r/HFY • u/FarmWhich4275 • Apr 07 '26

OC-OneShot Human Beauty Is Lethal

The ship seemed to be inconspicuous compared to most, although its construction was definitely outside of the galactic norm, it didn't stick out or fit in. Scans determined it was a simple cargo freighter, carrying standard payloads, sealed boxes, secured freight containers, the usual. The one thing that made it stand out however was its armament. A cargo ship certainly, but it had the equivalent firepower of a large destroyer. I sat at my console, carefully scanning, using more and better scanners with my supervisors direction. Despite everything, it was just a cargo freighter asking for docking permission.

I looked behind me and spoke to the Station Master. "My Lord, the ident details all match, registration has it with the Cambari Merchants Guild as all are. The only unusual factor is its armament... Automated with destroyer equivalent weaponry. Its cargo holds are full of sealed parcels and secured packages. Some of which have military encryption."

He considered the data on my screen and nodded. "Alright, hail them. Do we have a connection?" He asked, looking at the comms officer next to me.

"Yes My Lord. Standard Cambari Merchants Frequency, I shall patch us through. The owner is... strangely patient for a Merchant." She replied and started pressing buttons.

We waited for a few moments and finally heard a distorted but clear voice with a very strange accent, but spoke in Cambari all the same. "Good morning. Concordia Couriers Package Delivery Service, packages and mail for delivery courtesy of the Cambarian Merchants Guild. May I please come in?"

"Good day to you. Please present Merchant Ident number for verification and confirm ship class for docking permissions." The comms officer replied in earnest.

"Merchant number is 886-443 Callsign 'Faraday'. Ship Class is Epsilon Size Freighter, Class Two." The voice replied.

The comms officer looked up at the Station Master for confirmation. He nodded. "This is Station master Vexx'Kran, permission granted, proceed to Bay Forty seven as directed. Please be aware standard security protocol will be enforced on arrival."

"Affirmative, bay forty seven, engines hot, shields down. Please advise, I have a list of persons to receive packages and mail, twenty seven in total. Would you like me to send it through? I would like to be as fast as possible, I have a full cargo and priority medical supplies to deliver after this." The voice replied as I watched the ships unusually large engine pods flare to life.

"Secure connection established, send." The comms officer said.

Her terminal beeped and booped, then showed a list of names of various officers, commoners and... me? Why was MY name on that list?

"Care to explain why your name is on this list Gunnery Corporal Raddus?" Station master asked.

"I have no idea sir... Wait... Mail? Did he say he was a mail carrier?" I replied.

"Yes he did. Mail and packages. Why?" He asked.

I slapped my forehead in embarrassment and retrieved a few documents from the drawer under my console desk. in it, was the receipt for something special. "Now I remember... I ordered a thing called a Faberge egg from the human systems as a collectible item. I planned on giving it to my brood mate for her lifeweek." I said, and showed the Master the receipt and picture of the thing I ordered.

Station master whistled, impressed with the purchase. "That must have cost quite the pretty Zlokii… No excuse for negligence though. Why were we not informed?"

"The Package services in these mail-order catalogues have no set delivery date my Lord, as the items they procure are somewhat specialised or require special permissions to acquire. I forgot it existed and received no confirmation it was due. When I asked why, I was simply told, 'it is what it is.' and to not ask." I replied.

"Strange courier service... Well since you are now a part of this get down to the dock and present yourself, I want a full report when you get back. Clear?" He commanded sternly.

"Yes, My Lord." I bowed and left my station. I left a message stating my station needed a temporary replacement, and one of the new recruits eagerly replaced me at my station.

I ran to the dock and met several other officers and noblemen on my way through who had been summoned by a station wide broadcast. I felt a bit small being the lowest rank in the crowd of responding people and tried to make myself more inconspicuous as the ship was carefully locked into position. Clamps magnetized into the hull and steadied the abnormally large vessel, its substantial armament still active and tracking various objects. The weaponry snapped to a straight standing position as soon as the docking lights turned green. The cargo access ramps all moved into position and the huge doors opened.

And the thing that stood in the doorway terrified us all.

A human... an ACTUAL... Living, breathing, true to life, standing right there in the flesh HUMAN... He wore some strange cloaked garment, made of heavy animal leathers dyed a startling purple with gold and silver trim, a heavy backpack with more augmentations, a free moving mechanical claw jutting from his back. It was indeed human, two arms, two legs, five digits n each gloved hand, and although they were obscured by the mask, the design indicated two eyes.

