to visit the stars, there was the problem of getting going fast enough to make it in a "reasonable" amount of time.
They were searching for methods to get more speed, more power to make the stars possible.
There was one method that was under testing but it was not working. Theoretically, it should cause massive amounts of thrust, but something was wrong with the system.
The way the system was supposed to work, was that compounds would be energized. One atom or set of atoms would be ejected at extremely high speeds and forces, while the other would become cool to be siphoned off. Their problem was that they were not getting the violent separation needed between the atoms.
One group decided to work systematically. They started at uranium and started working their way down. Each test was disappointing in that it was taking more energy to split them than they were getting back.
After two of the same atom compounds, they decided to try compounds with two different atoms. Carbon Monoxide was interesting.
Then they started with naturally occurring three atom molecules, again starting with uranium. They were half way through the list and the researchers were ready to give up. they would have stopped but they saw they had to keep the project going for a few more months or lose their funding.
They only had a few more to go and was already cleaning up to end the project. Nothing was working. they decided that the final test would be H2O, water. Nothing below that would be worthy of testing. They inserted the H2O in the test chamber and hit the firing button.
The researchers were a little dazed and really had no idea what had happened. All they new was that the side wall exploded and there was a trench about four foot deep in the ground outside that went as long as a football field.
Researchers found the remains of the test chamber at the end of the trench. The test chamber supports were ripped apart and one of the researchers was inches from being pulverized from the test chamber's passage. His clothing and hair was badly scorched.
The researchers rebuilt the test chamber, making it a whole lot stronger and they used just a tiny bit of water this time. The bench the test chamber was attached to slammed into the wall, the bolts were pulled out of the concrete floor.
They reported that they found the material to get them to the stars. There were more tests and they figured out that the hydrogen was blown out the chamber at near light speed and the oxygen drifted off to the side to be collected. It was decided that while water was valuable, they would not worry about oxygen for the trip.
They quickly built some ships with the drives. The drive chambers were small, and they used several of them. This gave them control and allowed them to limp around if there was problems.
The first test ship was accelerated by normal means to a good rate, it was then put into a slow spin. finally they fired the center thrust chamber. The ship accelerated heavily. They soon had five of the fifteen thrusters going and then rotated to come to a stop just a week after launching, at the farthest space station from the sun. They returned, but this time not using conventional drive to accelerate at all.
Within a year, several ships headed out to the stars, some using hundreds of the drives. No one yet figured out why it worked, but it really pushed the ships around. The first star, four light years away, was reached in ten years.
The researchers kept studying the drive system. they finally figured out that water is a chemical that is different from anything else in the universe. it freezes, thaws and evaporates at temperatures well above compounds of a similar nature. When it freezes, it gets bigger, rather than continuing to shrink like everything else. these features allowed for life to exist. ice did not sink to the bottom of the seas so water was able to remain liquid because the ice melted quickly on the surface.
The nature of water was also why the drive system worked with it. when water molecules were split, the energy was right to drive the hydrogen out with great force.

05 )
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The rules of the government was that when the offices were closed, no one was to be working. the public sections of the government closed on time, and the buildings were required to be emptied out completely within half an hour. The general public were kept outside the building and was served through windows outside.
At first, this only applied to general government personal, then other services were brought under the same rules. Robots were employed as police, fire, and emergency rescue so the people could follow the same rules.
It took longer before parks were operated by robots. The human workers deserved to be off at normal hours.
This stabilized for about a decade, then the government decided it was costing too much to have the robot workers operating after hours. There were contracts with the population that prevented all robots from being pulled from everywhere. As the contracts ran out, and needed to be renegotiated, they were changed and government robots were allowed to be withdrawn after government hours. Finally all contracts were changed.
A major holiday arrived for a three day weekend. The clock ticked down and then the government offices closed. Within an hour, the streets had changed. Not one police robot was on the roads.
Quickly, the traffic sped up. No one was going to be ticketed for speeding. there were robots that investigated accidents. They gave tickets to everybody in the accident, not just the one who might have broken the laws. the fines were high. They also investigated crimes, but otherwise you would never see them.
There are sections of roads where people will go a hundred miles an hour over the speed limit regularly. Slow traffic avoided those roads for the most part.

oops!!

06 )
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They were very religious, following their god's commands beyond question. One precept of the god was that they were to prey at sun-up and at sun-down. Preying at sun down was never a problem.
The problem showed up when praying in the morning. As the seasons changed, the time to prey also changed. The time to start the day, though, was by the clock and did not change.
Knowing there would be a problem, Mother wrote a note stating that her son would be late on coming to school during these days of the month due to religious requirements.
Mother received word that her son had better be in school on time or he will be docked on his grades. There would be no give in the requirement.
Because of their daylight prayer, the boy got to school late every day for a month. The parents then received a message from the authorities declared the boy was marked as not being in school on all those days and was going to be taken away.
The parents had some money, so they took the school to court. First they proved that the boy was indeed in school all those days. they then showed the letters discussing his being late. The judge agreed that they had the right to follow their religion and that the boy was only missing part of a school class was not a serious problem.
The government came back with their rules and requirements that demanded that the boy be on time no matter what. When pressed as to where that rule came from, there was hemming and hawing, and names were named. they were brought in and cross examined. That pointed to a higher ranking official. Two more higher ones were brought in before the official that started the requirement finally showed up in court.
It turned out that he had made the law specifically for this family. He said there were no gods and such superstitions had to be stomped out.
The family, sitting together started praying under their breaths. the air in the room changed and suddenly a figure appeared out of a glowing ball in front of the judge. it was the family's god.
The god let the judge know that his decision would not be needed. the god then explained the penalty to the whole line of officials. they did not question the law and were unwilling to give dispensation. They heard then even if they were not in the courtroom. They could see the courtroom and all around them could see it too.
The god then handed down his punishment to them. In doing so, the god said "there are other gods and they are to be worshiped in their own way by those who know the gods. No law forbidding the peaceful worship of the gods shall be passed. The god disappeared from the courtroom. the officials were now hunched over, covered in warts, looking more like frogs than people. Obvious pain could be seen in their eyes even though they could not utter a sound.
The boy returned to school late, of course, and no one said anything and he was no longer punished for being late, and his records were corrected for the days he showed up for school. The worship of the gods in churches and temples increased suddenly.

