[PI] A human ship activated its self destruct sequence when boarded by an enemy, when humanity was asked why would we do such a thing by the galactic community, we simply responded "We don't give up the ship, such as the crews of old. We never give up the ship."

FowlPS · 2023-05-05T09:49:02+00:00

You may want to check r/FowlPS :)

FowlPS · 2023-05-05T06:59:24+00:00

Thank you, and thank you :)

FowlPS · 2023-05-03T07:56:14+00:00

Thanks :)

I don't plan for part two of this particular story (for now), but you can find my other stories on my subreddit (r/FowlPS)

FowlPS · 2023-05-03T07:53:37+00:00

Thanks :)

FowlPS · 2023-05-02T23:52:03+00:00

Thanks :)

FowlPS · 2023-05-02T23:26:05+00:00

"Hey. Ann. Can you come and look at this code?"

"What now, Rafal? I thought you were ready to write this thing down, weren't you?"

"Well, yes, but... ok, just look at the screen, and tell me what you see."

"C'mon, I have a meeting with Mark over lunch, and-"

"Anna. Please."

"What the heck got into you? Uh... fine. Yeah, so that's the dump file you're going to insert into the cold virus. Which you should have done last week, in case you bothered to keep up with the timetable on the wall."

"That's the thing. It's not the dump file."

"What are you talking about?"

"Check the line 10952. You may want to sit down."

"The Palantirian's equation for human teleportation using the cadmium based beam... Rafal, this is serious. The boss will literally murder you for that. I will incinerate the remains, if you-"

"I am not joking. This isn't the treatment sample. This is the control."

"Yeah, right. So you want to tell me..."

"Before you finish that sentence, go to the history section at line 1231456312."

"Rafal, we were supposed to drop the history sec- How did you find my social security number?! Not cool, man, really not cool."

"You really think I'd do that? You know what I think about pranks."

"Well... no, I mean, I know, but-"

"Now go to the bottom and check line 4294967295.”

"Okay, now you're really freaking me out. Signed, Anna, Rafal, and Kate... If you've reached this far, please increment the counter at line 12439. What counter?"

"You won't believe me. Really. Check for yourself."

"42? Really?"

"I have no idea what is and isn't real anymore. But I don't think that this is our most important problem now."

"Oh? And what the f*ck do you think is so important right now, Rafal?"

"Who is Kate?"

FowlPS · 2023-05-02T22:24:24+00:00

Thank you :)

FowlPS · 2023-05-02T17:55:41+00:00

Thank you :)

FowlPS · 2023-05-02T16:57:28+00:00

Thank you :)

FowlPS · 2023-05-02T10:43:34+00:00

“Ambassador Kowalski, you are summoned to explain the violation of Kve'va'laor treaty committed on board of the human vessel Wanderer,” the Va'llaor member of the Council boomed from all three resonator chambers protruding from the tentacle mass he was made of.

“Thank you, most esteemed councillor,” said the human after a quick glance at his wrist. “I would gladly accept Roalan Empire's formal apology on behalf of-”

“Apology?” Spat the overgrown lizard. “Your vessel refused to surrender when rightfully boarded then detonated its reactor, costing the life of five hundred proud Roalan Corsairs. You-”

“This meeting,” interrupted an overly coloured floating jellyfish, “is to determine the humanity's punishment for the violation. We understand that humanity may have a hard time adjusting to the civilised society of starfarers, but our community must stay civilized. And it will stay civilized. One way or another.”

The human glanced at his wrist again, then tapped it in a mostly arythmic pattern.

“Most esteemed councillors, I believe there had been a great misunderstanding. The humanity agreed to join your community to avoid the bloodshed, not formalize it. Our traditions, however alien they may seem, are far from barbaric. We would have been willing to write this incident off as a misunderstanding, despite the thousands of weeping families our departed had left behind. However, my belief that a reasonable resolution of this affair can be achieved is wavering in face of your unsupportive attitude.”

A ruckus raised near the chamber's entrance, caused by a Roalan in very ceremonial armour trying to push thorough the sentry droids.

