writingbites-blog

[writingbites-blog]

Playing the Slot Market

Originally posted on r/WritingPrompts under the writing prompt:  [WP] Every night before bed people tally up the experience they gained that day. If they have enough they can improve different skills. As you are mindlessly checking your stats you see that you somehow have over two decades worth of experience points from a single day.

"You have GOT to be kidding me! Not again!" Ori groaned and dropped her head to the desk. After the waitressing slot she'd taken last week, she'd finally reached a high enough level in charisma to qualify for a month-long slot in a Sales 3. A slot like that would be just the opportunity she needed to gain listening and social adaptability points, and even some persuasion points thrown in for good measure. She probably wouldn't even need another slot! One month in a Sales 3 position and she should have fulfilled all of the requirements to enter the Developmental Psychology program. And then no more worrying about finding her own slots, she would have a direct path out of the slot market and into a full-time career.

Ori lifted her head and sighed, looking at her reflection in the black monitor. "Why did you put off communication category slots for so long? Not everything is about aptitude and anatomical knowledge, you idiot." She shouldn't have taken that extra MRI Tech 4 slot, she didn't even really need it. Ori switched on her monitor and navigated to a discount software website. Of course she still couldn't afford an automatic slot acquisition program. This was now her 6th full day of trying for a Sales 3 slot. Not one had lasted past the time it took her to click on it. A box popped up at the bottom of her monitor and a robotic voice announced "Slot market closing in 10 minutes". She navigated back to the slot market and scrolled through the communication category. No Sales 3, of course. She hovered over a Waitress 2 position at Scarlet Crustacean. Another week of smelling like fish wouldn't be that bad. On a whim, Ori clicked over to the Pay for Skill tab. Since she didn't need any other skills for the Developmental Psychology program, she would be better off taking one of these higher paying positions to save up for slot acquisition software. She selected a time negotiable MRI Tech 3 position at the hospital uptown. Makes sense that they want someone qualified for an MRI Tech 4+ for this, can't have rich people at the mercy of someone focused on gaining skill.

~~~

Ori kicked off her shoes and sped over to her computer. She could finally register for the University! The MRI Tech position had paid off, she'd finally gotten the Sales 3 position and today had been her last day. She logged on to her University account and clicked submit on the application she'd been preparing for weeks. "Skills missing in anatomical knowledge." said a robotic voice. What? That couldn't be right! She had more than enough registered in the system. Ori clicked submit again. "Skills missing in anatomical knowledge." "No way, this must be a mistake." 

She dialed the Skill Bureau. "Hello, Skill Bureau, how can I direct your call?" Sounded like a kid. Probably a teenager on a day slot. 

"I need to talk to someone about an error in my skill count, please."

"One moment, I'll transfer you" Ori paced around the room while hold music played from the phone.

 "Skill Management, how can I help you?"

"I can't register for the Developmental Psychology program, but I know I have the skills."

"May I have your name and pin please?"

"Ori Teal, Teal spelled like the color. My pin is 63903" A pause followed

"It seems you are missing some anatomical knowledge skills"

"That's impossible! I took a ton of Medical slots!" 

"I'm sorry Ms. Teal, I see your job history matches what you're saying, but the skills aren't properly registered. Were you using an old browser when registering skills?"

"I switched to the newest version last year when I heard that the old one was going to stop functioning."

"Ok, now that's your problem. For the years leading up to that, it seems your skills didn't register properly. I'm afraid there is nothing I can do at this time. I'll send in a report and they should respond in the next 6 months."

"6 MONTHS?! This isn't my fault!!" 

"There were known issues with the old browser, if only you'd updated sooner this may not have been a problem."

"I couldn't afford to update sooner! The browser costs a fortune!" 

"I'm sorry ma'am, there is nothing I can do right now. I'll file a report." Ori slammed down the phone, tears already streaming from her cheeks. She didn't even have the will to pick a slot. She collapsed onto her bed and cried until she slept.

~~~

"New report resolution." Ori looked up from her book and saw a notification on the computer screen. She still hadn't figured out how to disable these stupid automatic email alerts. Next time Fin was over, she'd have to ask him to turn them off. Kids knew so much about these new technologies, it'd be easy for him.

