The Space Engineer (The Complete Story) | HFY | A short Sci-Fi Story

The Space Engineer...
This is all 8 parts of "The Space Engineer" combined into one video. Enjoy!
For individual episodes, check the playlist: • Playlist
If you like this story, let me know in the comments if you want the rest of the parts. There are 8 in total. I actually quite like it!
author: u/[deleted]
original story link: / the_space_engineer
#scifi #hfy #scifistories1977

[@SentientMeatloaf1]

I’m actually impressed. This story took nearly every dumb HFY trope, set them up like they were about to be played straight, and then kicked them in the balls at the last second. Ended up creating something very unique and interesting as a result.

[@Chilled_Mackers]

I had to google what HFY was lol.

[@sheldonbyalick2812]

😊

[@Guardias]

I disagree...this was just subverting expectations to subvert them and the end result was neither interesting nor entertaining.

[@SovietReunionYT]

I disagree, this was most definitely not a The Last Jedi. It was fairly interesting and somewhat entertaining. Not great, but also not mediocre. Would have been WAY better if not for the botched handling of the captain's storyline. Too much setup and next to no payoff. The writer left it at "she's a liar" without revealing to the MC and to the audience what the plan was with the terror weapons, what the motivation was, why the MC was actually chosen, what the hell was the real reason for going to all the trouble to get him augments, which parts of D's story were actually true and which were masterful manipulations, etc. I suspect the audience was expected to infer that D and the captain were actually political extremists trying to start a terror campaign against the Terran occupation, and Iowa boy was picked cause he was fresh out of the academy and would be easy to manipulate, and her starting a relationship with him was part of the plot, and when she was caught at the end she had nothing to do but try to lie and seduce her way out of it and rage when she failed... But that confrontation at the end wasnt given enough time to work, and the audience was left with too many unanswered questions. The biggest one is probably what was with the augments, really? It's not like the story about picking him cause of his morals is really true, he could find out the truth at any point and they'd have to get rid of him. So they werent setting him up to be a vital member of the group, he was out of the loop and very disposable. What's more, the augments would make it easier for him to catch their lies. It's puzzling. I also would have liked to know if the story about them losing half their crew because of their previous Terran engineer was true or not. Was the last one their previous mark for this plan? Did he/she catch on so they had to get rid of him/her and try again? And finally, a couple things I'd like to praise. I love how after D and E die, the rest of the crew have no idea what happened, and it takes our guy some time to realize this. And I love how the pirates are a direct democracy, like the historical ones here on Earth.

[@The.Sages.Corner]

@@SovietReunionYT Well, speaking for why he was chosen. They actually implied it, someone who was "honest". Which means someone the "Captain" could control. Though that is a strong speculation, its one of the few theories that actually works.

[@BillSmith-ut5li]

A good maintenance man counts his tools before he leaves for the job and he counts his tools before he leaves the job. You don't have to remember The Wire cutter. You just have to remember tool number six

[@nevasoba5953]

That is a great rule of thumb. I’m adapting it for my own .

[@jakevex4198]

But then you end up leaving them at the job site

[@brandonreed9508]

That's a smart way of doing it, Imma have have even longer days at the shop now though... I just hope I can keep up with a 10mm and a 1/2 inch this way lol.

[@geoff2027]

Movie... Low budget or not and it would be refreshingly enjoyable. Has all the same qualities that made District 9 majestically watchable. Thanks for putting this out there.

[@dankuchar6821]

I would love a movie or TV series based on this.

[@jacobhall-burns5356]

Someone could probably animate something nice in Unreal 5 with a small crew. Maybe episodes? Low to no budget depending on the group

[@Photonic64]

20:48 Jeremy needs to learn Lock-Out-Tag-Out. Guess they forgot about OSHA.

[@ryandow6953]

Osha.... in space, on a busted up shit barn freighter...... smuggling semi legal semi stolen meds......

[@Photonic64]

@ryandow6953 all maintenance guys fear OSHA but at least my guys understand why its a necessary evil. Many of the OSHA regs on the books are written in blood of men who *took shortcuts to get the job done*

[@gretholondeporey8527]

I came here for this comment.