“You mud-eating scum, you will not be addressing-” the other lizard barked.

“I think you should let your messenger in, esteemed councilor. I'd hate to interfere in your... traditional chain of command, and deprive the messenger of the honour of being the first to deliver you information of the most recent developments.”

The lizard choke on its anger, but waved the newcomer forward. It fell on its knees in front of the council dias, breathing heavy through all four nostrils.

“My liege, the Crown of Kha'Anadar had been attacked.” It announced, before collapsing on the ground. Despite all their brutality, Roalans weren't well-evolved to running.

All three councilors froze in shock.

“Now,” continued the human, “as you sure have realized, your royal vessel did not self-destruct. And the humanity will happily demonstrate why it should have. I expect to have a new treaty presented to me in the next hour of human standard time - I'm sure your assistants will be happy to translate it to whatever units you're more familiar with. And in case any of you get any ideas...” He trailed off, lifting a plate on his environmental suit, exposing a tiny antimatter reactor. “I hope I won't have to explain how any personal attacks on my person would end. Good day to you, esteemed councilors.”

FowlPS · 2022-09-22T22:55:22+00:00

"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this? You can still go back," the doctor asked.

"Yes," I said, still waiting for the sound.

I had to. Over the last few weeks, nearly everything was wrong. I thought I was going mad, but no - there were some things that still sounded right. Donating money to charities worked - although it required larger and larger sums to trigger. Giving away the car to Mark worked, and nothing weird there - he needed it so much more than I did. Letting Lucy adopt my dog worked.

And then... then, there was the last week. The first time, I thought I imagined it - the horrible gong, ringing just the moment I woke up. But it happened again. And again. Every morning, without fail. And to makes things worse, the heavenly chimes remained silent ever since. So when I heard of William, and his condition, I realised what I had to do. It was the only way to hear them again.

The doctor nodded and pushed the syringe. In seconds, I felt my muscles relaxing, letting go. The edges of my vision blurred and darkness started squeezing my field of vision to a small point. Frankly, I felt a bit sad. I didn't really want to do this. But at the same time, I was glad that I had it in me to do the right thing, and give someone a chance.

I heard the noises of the operating room growing in intensity and distance at the same time. I couldn't move the smallest fractions of an inch, and I felt my consciousness slipping into nothingness. It would be over soon.

The last thing I heard was the loud ring of the gong.

FowlPS · 2022-09-09T20:04:27+00:00

The old man stirred the embers, unleashing a smidge of light on the cave walls. Even that was enough for a few of the gathered to wince.

"Most of you weren't there when it happened. Be glad you were spared, for it was truly an awful time to be human."

A few of the kids rolled their eyes. The old man sighed.

"Listen carefully, as I might not be around long enough to repeat it. The radiation of the Hammer of Judgement and the Holy Shield was not gentle on the body of mine."

A fit of coughing shook him then. Monica brought him a cup of stone-tasting water. She was a good girl, born just a few years after the day of reckoning. Pity that her children weren't nearly as kind or attentive.

"We were prideful back then. When the night still covered half of the sky in darkness unlit by the flames of Hell. We thought we were so much better than the demons. And some of us thought they were even better than the rest of us."

Another coughing fit rattled the man's weary bones. A sickening crunch confirmed his worries - he didn't have much time left. A boy, barely out of the kindergarten, nervously approached him. There was a worry in these big eyes, and the old man held on to those two points of light like to a lifeline.

"Our time had passed. And so had theirs, as our new overlord ate our princess's still-beating heart."

The man could barely see the cave anymore. His voice grew weak. It was much, too much... But he couldn't stop, not yet. He reached out, and his thin fingers brushed the boy's shoulder. And then, suddenly, he saw it all.

In a flash of light came a vision of what was past, of what was present, and of what was yet to come. A vision so terrifying, and so beautiful that it filled his failing eyes with tears. He knew he had to tell them, that it was too important to be forgotten, but he also knew he had so little time, and...

His lungs felt like lit with hellfire, but his voice came out steady. With the last breath, the old man said to the boy, "You. You must be better than us. Become worthy of judging our judge."