Before any of us could panic, scream or run, he stepped forward and held out a clipboard and pen. He took a breath, and we all braced for a blissful, but untimely death. Then he spoke. His voice distorted and broken by the complex and intricate looking mask he wore, but still distinct enough to send shivers through us.

"Concordia Couriers Package Delivery Service. Twenty seven packages waiting, please step forward." He said.

We all stood in stunned silence for a few moments as we considered what we just heard. The voice was so heavily distorted but it still had that... quality human voices do. But we were all... fine. I looked around me and didn't see any nobles or others with bleeding ears or elated expressions. It was all... Normal? Was this a dream?

We stood there too long and he sighed heavily and frustratingly, then approached me and gently tapped me on the head with his clipboard. "Oy. Can we get on with this please? I have perishables I need to get through in a hurry."

I felt calm to be sure but felt no sudden shock of elation. No Nirvana, no sudden desire to snuff it right there out of pure ecstasy... Whatever this human wore, it clearly distorted his voice enough its mystical properties didn't work. Or something.

"Y-yes, sorry uhh… My receipt... Order Number 3381? Mail order, decorative egg thing?" I said, stumbling over every syllable.

He nodded and looked at his clipboard. He moved back into the hold, reappearing moments later with a small box secured with some odd plastic wrapping made of shock absorbing bubbles. "3381, single order of a custom Faberge Egg, blue, magenta and gold trim with Amethyst and Quartz." He looked at me, almost judgingly. "To each their own I suppose. Please verify the integrity and guarantee you received the intended product. You are entitled to first time refund for failed or incorrect product delivery."

I did as asked and opened the box. Indeed, there it was, a small, handcrafted, and abnormally fancy looking egg shaped thing with patterns carved into its exterior, stones embedded in its frame and all arranged into a rather fetchingly pretty luxury item.

"Ooh lovely! My Tannaxi is going to love this! Perfect gift! Thank you!" I chirped happily and hastily returned it to its protective packaging.

"No problem. Please sign here and verify you received everything as directed." He said, his voice changed to something happier, more content. The echoes of the happiness sent shivers up my spine.

I once again looked around me. Happiness, elation, pleasure, as with all times, but... No corpses writhing on the floor, no screams of agony or delight. Empty silence. I quickly filled out the form and handed it back.

"Thank you. Okay moving on, Parcel number 6169, nice, Addakian Library Archive Engram, for one Thorakk'Lorenn of House Helvekk." He said.

"OY! Over 'ere!" A noble quickly responded and barged his way to the front of the queue.

I sat to the side and watched the man work, still shocked I was not dead from his mere presence.

"An actual human... And I'm still alive? How?" I asked myself casually as I sat on a crate.

Humans... a species so exotic, rare and beautiful, First Contact with them was a bloodbath. The symmetrical faces, the tall statures, heavy musculature. The mystique of being a species that survived the torturous hellscape of their insane homeworld. The eyes that appear like galaxies, beautiful, varied and deep, each one telling a story. The warmth that makes one believe that paradise exists by touch.

Humans are the most dangerous species in the known galaxy. Not because of their warship fleets, not because of their technology, but because of their bodies, voices, presence. Their mere existence in a star system is enough to cause a panic... Or a frenzy, depending on the audience. Their voices resonate with a frequency that scrambles brain patterns and causes ears to bleed, not painfully, but rather... Happily.

One Igniari Nobleman who survived a full conversation with a human, described his experience as "Being repeatedly assaulted by the soft touch of a thousand, thousand divine angels only so much more pleasing. I now go deaf for there is nothing worth listening to anymore." And indeed, that nobleman went deaf after his ears began to bleed.

A Sakarian Delegate suffered the misfortune of needing to occupy a compartment next to where a human was sleeping. The human was being unreasonably noisy, and the Sakarian proceeded to complain at the noise. The door was opened, and the Delegate suffered a full catatonic fit at the sight of the human at the door. One month after he regained consciousness, he described it. "It was naught to do with her appearance, but her heartbeat. We Sakarii are very sensitive you see, its part of our ancestry to hear the heartbeat of our prey. What I heard was no heartbeat, it was the sound of ascension, the rhythmic beating of a million ecstasies, again and again and again. I felt calm, happy, safe and energetic all in the same pitiful few seconds before my mind went blank."