07 )
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The illicit cargo emitted a gas. It could not be stopped. The gas could not be detected by normal means, but they had an effect on people who were in the gas for a while. The main effect was to make the people a bit paranoid.
The preferred vehicle to transport the cargo was vans. Of course the drivers were bathed in the escaping gasses. Many drivers tried what they could to force the air out by driving fresh air in, but the constant weather made that an unworkable. All they could expect was to become very paranoid.
Wilbur was transporting the cargo and had been surrounded by the gas for a couple hours now. A police car pulled up beside him. the officer looked at him.
Wilbur started wondering if the officer recognized him, or recognized the van. The officer looked down at the screen on his dash. He was sure the officer was going to pull up all sorts of information on him. He realized he was going to be caught, so he panicked and floored it, nearly hitting a car crossing the intersection against the signal. The officers turned on the lights and siren and took chase.
two more police cars were called in and set up a road block ahead. Wilbur saw the road block and tried to avoid it. He rolled the van and the van exploded, burning all that was in it.
The officers noted that was the fifth time something like that happened. They had no idea why. they did note that it was always someone in a nondescript van.
Charles was the kind of person who would look innocent when he was doing something illicit. It was his way. he talked his way out of being arrested several times when they almost had the goods on him.
He was explained about the effects of the gas. He decided that the money was worth the chance. The money would set him up well for a while. He got in the van and made sure he had all the right papers. He then headed off to the destination.
He was driving through the city. He noted a police car coming onto the road behind him. He had the gas for over an hour and it was having the effect on him.
The officer noting the van, decided to see if he could make it rabbit. the other officers had a new system to stop the van safely they wanted to try.
The officer pulled up beside the van. Charles forced himself to put on his innocent act. The officer ran the tags and looked the driver over, obviously checking on the van. It seemed to be normal and legitimate.
Charles wanted to escape but forced himself to relax. The light changed and Charles started out slowly and accelerated until he was just a couple miles above the speed limit. The cop followed him for a mile or so then pealed off. the officer told the others that it was not a target.
Charles arrived at his destination and after checking identification he was told to look for, he forced himself to walk away from the van. Half an hour later, his head completely cleared of the gas and he was back to normal.
they then asked him about his trip and he told about the cop car. It was then that he realized how close he came to panicking.
He drove the aired out van back home. he ended up making dozens of successful trips, all with about the same effect of the police trying to get him to run. His ability to force himself to look innocent was why he was so successful.

08 )
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I saw the preview for BATTLESHIP during the Super Bowl. That is all I know about the film. It did give me an idea though.
They were called battle bots. They were really a form of transportation. The aliens had fought many advanced societies and developed their systems to handle whatever defenses they would likely meet based on their style of attack.
The aliens landed on a large island, sterilizing it with their landing drivers and then assembled their battle bots. Their battle plan required them to cross the oceans and take out the big cities which were on the shores. Once the cities were destroyed, the rest of the land mass would be easy.
The colony had one big continent, a small continent that the aliens took over in their landing and then scattered islands. Only one coast was really habitable so the aliens only needed to deal with one area of attack rather than enveloping the whole land mass.
It happened that the small continent was the enemy of the big continent and they were at constant war. The colony was ready for a real battle. It also just happened that the big continent had mobilized an invasion force to end the war once and for all.
The battle bots left the land in mass. The battle ships of the invasion force launched to meet the aliens.
The aliens had their different sized battle bots all mixed up as they crossed the water. it was extremely stormy and the battle bots struggled in the high waves. The invasion force was prepared for the storm.
The two forces met and the battles ships opened fire. Air craft launched and dropped bombs and fired missies. The aliens soon found they had a serious problem. They were not prepared for a real battle at sea.
The biggest guns exploded on the shields of the super big battle bots without doing damage. The impacts on the energy shields sent a recoil into the battle bots and the aliens inside were getting punished from the sudden jarring and the heavy waves made the sudden movements easier when they were on top a wave with little holding them up. Well timed torpedoes also did a number on the battle bots.
When the battle bots got close enough. Machine guns and rifle, grenade launchers also fired, hoping to put bullets into cracks and crevices of the battle bots. Small arms passed right through the shielding of the biggest battle bots and tore the protective coatings of the super big battle bots. The heavy waves did more damage, shorting out the energy shielding projectors.
On the other hand, the small arms did nothing to the smallest battle bots but big shells blew them out of the ocean. Other sizes of battle bot had their own weaknesses.
The battle bots got close to the ships. Shells fired at point blank range drove the energy shield back into the body of the ships. the small arms fire tore the protective covering enough that the big impacts punched holes in the shell of the battle bots.
Some ships were caught and destroyed when they ventured too close, but they never went down alone.
The battle bots farthest back turned and headed back home, the invasion fleet continued on course after their prey. Troop carriers were following about a day behind, going around the worst of the storm.
The battle fleet reached the small continent and the battle bots, which has reached land. In calm seas, they were better prepared for a battle. The few that entered the sea were sunk, while the rest waited on land, being harassed by fighters and bombers of every kind.
The Ships as close as they dared to the shore, they pummeled the battle bots with everything they had. Their favorite tactic became to pulverize the ground around the feet so they would fall down. Of course, standing made them perfect targets one had difficulty missing.
The invasion force finally arrived. the aliens were driven back from the beaches by the ships so the landing was quick and easy. A bit on land, the aliens fought a more conventional battle, but the overwhelming invasion force ground them into the soil.
Bombers and fighters found the landing bases and did their best to disable or otherwise damage the ships. Nicely placed holes made sure they were not going to launch any time soon.
Because the invasion had been planned for nearly a decade, it was operated with masterful efficiency.
While the aliens were quite experienced in attacking, they had no experience in defense. they did not have time to set up defenses anyway.
While their old enemies were not there, the military saw no reason not to follow their plan exactly and they swept the whole continent, finding enemy survivors and aliens camps.
The last battle was for the alien landing field. The invasion force did to them what they planned to do to the colony. When the forces met at the center, it was a level wasteland with no life inside.
While the aliens held many other planets, the loss of this force devastated them. these were essentially the whole of their transportation system. Their empire collapsed and survivors on the various planets eventually killed them off.
The colony now had no reason to have a military. Both enemies were destroyed. they did see there was a need for an enemy and to have a standing military. They stole what they could of the technology of the aliens and rebuilt the enemy continent with people going there to colonize it.