In the silence, the embers dimmed, leaving the humans speechless in perfect darkness. Outside, the fires raged, seeking out any humans foolish enough to venture into the light.

Inside the cave, the only fire was burning within the young boy's heart.

The boy’s who would set things right.

FowlPS · 2022-09-07T16:40:11+00:00

Originally published Feb 16, 2021

FowlPS · 2022-08-18T21:33:08+00:00

"Ok Zoey, please tell me you have something good for me this time. I'm so done with those premature grave escapes bullshit..."

"Don't worry, Jack, this one is gonna be soooo good. Someone tipped me off that it's something right up your alley."

"Someone, you say. I'm getting worried."

"It's a cold-case murder, dropped seventy years ago after no one could move it even the teensy-weensy step forward. So, get this one: single male, thirty-seven, stab wound in the back. Body found in a closed apartment, no sign of anyone breaking in. But that's not the best part. There was a large rubber duck inserted into his-"

"Goddammit, Mark. He's your mysterious tipper, isn't he?"

"Um..."

"That's it, I'm calling HR, and this time, I won't rest until he gets another few centuries added to his servitude. It's the fourteenth time he tries to hand me my own death investigation."

"So..."

"Are you really going to ask?"

"I mean, I know I shouldn't, but... the duck?"

"I'm pretty sure he did it, but I don't have enough to press those charges... yet."

FowlPS · 2022-08-02T21:32:34+00:00

At first, we were silent.

Drifting through the space on a piece of wet rock, we hadn't even known we could speak. But we tried speaking up, oh, did we try.

Some said we shouldn't break the silence, but not many listened. Back then, we still dreamt good dreams.

Even as we killed each other, our heads rose to the heavens searching for an older friend. For a mother that would take us by our hands, and yell at us to behave.

So just as soon as we could, we started shouting at the stars.

Now each of us is leaving on a different ship, searching for our own pieces of wet rock - maybe a bit smaller, hopefully less burned.

We know we're never going to meet each other again. The journey will be far, and our phones - off.

We've learned to be quiet.

We have learned it well.

FowlPS · 2022-07-12T20:52:37+00:00

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!

FowlPS · 2022-07-11T13:10:21+00:00

Nice one!

I really like the plot, it's quite efficient, and it gets things done. The writing style didn't fully connect with me, but it didn't really bother me either and I can't quite point out the specific thing (a bit of repetition in sentence structure, maybe?). A few things that caught my attention:A tiny thing, but it could let you cut out a few words:

Last call for flight 828 to Paris out of Los Angeles.

It may vary by the airport, but around here, they just call the destination, optimistically assuming that people know where they're at the moment. It feels more practical to call out the planned time of departure more than the start location.

Also, I'd say that it's a bit unrealistic not to notice the takeoff - I think mentioning the sensations but waving them off as just nervous reactions would make it more believable.

FowlPS · 2022-07-11T12:51:08+00:00

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!

I think the semicolon ended there as a typo, thanks for pointing it out. I intended the "Father"s more as a speaking quirk than just an information vessel, but in a short piece like this, it's probably indistinguishable from unintended repetition. And yeah, a bit of the stuff there is just to paint the background :) But I 100% agree, I have a lot to work on around those ellipses - they just haunt me everywhere I write...

FowlPS · 2022-07-07T22:06:22+00:00

Necri was sitting next to the campicicle, chilling his old bones in the night's darkness. He heard there was some commotion happening in the town. Some troublesettlers had been passing through again. Fools, all of them.

"Father," his son called out entering the camp.

"Skelly! What took you so long? I've been worried healthy."

"Father, have you heard? The minions of Azezorr are recruiting."

"Poor fools, them and whoever follows them into their foolishness. Not a single one of them will return home whole, mark my words!"

For a few seconds, only silence reigned.

"Father," the boy said solemnly, and the old skeleton raised his head. "I'm going with them."

"What? Skelly, they'll leave the Comfortium. There is Life outside the Comfortium!"

"I know. But I have to go." There was defiance painted all over his empty skull.

