by submission | May 18, 2014 | Story |
Author : Roger ale Trexler
The proximity claxon awoke him from a dead sleep. He jumped out of the storage container he used as a makeshift bed and yelled, “Buddy!”
He ran down the corridor that led to the secondary communications center. As he opened the hatch, he heard a familiar metallic whirling sound behind him. He turned to see Buddy, his only companion for what….two years now?…ambling down the corridor. It seemed impossible it had been that long.
“Buddy,” Jeramie Landof said. “Buddy! They’ve finally come!”
He would have hugged his metallic friend, but he knew better. In the weeks following the accident two years ago, Landof managed to scrap together enough spare parts to build Buddy. He was constructed out of the remains of a service droid, one of those designed for remote controlled repairs outside the ship. But, Landof had retrofitted him with one of those holographic emitters that were so popular with the kids back on Earth. A few other scrap parts found here and there on the wreckage of the ship, and Jeramie Landof had himself a companion. They were inseparable.
He ran into the communications center once the door opened, and flipped on the view screen. For a second, he saw nothing. Then, off to the left of the screen, he saw the flicker of navigation lights.
“They’ve come! At last!”
Buddy whirred and clicked.
“I’m surprised they heard the beacon,” Landof said. “We’re so far out.” He ran to the console but knew there was no way he could communicate with the incoming ship. The asteroid had disabled his ship. The rest of the crew had been sucked out into the vacuum of space, leaving Landof alone. Only a few small sections of the ship were left habitable.
“Oh Jeez! They’re coming!”
For the next hour, he and Buddy waited impatiently for the other ship to dock. They had to use one of those universal docking clamps because all the hatches had been blown, exposing the innards of the ship to space.
He could only listen—but not see—as they docked, covered the damaged section of the ship with a docking clamp, pumped in oxygen, and came aboard.
When the hatch opened, he started crying.
Buddy lurched toward the intruder.
“Buddy! Stop!” Landof yelled.
Buddy stopped just short of the man, his talon-like fingers extended.
The man stepped inside, closed the hatch, and took off his helmet. “Who are you?” he asked.
Landof told him.
“My name’s Captain Kisat, of the survey ship Antari. Are there any other survivors?”
“No.”
The man shook his head. “Jesus, you’ve been alone in space for two years?” he asked.
Landof nodded. Then, he looked at Buddy. “I had Buddy,” he said.
The man scrutinized the haphazard concoction of servos and circuit boards. “It’s a miracle you’re still alive,” he said. “This deep in uncharted space. You’re lucky we heard your distress beacon. It was pretty weak.”
“Thank God,” Landof said.
Captain Kisat sent a message back to the ship. A few minutes later, another man with an extra spacesuit stepped through the hatch. He handed it to Landof. “Here,” he said. “Put this on.”
Like a kid at Christmas time, Landof put on the spacesuit.
“Let’s get back to the Antari,” Kisat said. “I’m sure you’re ready to get off this crate.”
“I am,” Landof replied.
They opened the hatch and Landof stepped through. He stopped and turned. “Goodbye Buddy,” he said. “Thanks for being there for me.”
Buddy clicked and whirred, but did not reply, as they closed the hatch and left him alone in the cold void of space.
by submission | May 17, 2014 | Story |
Author : Brian Varcas
John didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about. Ever since he sent out the email invitation for his demonstration he’s been inundated with offers of ridiculous amounts of money for the manufacturing rights for his invention. It looked like it was going to change his life.
It had started as a bit of fun. He’d been in the garden of his parents home last summer and was being targeted by the local population of wasps who seemed to be taking it in turns to dive bomb him. John waved his arms furiously every time one approached.
“Don’t do that, “ his father had said, “you’ll only make them angry.”
John’s dad, Arthur, was a retired engineer. “If I could have harnessed the power of angry wasps I’d be a millionaire” he laughed.
“Great idea!” John had exclaimed, waving another marauder away, “I’ll get onto it on Monday”
So, the following Monday John set to work. His plan was to find a way of generating electricity from the activity of wasps. As a lecturer and researcher in Astrophysics at the local university he had all the equipment he needed for his little side project and within a couple of weeks he had produced a working model; a toy train running around a circular track powered completely by wasps. He showed his dad and they had a good laugh about it.
John decided to present his little invention to a wider audience and sent an email flyer to faculty members and students inviting them to a demonstration. Somebody must have forwarded the email on to a number of British and American companies and that’s when the offers had started to come in.
As he carried the box containing his train and a number of furiously buzzing wasps into the hall where his demonstration was to take place he glanced at the poster on the door. That’s when he saw the typo and his heart sank. The poster read:
“Professor John Kendrick, renowned Astrophysicist presents:
THE FIRST WARP DRIVE – AN EVOLUTIONARY STEP IN TRANSPORT!”
by submission | May 16, 2014 | Story |
Author : P. S. Walker
Day 2:
Only day fucking two? I’m pretty sure time’s measurements are inaccurate. I’m trapped in my kitchen by my home built robot. How insane that in a world where everything is connected I’m stuck in the only room without any sort of communication. At least there’s food in here, but I’ve had to piss in the sink a couple of times.
I guess since this is my first entry that I should explain what happened here; for when they find my mangled corpse. Hopefully they decide to read the folded up paper towel I’m writing this on.
I’ve always been interested in robots, so I thought it would be a square little project to build my own. It’s much cheaper than buying one and easier than you’d expect these days; choose your parts, check compatibility, plug the right bits into the right holes and you’re done. I say it’s easy, but I’ve managed to fuck it up immensely.