[@garysuarez9614]

In space nobody can hear your disastrous safety missteps...

[@mistermoggy8707]

Kid was an apprentice, this trip was the hard lesson about workplace safety

[@AndrewChumKaser]

Much better than your average HFY shlock. It's honestly so much better I don't think this is a story with those elements in them that much: just a compelling story about a kid's life getting upended in a catastrophic display of betrayal and insanity. I want more of this guy.

[@squeakieve]

I really wish the Author wasn't deleted so I could see if they wrote other storylines. I truly enjoyed going to the original reddit posts and reading them after listening to the narration. Wherever you are OP, thank you for the fantastic story!

[@MeansOfProduction209]

If it wasnt for the whole "ma and P.A." bit, id have a hard time figuing out this was an AI

[@kathyb2562]

This AI doesn't know how to pronounce some words in relation to it's actual storyline...😂

[@BobSmith1980.]

They have gotten a lot better. I'm sure eventually we won't know at all

[@BobSmith1980.]

It doesn't seem to say anywhere, maybe you can send a message to the channel and ask

[@antoniojay7491]

My thing was that humans being physically Superior to anything, we don't have that distinction on our own planet, but we would among the stars??? GTFOOH lol

[@leafykille]

Bare in mind that our evolution got almost totally reset at least once probably twice. Humans are so dangerous that we have caused the extinction of more species on this planet than any other mass extinction event in history. Humans are so hostile that we fight each other constantly, it's amazing we haven't killed eachother yet. If the rest of the galaxy is this hostile there wouldn't be a federation.

[@craftysmithkeith3653]

brightside to his pirating days is he gets to enjoy his augments and no longer has anything to tie him down

[@kingkjoy3955]

That ended so abruptly XD, love the story. Tough, but good ending, character growth through the story is a dark turn which was enjoyable to experience.

[@pspicer777]

Drive in popcorn was the best. Thanks for that memory. Very good story and narration.

[@Jus7aguy]

I watched Tron and ET at the drive in.

[@bubbafrump74]

That was kinda sloppy. There were some big chunks missing for being the "complete" story. Before anyone gets cross with me, think about the fact that there are people with channels where they themselves actually read these stories (ASN (Argo squirrel narrates)) rather than just pull up a reddit file and feed it to an AI. I just thought I would try it out once. Liked the visuals. Great AI. Just hated the big missing chunks of the story towards the end. Anyone reading this far, could do this exact same thing...🤔

[@deathstrike]

I just read and I actually agree. We don't get a lot of character development, nor motivations for quite a while, and even then it's not a lot. I understand the time constraints to an extent. But this would have been far more suited for either a multi part, or a much longer story. We get the basics, we get the "protagonist is found by insert sinister trope". And the story is kitbashed as opposed to a fluid whole. It would take a lot more to expose the more glaring parts but I think most reading it get the idea it's more a "rough draft" than a cohesive story.

[@Eddneton94]

yea after what happened at the airlock the 2nd time i thought i was dozing off on the storry and missed some chunks, only to rewind and notice that in fact there started to be some big holes

[@terryfleming4308]

P0⁰000000⁰ooʻ00

[@jeffjames4064]

Thus the reputation of Hans Solo was born.

[@ericianwalters]

The bit about pay rates and OT is like a VFX artist learning about literally any other industry... 😥

[@leafykille]

These stories are amazing! A consistent world across many stories, well written with good science, believable characters, I'm totally going to be watching more of your stuff :)

[@sim.frischh9781]

Han said it correctly, the key to the Kessel Run is that you have to fly AROUND the imperial patrols, and the better youand your ship are, the tighter you can fly, shortening the distance. This results in shorter delivery times and thus, more money for the smuggler and their contractors. So yes, Han MEANT a measure of distance. Or at least, that´s how George Lucas justified the line.

[@jerometruitt2731]

Yup that's how I always interpreted it. Also with the various gravitational anomalies along the route a straight line isn't always possible, it also may not necessarily be the shortest path between 2 points.

[@saber5694]

It wasn't the Imperial patrols they had to doge. Kessel is located among a mass of black holes, plasma and nebulous gasses.