09 )
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There was a whole series of devious crimes committed. no one knew how they were done. Trillions of dollars of valuables disappeared without a trace.
The "crown jewels" of a wealthy family was placed on display. There were cameras, alarms guards all over the place. They identified everybody who went through to see the jewels so they would have possible suspects.
During the night, guards surrounded the building and guards watched the entries to the gallery. Every alarm and camera was on, watching the valuables.
The next morning, they went in and half the jewels were gone! There were fake copies of the jewels among the real ones and only a couple fakes were gone, the most expensive of the fakes. A good number of the most valuable expensive jewels were missing.
Police and specialists came in and examined the crime scene. there were no clues at all on how it was done. There was no point of entry or exit. There was no prints of any kind. Searching the camera data, they figure out that the image as "doubled" looped, with the time stamp replaced with the real time stamp. there was no sign of how that could possibly be done.
The next night, the robber hit again and took the remaining jewels. secretive cameras stowed around showed nothing. all they showed was static during the general time of the robbery.
A major museum decided to be remodeled. Craftsmen and contractors were brought in to do the work.
Jammo was a structural and roofing contractor. He did a lot of work in the ceiling and roof. His work was inspected and approved, exactly to plans.
Two months later, some valuables were on display. Jammo went to the site. He easily climbed a down spout. the brackets were set closer than normal, giving him an easy ladder to climb. On the roof, he crawled under some equipment up there and turned a piece of molding at the edge. He then was able to slide a panel to the side to open up the roof.
He climbed in and followed a support that took him to a secret spot above a wall. He touched a few spots and the panel opened. There was a bunch of electronics. He keyed a computer and checked images, checked signals coming out. He then keyed some codes and closed the panel.
He followed the structure over the room on display and was easily able to take the valuables out. when he had enough, he went back to the electronics and keyed a few more codes and left the way he came.
Again there was no sign of how the crime was done, but the stuff was gone and no signals showed anything had gone wrong.
Whenever Jammo worked on a building, he made his own access ways to get inside. he would then plug into the systems to build ways to bypass any security system they hook up. He then waits until there is something of value put in. He checks images to see if anything was stashed some place to make a record and would detect the signals they might have. it was then easy to jam them so no sign of his activities would show.

10 )
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Brilcrem had learned painting at the art school, mainly painting landscapes. He was very good. His landscapes were realistic.
When he graduated, he got a job to paint for a distant lord. The lord wanted his realm painted in detail, to make a record of what he had since things were going good.
Brilcrem joined a team and they would go out to an area, spread out and paint the scene. The lord's representative would look at the painting and the scene and approve the work before they would leave. the lord's man never requested a change in Brilcrem's paintings.
Brilcrem aimed for pretty paintings and would pick sites that really showed the land, not just the farms and structures. Seeing the paintings, the lord kept remarking that he never knew stands of this tree or that tree was even there. Brilcrem's painting style was what the others needed to copy.
One day, the lord asked Brilcrem to paint his sickly daughter. He was told to make her look healthier than she really was.
Brilcrem posed her comfortably and started painting. with little effort and really little changes, she looked so pretty. The lord watched the process. The painting was done and Brilcrem bent over to sign the painting. The lord was very happy with the painting. The lord went to his daughter and was talking and Brilcrem stroked out his name. When he stood up, he yelped out in shock. The painting now looked exactly like she did. The lord and the girl were shocked as they had seen the finished painting without the signature. The painting was absolutely exactly the way she looked, including every little blemish and off color.
Brilcrem gathered up his stuff and left, not knowing what to day or do. He went out with the painting group early the next morning before the lord woke.
He avoided the lord and the girl with every effort he could for about a month. Finally the lord caught up with him and had guards bring him in. he expected to be punished, then he saw the girl. She looked very close to what he had painted. She still had some healing to do but she was looking good.
Brilcrem then was sent to paint a wealthy merchant who was on his death bead. he worked quickly while the merchant sat uncomfortably. Everybody loved the painting on how he made the merchant look strong, healthy, vibrant. He then wrote his signature and when he looked up, the painting was exactly the way the merchant looked. They were not happy.
Brilcrem worked on the landscapes for a couple months and then was called to visit the lord. the merchant was there and was much like the painting. The merchant, having heard about the lord's daughter, said that Brilcrem saved his life.
Soon, Brilcrem was doing paintings for anybody who was not healthy. In every case, his glamorized paintings changed when he put his signature on it. Also in every case, the person later became like the painting.
One day, there was a young woman who was badly deformed. Brilcrem painted her to make her look good. His brush would not work properly. He struggled to keep her looking beautiful. When he finished, the painting looked exactly like her as usual. When he later saw her, she had improved but still looked bad. He painted her again and the brush fought him.
Over a period of two years, he painted her five times. She improved dramatically between the first and last painting. He ended up marrying her.
He never painted another landscape as he was healing people, painting them as they should be and the painting would take what was bad in them and replace it on the painting. There were a couple people where the painting remained looking good. He learned quickly that there was nothing that could be done to heal them.
He was a magic healer and if the painting did not change, the families knew to prepare them for their time.

11 )
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There is a joke that says, "The church was going to put in a chandelier. They voted against it as no one knew how to play it." The last time I ran across that joke, I realized I could use it in a story idea.
It was once an instrument that was created by one of the gods. when played, it blessed those in attendance. Over time, knowledge of how to play it faded. because of the design, people who had totally forgotten it was an instrument, would attach candles to it in places that seemed just right for that, making it a light source for the churches and temples.
A new church was being built. A new member asked if they should get a chandelier. Most churches had them. A really old man stood up and said "One of those would be really nice to have, but no one knows how to play it. At that moment, the old man slumped slowly to the floor and died.
In the following debate, there was question about what the man meant by what he said. Playing a candle holder? A merchant was about to head out. He said he would ask around as he traveled and see if he could find someone who actually played one. Once he found that person, he would get one that was built right. he figured it was a waste of time but since he was heading out, it would not hurt.
He checked locally first and no one knew what he was talking about. He got out to the end of his route and was talking to another merchant. That merchant heard about someone who actually heard one played, but that was beyond the end of his route. the merchant decided to travel with his friend.
A merchant at the other end directed him on where it might have happened.
He ended up half way across the land before he finally found someone who actually played it. It was glorious. It was not well played. He headed to another part of the land to find where it was being taught
He had been away from home for five years when he found a place where there were several schools. It took some doing but he convinced one of the schools to pack up and come with him. He now had a load of the best chandeliers made in that town.
Going home was much faster as he took a direct route. When he finally got back after being gone for seven years, he had the chandelier installed and then had it played. Because one had never been played in this region, it had a big effect. The school was set up and students were taken from all the surrounding churches and they were taught how to play.
The gods, happy that their music was being played again, blessed the merchant and his people beyond their wildest dream. The congregation was really happy with the blessings they also received for having sent the merchant to find the teachers. The school was blessed and flourished.
Soon, every church and temple now had someone who knew how to play the chandelier.

