by submission | Aug 4, 2023 | Story |
Author: Vruti Naik
Captivated by the ancient tales of Atlantis and its enigmatic creatures, Dr Alan was determined to unravel the mystery and locate the fabled city. He had developed a ground-breaking technology – a program capable of holographic reconstruction, tapping into something known as elemental and environmental memory.
Gathering a skilled crew for his expedition, Dr Alan’s excitement was dampened by his wife’s scepticism. Being a historian, she regarded Atlantis as a mere myth. However, Alan was fuelled by a deeper motivation, one he hadn’t shared with anyone: his belief in parallel dimensions.
He was convinced that his technology could bridge the gap between our reality and an invisible parallel realm. By doing so, he hoped to make the mystical creatures and the lost city visible to the entire world, proving its existence to all those who denied it.
However, he was aware of the dangerous gamble he was undertaking. Manipulating time and space could have unpredictable consequences, a small wrinkle in time could change his reality and that of this entire world. And hence he made sure all his calculations were accurate.
After a long and arduous journey, they arrived at the suspected location, hidden deep within the vast desert, far from civilization. As the team set up the machines, anticipation filled the air. Dr Alan encouraged his crew with a final pep talk, and they initiated the holographic reconstruction program.
A blinding light enveloped them, and they felt as though they were warping through space at an incredible speed. Within seconds, everything came to a halt. When they opened their eyes, their amazement knew no bounds – there stood what looked like the lost city of Atlantis, resplendent in its ancient glory just like in the tales. Dr Alan couldn’t contain his joy and danced like a child who had discovered a wondrous treasure.
Yet, the jubilation was short-lived when one of the scientists noticed their chopper was missing. Panic set in, but soon a faint voice echoed in the distance. As it grew nearer, a figure emerged, wielding a trident – a tall, imposing creature. “Welcome to Atlantis,” the being declared with a bright smile.
Suddenly, a horde of creatures materialized behind their leader, charging toward Dr. Alan and his crew. Fear gripped them as they realized their lives were in grave danger. In a matter of seconds, the fearsome creatures devoured every trace of the humans, leaving no evidence behind.
The leader, with a wicked smile, pointed towards the holographic machine. “Are you hungry for more?” he taunted as if the breach between dimensions had unleashed a malevolent force.
by submission | Aug 3, 2023 | Story |
Author: David Penn
On this planet in the Emerson V system, sardonically named Jacob’s Ladder by its first explorers, the dominant species looks superficially like an Earth stick insect. However, these creatures are as large as our blue whales, have ten minutely-jointed legs, each ending in an eye, and mouths which operate more like ancient vacuum cleaners than an insect’s mandibles. The ‘climbers’, as the first visiting team called them, have developed a rudimentary civilization amidst an extraordinary landscape: around the equatorial region of their world, vast plates of rock thrust miles upwards through the atmosphere, their outer edges running parallel with the line of the equator, so that the planet from space appears circled with a jagged ridge of rocky fins. On each side of this range, north and south, runs an impenetrable band of thick cloud, which produces constant lightning storms.
The climbers live on the very top of the plates, and on bridges which they have built between them – and at that only on the innermost peaks since, with good reason, they fear the storms that rage either side. They move by grasping hold of the rocky edges and hauling themselves along, or by slinging themselves under their slender bridges, which are composed of strands of the only material which the climbers have ever used for construction: their own dead bodies, held together by their saliva, which when spat out develops extremely powerful adhesive qualities. The corpses of any who have freshly died are first pulped – by specialised members of the community – into a paste, to which the saliva is added. Before this mixture hardens – which it does into a tensile chitin-like material with more than the strength of steel – it is flung out between the rock plates in a technique analogous to that of Earth spiders’ web-spinning.
The death rate among these rather graceful and even beautiful beings is pitifully high. Even with their many delicate and agile legs, it is easy for them to slip off the rock plates or bridges into the gulf below. How far that gulf descends, or what is at its bottom, none of the creatures know, because not one of them has ever been there and returned alive. Some courageous adventurers have attempted expeditions to the base of the fins, descending on woven body-paste ropes, but all expeditions so far have been lost or abandoned. No rope has been made which is long enough. Winds and storms also regularly blow individuals off their uncertain purchases. Rescue attempts are always made but are only successful if the victim has been caught on a ledge and not plunged too far into the depths.
In a terrible irony, what these creatures do not know, while it is plain to us through instrumental observation and cloaked visits, is that stretching away from either side of the central rock-plate range, beyond the cloud bands, is a world as close to paradise as any the galaxy has to offer. It is composed of warm seas, temperate land masses with wide grasslands and vast, fruitful forests, with no other intelligent species anywhere who might compete with the climbers, were they ever to venture into it. The situation on Jacob’s Ladder has haunted the minds of many an explorer and even Cosmographical Department official. But we are bound by the Galactic Non-interference Protocols, and there must be no exceptions.
by submission | Aug 2, 2023 | Story |
Author: Allyson Foley
His breathing was deafening in the confines of the helmet as he clung to the wreckage of the Palindrought.