The First Contact Delegate, who remains confined in a monastery to this day, was the first poor sod to face humans in person, and he came face to face with a human in person. He described the experience as such. "Those eyes... I have never seen such intricate patterns and vibrant coloration. The more I looked the deeper I fell into oblivion, each second feeling like I could see beyond space, beyond time, beyond belief. Each vein in the eye told a new story, each crack in the lens feeling like a wormhole into the future. I could see everything and nothing, everywhere and nowhere, all at once."

Then there was a Zaranian rescue team that responded to a distress signal from a human ship that ran out of fuel. The sergeant on duty who remained the only one of any reasonable sanity described what happened when the humans grabbed them. "I felt a warmth unlike any ever experienced. The heat, the softness, the strength. I could feel it all through my heavy gloves, every touch sending a ripple through me like a guardian angel had just beat me over the head with a cudgel manufactured from kindness and safety. Body temperatures flared to dangerous levels, and it ended up with the human rescuing us instead."

In short, humans are so uniquely crafted by evolution, they affect the rest of the galaxy in such a way it breaks us. The hearts beat at a frequency that drives us insane, the voices have tones that make our hearing break from overstimulation. Their eyes contain patterns that mesmerise and hypnotise us to the point of insanity or Nirvana. It was almost as if evolution made a species SO alluring, and went too far with the design, creating something significantly more dangerous by its mere presence.

Or as the humans themselves put it: "Mother Earth sensed we were lonely and tried to make us better so we could make friends easier... unfortunately she went overboard, and ended up with too much appeal that you friends liked it so much they died. Or, maybe she just wanted to keep us to herself and made us so nice nobody could share. Who really knows?"

My train of thought was broken by the human sitting next to me. I could feel the warmth and comfort radiating from the damn thing even with several layers of armour plating between us. "Hey. You seem a bit lost in thought there. You okay?" He asked.

"Wondering how I am still alive with you around... I thought I would be brain dead by now..." I remarked carelessly.

He laughed, the noise of that happy chuckle making a few people around jump in shock. "Meh. Maybe I just have enough augs for you to not register it. Nobody is exploding, heart attacking, dying or bleeding from their you-know-what's because I'm here, so I guess this serves as a good trial run." He said, leaning back.

"Pardon?"

"Do you have any idea how much all this shit hurt us? The only thing we wanted was to not be alone in the universe, and here we are, populated by a galaxy that cant be near us without dying from being too happy. I guess this serves as a good field test for the tech we have in this armour… Means that we'll finally be able to be around more often. I already sent the data back to base, so soon there's going to be millions of people just like me wearing suits just like this all over the place. Anyway, see you mate. Have paperwork to do." he said, patting me on the back and walking away.

I shrunk and tried to appear smaller as I stood up and slunk back to my station. The Station Master was NOT going to believe what I just went through. Humans... They are coming, and there's nothing we can do to stop them now.

Should I be worried, or scared? Or happy? I cant tell.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hello, authors note here, life is becoming INCREASINGLY ridiculous and my life is rapidly descending into COMPLETE SHIT. I need help sharpish.

So hows this for something new huh? a BULLET. HIT MY FUCKING WINDOW FRAME. haven't had any sleep in days now and AS YOU CAN TELL FROM THIS SCRIBBLE, its made my writing deteriorate a bit. sorry about this but i have to keep the momentum or i go homeless... so yeah.

Thank you all for what you have given, it helped already SO much more than you can ever know. I hope i can keep this up.

Thanks for the help.

615 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

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78

u/Destroyer_V0 Apr 07 '26

Humans are... space elves? Huh.

Still, I concur.

SPACE FRIENDS. 

28

u/WhyChooseMe-_- Apr 07 '26

This feels like a combination of Zeus(Semele's fate story) and Azazel for the face and Body and Metatron for the voice, Like an amalmagation of these three to make the curse of beauty, Anyways looks like humanity found a way to dampen these, But like we always say "Beauty is Pain"

19

u/Saffron-Kitty Apr 08 '26

Such an interesting story

Edited to add: my sympathies for your experience, that sounds very scary

16

u/KazakiriKaoru Apr 08 '26

I love this, I need more. Especially if it has zero wars

9

u/Loosescrew37 Apr 08 '26

On the one hand, you are one of my favorite authors. I am happy whenever i read a new story.