12 )
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In Rapture, everybody who is good will be taken to heaven. that leaves the "non-good" to inhabit the remains of civilization. Many times it was described that when Rapture happens, the good pilots will be taken up and plane would crash, killing the passengers that remained. That bothered me. The precepts of not killing would make that description just wrong. I came up with a solution.
Detective Ramiel had insomnia. He had taken a sleeping pill but it had no effect. He was wide awake and still full of energy, so he got dressed and went to work.
Talk was really strong about the end of time approaching and Rapture was about to arrive. He would be kind of happy as he did not like the way the world was going.
Dawn came as he arrived at work. By noon, there were several missing person's reports. He went and talked to the witnesses. Two were of children sleeping in bed within a locked up house and the mother checked on them and they were gone. The other was a worker who was taking a lunch break on a skyscraper. The co-workers were looking at a magazine together. When they looked back, he was gone. The workers searched all around the ground and every place he could have fallen but could not find him.
When Ramiel returned to the office, there were nearly a thousand missing children reports, several hundred missing person's reports in nursing homes, a couple hundred missing person's reports around the city. There was a couple accidents where cars crashed and there was no one inside.
Ramiel looked at the reports and spotted a pattern and told the officers surrounding him. In every case, the person was sleeping. He would bet money that the car crashes were people who fell asleep at the wheel.
He headed to a tavern for lunch that had the news on all the time. In the short time it took to get there, the news was reporting that police has a theory that the people who were disappearing were sleeping at the time.
By the time he got back to work, the reports was that people were actually trying to go to sleep and the reports was that they were disappearing before witnesses and on camera. there were a dozen images of people laying in bed, asleep, and fading away, their blankets slumping flat. Ramiel was curious that the clothing was going with the people. He would have thought the clothing would have been left also.
There were people who slept soundly and woke up, still there. People wondered why that would be. Ramiel put together that rapture would only take the good. the people who were left would not be good enough. The day was coming to the end and it dawned on Ramiel that he had insomnia.
In the war zone, soldiers were in troubled. Since they slept in shifts, half their force was already gone. The enemy suspected something and were attacking in full force. Being outnumbered, they fought with everything they had. None of the soldiers wanted to go to sleep as that would leave whoever was left, vulnerable and alone. Heaven help the soldier that was not taken when he slept. He could be left alone against the full force.
During the night, people were disappearing at a horrendous rate. A lot of reports coming into the police station was people sleeping with their spouse and waking up and they wee gone. Night shift everywhere was under heavy pressure. Only a small percentage of people came in to work. those who were already on shift had to stay or were called back to stay. Nursing homes were really struggling. One nursing home had only five staff members in the building, taking care of a hundred patients. While a lot of patients were gone, there were still a lot that remained.
At the moment, there were only ten percent of the police force left. From the time Ramiel had suggested that people falling asleep was the problem, the shifts of officers were required to stay over to make sure there were enough officers to cover any missing slots. They knew it was a stop-gap but it was something.
Earlier, Ramiel suggested as a joke that they should bring in all the cops that were kicked out for criminal acts. He was shocked when several of them in uniform. He realized that they would be good for the job as they would not disappear.
Weeks later, Ramiel had not slept. It was telling on his mind and body. He could do nothing about it. He was not the captain of the police force. He was able to keep the police force to stay to the rules at least for now.
What news came out said that populations all over the world suffered the same fate. Apparently, as long as they lived according to the definition of good, they were taken without regard to their religion or lack thereof.
Control over his city was degrading fast. abandoned homes wee open for theft and destruction. Fire stations were so badly manned that they could do nothing about fire or injury. Some utilities were failing piece by piece as there were not the people to service or operate them. Civilization was collapsing under the weight.
It had been nearly a month. Ramiel found he was the mayor of the city. He took control and they searched the city and rounded up the population. He moved them to live around the necessary utilities and they were required to learn how to keep the various key parts of the city operating. While he had broken the city up into five small separated communities, he made sure the city would survive.
He laid down on the office couch as he was physically exhausted. he closed his eyes. A secretary looked up from her work. She screamed. Ramiel was the last good person on the planet and he had done what he could to keep some bit of civilization and peace operating and was finally taken away.

13 )
The seasons were guided by gods. Each were granted permission to control the world for a time, before they were forced to give up to the next god. Each god fights to hang on just a little longer. The gods that meet each other have a definite dislike for each other.
Winter and summer were best of friends, mainly because they never meet during the year. Summer would bake the world while winter would freeze the world, and then they would brag to each other the damage they did. It was all great fun. Spring and fall planned together, Fall would pack everything up so spring would be able to start growth as soon as possible.
Greenwald got summer very angry at him. Being a demigod, he was well within the reach of any god that wanted to get him. He found ways to hide from Summer and spent his time in the other seasons. Since Summer and Winter worked together, Whatever Greenwald did, Winter would try his darndist to mess him up.
He built a house in the mountains so Winter built up a lot of snow and caused an avalanche to take out the house. He built a house near a river and Winter withheld the cold after a heavy snow and flooded him.
Greenwald learned that any permanent home he made was going to be destroyed by winter by any means possible. He decided to use a temporary home. He went to a high lake that cannot possibly thaw and was big enough to be protected from avalanches.
He set up a tent to live in. Winter caused a storm to blow it across the lake. Greenwald gathered his tent and put stones to hold the tent down. Summer had the high god call on Greenwald to stand before the gods. Summer was angry that his pristine lake was ruined by the rocks. Greenwald had to stay in a really hot area for punishment and summer made sure it was extra hot.
The next winter, Greenwald got a brilliant idea. He camped on the lake again. This time, though, he brought a bunch of containers made of frozen sea weed. He filled them with water and let them freeze. He then tied them to his tent and ten poles made of ice and sea weed.
Winter had the greatest storms he could create to blow over the lake. Greenwald's tent stayed put all winter long. Winter was fairly exhausted after all the effort to blow Greenwald's tent away.
When spring finally arrived. Greenwald simply left the remains of the tent where it was and went to his Summer hiding place. Spring thawed the ice surrounding the sea weed and the seaweed blew away in the winds.
Summer rushed to have a look at the lake, he wanted to punish Greenwald again. No sign of Greenwald's ever being there existed. Summer was frustrated and angry. Greenwald beat him.
Every year after that, Greenwald lived on the lake and summer was unable to get his punishment.

