A Frontier

The issue with humanity's frontiers is tje aftermath. They stand for ages, pushing back against all who try to conquer them, until finally one or two humans will break through, just a little. Then more smash it. And then more do it, and more, and more, until the frontier is no longer, it's just part of humanity's basic, general life.

Now sure, that's good, usually, but the thing is, eventually, there comes a problem. Because eventually, Humanity will find a frontier that will push back.

And Humanity will see that as a challenge, rather than the warning it truly is.

Not Good

I was working on the largest solar panel on the outside of the ship when one of the conduits exploded. It sent me flying away from the spaceship.

Not good.

I threw my tool behind me, slowing my movement but not by enough, as the ship slowly got further away.

Not good.

I activated my radio, and tried to contact the bridge of the ship. I just got static.

Not good.

As I drifted further away, I saw that the explosion had set off a chain reaction, and the ship blew up.

Good, but I wanted to survive my sabotage.

Dreaming

I always has a realistic relationship with my dreams. I understood that there were plenty of dreams that I'd never achieve, in part because I'd never put in the work, and because even if I did, it was a long shot still. One in seven billion a year win a Nobel Prize in literature a year after all.

So most of my ideas I just would let flow, enjoy them, but then let them go, and focused on the dreams I had a shot at.

And yet here I am, one in seven billion this year. How'd that happen, huh? 

Combat Skills

Everyone needed a skill to survive this town. You had to be able to shoot a fly off a steer's backside front a hundred yards, or be able to take a shot point blank and keep on ticking, or something in-between. This place was rough, unforgiving, and cruel.

But even then, it wasn't always enough, as you could end up trapped between two enemies, by design or just by accident.

As for me, well, I managed to leverage a rarely used skill to survive.

Seriously, never underestimate the ability to make and keep friends in any sort of hostile environment.

Werewolf Logic

If I was getting out alive, either I would be rescued, or I found a weakness, so in either case talking to my captor made sense. Plus how often do you get to talk to a werewolf?

"So why does the full moon change you?"

"It doesn't."

I blinked a few times, my chains rattling slightly.

"But-"

"Look, we need to transform, roughly every 30 days or so, or else we go feral. 

More so.

And if we have to turn and hunt, why not time it when the night is brightest and it's easier to see?"

He lunged, suddenly. 

Headcount

Everyone but me in the Royal Court had a plot in motion for power and control. The King was scheming to remove the Queen, and vice versa, and the children wanted to remove both, and everyone else was trying to turn one of them to their side.

All except boring me, as I was the only one bothering to run the fucking Kingdom. I knew that if I kept my head down and ran the place, I'd never be removed.

Then came revolution, and I, at first, thought I'd be just fine.

But turns out "civil servants" can be fired...

Wormhole

Space turned out to be much more crowded than we expected, thanks to wormhole generation, which like most species discovered by accident as we were working on other things.

We learned quickly how we were expected to act, but unfortunately there were, as always, a bunch of assholes who wanted to bully, steal, and generally act horribly.

The other species were understanding, at first, but after we blew up a star, they declared that we were unfit to exist in the galaxy. We feared they would deny us wormhole tech.

We didn't know wormholes could be planet sized, nor inter-universe...