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thewayoftheshadow · 6 years

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Space Orcs: Bees

Everybody knows what a bee is. I don’t mean a bumble bee or a wasp, which many people call a bee. I mean a plain old honey bee. Bees are very beneficial. They do way more work and contribute to so much more than most people think. Currently on our farm we have three bee hives that we started this spring. Caring for a new hive is sometimes difficult and constant work. There are also many safety procedures that must be followed for both the beekeeper and bees health.

How would an alien react to bees and beekeepers in general? What would they say when they find out how one sting can cause pain for a week or even be life threatening to some? How would they react if they found out that a single hive can house around 60,000 bees? What would they say about the lengths that people go to keeping a hive alive even if it kills them?

Here’s my take on it:

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Year: 2863 Region: Greater-Sol Planetary #: 3 Time: 1200 Earth-UTC

A farm in the North-Western Hemisphere of Planet 3: Earth. A human and her alien friend are on leave for two weeks on the humans, Sarah, parents farm.

Sarah: Now that you’ve seen the chickens lets go see the bees next.

Ysiz: What is a bee? Is it similar to a chicken?

Sarah: No no no, they’re nothing alike. Bees hurt much worse than chickens when they’re angry.

Ysiz: Why do all of the earth animals wish to hurt you? Have you not domesticated them?

Sarah: Oh these are domesticated. Only thing is we cant domesticate bees. There are too many of them.

Ysiz: More than the chickens?

Sarah: Oh yeah, try about half a million.

With this, Sarah leads her hard shelled companion over to what humans call a shed to get ready to go to the bees.

Sarah: This may sound personal, but do you have any fleshy bits like humans? or are you all shell?

Ysiz looks at Sarah and wonders why she would ask something so strange.

Ysiz: I can assure you I have no ‘fleshy bits’ as you put it.

Sarah: Good, you wont need a bee suit.

Sarah then takes out this strange white jacket with an attached hood and mesh netting. She puts on the jacket, throws the hood over and does up the series of zippers and Velcro patches to make sure that no bees can crawl into the hood. She then reaches down and pulls her socks over her pant legs.

Sarah: This is to keep the bees from getting under my clothes and doing me, or themselves, any harm.

Ysiz: They can harm themselves?

Sarah grabs a pair of thick elbow length goatskin gloves and puts them on.

Sarah: They harm themselves by harming me. When they sting me their stinger gets stuck in my skin and rips out of them. They tend to die rather quickly after that.

Ysiz: They have stingers? Did you not say that there were half of a million? You are crazy for keeping that many bees.

Sarah: Yes half a million, about 50,000 per hive box. Also the stinger is there for attacking anything that is perceived as a threat to the hive. To some it can be painful for a couple days. But if your really allergic it could kill you if your not treated fast enough.

Ysiz says nothing but shakes xers head while Sarah grabs a metal tool with a small hook on it.

Ysiz: So, what will you be doing with these bees then?

Sarah: Today ill just be checking for the queen bee to see if the old one is still there, she should be getting close to three years old.

Ysiz: They have a queen, so they must be like the Ulhilm species from the sector next to my home sector.

Sarah: Not quite, just follow me and I’ll show you what they look like.

After a brief five minute walk Sarah and Ysiz arrive at the collection of hives all lined up.

Sarah: Before we get closer, don’t stand near or in front of the hives. They have a specific distance in front of the hive that they need when they fly out. Don’t obstruct it, they will sting sometimes if your in the way. Just stay beside or behind me and you will be fine.

Sarah pry’s the lid off the closest box and is immediately greeted by a constantly moving sea of bees and a low humming sound.

Ysiz: Do you hear that Human-Sarah? They are making a noise, they may think we are predators.

Sarah: Nah, its ok. That’s just the sound of thousands of bees beating their wings. They’re doing something called fanning. It moves the air around inside and helps keep them cool. Go look at the front and you can see there are some by the entrance doing it.

Ysiz peers over the top of the box and sees tens of bees facing away from the hive and moving their wings very fast to filter hot air out of the hive. Xe turns around and sees Sarah holding a large frame covered in bees and a strange geometric pattern.

Ysiz: You were right about the bees Human-Sarah, there are many of them. What is this pattern they have made? It is different colors.

Sarah: Its called comb. They use wax and create this comb to store things in. They store their brood in the comb as well as food, called honey, and pollen. When they have an abundance of honey we take the comb and extract it and use the honey ourselves.