14 )
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Racing is illegal. Any vehicle rigged for racing is ticketed and required to prove that it is made purely street legal within a week or the owner goes to jail. Any race car being transported unless it is to be converted back to a street car, will be confiscated on the spot.
Garrich had a work truck with a special rack on it to hold his tools. There were plates on the tail gate and roof to protect the paint job from materials and equipment that was placed against them.
Most of the time, he was towing a heavy looking trailer. It looked heavy enough that the powerful engine was needed just to move it. Looking under the truck, it was custom rigged to carry heavy loads. The official weight rating was higher than a truck that size.
He pulled into to the race course. Racing there was not legal, but one simply could not own a race car. There were a good number of trucks there. Several guys were unbolting their racks or boxes. After a race, they would be spending a few hours hooking that stuff back up.
Garrich unhooked the trailer, rolled racing tires out of it, and then climbed into the back of his truck. The tools went into the trailer and then he did something that surprised the others. He pulled some pins and rotated the protective plates. They became wings and kickers to improve the aerodynamics.
The race started. Garrich was in the back. Half way through the race, he took the lead accelerated and left everybody well behind. His wings creating down force in the curves, and his over powered engine, he ended up lapping half the field by the end of the race.
He left the track after awards ceremonies and changed his tires, flipped the wings, and put his tools back into the back of the truck and was able to leave while the other racers were struggling with lining up holes on their racks.
He joined the traffic leaving the race course and no one realized they had just seen him on the track. The police arrested the last two racers as they left the track, one was ticketed because his rack was tipping dangerously in a corner. The other had not hidden his racing tires properly and the officer recognized them.

15 )
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Gorgan was an entertainer. Any show he was in was the biggest of the moment. Everybody said he was the very best in the business. He always said "I am all right, this is not what I am best at." He never explained what that was, no one asked what he was better at.
He spent a lot of his free time practicing dance, studying, practicing his script, reading. He never relaxed when he was not working.
When he stepped on stage or in front of the camera, he was sharp and professional, always on his game. Other actors were second rate in comparison. He was the super star.
A group that controlled the industry decided he was too big for too long. It was time for him to retire. When they suggested it, he said he liked his work even though it was not what he was best at. They decided to take him out so their favorite stars could become the big names of the industry.
Criminals were placed on a large island that was walled off and well guarded from the sea. A couple big gangs ran it. Supply packages were scattered from the air each day and the criminals could fight for them. No one ever left. It was too dangerous for the police to get near it. It was basically a war zone. It would be nice to take control over the island and rebuilt it into luxury mansions. Soldiers were sent in several times and they were killed quickly. After several attempts, it was decided that there was no way to clear the area out.
They decided to put him on that island and let him die at the hands of the gangs. Their only problem was to figure out how to get him there.
One day, there was a big parade creating a horrible traffic jam. He had to get across the city quickly. It was decided to send him on a small plane. That opened up their opportunity, They selected a pilot who was going to die from disease anyway and had some fighting ability. He agreed to go there to die fighting rather than letting his disease take him slowly.
As the plane flew over the island, the pilot caused the engine to sputter. He ten kicked it into a loop and brought it down in a clearing barely big enough to land. He rolled it into a building. The two of them rushed out of the plane and the pilot flipped a switch to cause the plane to burst into flame hot enough to melt all the metal in it. Within a few minutes, the inmates attacked.
Gorgan stepped in front of the pilot and promptly dropped the first attackers, taking their weapons which he used against the next group that came at them.. The rest of the day and into the night, Gorgan slaughtered the inmates, the pilot just doing the best he could to keep the inmates off Gorgan's back. They found a place to rest a while, each taking turns sleeping. they then left their hiding place and now Gorgan was hunting. He would find a group of gang members and take them on, leaving a bloody mess behind.
At the end of the week, the big groups were gone. Now Gorgan was tracking down individuals and killing them Some he was able to kill at a distance, others he had to get into their hiding place to kill them. The pilot was appalled by the delight that Gorgan had in the slaughter.
They found weapons caches and destroyed them, along with the surrounding buildings. They also carried explosives to other areas to lay waste other complexes.
It was about three months before there was no question about no gang criminals existing on the planet. By then, though, the pilot was suffering from his disease. He was nearing the end of his life.
Gorgan finally caught the attention of the authorities and they came and picked them up. The pilot died a month later after telling Gorgan that he was actually satisfied that he had been involved in cleaning up the island.
The officials used bunker busting ground shaking bombs to turn the surface into a fine sand, making sure no place was left where criminals could hide. He had given them a legitimate excuse to use such measures.
Gorgan was interviewed about the blood bath he caused on the island. He told them that for decades, he said his acting was not what he was best at. They now have seen what he is best at. He was retiring from that and returning to entertaining.