[@sim.frischh9781]

@@saber5694 Well those partols certainly won´t make it easier.

[@saber5694]

@@sim.frischh9781 well something to remember is that thw spice trade form Kessel was supported by the empire. Realy the only reason they got chased out of the system was due to the rebellion they started. Normally they could just leave once cleared

[@AutomaticJack]

​@@saber5694 IIRC the Imperials took a cut of all trade in and out of there. A shorter distance implies a less well traveled path and the potential to literally dodge taxes.

[@fuzzylumpkins6034]

Banging space chickens, morals, mid-west accents, star wars reference, betrayal but a betrayed betrayal for reason to avoid betrayal. This is a conundrum. The story has all the dumb shit these have and made a great story out of it that kept me listening for 2 hours straight. Good stuff

[@jefftaylor8294]

The ship was trash and they needed an augmented terran to work 24/7 almost. I got the feeling that the upgrade did something to his mind so he was more susceptible to being manipulated by her using honey trap to keep him docile enough. The love of drive in movies was where she got the idea of a moral, good boy to be manipulated. This also showed a redeeming side as a longing for boyfriend watching movie, family etc. The next story could be a prequel of how she became this way. Pre-war-throgh war-terrorist.

[@RJRhoades1]

Loved it! More like it please. Sequels to the engineer pirate would be fantastic!

[@theicyphoenix_7745]

33:17 xD that bot read was hilarious

[@CraigInNC]

I listened to each chapter as released, but enjoyed the completed story together more.

[@gretholondeporey8527]

How does a college educated apprentice not know lock out/tag out. Also, every diver/firefighter/skydiver knows, always check your own pack before going out. Never trust someone else to manage what saves your life.

[@gretholondeporey8527]

@@AndrooUK It's prestigious in the future.

[@allannapier1626]

Stumbled on this channel and it has blown me away amazing stuff hooked like à drug got to have a daily fix 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@chrispetersen6092]

Thank you for making these stories .when im driving long miles and the minutes seem to takes hours to go by i turn on one of tour stories and the hours turn into minutes! Great work there sir .please keep the sifi coming ! I look forward to whatever is coming up next .

[@dgage1776]

Truck driver?

[@markojovicic7291]

​@@dgage1776 No, spaceship.

[@user-vg5kt8wb3b]

Wow! Great story - I can't wait to read the next one. Keep it up!

[@sarahjenkins4013]

Great story! Thanks for sharing! Will be looking for more.

[@scifistories1977]

If you haven't listened to The Black Ship, this is the most popular story on my channel. Here is book one, 12 hours long: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4ioeIicftWnrqs

[@petergould9174]

Good story with enough twists that you really don’t know how it will end. Narrator also did a decent job AND without any fake english accent. Also, the illustrations are pretty good.

[@SentientMeatloaf1]

It’s narrated by AI dude

[@martharash3987]

I find i like listening to a story being read. The voice of the narrator is mesmerizing. It is like the story actually happened.

[@TheMonk72]

Better when read by a human who knows how to pace narration instead of a synth voice like this one.

[@neock]

in most cases, id agree. tho the fluxuating tones mid sentence sound like the reader got hit in the balls by a sledge lol. that kinda breaks it a bit. that said, i love listening while im playing games. makes good background noise. this ai voice is much better than some of the others tho

[@Mr.Grinns]

This is an AI narrator i think

[@kathyb2562]

​@@TheMonk72Some words were mispronounced in relation to the storyline too.

[@TheMonk72]

@@kathyb2562 yeah that's a little frustrating, but not limited to AI. One of my standard readers on YT has apparently never heard the word "vinyl" pronounced in real life. I guess they don't have vinyl in (and I'm guessing her based on accent) South Africa?

[@gamingking4919]

A tongue lashing of a more enjoyable kind is crazy😂😂😂

[@ronbynum7304]

Excellent story. As good as any I’ve heard for some time. Well done.