Sarah sits in silence for a few minutes and keeps pulling frames out and putting some back before she reaches for the middle frames.

Sarah: Right now I should be close to finding the queen, she likes to sit closer to the center to lay eggs. She looks a little different from the rest of the bees, but not by much.

A few minutes pass before Sarah is excitedly telling Ysiz to look closer at the frame.

Sarah: Look right there, that’s the queen. She has a red dot on her back that was painted on when we got her a couple years ago.

Ysiz: She dos not look different from the other bees. They all look the same. Except that one and that one, they are slightly bigger.

Sarah: That would be a drone. Its a male bee that mates with queen, they don’t really serve any other purpose. Also, she is slightly different, she is larger than the workers and a bit longer.

After Sarah finishes the last hive she walks back to the shop with Ysiz in tow while pulling off the beekeeping gear.

Sarah: Wow it gets hot in that get up. If only it wasn’t so hot today.

Ysiz: I am confused Human-Sarah.

Sarah: About what?

Ysiz: Why would you maintain something that is hard to maintain AND can kill you?

Sarah: Well, bees cross pollinate flowers and crops. Without bees life on earth would be very different if not there anymore. Their cross pollination when they gather pollen helps with the diversity of the genetics of plants. They essentially spread seeds from plant to plant.

Ysiz: So they are very important.

Sarah: Like I said, life wouldn’t bee the same without them.

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There ya have it, bees. This idea came to me at one in the morning after finishing some problems for one of my engineering courses. So sorry if this seems to ramble on or jumps around at some points cause I’m a bit tired. I wanted to get this one out before I forget it and kick myself later for not doing it. Anyways, If anybody finds any errors or areas of improvement let me know and I’ll be glad to make corrections! Also, please let me know if you plan on writing about bees too or if you have, I’d love to see somebody else’s take on bees.

Also, here is a picture of the tool with the hook mentioned above:

Its called a bee hive tool, or just a j hook. Its used to pry open the lid on a hive and scrape anything away, or up, that needs to be scraped. Due to propolis, which is kind of like bee glue, cementing the lid closed the tool is needed to pry the lid up. The hook portion is used to lift the corner of a frame out so that you can grab it with your hands and lift it from there. I hope this was informative. All of the stuff that was said by Sarah should be true unless I was taught wrong. In which case, correct me please!

#Humans #humans are space orcs #humans are space australians #humans are space oddities #aliens #bees #writing idea #space #space orcs #HUMANS ARE WEIRD

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thewayoftheshadow · 6 years

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Space Orcs: Loosing Teeth

I’m sure everybody remembers their late childhood when it comes to losing teeth. The excitement and apprehension felt when you notice a loose tooth or teeth. I was usually apprehensive when I felt a loose tooth because I knew the sickening feeling of having to pull my tooth out was only a week or two away.

How would an alien react to seeing a human child pull their tooth out and proudly present it to their parent? Would they find it completely normal? or would they be repulsed at the fact that human children would willing cause themselves pain/discomfort all to get a tooth out that would naturally fall out? What about their reaction to learning that parents pretend to be a fantasy creature and take the teeth in exchange for money?

Here’s my take on it:

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Year: 2691 Region: Greater-Sol Station #: 6 Time: 1400 Earth-UTC

The day that the crew of the Salis has been waiting for has finally come. Docking day. The day that the Salis will dock with a station for one week for refitting, refueling, maintenance and other ship-wide tasks. This is the time for some to see family, friends, and significant others.

Hutinzen: Will your female parent and little female sibling be okay with me Human-Joseph?

Hutinzen shows obvious discomfort in meeting human females. Xe believes that everything finds him discomforting due to xer’s appearance. Xe is a member of the Ukhue race. A race of aliens that stands 4 ft tall, has acid green skin, one eye, and a spherical body.

Joseph: I’m sure you will be fine dude, you’ve known my father for years and me for a couple, your pretty much a family friend.

*Ship-wide Intercom* “This is the captain speaking, I wish you all a good time for the next week aboard station 6. A few quick reminders. One: For the humans on board, please watch your body language as some species on station 6 find it frightening. Two: Everybody, please do not get into any altercations again. And three: Try not to smuggle anything...illegal... on board again. Thank you all and have a good time.”

Joseph: Looks like its time to go and meet the rest of my family.

It took some time to get around the station due to their docking port but Joseph and Hutinzen reached section 5 subsection 14 within 45 minutes.