16 )
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He got the trip of his lifetime. He was going to the south pole. He was all excited. He gathered the stuff that interested him the most of his life, things he thought he would really need. they kept telling him that he would get everything he could possibly need when he got down there.
He got on board ship with a container of stuff. They kept telling him that he was only going to be there during the winter and no longer. He did not need all that stuff. He told them a winter was a long time, one would never know what was needed.
He arrived and his container was unloaded, mounted on sleds and was towed to the base on the snow fields. There was no room for his stuff inside, so it was parked just outside the door, yet out of the way.
News was telling about anger between nations and the idiocy of the leadership. He tended to ignore the news. He had video games, books, he wrote a diary, He went into his container every other day to swap things out. In the constant winter night, he was having fun.
A the dead of winter, he went with a group down to the south pole itself. They wanted to get some measurements. They had heard of some of the bases being abandoned because of political problems home.
They reach the south pole and camp there for a couple days. They were close to one of the bases but did not go there. they got word that their base had to be abandoned, the people brought back.
As they headed home, they got caught be a super storm. While crossing a glacier, a group of them fell into a crevasse. Some more incidents left him all alone, trying to get back home.
He had some idea of what direction to go so he continued on his way. the storm finally ended a day before he saw the base and got in. No one was there. He found out that the ship was already at sea. A few more communications said that no one was on the continent other than him.
He went outside to dig in his container. He reached for the door and looked north. The sky took on a strange shimmer, getting bright all around. His knowledge of the world said that the brightest places were where the continents were located. dimmer areas was the oceans. There were momentary bright flashes nearby. Streaks of meteorites crossed the sky, to the north. That lasted about an hour, then faded away.
He got the stuff he needed and went inside. He tried to contact the ship. silence. He tried to contact other places and they were also silent. all communications was quiet. He went to his data storage to see what messages were there. "we have war." was one message.
After a good number of messages about cities being destroyed, there was one message that was cut off saying, "nothing is left and...."
The air started warming, the ice started melting. He had plenty of food since the base was well stocked. He was now able to dig into his container in comfort. He had lawn chairs, picnic tables, He emptied the container into the base, then towed the container to reach of the bases based on maps, going to the farthest first and working his way back in subsequent trips. He gathered equipment and supplies, leaving notes where he was.
When he was done, he had a life time of supplies, and everything he ever needed to be happy except possibly some company. the warm period lasted for several years. Data he was able to get from satellites said that the rest of the world was basically molten slag.
He knew that in a few years, the cold would come back. he was comfortable for now. Bringing everything that was important to him was a brilliant idea.

17 )
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A surprise coup allowed a small group to take over the government. They believed that all business was bad. Anybody who started a business was a harden criminal. Government was to be in absolute control over anything.
Because so many people were in business, they chose a section of the country that they felt was expendable and built a wall around that area. they then took anybody who showed any sign of entrepreneurial tendency and shoved them into that area. the idea was that they would die of a lack of government support and die out. The government would later be able to take back that area for its use.
The area selected was in the middle of the country hemmed in by mountains and a big river and covering half the height of the country. The walls were impenetrable and super high. Only passages was where rives had to pass through the walls. They were barred from access in or out.
This section of the country did have a lot of farming, but were mainly food products that were exported, not food products that were for government use.
The people that fit the government's rules in that area were up rooted and put in their own control area. the only people allowed to stay in place were business people. Since half the population was being relocated, the government moved others of the approved population to areas that the government could easily control and care for them.
The government shut off any attention to what was going on in the walled area. Nothing in there was of interest. They really did not want to see the suffering and die off that had to go on in there without government helping them.
there was a lot of suffering, but there was a lot there, a lot of room, and the people were quick to come up with a way to make a living. Within five years, populations settled in. The actual die off was low since there was stored food available and more food was planted immediately. The government never thought to take the store houses of grain and produce that was ready to be shipped over seas. that helped keep the pain down in the upheaval. there was still stores of fuel, equipment, supplies. Mines were within the area so raw materials was available. There were even a couple small refineries in the area and there was great supplies of petroleum. While everybody lost what they had owned, there were almost enough of similar equipment to everybody back to work.
With raw materials, supplies, and a hard working population, they developed into an industrial society. They did not have trade outside the walls, but there was more than enough inside. Their population grew and so did the cities.
The government outside the wall had normal problems of anything bureaucratic where no one wanted to make a decision on anything in case they got in trouble. Things bogged down. Each job was done by following the book and books always missed key bits of information the people needed, and getting answers took time.
Within the walls, new cities popped up, a couple not far from the walls. They started out as single level buildings, but soon became two floor, then three.
The government was struggling to take care of the people. they had to move some portions of the populations several times to keep them within a controllable area since the population was dropping fast.
They were starting to get curious about whether the people inside the wall had died out yet. They then started noticing skyscrapers becoming visible above the walls. It was only then they realized that there was a problem with their plans.

18 )
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Some of the callers to a talk show I listen to, come on and will say something like "I would like to AX you a question." What they are trying to say is I would like to ASK you a question. The host will correct them, "You don't want to take an AX to anybody. Do you mean you want to ASK a question?
I finally got an idea based on this. What if they were really saying what they were thinking?
Victor goes around and tells people he would like to ax people a question, He then asks them something or tells them something. He seems completely harmless.
Victor always wears an over coat, even on the hottest days, though it is open when it is hot. He also wears a floppy hat and baggy pants. They always look new and well kept, but just not in style.
One day he came up to a very hated politician. this politician was in a safe district and was essentially in office for life. He was powerful and wielded power well beyond his station.
Victor came up to the politician. "I want to ax you." he said. the politician came over to him. "What do you want to ask?"
"No, I want to ax you." Victor then drew out a short handle ax from his coat and attacked the politician. He had to chop a couple other people in order to make his escape.
He was able to stay free for about a week. He caught up to two other politicians and said he wanted to ax them also, and did.
They finally caught up to him when his car ran out of gas. He did not resist when they arrested him. He did not need to. He removed the key politicians that were creating problems for the government.
After that, everybody was required to say ASK when they talked to a politician. If they insisted to say AX, they were not allowed anywhere near the politician.