She opened the email so the computer would stop yelling out reminders at her. She stared at the screen puzzled for a while. What report was this? Something about anatomical knowledge points being applied to her skill registry? After thinking for a minute, her eyebrows shot up: they had finally fixed that decades-old error. She'd just gotten a couple decades worth of her points back! She'd been retired from the slot market for years now, but 73 shouldn't be too late to start a new program, at least it would stop her from being bored even if she never worked. 

Ori grabbed the phone and called the Skills Bureau. 

"Hello, Skill Bureau, how can I direct your call?" 

"I need to talk to someone about re-entering the slot market, please" 

Hold music sounded until a young, feminine voice picked up. "How can I help?" 

"I'm retired and would like to re-enter the slot market, please." 

"I'm afraid I can't do that ma'am" 

"It would only be for a day. I want to register for a University Program. No actual positions." 

"Well, I can put in a report. Name and PIN number please?”

[writingbites-blog]

Ink to Dust

Based on and also posted at r/Writing Prompts  [WP] You live in a world where tattoos are imbued with magical powers.

Llany stood in front of the council, head down, wringing her hands. She knew the alehouse full of ashed corpses was her fault.

The High Calligrapher stared down without any of the kindness for which he was known. "You KNEW the dangers of errors in inking and yet you still broke the rules for what? 100, 200 credits? What were you thinking?"

She assumed the question to be rhetorical, but his pointed stare was a clear invitation for a response. She glanced up briefly, clearing her throat "you see, I, um, I thought that his sketch looked right and"

He bellowed down "that is NOT an explanation. Why would you tattoo some drunk idiot based on his own sketch?"

"I thought it looked fine and he was insistent. I needed rent money and I figured, why not? He wanted a pretty easy character."

"And yet, you do not know Chinese."

She finally looked up "with all due respect High Calligrapher, neither do most of the artists in the city and they have been inking Chinese characters without punishment for years. I just got--"

"YOU KNEW THE RISKS" he thundered "What are the three essential components?"

She counted off on her fingers "color for element, clear intention, and harmony of --"

"Harmony of intent and the art, that's right. So can you guess what happened? How he managed to turn an entire bar into dust?" The barely contained rage in his voice caused her throat to thicken. She tried to speak, but it came out on a sob.

"I will show the council. Sar, please fetch the idiot from the safe room and make sure the wool glove is on his hand this time. I'd rather not have another death. Llany, sit."

The college kid who came to her drunk last night came out with his left hand covered with a safe glove. He would probably need a surgical woolen skin placed over it because of her handiwork.

"Tell me," the High Calligrapher looked down at a paper, "Ren. What is it that you asked Llany to tattoo on you last night?"

"I wanted the Chinese symbol for warrior in red ink"

"Fire warrior, you were hoping for some sort of heat generation to go along with your left hook?"

"Yes, sir, sure"

"Why Chinese?"

"Looks cooler than English, sir"

"Not even abashed at that ridiculous reasoning." The High Calligrapher pinched the bridge of his nose and furrowed his eyebrows. "Please pull off your glove."

Ren did as he was told. One member of the council gasped "she made the line too long! That says dirt!"

The High Calligrapher nodded "precisely. And with Llany's strong fire intention matched with the red ink, she managed to imbue this boy with the power to turn others into ash with a touch. Now that you see her work and have heard the consequence, do you think my punishment is fair?"

Llany felt like she had a lead ball in her stomach. She knew what was coming. The council nodded as she expected. They took her off to the High Calligrapher's workshop.

Llany hadn't slept in days, she wasn't sure she ever would again. Every pain receptor in her body was firing constantly. She looked down at the tattoo on her arm, branded in energetic bright orange ink 'Pain'.

[writingbites-blog]

The Greenhouse Effect

Based on (and also posted on) r/writingprompts [WP] To many alien species, it's the final sign of a planets complete destruction. To humans, it's known as snow. An alien researcher visits earth to investigate why earth hasn't been destroyed. 

Unit 439 gazed out on the white-blanketed landscape that inexplicably showed no other signs of destruction. Each of their sensory processors sent a report to the central integration center, which maintained a continued stream of data and initial analysis out of the radio appendage to the buoy ship, which was cloaked in Earth orbit. 