Joseph: Trust me, you’ll love them. My little sister Sadie is a very curious person; everything fascinates her.

Hutinzen: I hope you are truthful Human-Joseph, I am still nervous about mee...

At this moment Hutinzen was interrupted by a loud squeal and was only able to react fast enough to see a small body slam into Joseph and knock him to the ground.

Hutinzen: Human-Joseph! Are you ok? Do you need security and medical attention?

It was then that Hutinzen realized what had happened. A smaller female human had run and jumped at Joseph while making the squealing noise. Both humans seemed fine.

Joseph: *groaning and laughing* Its fine Zen, this is my sister that I was telling you about. Sadie go introduce yourself to Zen.

It was after he said this that Sadie let out another squeal.

Sadie: Mike Wazowski! Seph its Mike Wazowski!

Unknown voice: Young Lady, that is very disrespectful don’t call xim that again. Do you understand me?

Looking around Hutinzen found the source of the voice he just heard. It belonged to a woman a little taller than xerself and had a look of anger that turned his bowels to water.

*backing up* Hutinzen: I’m sorry, I did not mean to upset you I was just standing here and the small human female came after me and called me something strange.

Unknown Human Female: Oh sweetie im not made at you, it the child in front of you who called you something she shouldn't have. I’m the mother of these two, you can call me Teresa.

The whole situation was very confusing to Hutinzen but xe decided to just accept it; it is strange being around humans.

Hutinzen: So you are the Human-Josephs female parent? It is nice meeting you.

*helping Joseph off the floor* Teresa: Likewise.

Joseph: How about we go get a burger, that way I can introduce you to these two a little more formally and hopefully with less name calling.

Hutinzen: A burger? What is a burger Human-Joseph?

After a 10 minute walk, and a detailed explanation of a burger, the small group arrive at one of the stations more popular restaurants, Spacedonalds. They all order their food and decide to sit at one of the floating tables off to the side.

Joseph: So this is just a normal hamburger with the works. There are other burgers with cheese on them called cheeseburgers, which in my opinion are far better.

Hutinzen tentatively takes a bite out of xers burger just like everybody else before scarfing down the burger as fast as xer can.

Teresa: Slow down dear, you’ll choke on your food if you eat that fast.

Hutinzen: It is ok Human-Teresa my race is not able to choke due to the reason that we don’t breathe out of the same way that we eat. We actually...

Sadie: Mom! Mom! Mom! I think I can pull my tooth out!

Hutinzen looks over just in time to see Human-Sadie put down what they call a ‘french-fry’ and reach into her mouth only to yank out one of her teeth. The wave of nausea that swept over Hutinzen was almost on level to when the Salthax tore apart a fellow crew member right before xers eye.

Sadie: Look look! See, I knew I could pull it out.

Teresa: Ah, sweetie come with me to the bathroom and we’ll wash your tooth and mouth. Seph watch my stuff for me please?

Joseph: Sure thing mom.

As Seph watched his mother and sister walk off to the bathroom he happened to notice Hutinzen looking a slightly darker than his normal acid-like color.

Joseph: Hey, are you alright bud? You don’t look too good, want me to take you to the bathroom.

Hutinzen: No I should be ok, I am just not feeling well after what Human-Sadie just did.

Joseph: Oh, you mean pulling her tooth out? That’s normal all humans go through a time when they’re younger when they begin to loose their adolescent teeth and grow more permanent teeth.

Hutinzen: That sounds horrible! How often does this happen? Does this teeth losing hurt?

Joseph: Well when were young we’ve got like 20 teeth or so and we loose all 20. This has to happen or the teeth that come from under those teeth can rot or cause other problems. As for the pain, it depends on how long it’s been loose. The longer its loose the less its attached and it usually hurts less but it usually hurts regardless.

Hutinzen: If this teeth pulling hurts so much then why was Human-Sadie so happy to pull it out? Did it not hurt her?

Joseph: Oh it probably hurt a bit. But she knows she’ll get money for it from the tooth fairy.

Hutinzen looks horrified at the mere thought of getting money for ripping a piece of xerself off as a young Ukhue.

Hutinzen: This tooth fairy does not sound like a good thing. Causing young human offspring to hurt themselves for money.

Joseph: Well, here’s the thing. The tooth fairy is a story from a very long time ago. It’s really just our parents who give us the money, they just use this mythical fairy to hide their actions. Usually were told to put it by our bed or under our pillow and we will wake up to a little money, usually a dollar.