19 )
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Alien Pirates boarded the colony ship. They spent a lot of time in the storage areas where frozen embryos were kept. The pirates left after some time. Records involving the blood line of the embryos were wiped and there was no way to recover any of the information.
The colony had to deal with problems caused by the boarding and the work the aliens did on the ship, along with taking nearly all their supplies and many of their equipment. The colonists were imaginative and competent so they were able to find work-arounds for the problems.
When they arrived at their target star system, they found that there was a planet that was habitable. Rather than colonizing space, they decided their ship and equipment was not up to the challenge of colonizing asteroids. Going to the planet was really their only solution if the colony was going to survive.
They did mine the asteroids for fuel and some raw materials, but then they started moving people and materials to the planet. They chose a mountain as their colony as it had plenty of water and minerals, and it also had a flat top that could be used as the space port.
There were dangerous animals in the low lands so they put their machinery together and as they leveled the top of the mountain, they used the stones to build a protective wall low down on the mountain.
After they did some modifications, they brought the mother ship down to the planet, landing it on top the mountain. They were now committed to the planet.
Every bit of life was examined, analyzed and cataloged. A good number of medicines were able to be recreated from native life and there was enough native food stuffs to supplement what the colonists brought.
After they were settled in place, they turned their attention to the embryos. Due to the problem of space and the extended life they were given to make the trip, they were sterilized. To give the colony the biggest jump start once they settle, the men were made into women so they could give birth also.
Embryos was inserted into every colonist, a third receiving them each month. Pregnant men had the same problems as pregnant women. When they started giving birth, all babies seemed healthy. They were sad that there were no records of the blood lines. They did keep record of which "cell" the babies came from so they could have something of a record of the history of the children. In dismantling the mother ship, they might find hidden backups of the data.
All babies ate well. Some, though, seemed constipated, not dirtying their diapers. They ate heartily. It was also quickly noticed that those that did not poop, grew faster. Someone suggested that they were something the alien pirates did. They were marked as alien and put on watch.
The aliens never pooped, They grew, more like stretching out, becoming kind of fat. The other babies grew normally. Checking the cells, they figured out that the aliens put their creatures in every other cell. For the next batch of babies, they skipped the alien cells and they were normal.
The alien babies were half the size of an adult before they were three years old and had a massive appetite. No was not an answer they would accept when it came to food. They were not really interested in learning anything and could run.
When the aliens were about five, one was caught trying to eat a baby. The colonists debated it a little and shoved the aliens outside the wall into the low lands. They would survive or die as best they could. Their parents did not like it but agreed it had to be done.
The colonists put out food for the aliens each evening, usually leftovers. A few aliens disappeared, but most of the rest continued to grow. They were seen eating just about anything, even chewing on a small animal as it tried to escape. They were nearly twice as tall as a person and somewhat rounded. It was always a surprise that they were able to catch things. They looked too slow.
There was a point in the cells that the pattern had to change. Not knowing which cells would have aliens or babies, they did the whole line. This would tell them the rest of the patterns the aliens used.
There were aliens among the babies. Their parents were heart broken. They knew what was going to happen, but they could not out them down.
One father was so sad about his baby being an alien, he decided to take a chance when the baby was six months old. He gave the alien a laxative. Nothing happened for a couple days. he came into the nursery and the floor was nearly covered with runny poop. The alien laid in the crib looking like a pile of wrinkled skin.
Doctors examined the remains. They were essentially a stomach. A woman hearing about that, and having given birth to her alien a few days ago, gave her baby a bit of laxative. It pooped. After that, it was a normal baby. Word got out about that and all alien babies were given laxatives once they were found out. They were still marked so they could be traced. No one knew if they would breed true.
It was decided that the aliens outside the wall needed to be treated. laxatives were inserted into the foods set out. the aliens fed and left. They kept giving laxatives in the food. By the end of the week, several of the aliens did not return. By the second week, no alien showed up. Teams went out and quickly found every remain, wrinkled skin in pools of poop.
The alien babies that were treated with laxatives grew up normally, got married and had normal babies. They figured out that the aliens simply added a chemical to the embryos to cause that change in them. By keeping them from inflating, they grew normally.

20 )
The group was cursed. The curse said that any place they go, it will rain on them. They traveled together around the world for a while and strange, unexpected storms cropped up right where they were and it rained. A few people they met demanded they never come around., such as a carnival operator.
The group started splitting up. Each had a different theory on what to do. One couple went out into the driest desert. it rained and rained quite a bit. It did not matter where they were, it rained. They realized that if they stayed there, the ecology would be ruined, so they left.
One group went to a rain forest figuring that the little bit of rain that followed them would not be a problem. Even on days it was not supposed to rain, it rained. the extra rain started causing flooding down stream. they left that place.
One guy had a great idea. He went down to the south pole and settled in the driest place on earth. He knew it would never rain there. Of course he had to suffer through six months of darkness, but he avoided the rain.
A group made up of three men and six women got a brilliant idea. They traveled the world, going to places suffering droughts and spending time around the areas to bring them rain, helping with the drought. They traveled a lot but their activities helped those areas survive a little better. they figured out the area of rain each carried and spaced themselves out so a large area got rain. This group later contacted the others who were cursed and got them to help. They charged a fee based on the rain they brought and while it was not much, it was still good money for the work they were doing. they made the curse rather helpful rather than a real curse.

21 )
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I saw a van labeled SUPER SHUTTLE. Super shuttle is all my note says. I am positive my thought was for this to be a super hero.
The super heros tend to be named for what their power or style is. Super man is beyond an ordinary man. Batman has the look of a bat to send fear into the bad guys. Spider man has his web.
Shuttleman is a super hero. He learned young that he could fly. When he was old enough to join the military, he was used as a massager, as flying was faster than any ground transportation. He was not a fast flyer, going about sixty miles per hour on the level, but that was usually fast enough. His cape or jacket opened up flat like a wing to give him lift to fly.
One day, he flew into a pitched battle to deliver orders to withdraw. The enemy charged at the moment he landed and they found themselves surrounded, fighting for their very lives. One by one, the soldiers he was to order to withdraw, died. They were decimating the enemy, though since the enemy had no place to hide in their charge.
Five waves later, there was a pause in the battle. There were only three soldiers left. None of them were in condition to run. Shuttleman decided on a desperate move, something he had never done before. The enemy was lining up for another charge. that charge would over take them even under the best conditions.
Shuttleman told them to hang on tight to his back. He would try to move them across the field to a bit more defendable spot. they grabbed hold. He concentrated hard, and lifted off. Behind him, he heard "wow, man!" "This is great!" "Fantastic!" He glanced back and found that his cape had flattened out and the men were laid out on top of it, the wind of the flight did not even ruffle their hair as a protective dome had appeared around them. Supershuttle took them home. The area was then hit hard from the air to clear out the enemy before the bodies of the team were retrieved.
After some testing, Shuttleman had a new mission. He was now wearing a cape that was embarrassingly large. He would lay out the cape and as many of a dozen men could settle on it with their packs and he could carry them into and out of the battle zones. this was where he went from being called shuttleman, to Supershuttle.
The big key to his powers was that the people on his cape were sort of stuck down to the cape and did not have to deal with the worst of the wind. Things that could fly around stayed put like they were glued down on the edge. His cape acted as much like a flying carpet as anything.
Supershuttle served in the military for quite a few years. finally they decided to send him back home. Part of his duties was to train youngsters who had the super power to fly. He also used his power to transport people and equipment between places for a fee. There were more comfortable ways to cross the city, but when there was a traffic jam, you could not cross the city faster.