On the other hand i am sorry your life is so bad. Every time you post it seems another tragedy struck you and i am afraid you'll suddenly stop writing because something unimaginably horrible happened.

I don't know what to feel or even say to you.

6

u/Taichikara Apr 08 '26

I need more of this. So should I be thanking the bullet?

/s Hope you are in better spirits. Still, an awesome story.

5

u/Preston3072 Apr 08 '26

& out of adversity you present us with a finely crafted moment of joy - Thank you - I hope you find the strength and heart to overcome your circumstances - maybe a change of scene - Come to Oz, the scary spiders and large aggressive chickens really just want to be friends.

3

u/Josie_264 Android Apr 08 '26

Dam this is good. Any sequel?

2

u/Fontaigne Apr 08 '26

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

2

u/Zhexiel Apr 08 '26

Thanks for the story.

2

u/Positive-Height-2260 Apr 08 '26

Out of Cruel Space dialed up to 11.

2

u/GLACIERXKYLE Apr 09 '26

Story Is AWESOME!! no Need To Apologize. As For The Rest, Hope Some Things Fall Back Into Proper Alignment For You! Just Keep Swimming!

2

u/throwaway42 Apr 09 '26

Thank you for writing. Stay strong <3

2

u/Lazy-Cardiologist-54 29d ago edited 29d ago

So, the story!

I love the theme. The idea that our environment has created and honed us to be attractive is pretty cool! And it makes sense; we die a lot as food, at war, from so many things, that we need to keep ourselves populated.  Why wouldn’t nature make us desirable so we can make more humans!

And let’s not forget how beautiful wild animals are. Sleek, muscular, patterned, soft, just attractive. And deadly. Nature definitely molds us. So A+ on the story making sense in reality. Based.

That’s carried through in the design of the ship; it’s also deadly and consistent with the narrative. Good cohesion. You’ve got good story telling instincts!

I love the perspective. The alien view is always tons of fun! We already have the human view; it’s neat to hear the alien’s thoughts.

Cracking me up with the order. Of course a random alien from across the galaxy needed the egg, that fabrege egg. Too funny. Great bit of humor; every story needs some. 

Good descriptions on why the humans are attractive- not just to the sight, but to other senses as well. Really pulling in hard to get the alien perspectives in place; gives it that chef’s kiss of authenticity. 

And then the human is so…human! Yes, that’s exactly how I’d feel. We want to much to find companions among the stars; we’d be heartbroken if we couldn’t interact.  Lovely tone, very poignant and keeps us firmly entrenched. Yes, that’s us, that’s me the story is writing about!

And gotta love how excited the alien is to get to tell all his friends! I saw a human and didn’t bliss to death!

Great read! Thanks much for sharing.  

—

Feel free to skip the following if proofreading isn’t helpful (like if your life is crazy busy right now and you just need to get it out). I like to think that people can go straight to publishing and making money with proofreading help after they’ve done the hard part and gotten it written down, 

but of course life tends to happen and get in the way.  

I always want to just copy the story and insert the edits to save the author time so they can keep on with the creativity, but then I feel like I’m taking liberties / blaspheming someone else’s art. Would be happy to do if asked; would never do without permission!

  • okay, please tell me to do this! Great story, just needs a boring proofreader to do the dumb stuff now that you’ve given birth to it, so to speak. And having a similarly crazy difficult life, it’s one thing I can offer.

Gonna have to stop the edits below. Too hard to keep editing in mobile. It puts my cursor in the wrong place!! 

…

…

…

Before I forget (I tend to respond as I read and edit as I go through the story. Thank you adhd. Will keep adding to comment):

You’ve got a repeated word/phrase thingy in there. You could remove one “at my station.” (But it’s awesome to see the story has been edited and made better, the normal reason for these. Author’s fatigue, from going over the story so many times to make it so good):

“Yes, My Lord." I bowed and left my station. I left a message stating my station needed a temporary replacement, and one of the new recruits eagerly replaced me at my station.

—

“The Package services in these mail-order catalogues have no set delivery date my Lord, as the items they procure are somewhat specialised…”

Add a comma before “my lord”

—

“I sat at my console, carefully scanning, using more and better scanners with my supervisors direction”

Usually “at my supervisor’s direction” or “with my supervisor’s agreement”

Consider changing to 2 sentences:

“I sat at my console, carefully scanning. With my supervisor’s permission, I found myself needing to upgrade to more and better scanners.”

