Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer And so they looked down as throughout the world the people gathered as written, there to stage rituals of joyous retribution under the aegis of their chosen divinities. They came in their thousands, in their tens of thousands, and with ...

Author: Alastair Millar What a time to be alive! Count Nicolas, as he’d been known for a while now, exited the flitter the way he did everything: elegantly. A casual wave, and the vehicle gullwinged closed behind him, taking itself off to a loiterzone as he walked away. ...

Author: Arkapravo Bhaumik "It is said that eons ago when there were chariots flying in the sky and men could walk on the fabled red planet and travel well beyond Saturn. The advanced civilization had also devised truthsayers and named them Aaaiyee. These beings could ...

Author: Shinya Kato The grey cat Minuet was asleep on the windowsill. Sunlight drifted through the glass and settled across her back. Outside, the campus lawn shimmered in the warm air. “By the way,” Karim said. “When the professor talks about his theory, he always ...

Author: Frank T. Sikora My father’s favorite test subject, a 57-pound bio-genetically altered male piglet, Wilboar, AKA Willie, soars over the storage shed. Its broad wings rhythmically flutter; its eyes dart up and down, left and right. A GoPro camera with AI-level ...

Author: Tom Coupland The final stage was the most delicate. It’s when the construction passes from engineering into art. The actuators have to be balanced, just so. The software soothed to compensate for variations in the haptic surfaces. Each desired gesture brought to ...

Author: Majoki The longer you live, the more you appreciate entropy. Doesn’t mean it’s still not a cold and indifferent bastard, but you can better see its argument. Life, especially complex life, takes so much energy and organization to happen. Entropy whispers, “Why ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer There’s nothing like an abruptly terminated career in clandestine operations to make you paranoid in ways nobody considers. I’ll admit they’re often unconsidered because, outside of an active hostile arena, they’re nothing but the everyday ...

Author: Jessica Reilly-Chevalier It was the grasshoppers that were the most noticeable. In the springs of her youth, Julia could remember the annual infestation of these grotesque creatures. They would inundate the garden, growing fat and long on her mother’s irises and ...

Author: David Dumouriez Dr Iroha Tano’s job - her vocation, in fact - was to examine the potential micro-delays between a person’s impulses and their actions. But vital though she considered this work to be, it was poorly understood and even more poorly funded. Despite ...

Author: Majoki “Is it not majestic?” “I dunno, Ray. It looks like the unholy spawn of Godzilla and the Pink Power Ranger.” “And is that not consummate majesty?” “Seems like a recipe for robo-drama. Which never ends well.” “Danielle, you see drama in everything. ...

Author: David C. Nutt I remember the rush when I first flipped on the new “accelerated” mode in my smart phone implant. What used to take hours, days, months, of my time staying in touch with news, popular culture trends, celebrity gossip, or the latest meme was now ...

Author: Peggy Gerber The spaceship was designated a luxury resort for elites. “Take a thirty-day voyage into space,” the advert said, “and dine amongst the stars.” It was a vacation offered only to billionaires, and thirty accepted without hesitation. For the token price ...

Author: Susan A. Anthony Voice slow and deliberate, the bot squatted beside their table added to their list of dessert options. “You may choose from blueberries, raspberries or cranberries.” “Is the fruit fresh?” whispered Martha to Ermintrude, her birth ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The armoured door slams back and Danny rushes in, leaving the door wedged open against the fire extinguisher. Sir Colin Masters, acting PM due to the sudden disappearance of PM and Rejuve Party leader Roland Fordham, sighs. Directives ...

Author: R. J. Erbacher "So, what is it that makes you a god?" Well, let’s see. I’m pretty powerful. Can leap a tall building in one jump. "That makes you Superman, not a god." I can kill you with a pencil. "Is that a serious answer?" OK, so we’re not the same ...

Author: Harold Loomis The coffee shop’s windows were broken and decades of dust lay on the floor. Coffee had not flowed here since the eradication. Nobody was around to use it after that. The door creaked on its rusty hinges as the silent fluid-servo driven hand gave it ...

Author: Philip G Hostetler You're in a city, it's not that it's deserted or abandoned, it's that it's been built entirely for you. It's completely devoid of vehicles, people and animals though all of your needs and desires were present, just lying in wait. You passed by an ...