[@spiderbugbear3721]

Where can I find more of this? I am totaly hooked. Also: there is a high chance that the teddy bear has survived, cause they hibernate anyway. Too bad the attempt to tame a "live human pet" has failed terribly 😂. Also there is a high chance the whole crew was augmented & are just observing his actions. Great twisted story with many loose ends. I loved it, but I need moar lol. I dont believe "the end" is realy the end of it, or the last we heard of the bat lady. Also...what sort of world do they live on so that they have kept the wing rudiments?

[@McKavian]

HOLY SHIT that was a roller coaster.

[@davewarnock9455]

Liked it up to the end. You couldn’t redeem anyone?!!!

[@TheSolidSnakeOil]

Bad things rarely work out in anyone's favor.

[@petepanteraman]

😆 he still pulled a kirk in the end 👍👍

[@aaronlefebre5060]

Gotta be honest. This story went off the rails, and left a lot unanswered with that abrupt ending. So many plot threads left just hanging in the breeze for no reason. What was Sela's actual goal with all this subterfuge? Why did she need Jeremy to be an honest, moral human? I get that there was supposed to be a plot point that their previous engineer was garbage, but that was swept under the rug pretty quickly. What was the actual point and plan for the cybernetic augments? If this was supposed to be some sort of suicide mission, or high likelihood of getting caught, why the massive investment that didn't seem to have any payoff? And a romance outta nowhere with no buildup? Memory loss with that series of questioning from her about when they hooked up, when from our perspectives all of his time was accounted for? And what exactly is Jeremy's plan now that he's signed up with a pirate crew he ratted out to the cops beforehand? Seems like this story still needs a lot of editing work.

[@Creationweek]

Huge agree. The story just doesn't make sense. There is something interesting here, but it needs a lot more work

[@The.Sages.Corner]

My only theory about Sela needing jeremy to be an "honest human" was two fold. One is to have someone save the day with humans, like he did for helping them out. Second, was it would be easier to control an "honest" human; as they are very very gullible.

[@Mr.Grinns]

Im at around 22:19 Sounds like dealing with xenos would be a massive pain in the ass having to tiptoe around social conventions like this to the point of being forcibly literal with everything

[@usrevenge]

Yea, but money.

[@markschneider8815]

It's always "annoyed" me that we are the ones that have to do the tiptoeing, how about the others doing the tiptoeing for a change.

[@carolinepitts1169]

It was a good story but the deets didn't get well tied up. No real clear explination why the Captain wanted a moral engineer. No really clear reason for the cargo, the final purpose, was it to kill all the terrin occupying forces? Not clear why the police on Earth were harassing his family so much. That seemed shaky. The purpose of all of those implants???? That was lost somewhere. Like if she was pulling a suicide mission why augment him with longterm upgrades. But over all a really good story. Deets about the creativity of Jeremy and his tag along were great! 3D printer for warheads was great! Turning to the pirates? Perfect!

[@danieljordan465]

Love stories and figured I would place a thanks for the story , I will give it a listen and flip you a like and another comment , maybe just a comment but the writer has already a Heinlein and Asimov mix in it's paragraphical , word mind and the eye of the imagination.

[@webmastercaribou7570]

Stories getting better.

[@kdrapertrucker]

The kessel run is measured by distance, kessel is among a cluster of black holes, the faster the ship, the closer it could skirt by the event horizon of the various black holes, so the faster ships would travel less distance.

[@xephael3485]

The amount of BS StarWars fans can come up with to protect the reality of their fake universe is amazing

[@ancapftw9113]

​@@xephael3485that's the EU explanation. Kessel is a minor planet or asteroid in the middle of a black whole cluster. With good enough engines you can skim them to cut distance and time off of your journey. Also, that's Disney Cannon as of Solo.

[@xephael3485]

@@hudsonflores5478 fiction that needs additional fiction to explain its glaring flaws is poor fiction

[@arianmoore4474]

I always liked the idea that Han was just spouting some impressive sounding bullshit because he figured the people he was talking to didn't know better and he wanted their money 😂

[@xephael3485]

@@arianmoore4474 makes more sense in all the crap that people in the Star wars universe try to come up with...