<>atmospheric data: N: 78.8%, O2: 20.02%, H2O: .05%, CO2: .03%...trace elements: .01%. Patches of toxically high CO2, methane, nitrogen oxide, and carbon monoxide occur regularly. 

<>vibration data: standard background level of vibration. Irregular, but frequent patches of high amplitude waves, rapidly increasing in frequency and decreasing thereafter as amplitude decreases. This effect indicates a several fast moving objects 

<>visual data: large metallic creatures with phosphorescent spots pass by at around 28 floctars. Assumed to constantly consume nutrients due to an inefficient digestive system, which constantly leaks a gaseous mixture. Nutrient source is unobservable. Metallic creatures appear to move readily across dark strips. Smaller soft animals appear to have formed a symbiotic relationship with the metallic creatures. They have not yet been observed separate from one another. 

<>tactile data: uneven surface which partially gives way during movement, covered in solid H2O. Abrupt change to hard surface with scattered crystalline pieces for 14 standard jorvs. Uneven surface with solid H2O follows for 3 standard jorvs before a repeat of the 14 standard jorvs of hard surface. 

<>synthesis: toxic gas clouds coincide with high amplitude vibrations, which are associated with fast moving metallic creatures. The creatures are releasing these gasses as part of their digestion. They also appear to travel on dark, hard tracks which are free of crystallized H2O 

<>initial analysis: Earth has avoided the catastrophe signaled by crystallized H2O due to unique adaptations. Though the metallic creatures have inefficient digestion, the gas they expel as a result traps radiation in the atmosphere, which controls the accumulation of crystallized H2O. Somehow the creatures tracks become covered in a haline crystal which further impedes the accumulation of crystallized H2O. Importance of soft symbiote for digestion remains unknown.

The buoyed ship received the analysis from the planet's surface. As they looked at the output they eagerly initiated a link to the research ark. Upon connection they signaled excitedly "we nearly have a solution. Once we learn to farm a specific Earth creature, we should be able to hold off the freeze heralded by the crystallized H2O". They broke the connection. "Unit 439, closely observe one of the metal creatures. Learn all you can."

[writingbites-blog]

It’s Electric

Based on (and also posted on) r/writingprompts  [WP] Death is just a predator much higher on the food chain than we are, and our perception of it is as limited as an ant's perception of a child with a magnifying glass.

"For so long, we've thought of death as an event, a process, but what is death really? And why is someone at an Ecology conference waxing philosophic about death during their talk?"

The shuffling of conference attendees flipping through their schedules was briefly interrupted by a few chuckles.

"I'm not here to talk to you about death as you think of it--I hope by the end of this talk, I can convince you that humans have a larger role to play in the food web than a chaotic top predator. In fact, we are nowhere near the top."

The shuffling faded as she spoke, replaced by silence and rapt attention.

"Our body works on electrical impulses. Normally you would assume that, upon death, you would see a smattering of electrical activity that slowly fizzles out. But you don't, instead we see an abrupt disappearance of activity! Where does all that energy go? I've worked with physicists to visualize this process, and we found that the energy jumps from atom to atom, appearing to move into the Earth."

Audience members squirmed in their seats. She thought she heard a comment in the back "well at least this nut is better than the guy who read his entire talk from a sheet of paper".

She cleared her throat and switched from her title slide to a video showing the phenomenon. "As you can see, the electrical charge travels to the left of the body's head in a dendritic pattern until it narrows to a single pathway into the Earth."

Gasps came from the darkened room as she replayed the video for effect.

"Based on our observations of this pattern, we believe there are beings approximately 1 mile into the Earth that funnel this energy. In fact, we see several of the electrical lines, if you will, leading to clusters of energy found underground. Furthermore, these clusters of energy will abruptly start funneling deeper into the Earth through new networks ultimately reaching larger clusters of energy. We have reason to believe that there is an entire ecosystem belowground, with a top predator in the core."

At this, some of the audience clucked their tongues and stood to leave. Others hushed them, trying to listen over the noise of those exiting. She paused until the room was once again quiet.

"We've called this superorganism Death, and we believe it is responsible for keeping our planet warm."