Challenge #02325-F135: Where the Mouth is
"That will never Work!"
"Bet you a (Insert Currency) that you can't."
"Be ready to lose that (Insert Currency)!!!" -- Anon Guest
If there is anything that a Human can be relied upon, it is their ability to take on ridiculous wagers and then win them. No matter how impossible the task. No matter how ludicrously low the bet. Humans will move galaxies to get those bragging rights. Even the tenderest and least offensive Havenworlder can goad a Human into action with, "Bet you can't do it."
It's so inevitable that it's practically a law of nature. Many amongst the Allied polities are campaigning to have it recognised as a natural aspect of Humanity. The law of Human nature. Any Human can accomplish the impossible if there is a bet to the contrary against them.
However, for every rule, there is an exception. The statistical outlier who should not be counted. The fly in the ointment of every statistician and surveyor everywhere. This one was called... Human Mark. Human Mark was well aware of Galactic goading techniques. Compared to most Humans, they were also remarkably cautious. In Mark's on words, they were, "not stupid, not expendable, and not gonna do it."
When challenged with a wager, Human Mark would extract the monetary denomination and add, "Here. You win."
That is not to say that Human Mark was a coward. They just knew what the limits were. They would still take a risk for a teammate, but they made certain that risk was lessened first.
Nevertheless, the crew of the Surveyor 298 persisted in the attempt. It all came to a head in their fortieth mission, when the Ghyreithi botanist wanted Human Mark to climb a tree for one of its fruiting bodies.
"Nope," said Human Mark. "I'm not stupid, I'm not expendable, and I'm not going to do it."
"Bet you a Minute you can't do it."
Human Mark almost dug into the money drawer of their livesuit. Evidently frustrated, they said, "And I bet you two Minutes that you won't ever stop with that crap."
Ghyreithi and Human faced each other down. It was an intense moment. Those observing were concerned, for a moment, that it might come to blows, or the Human abandoning the crew at the next port.
Lythik, who had made the first bet, dug into her livesuit's money draw and handed over a Minute. "You are correct."
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / viperagp]
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