[@JohnStormForge]

So if they did an all over tactile enhancement, he would basically have spidey-sense or add a passive radar hearing enhancement and you have Space-Daredevil

[@petepanteraman]

Even crazier would be the fact that he would blow his load just by taking a shower, what I'm saying is that he would have the sensation of exdecy constantly and would eventually get used to the heightened sensations until it was normal.

[@darylvogel8991]

Well done, looking forward to other SciFi Stories

[@FeralPreacher]

Good story, lots of suspense, really rotten non-ending.

[@jpwoelfling]

Your stories are amazing. Well written, engaging and the narration is excellent.

[@seanjohnson735]

This was twist after twist. Great story

[@Sattrax]

Great story. Good infrastructure. Characterization was well done. A pleasre. Thank you.

[@jrocker152]

44:00 region: "oh... and you lost your legs. But should be fine, right?" LOL that image!

[@bennett3415]

Really enjoyed this story and the voice

[@gortex1us]

The narration in pretty bad Ai is almost there bit not quite. Story is good feels like like a netflix series for young adults.

[@jerometruitt2731]

Yeah the way it reads Dr. Hottentot (or whatever his name is) when he's praising Jeremy is annoying 😂😂😂 and weird.

[@michellerainwaters3608]

Great stories, and I like listening to them

[@deepdragon2]

FYI in star wars distance is the key. The hyper drives need to calculate HOW to get from a to b with out hitting anything. The distance to a destination is everything. Here is the explanation: A parsec is a unit of distance, not time. Solo was not referring directly to his ship's speed when he made this claim. Instead, he was referring to the shorter route he was able to travel by skirting the nearby Maw black hole cluster, thus making the run in under the standard distance.

[@bartofii]

At first I assumed it was a method to feel out how competent someone making a deal was. If they assumed it was time... they might be more easily duped into paying extra... like a premium air fee when servicing your oil. But the distance, or proximity, a route would include also makes quite a bit of sense.

[@sandrosliske]

Well now it is. Back in filming Lucas just liked the word

[@susanc4622]

Ending was quite a surprise.

[@tonyv8925]

Good who dunnit story. Guess we will never know what Sela was up to, eh?

[@xedalpha1]

Its weird how much he cares about his mom's PA.

[@picoherbie9987]

Good story. Really liked it

[@maxfitz5977]

That was a great stroy wish there was more I feel bad at the end for him

[@gabrieliancucojocaru9283]

Nice story and naration.

[@Omnifarious0]

I really liked this. I suspect I would not like the writing. But it could just be the AI voice that had such flat intonation all the time while still knowing how the stresses inside a sentence were supposed to work. 😕 But the story, the plot and the characters, was fantastic.

[@jayturner3397]

Great stuff 👏

[@Flare1107]

I love the consistency in emotion and intonation with these AI readings. Sometimes live readers forget how they voiced a character and it throws me off so much. Or they change the scene description intonation and I don't know if the character is now conversing or thinking.

[@dankuchar6821]

Is there a sequel to this? The character development just got good!

[@scifistories1977]

There isn't, I'm afraid. But a previous comment added... "and that was how Han solo began his career" which I thought was a good way to look at it.

[@russellperry9902]

The Ai voice could use some fine tunning in its voice acting but yeah... That story out weighed that, minor hicups aside. Damn good story, thatnks for sharing

[@davidturner4824]

That was a good story.

[@Zulu4impi]

👏🤘👌 Absolutely fantastic, engaging well thought out plot dramatic end. As a long time Scifi aficionado Pohl, Adams, Anthony I was thoroughly impressed with this story. Worth of mini-series of movie.

[@fredkelly6953]

They didn't have a tablet, modem or computer? in 200 years I doubt anyone will.

[@majstealth]

oh i would not like that upgrade to my fingertips..... a while back last year i got some child-crap, afterwards most parts of my feet and hands peeled bit by bit, sometimes a finger a day. i do not think we are made to be able to feel each single fiber in a piece of cloth. it is a very strange feeling to "see" the fibers with your fingers.

[@epimetheaus1214]

That ending... MUAH! Chef's kiss.

[@jabinrodriguez2107]

I demand more 😤

[@bimmerboard]

Loved it too!