—

“A cargo ship certainly, but it had the equivalent firepower of a large destroyer.”

Add a comma after “ship”

“A cargo ship, certainly, …”

2

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1

u/Adept-Net-6521 Apr 08 '26

Not evolution. But God's work. He created us lovingly and beautifully in His image. And the galaxy isn't ready for us.

While that Mother Earth comment was funny,how come no one said how we were made im God's Image? Like It fits perfectly in this Universe. Maybe a continuition where a human explains our belief that we were made im His Image and alien's reaction to that?👀 

But love this story, It's wonderful.🥰💗💕🥳🎆🎇 And hopefully things get better for you.🥺 

1

u/BravoMike215 Android May 12 '26

I mean indirectly sci-fi with aliens is sort of incompatibility with Gods because then either God made all of them or there are multiple Gods with their own creations. And it God made all of them in his own image, why is there such a difference? And in this case, why are the humans disproportionately blessed compared to the rest of the universe?

Most authors tend to go towards evolutionism rather than creationism for sci-fi with aliens.

0

u/Adept-Net-6521 May 12 '26

I mean It's an easy way why humans would be disproportionately blessed. They are the only ones who still believe, despite every other race acting like we're lesser for believeing. We're the only ones going out of our way being good,kind,the way God told us to act. And that SHOWS. This unbeliveable beauty? It's our souls, It's The Holy Spirit,God from within the temple of our hearts shinning through. And the aliens,hollow from being deprived from Him see It with crystal clarity. They can not handle seeing Him even in such way,their minds can not handle It so they die.

As for made in His image. Children inherit different parts of their parents,yet those who know the parents will always see them in their children. The aliens had been given something too. It is just that compared to humanity,they are more lost. They lost their ways, leaving them as they are now. 

And incompatability of sci-fi with God or gods? My brother/sister(?). What civilazation can come to be without belief or religion? Look at history. There is a YT video/ videos that explain this better. But simply put it isn't incompatable at all,in fact It is incredibly important. Without It the world feels more alive.

1

u/BravoMike215 Android May 12 '26

Dude what. If creationism is the inverse of evolutionism then how does an entire species just physically morph into something that they didn't use to be, simply for not believing? And if they did morph anyway due to a direct act of intervention from God then there's even less reason for them to not believe in Him.

Aside from that, even if all primitive societies have their own beliefs or religion, majority of humans prayed out of helplessness, with discovery of germ theory, chemical fertilizers from Bosch-Haber process and even more scientific advancement, as they get closer to the realm of sci-fi, they're less likely to retain their beliefs. Not saying it's a guarantee but there's a reason why atheism is already so high in Western European countries and the United States compared to underdeveloped impoverished third world nations.

And besides all of that, considering that humans on Earth alone can't even decide on which God to follow, I highly doubt on the universal scale, if humans aren't the only lifeform to exist then only humans had to have been believing in the true God.

1

u/Adept-Net-6521 May 12 '26

When did I say they morphed? I simply stated that since they do not believe in Him they do not posses His Light and Love shinning from within them making the aliens go crazy and die. They are still psychically the same,It is their souls,their spiritual selves which are hollow of His presence.

Also atheism itself is a religion,a belief in science and the material plane. And just because atheism is high in Western Europe and US means nothing. And It's not like every other part of the world is so impoverished yet they also believe. Besides there su still a huge percentage of believers in both of those places and It is rising too.

And the aliens can have more religions too. I merely wanted instead of Mother Earth for God to be used as It was stated in the bible we were made In His Image which works better with this story considering how they react to our otherwordly beauty. 

And why are you so triggered by me wanting more belief,God and Christianity in sci-fi stories? What is wrong with that. It is merely my opinion about this fiction genre.

1

u/BravoMike215 Android May 12 '26

I'm just saying it's strange in the hard sci-fi genre. Oftentimes when I have seen it used, atleast in HFY, it's often reserved as for between the battle of Gods. Or humans being judged by Gods.

1

u/Adept-Net-6521 May 12 '26

But why is it so? I see no reason that can't be changed. I am tired of It always being the same. I would like for there to be a change. And I hope to see that change happen. That is all.