22 )
.
The city covered the entire planet for dozens of centuries. even floated over the seas. There were gardens, open sea in a few places for sea life to live, there were even lights under the city to give day and light for sea life.
Most food was grown inside buildings where you could have thousands of acres of land in the area of one acre. Most buildings had a few floors devoted to producing food. They considered hundred story buildings as normal and skyscrapers as a thousand stories.
They were highly technical and produced their power in many ways, depending on where they were.
Because of particulates caused by civilization and the bright lights of the city from dawn to dusk, the sky was always grey. During the day, the sun was diffused, never seen sharply.
Some knowledge was lost over time and the common belief was that there was really nothing beyond the sky other than the Sun. Beyond that, they never gave the sky or the stars a second thought.
Outside their view, a very large asteroid plowed directly into their sun. It became pure plasma in what was considered an instant, and that energy went back out as a super powerful solar flare. It also just happened that a really big solar flare went out from that exact spot at the same time. The two forces mingled as they went out in a fairly tight spike. the planet just happened to pass right through the solar flair.
It was like an EMP, a bomb that sends out a pulse to fry electronics. Every bit of electronics on the planet were fried.
The planet simply shut down. No power anywhere, nothing worked. People made their way to the outside so they could breathe easily.
At night, the planet was black, not any light from anywhere on the planet. At first, there was nothing in the sky. After a couple days, the sky cleared through natural processes and for the first time in hundreds of generations, the population saw the sky as blue, not grey, yellow or white.
Night time came. there were suicides all over the planet. A tenth of the population killed themselves by the end of the week.
They had no idea what the little points of light were in space and their minds could not handle it. No one had ever seen stars before. there was no theories to explain them.
it would take some time to get power going again. More people would die of disease and starvation. The planet finally came to life again.
They would not be happy until the sky became grey again and those horrible starts faded from view.

23 )
.
Vglorn was considered a monster, in the way he looked, the way he acted and the way he treated others. He was not the king, but the king was not going to do anything about him. He was too valuable to the kingdom to even reprimand.
Selong arrived before Vglorn. They talked and as they were about to leave, Vglorn took Selong's hand and kissed it, touching his tongue to it. Vglorn made a face and let Selon go.
Selong returned and Vglorn "kissed" his hand, then they talked. They ended up spending a lot of time together, and found themselves friends.
Selong noticed that Vglorn made friends with other people, and they would eventually disappear. It was rather strange. Selong saw that Vglorn always kissed his hand each day, and especially after he bathed.
Vglorn never ate with the others. He never seemed hungry. This never bothered Selong. He knew that Vglorn was not a person.
After a dozen years, Selong noticed that no one he knew when he arrived hung around any more. While walking with Vglorn in the garden, Selong mentioned this.
"The reason that you are still a friend after all these years," Vglorn replied, "is that you don't taste good."

24 )
.
Grand was a special agent. His specialty was going behind the enemy lines as a businessman to gather information, assassinate key people or sabotage key locations. He was good, never failing any mission and few people suspected him in any of his actions.
He had retired for the fourth time, hoping it would be permanent. He knew who he had worked for, so he actually worked harder to stay in shape and up to date than he did when he was an active agent.
After a year of being retired, he received the message he knew would come. They had called him back. He knew things would be worse if he resisted so he went back to the "office."
After some testing and updating, he finally received his orders. He knew instantly that it was a setup, designed to take him out. It was written in super fine detail, telling him where he would stay, who he would meet, where to go, what to do there. There was no room for creativity.
Heading to get his equipment, he saw several hundred captured enemy robots. He keyed up some records. Many were robots that the enemy was not sure that they had. The enemy may suspect they were destroyed. There was several that completed their missions and their orders allowed them to be captured. He picked one in good condition but nowhere near the newest and plugged it in. He wanted to know if there were any major flaws in his orders. The robot would give him a read-out if there was any serious problems. this robot did not have the newest information so it would not be a hundred percent accurate, but would give him a feeling on it.
When the robot finished running the program through it was system, it indicated that the orders were complete, something it could follow.
He was about to go get his stuff, then he activated the full controls of the robot and locked the program in. the power said it was fully charged so he sent the robot to get the stuff rather than he get them.
He had linked a captured control pad to the robot so he could give additional orders to the robot if needed and then sent it on its way before he went back home. Being made by the enemy to replicate the allies, but fully programmed by the enemy, it fit in perfectly for the part it was playing. It acted like someone who was working on the dangerous edges between the two governments.
The robot followed the orders exactly, had excellent memory and followed orders properly. it got the information needed and passed it on, killed several people as required, cause the failure of a couple installation. The orders were operating perfectly. Because it was a robot, it did not have to think out what it was doing, it just did it.
Grand suspected those killed were double agents who could not be trusted. He might have checked them out with care to see if there was mis-information about them.
At the end of the mission before the robot was to return, it got into a secret facility according to orders. It tripped a signal and alarms went off. The robot became in a serious firefight. It fought as a robot did, which really messed up guards expecting to be fighting a person. The robot was finally killed, but not before it actually accomplished the mission of disabling the site, but not as ordered.
Grand still had communications with the robot and was still receiving recordings. The command of the facility arrived and saw it was a robot, one of their robots. There was a lot of angry shouting. the commander made a call and said that this was not Grand, but a robot.
Grand immediately called the office and told the "head hunters" the guys that hunt down double agents, to search the phone records and find out who received a high security call at that specific time and flag them.
The next day, Grand was called into the office. Several officials were there. He was berated for not gong on the mission. the mission failed because he was not on it. After the rant sort of died down, a group of guards walked in and grabbed the officials and carried them out. A supervisor was told he was now in charge of the agency. That supervisor then told Grand that he is now his key assistant since he knows more about the enemy than anybody else.
Grand was no longer retired. He was a head of the agency simply because he checked his orders against the programming of an enemy robot.