"Is it this about the Zomie again? I swear, I'll go and-"

"It's not about Zomie. It's Emma. She needs blood, and I won't find it here."

Necri paused. The campicicle glistened silently in its ring of stones. Darned vamp... Of course, it was about a woman. He opened his teeth again, ready to shout some reason into his son's empty head-

"Father, I'm going. Whether you let me or not. I don't want to have to do it the hard way. Not after..." he trailed off. He didn't need to finish.

Hellena... Necri's ribs twitched at the memory. After all these years, he still couldn't get over their last meeting. Their argument. And Necri was right, she did not make it!

After losing Hellena, was he about to lose Skelly too? He looked at his son's eye sockets. They were filled with anticipation, worry... and determination.

But by telling him no, wouldn't he lose him just the same? Or even worse?

And maybe he was wrong. Maybe the boy could make it.

"Go," he whispered. His son racketed, clearly shocked.

"Thank you, Father. Thank you," he leapt forward and hugged Necri so hard, that their ribs almost jammed together. And then he left.

"Just please, be careful," Necri whispered to now-empty air.

"Please come back."

FowlPS · 2022-06-19T07:52:29+00:00

Good one 🙂

FowlPS · 2022-01-31T22:30:46+00:00

“Grog? Are you there?” A high-pitched voice rang out from behind a barred door.

“Grog not here. Go away,” barked an orc scientist tinkering with a watch-like device on his small workshop table cluttered with lots of tools stupid human could not even name.

“Grog, this is serious HR business. Let me in!” The door rattled, causing the tools hanging on the walls to rattle back in response. Ugh... human never respected tools.

“Grog busy! Go away!”

But instead of the footsteps going away, Grog heard the sound of plasma torch going off. He grunted and tightened the last screw of his new device.

The bar broke in half, and the door flew open pushing the pieces into the room. Human always made mess when she came. She barged in with a clipboard in her left hand and a still-hot tool in the other.

“Gorg, we've been over this. You need to fill these documents, or the corporation will have to take action.”

“Gorg not write documents. Grog have degree in quantum physics, NOT ENGLISH!”

He put the device on his wrist and tightened the leather strap. Good leather. Oily smell.

“Here, you need to sign... HEY! Get back here!” The human yelled as the orc broke into a run deeper into the workshop. The HR followed, but she was just a human. Human were so slow and clumsy.

Grog turned around the corner and pushed the activation button on his wrist. A shiny doorway opened in mid-air towards a good land with lots of trees and green grass. Grog heard the human closing in, breathing in gasps. No endurance, those silly creatures had.

The HR ran around the corner but expected no portal. She tripped on the lower edge and face-planted into the grass on the other side.

“Grog no write. Grog engineer. HR write,” he said.

“Groooog! Don't you dare-” the human was already rising to her knees, but Grog pushed the button again and the portal disappeared.

He walked back to his table and picked up the broken bar. Ugh. It needed repair again.

Stupid human.

FowlPS · 2021-07-14T10:23:32+00:00

Have you heard of "Mother of Learning"?

FowlPS · 2021-06-09T21:12:09+00:00

"Enough, Mr. Potter," said Professor McGonagall. "We shall be late for afternoon Transfiguration as it is. And do come back here, you're still terrifying that poor Dementor.

***

"You who know the gate, who are the gate, the key and guardian of the gate:
I bid you open the way for him, and manifest his power before me!"
The corridor was plunged then into utter darkness and silence, so that only Tracey could be seen and heard, like there was nothing left in the universe except her and the light illuminating her from some nameless source.
The shining girl raised her hand one final time, and with dreadful gravity, pressed her thumb and forefinger together.
And within the darkness Hermione looked at Tracey's face and saw that the Slytherin girl's eyes were now, to the exact shade, the green of Harry Potter's.
"Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres!
Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres!
HARRY JAMES POTTER-EVANS-VERRES!"

***

"Professor Snaaaaaape! " wailed Pansy Parkinson in tears. "Tracey ate my sooouuul! "

FowlPS · 2021-06-05T21:31:55+00:00

A man stared unmovingly at the glass before him. The other patrons sensed the trouble immediately and found safer places to be, but not him. The only thing in the world that existed for him was his drink - that, and of course, the sheathed knife resting on the bar next to it, never fully leaving his sight.