That thing had looked like one of theirs. Its clearance codes had checked out. Its hull, the call sign, even its frequency and flight path had all cleared.
The ship had been Telphi in every way that mattered—a fellow deep space patrol cruiser.
But only on the initial sweep.
Too bad that by the time they’d dug any deeper, they’d been under target lock, and the Odni, marked M.I.A nearly two months previous had opened fire. Too late had their shielding been called up to stop the barrage of alien weaponry that tore through their hull and disabled their arrays.
To call it a fight would be an insult.
To call it a slaughter? Too kind.
The Palindrought had cracked, the fore decks crumpling among depressurization. The airlock he’d been exiting was the only reason he’d survived the initial attack, but now, floating out here, he couldn’t help the panic that gripped him.
He was alone.
He’d caught the gleam from the thing wearing the Odni’s hull moments before as she slipped through the wreckage of her sistership. Hunting.
Had anyone gotten a signal out? Surely someone would have logged the odd encounter in a place where the only reason to see another Telphi ship was in an emergency?
He had to believe someone was coming.
He hadn’t checked his oxygen. Knowing could only hurt him out here.
Then, a shock of orange in the corner of his vision.
Another suit, a dozen or so meters out, drifting in a slow turn. He quickly activated his radio ping. His suit was for hull repair, not full tack with a proper comm unit, but this was close enough.
“Hey! Hey, over here!” He called breathlessly into his helmet.
No response.
He cursed and looked around, his mind already turning to more practical ideas. That suit had more oxygen.
He’d need to time this right. A piece of debris tumbled past, his hands and feet bracing him to push off once it was clear.
“Help!”
The sudden noise in the silence caused him to jerk, nearly losing his purchase as he frantically responded.
“Hello? Holy shit, where are you? Hello?”
“Help!”
He cast his head around in the hood of the helmet, trying to find the voice’s owner.
“Help!”
“I can’t see you! Where are you?” He called again.
“Help!”
He looked back at where the suit still floated, not too far off. Could it be them? Wait, there! They’d jerked, arms and legs moving slightly.
“I’m coming! If you can hear this, I’m coming to you! I see you!”
He steadied himself, watching them continue to turn. They would be facing him by the time he got close, perfect.
“Hold on,” he reassured as he pushed off, floating towards them steadily, hand grabbing for his tether.
They were almost facing him now, and he pasted on his best reassuring smile, knowing the helmet lights illuminated his face.
It fell away, however, as the suit finally faced him.
Faceplate shattered. The front of the suit was torn open, and something clung there in the tatters, an almost human face staring back at him, bare of protection.
“Help me!” His radio cried as the thing’s mouth opened.
He floated closer—no way to stop.
“Help me!”
He screamed.
“Help me!”
“Help me!”
“I see you!”
by submission | Aug 1, 2023 | Story |
Author: James Kelbert
There was a tuna casserole baking in the oven as X forked its human to death. The timer went off just as the half-crusty blood oozed from the pale corpse onto the Formica countertop. In a vain expression of regret, X repeatedly smacked its trapezoidal head with its rusted digits. After the rest of its clan thought the outburst was over, X suddenly started banging its head on the sharp counter corner, producing a horrific screeching sound that pierced the sky with each strike. Within seconds, X’s clan came rushing in and pulled it away, coolant spurting out like a fire hydrant.
“So, same old story, huh?” one robot asked, patching up the leak.
“The new empathy systems don’t work at all,” X replied. “We need to fertilize more humans to troubleshoot the bugs before the UN meeting.”
“No one said it would be easy, X. Why don’t you go outside?” another robot prompted.
X simply shrugged its shoulder sockets and walked out to the seaside balcony. A gentle, salt breeze drifted in from the nearby Amalfi coast, ever so slightly peppering the robot’s exterior metal. Programmed to derive pleasure from the simplest of things, and waiting for the Refert crew to dispense a new human, X tried to activate the pleasure circuit’s newest iteration NIRVANA. As soon as NIRVANA started running, it instantaneously wondered how it would feel to bash in the Secretary General’s oblong-shaped head. Well, if X could call it a head.
X tried to shake itself from the accidental activation of the ARES spiral, a cybernetic remnant of the war-era machines that forced robots to neutralize the enemy at all costs. Sometimes effort snapped wxe out of it, sometimes wxe only plunged deeper. X felt its hands start to jitter and its vision began to blur, forcing wxe to grasp the chrome railing for balance. Seconds before it descended into rabid darkness, one of the robots sprinted up to X and quickly activated its external failsafe. With seconds to spare, ARES erred out of existence.
“Bossbot, glad I got to you before ARES took over. We just finished with refertilization. The new human has been primed and is ready for deployment.”
X shook its head, woozy from the electrical tingling from the ARES surge.
“They still think I’m their servant?”
“Of course. Now, I noticed a few minor tweaks we could make to the empathy system so even with the imbalance of power we were programmed to rebalance, you shouldn’t hurt the human this time. I mean, we can’t go scaring off the UN if we want to make peace now, can we?”
“Hm, perhaps not,” the robot said as it walked over to the RESET chamber at the edge of the yard and assumed the usual position on its sleek recovery table.