Hutinzen: Why would Human parents do such a thing? Would it not be easier to just dispose of the teeth and not lie to their human children?

Joseph: Yeah it would, but loosing a tooth can be scary and of course painful. I think we utilize the tooth fairy so that loosing a tooth doesn't seem so scary.

Its then that Human-Joseph sees his mother and little sister heading back to the table.

Joseph: Whatever you do, don’t say that the tooth fairy is fake, as far as Sadie knows its real. Okay?

Sadie: Seph did you see? I pulled my tooth out!

Joseph: Yup I see, remember to leave it out when you go to sleep tonight so that the tooth fairy can visit you alright?

Sadie:Really? The tooth fairy can visit me this far from home?

Joseph: Well of course, remember its a fairy so its magical.

Hutinzen: You never told me the tooth fairy was magical.

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So here we go, the tooth fairy. I haven’t seen this anywhere else so far and I've been perusing this topic for half a year so far. Sorry if it sounds a bit boring or repetitive, I wanted to get one more small story out before I started packing to head to my dorm; a whopping 5 hour drive to the mountains. If there is anything I can do to fix this up a bit just let me know and I’ll do what I can. If this has been done before, or if you plan on doing it, let me know! I’d like to see other peoples takes on this subject!

#humans are space orcs #humans are weird #humans are space australians #humans are space oddities #teeth #loosing teeth #writing idea #humans #space orcs #space australia #space

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thewayoftheshadow · 6 years

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Space Orcs: Backpacking/camping

I’m a pretty outdoorsy guy, I grew up camping almost every month whether it be through boy/cub scouts or just with family. In my opinion backpacking is more primitive than camping is. My reasoning for this is that instead of being in an RV/tent at a designated camp ground you’re out on the side of a trail carrying just the bare essentials to keep yourself going for a few days. Why is it that we do something so primitive such as living in the woods for a few days with few luxuries,if any at all? Is it because it may feel natural from thousands of years ago? or is it just a chance for us as humans to get away from the monotonous life that we live surrounded by commodities? Or maybe its just because its fun.

Now take an alien, or a group of aliens, how would they react to a human telling them of their backpacking/camping stories? How would they react to humans enjoying the act of temporarily becoming more primitive for a few days or weeks?

Here’s my take on it:

Year: 2689 Region: Outer Kalklax Time: 0746 Earth-UTC

Joseph and Katie are talking about life back on earth in the mess hall. Joseph brings up his favorite recreational activities when one of the alien engineers, Yroxkler, walks in.

Katie: I’ve never tried hiking there before, you might have to take me when we return to earth. So have you ever been-

Yroxkler: Hello Human-Katie and Human-Joseph, what are you conversing about?

Katie: Oh, morning Yroxkler, Joseph was just telling me about how he likes to hike and I was going to ask if he liked backpacking cause their so similar.

Yroxkler sits down next to Joseph on the other side of the table. Xer’s color changed to what could only be confusion.

Yroxkler: What is backpacking? if you do not care of me asking Human-Katie.

Katie: Well, to put simply, backpacking is a mix of camping and hiking, but not always in the same amount.

Yroxkler: I know of this hiking, Human-John has told me the information on that before; but I do not know what this camping is.

Katie: Camping is where you go out into the woods, usually somewhere that other have camped before, and you set up tents and live in the woods for a couple of days. Sometimes people will catch their own food like fish, but mostly people just bring food with them. Its a way to get away from all of the technology and buildings.

Yroxkler’s colors of confusion deepen as if xer didn’t understand what Katie had meant.

Yroxkler: So you decide to leave the safety of your cities and houses to live in the wild for a period of time? Do you not like having food and comfort? Do you wish to be more primitive and stay in the woods instead?

*both Katie and Joseph laughing*

Katie: No no, its not like that, its just a chance to relax away from everything else. No technology, no luxuries, just the dirt and the stars. Camping is simple compared to life in cities.

A color of understanding passes over Yroxkler but is quickly replaced with confusion again.

Yroxkler: I understand your camping now, but you said this backpacking is both hiking and camping, is this correct?

Katie: Yeah it is, in backpacking you bring all of the items you may need to survive in the wild. Most people bring a little clothing, cooking items, food, sleeping items, and some tools like knives or shovels. You put all of these items, and sometimes more, into a pack and hike through the woods with them.

Yroxkler: Do you stop to camp where others have?

Katie: Not usually no, most people, like me, will just set up their tents a little ways off of the trail and stay the night randomly somewhere.