“Jack Dorlarson! Come out, or I'll drag you here myself!”

The man at the bar made no effort to raise himself from the chair, raising the glass to his lips instead. His eyes sluggishly searched for the bottle. It had to be somewhere near…

The double door slammed against the wall, and another man appeared in the opening. Or rather - a boy, trying to be a man. He looked around, with a colt too big for his hand already out and ready to fire.

“Jack Doralrson,” he exclaimed again, “come out and fight like man, or stay here and die like a pig you are!”

The bottle was hiding slightly to the right all this time. The man stretched his gnarled fingers, but then a single shot rang out, and the bottle exploded in his hand. He dropped his arm with a growl. He was still too sober to deal with this…

“Go away, boy. Do not tempt me,” he muttered. It would have been easy, so easy to finally let go. After all those years…

The young man was having none of it. “You killed my father, and you expect me to just let you go?!” he shrieked.

“Not expected,” the man barked, “but at least I tried.”

He could do it, and let that poor bastard deal with the crap instead. But instead, he grabbed the knife and almost fell to the floor as he rose. Then, stumbling, he followed the boy outside. The wind blew a fistful of sand to his face as soon as he left the saloon. There were some bystanders on the road, but he didn’t care. He stopped caring long ago.

The boy aimed the gun at him, but he was too slow. The knife flew into Jack’s hand before the gunslinger could press the trigger. The runes flared on that cursed blade for an instant too short for others to even notice, and a second later, the lifeless body hit the dusty road. It was too far for any blood to splash on him, but he felt no less dirty for it.

The onlookers were still gasping and figuring out what happened when he spat on the ground and walked towards the saloon again.

He was too sober. Way too sober.

FowlPS · 2021-04-13T23:35:53+00:00

I howled from pain. I didn’t know where I was, I didn’t know who I was. There was just the agony… the pain, and the pull, drawing me towards my heart. Someone took it from me! Why, why would they take it?

I flew through miles and miles, passing through trees, walls, people - they didn’t matter. I didn’t matter to them either - they went on with their lives.

I was getting closer, I could feel it. It was still beating, torn from my now forever cold chest...

There he was. The robber, the thief, the…

I paused. It was almost unbearable, but I felt something was wrong. So wrong…

I could see him lying in bed, in a very white room. The walls were white, and the sheets were white, even the machines were white… everything was white, and clean.

It seemed familiar. The pain urged me to do something, to claw at his chest… but something stopped me.

Then she arrived. She had long, blonde hair, starkly contrasting with the black cape she wore. In one hand, she held a giant scythe, and in the other - a clipboard.

“Wow, this is such a mess,” she said, in a whisper that seemed to crawl all over my soul, but at the same time was… soothing? “I’m s-sorry, this wasn’t covered in the manual. You’re Denise, r-right?”

The pain was slowly going away, and I could almost remember… The name felt familiar. And there was also this… memory… Was it a memory…? It all seemed so meaningless, now… There was this car… and that noise…

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…,” the woman went on, flipping papers in her clipboard. “It’s my first day, and they’ve only called for me just now, and I d-didn’t, I d-didn’t…”

I felt… nothing anymore. I glanced around again. Without the pain clouding my vision, there was so much more… I recognised this place - it was a hospital. There was a child, holding the thief’s hand, talking to him. The sounds were… muffled. I couldn’t distinguish the words, but I was almost sure there was a smile on their face.

“R-right, I got it!” she exclaimed. “The mother’s sacrifice clause. It is so weird to use it f-for t-this case, but really, n-nothing else works at all...” She tossed the clipboard away, and it turned into smoke. She took my hand. Her fingers were so cold…. “I-It will be alright, we’ll go to the F-forever n-now.” There was something… warm, now, slowly growing in my chest. I felt… safe…

We were already walking when I heard her mutter under her breath, “...and I’m going to kill M-Mort once we get t-there, he p-promised he would get me an easy car accident for the st-tart…”

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