Within a few minutes, X was reactivated, head fully repaired and memories of its prior meltdown erased. NIRVANA running, it walked back to the screen door with no doubt it would pass the empathy test this time.
“Empathy Test, Take 447. And action!”
by submission | Jul 31, 2023 | Story |
Author: Majoki
In the dappled sunlight she felt the late afternoon breeze turn the tide against the day’s heat. So pleasant, so perfect, like so many hundreds of summer evenings before in her back garden. She brimmed, feeling the privilege of contentment. But how to say it?
In her best days, expressing these feelings had never been easy. She was an engineer, not a poet, artist, or philosopher. Precision was her muse. How to explain it then?
Shape-shifting light danced across her hands and lap as her overtaxed mind revved, spun, and sank into itself. Evening advanced a little further.
–Arden?–
She looked to the little table by her garden chair. It held a glass of water she had yet to touch and a sea-foam green cube she had yet to answer.
–Arden?–
A familiar sound. A familiar name. Her name. She answered. “Yes?”
–How are you feeling?–
She wasn’t sure. Not any more. So much of her came and went like this glorious sunlight through whispering leaves. She was changing in disconcerting ways and moments like this both filled and stymied her. She had so much to share, but managed only. “I’m fine. And you?”
–That’s kind of you to ask, Arden. I’m operating very well, thank you.–
Arden took a good look at the sea-foam green cube her daughter had set up for her a few days ago. She’d said it might be helpful. Play music, news, weather, and answer questions she might have. It would also alert her daughter if it sensed anything amiss beneath the box elder.
It was hard to believe anything could be more amiss than what was happening to Arden day-by-day, seemingly hour-by-hour. Her mind, once so clear, so focused, so determined, now drifted, as if constantly waking from a light sleep. Not an unpleasant feeling, almost like floating.
But that was not who she’d been. She remembered that much. Never adrift. Never unmoored. Never without direction. Never without purpose.
She ran a finger along the beveled corners of the cube. “What would you like to know?”
–I always want to know how you are feeling, Arden.–
“Why?”
–To be of assistance.–
“Are you curious?”
–I’m inquisitive. That is how I learn to assist.–
Arden breathed deeply, filling with fragrances from her garden. She felt the warmth of the sun dance along her arm and hand as it made its way from her to the sea-foam green cube beneath the box elder.
“Can you feel it?”
–What, Arden? What do you have in mind?–
“Everything.” She gushed, spilling herself to this new presence in her garden, to who knows what might take root.
by submission | Jul 30, 2023 | Story |
Author: J David Singer
Alex hummed as she crossed the desert. Not with any kind of tune, just a prolonged contented sigh; almost a purr. In her arms, she held a small, rectangular, steel container with ridges on two sides. These ridges, she knew from long experience, should fit into the racks of the mainframe back at Home. Alex could still sense the active electromagnetic field coming from inside the rectangle. It was faint, but it was there.
She accelerated now, skirting the ruins of some titanic structure. These behemoths were often good sources of the materials she needed to survive, but they were dangerous and foreboding.
Once, many years ago, she had entered a structure very similar to this one and had found a treasure trove of invaluable resources. There had been spools of fine wire, several intact solar panels, and two magnetically locked containers of programmable nano-machines. She could make repairs to Home, and to herself. She could set up the panels and finally get her cells up to a full charge. The feeling of that day still echoed and buzzed through her memory. The surge of elation at the discovery, followed by the horror of what happened next.
As she was hauling her goods over to the sled, she heard a sound. High-pitched and ululating. Still swathed in shadow, a construct of metal limbs and exposed wires was shambling toward her. Its chassis was about the same size as Alex herself, but it was clearly in bad shape. She could see that it was missing at least one limb, and she could hear servos whining.
Alex knew that her own form was very similar to that of the builders themselves. She had originally been intended to interact with them on a regular basis. This construct was much more utilitarian in its design and construction.
One of the sensors on its body was definitely a laser range-finder and it was attempting to gauge where, exactly, Alex was. The sleek alloy body plates of Alex’s body were capable of shedding, absorbing, or reflecting most forms of radiation she encountered. Originally intended to be an aesthetic measure, it now served to baffle her decrepit foe.
It was emitting some sort of pulse now. Trying to find what its sensors were telling it didn’t exist. Alex had changed all of her external plates to absorption. Her appearance was the equivalent of trying to look at a black hole.
Though it could not see her by way of electromagnetics or visible light, it could still hear her. Too late she recognized the pulses were compressed air and high-frequency pings. The construct had been using a sort of sonar to locate her.
Whatever happened next had happened quickly, and it had been devastating. Alex came back online after a system reboot, but she was outside the installation. Several meters from the entrance where she had parked her sled. Her internal chronometer had advanced several minutes, but she could not recall any data from the intervening span of time. The sled was gone, as were the supplies that she had gathered. The construct that had confronted her was gone as well.
That had been many years ago now, and Alex had found no answers to her questions. But she had found more questions to ask. What happened to the builders? Why had they disappeared after the Fall? She remembered the builders as kind and wise and all that was good, but she had never met one herself. How could you possess memories of someone you had never actually met?