[@bernardbraxton237]

It did not move the story further at all to kill off both his parents and have his brother hate him.....like wtf how did that develop the plot

[@giljensen1132]

Great story

[@ultramarinus2478]

One of the worst space operas i heard this year. Overtly complicated, many times shown promise and afterwards either ignored, or actively squashed, the strongest parts of the action are decided behind the curtain, with NO chance on change, nor redemption in the future ("and by the way, your father died too, and btw we hate you dead because of it"). Action itself lacking too, but at least graduation of suspension was mastered by the author.

[@isaaccauchi2358]

Gotta say the latter half was disappointing, never answered any of the questions that were built up to and the *conclusions* felt completely out of place. Shame cuz it started out well

[@foamige]

Is there more of these? Great story!

[@harutogames9204]

BRO im taking that deal 40 credits regular time 80 OT? Hell yeah 😂

[@delmaplain5358]

Another great story!

[@Mojo_3.14]

Pirates get a bad rap and yes they did some awful things but it's amazing how many good things they had going for them. At a time of tyranny in most countries, they elected their own captains, divided up their booty fairly, offered an early version of workmen's compensation and gave black slaves a rare chance to live free

[@ATBatmanMALS31]

Well done.

[@larrybowles3295]

Revenge on a cosmic scale but mindful of sentience and universally acceptable limits. 77 Even the Galactic Federation was forced to accommodate its scope.

[@madmanuel001]

This needs to be a movie. H$.

[@ArrBee6]

Yeah...Good one

[@WilliamCollins-sh6lm]

Ground to Space Vehicles is a chicken or egg situation !!! Once a manufacturing base is established Vehicles can be metal printed easily !!! The vacuum and no gravity are perfect for the ceramic metals that these vehicles will need !!! The science is there already !!! A space to ground vehicle can be printed with very limited human involvement ... The Multi Stage Engine is nearly complete and Fission Engines are advancing rapidly !!! Most of the wiring and electronic circuits are already computer assisted manufacturing . So incorporating them directly in to and making them much smaller could be done !!! It's all just a matter of$$$$.

[@flyvee]

Did... this video get reuploaded? It says it is uploaded 6 minutes ago and yet there are comments from 2 weeks ago?

[@alucardbird_of_hermes9785]

Good story enjoyed it whike playing space engineers

[@skwerleyz]

"people on the outside could see there were people inside, but itd be difficult without an advanced decryption device to even ascertain what was inside." "To consider a pa'arthan socially cunning, is akin to saying poop smelled not so Good." The fuckin star wars tangent bruh 😂😂😂

[@jerometruitt2731]

😂😂😂😂😂😂 didn't get to that part yet

[@Tony-rn5fm]

this one is very good , wish to know where to get the rest of the story, also would have been a little better if he had took and sold the guns then went back to earth and hunted up his brother and asked him "what the fuck dude" ?

[@wsg4847]

"His Ma and his P.A." P.A. must be some type of college decree.

[@alewthwaite12]

This channel is awesome

[@rosegirlz88]

This was a good one ❤

[@guyvalentine7258]

Ok so he's not a Asmoth or Clark or Drake or David Webber. So he needs some polish but otherwise he didn't do that bad. This is my Second time listening to this story cause i liked the first time.

[@nevasoba5953]

This is a pretty good story

[@LeongGunners]

Okay, so... what was the point of the implant then, from Sela's perspective? Unless I miss something, getting that done to Jeremy was the beginning of her downfall, wasn't it? Unless she was really serious about making babies with him or something.

[@GymbalLock]

0:53 his Ma and Public Address system must have been proud.

[@owenking6149]

Ma and P A ? LOL - less than 1 minute in

[@koiyujo1543]

1:02:31 wow that's loyalty right their

[@williamchandler2937]

This was damn good story

[@CHMichael]

I would by book 1 ( starting from this point)

[@Kaos7976]

this is a fantastic story kinda feel bad for sela but she did it to her self

[@guy_autordie]

Except the end, it was a good story.

[@robinhodson9890]

A long story, then it messes up instead of tidying up, at the end. Good in the overall storytelling though.

[@RustyEcks]

Loving it!