Challenge #01755-D294: Cut the Glorx WiresteemCreated with Sketch.

in #fiction7 years ago (edited)

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"Have you ever disarmed one of these before?"
"Meh. How hard could it be?" -- Bard2DBone

The strange symbols were counting. That much was recognisable by the repeated sequences. And they seemed to be counting down, too. It was easy to connect the dots. Alien device that was likely counting down? Rising ominous hum? Things were going south quickly.

Therefore, it was time to deploy the human.

Human Shaniqua sighed and placed herself down by the device. There were her usual rituals. The cracking of the knuckles. The rubbing of the fingertips. The exploring of her dentin outcroppings inside her mouth. The rest of the crew retreated when she whistled backwards. A certain sign of incoming and inabling[1] expenses.

"Can you disarm it?" said the Ships' Human Companion, Lieutenant Jo'Hi'hoch. Or, as Human Shaniqua called her, Fluffy Jo.

"It's looking like a yes," said the human. They were doing their scans. Enlarging disparate points of interest. "More and more."

"Have you ever disarmed one of these before?"

Human Shaniqua shrugged as she began carefully disassembling the device. And then said the unforgivable. "Meh. How hard could it be?"

The Universe despises people who ask questions with obvious and inherently hazardous answers. And it is only too eager to show those people the blatantly correct answer.

Fortunately for all concerned, Human Shaniqua spotted the error, too, and everyone managed to leave in the nick of time.

[1]: The opposite of enabling. From The Big Dictionary of Words That Don't Exist But Should.

[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / hzm]

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