I’d built a functioning Bot, even its hand-eye co-ordination worked pretty well with only a few adjustments, apparently I have a knack for this. Once my Tab was showing signs of all the sensors working properly, all commands making sense, even customised voice commands (while we’re on this, please don’t command the Bot to “do your thing”, save a dead guy some embarrassment, eh?).
At this point it was going well, then I installed the IU (Intelligence Unit). They always say this is the part that defines your Bot’s quality, the problem is that makes it an expensive part, and if you haven’t noticed the shitty state of my flat (no, the robot didn’t throw my clothes or a month’s worth of half-eaten pizza on the floor during its rampage) I don’t have much money. To the internet I ventured; hundreds of suggestions, it was overwhelming, I found one boasting very good physical functions for about a third of the price of a big-brand option, I couldn’t resist myself.
The ad never mentioned it was programmed to kill people. I don’t understand it, is this some sort of small-scale cyber terrorism? Or maybe my Tab had some sort of virus? Anyway, the install went perfectly as far as I know, all hardware drivers seemed to be fine. It was able to smash my phone with perfect accuracy within seconds of it booting up for the first time (told you, I have a knack for calibration).
It went for my throat but I somehow dodged, it chased me, ignored all verbal commands and I’d yet to assign any sort of emergency override (no one does that before having a quick play with their Bot). So without thinking I dived into the kitchen and barricaded the door with my fridge and washing machine. Now I’m stuck here, no plans. I’m a rabbit, trapped in its burrow with a fox waiting at the only exit. The only difference is I’ve made my own personal plastic fox.
End
by submission | May 15, 2014 | Story |
Author : cchatfield
The child hovers in the doorway, reluctant to abandon the light of the hall.
“But it’s dark…” she whispers, “I don’t like the closet. Or the bed.”
Her father pats the pillow and proffers a gently humming comfort-bot. “Don’t worry. I promise there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“But what about the monsters?”
He cocks an eyebrow. “They wouldn’t dare. Would I ever lie to you?”
————
“It won’t hurt you.”
The girl is crouched on the couch, broomstick at the ready.
“It’s just a helper-bot,” says her father, “It’s here to clean and take orders. It won’t even come near you.”
Slowly, she lowers her plastic weapon. “Are you sure?”
————
Father and daughter stand in the docking zone, lugging suitcases fit to burst. The interplanetary ships loom overhead, buzzing with the activity of labor-bots, crews, and passengers.
“Dad, I’m not sure I want to do this.”
He pauses to rest a hand on her shoulder. “We don’t have a choice.”
“Will life be better there?”
He drops his baggage to wrap an arm around her.
“Life will be different, and we’ll have to work hard. But we’ll be happy and it’ll be worth it.”
“Promise?”
————
The alarm’s shrieks are replaced by a lone strobe-light flickering from the hallway. The man murmurs into a handheld screen: “Thanks, but no. We’ll stay here. We’d rather be alone.”
He signs off and sits beside his daughter on the bed.
His face is haggard, but his voice calm. “It’s the air systems. The bots destroyed the fuel reserves. They’ll breach this end of the ship soon.”
He opens his palm and the two pills glint in the light.
“If we’re unconscious, it won’t be bad at all. The air will stop and we won’t even know.”
The young woman’s voice quavers. “Will it hurt?”
His lips twitch and he shakes his head, “Just like going to sleep. Would I ever lie to you?”
by submission | May 12, 2014 | Story |
Author : Kirstie Olley
My name is Leila and I used to be the queen bee at school. If I curled my hair, all the girls curled their hair. If I cut one side short and left the other long, everyone did. If I shaved the Queen of Hearts into the short side of my hair, my class became a deck of cards.
Then Dad got promoted. The generous pay rise was off-set by a massive move. We relocated, and I changed schools.
I thought I’d just swan in, gorgeous as always and charm everyone, but they all stared at me like I was a freak.
At first I thought it was the Queen of Hearts still shaved into the side of my head, so I let my hair grow out, but they didn’t stop avoiding me.
I noticed everyone at school was bald. So hair must be out here, I’d heard of the trend before, so I shaved my head, waxed off every hair I could find. They stopped staring but no one talked to me.
Everyone was pale too, so my Californian tan stuck out. I begged Dad non-stop for a week, total ‘are we there yet?’ style torture until he agreed to pay for a procedure that bleaches the tan out of your skin.
He was still nervous when he took me to the cosmetic surgeon.
“This procedure isn’t unusual, particularly out here. People just want to fit in, not just teenagers, but children and adults too,” the nurse assured dad, her eyes on his ever-jiggling leg as he sat beside me. “And it’s not permanent either.”
Dad’s lips twitched in a way that said he knew that was more a plus for the surgeons than for the patients.
The next day at school I swanned in with my lovely new pale skin, my scalp freshly shaved, but still, no one talked with me.
I don’t think you really get it. This is agony for me. Sure it can’t be easy being the outsider all the time, but imagine if you’d had a taste of being not just in, but being the trend setter.
I spent the next week in my room. I didn’t go to school. I couldn’t.
Then the internet gave me the solution. There were other procedures.
It took longer to convince Dad of these ones. These ones were permanent. He thinks I don’t know, but he looked into getting transferred back to California, but his bosses refused. I even heard him discuss with Susan quitting and finding another job, but in this economy, with unemployment rates so high, they agreed it was too risky.
It’s a weird sensation going under general anaesthetic, the creeping in vagueness, the world misting away.
My recovery took months, but now the bruising is gone and the scarring is hidden.
I look perfect: silvery pale, hairless, my features elongated, my big dark eyes, my nose so small and flat it’s barely there.
Finally I’ll fit in with everyone else on this planet.
END