Yroxkler suddenly turn orange and yellow all over and becomes a bit fidgety.

Yroxkler: Is this not dangerous? What if you encounter one of your fauna called a bear? Surely many people die doing something like this.

Katie: Some do yeah, but not as many as you may think. Also bears are not really a problem, where I grew up there were mostly black bears, as long as you don’t come across a momma with her cubs or spook the bear they will generally leave you alone.

Yroxkler: You Humans are crazy to do this, must everything with your people be extreme?

Hey, so this is my second post with these tags. Just like my first post I apologize if this comes across as very simple or run on, I’m not the greatest writer. I just thought of this topic because im going backpacking with my father in a couple of weeks and figured it might make for an interesting post if it hadn’t been done before. If there is anything I could do to fix/improve this or future post just let me know and I’ll fix it if I can.

Also, feel free to add to this if you want, I’d love to see somebody else’s take on this topic.

#humans are space orcs #humans are space australians #humans are space oddities #humans are weird #human #space orcs #space australia #space #camping #backpacking #writing idea

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thewayoftheshadow · 6 years

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Space Orcs: Height

So I’ve been reading these tags for the past two months and I have finally decided to contribute. Forgive me if this is bad I’m not the best writer, I’m an Engineer not an English Major.

This topic may have been covered before and I haven't seen it yet, but the height difference between parents and their children when their children are fully grown. Like with me, my parents are 5′7″(1.7 m) and 5′9″(1.75 m), I myself am 6′4″(1.93 m). When you look at nature most species grow to a specific height and stay there, there are not many oddities between a parent and their offspring. So how would an alien react when seeing a parent and their child and the child is much taller? Would they think the taller is the parent or would they think that the shorter is a sub-species of human.

Here’s my take on it:

Year: 2689 Region: Kalklax

It has been half a cycle since the last time the ship was docked at port. The ship is to take on two more human crew members to join the one on board. One of the two new members is highly recommended by Human-John on the basis that ‘he knows him well.’ We will have to see how good this recommended Human is.

*Ship-wide Intercom* The Salis will be docking with station 0005438 in 2 minutes.

Captain Tanuserk: So Human-John, I have been told that you know one of our two new crew members, am I correct?

John: Yes, I’ve known him for many years, he is a good man.

Captain Tanuserk: I hope he is a great addition to my ship, for if he is not a good addition then your credibility may tarnish.

John: Trust me, he’s good.

*Ship-wide Intercom* The Salis will be docking with station 0005438 in 30 seconds.

Captain Tanuserk: We will see.

The two new members of the ship were not due to report to the docking bay for another 2 hours. This allowed the crew to do some last minute preparations for welcoming the humans.

After the two hours the two new humans, Katie and Joseph, board the ship to greet the captain.

*Turning to the obvious female*

Captain Tanuserk: You must be Human-Katie, welcome aboard the starship Salis.

Katie: Hello Captain.

*Turning to look up at Joseph*

Captain Tanuserk: And you must be Human-Joseph, you come recommended by Human-John over here.

*John approaches Joseph and shakes his hand vigorously*

John: It’s been a few years son, how have you been? Is the farm still holding up back home?

Joseph: The farm is fine dad, everything is ok back home, except for the dogs. They keep looking for you.

John: I’ll have to go back to see them soon then.

*The captain steps over with a puzzled look on his face.*

Captain Tanuserk: Human-Joseph, did you just say that Human-John is your father? Surely this cannot be, the difference in your height is too great, you are too tall to be his offspring.

John: No, he is my son, it just so happened that the height he has skipped me and went to him.

Captain Tanuserk: Does this mean that there are others in your Human-family that may be tall? I thought a Human-family was supposed to be the same height.

John: No no no, we have all types of height in our family, I’m about average, my son here is the tallest one and my sister is the shortest. Everybody else ranges between them two.

Captain Tanuserk: I did not know this, I will have to update my records and let our humanologist know so that the information is spread. Thank you Human-John and Human Joseph, I may have more information to gather in the future.

Sorry if this sounds really simple, like I said before i’m not the greatest writer. If there is anything I can do to better this or maybe to improve future posts please let me know. Again, this is my first post and I hope to post more if I can think of more topics.

Feel free to add to this if you want, I’d love to see somebody else’s rendition of this topic

#humans are space orcs #humans are space australians #humans are space oddities #humans are weird #alien #space orcs #space australia #human #writing idea

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