Man of the Clattering Past
He's from the time before the bio-enhancements, before organs could be grown from a single cell. Age hollowed him out, and though his plastic face looks young, he's just a shell. When I lean on his chest, I can hear what I imagine to be ...
Locus
The Locus is the focal point of our operation. It exists for a period of one year, at the south pole of the nascent earth. That year is constantly recycled: we've been in operation for twenty-four years, subjective. Geologically speaking, we leave ...
Shane
â€Say what you wantâ€, said Shane to the house A.I., “ever since the war, this part of the world has spectacular sunsets.†He was on a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean.
“Incoming. Three sigs.†stated the house ...
Pete, Re-Pete
Earth Needs…
Fear gripped his guts! Fear turned his spine to water! Fear packed his bowels with ice and made his fingers tremble! That's what Jim thought he should be feeling, but instead his mind was a blank white eternity with a billboard in the middle and written on the ...
Magic Fingers
Ariel groaned as John held her tighter on the motel bed. For a moment he was lost in the experience of her perfect-ness. The way that her body always seemed to fit the contours of his own with the perfect blend of softness to touch and hold. Over the last ...
Capital Punishment on Beta Hydri
Using his pincers, Brachyura meticulously trimmed the crust off the edges of his sandwich. Satisfied that it was all removed, he rapidly consumed the meal in a nibbling motion that was too fast for his human visitor to follow. Brachyura ...
The King's Music Box
"Oh!" Justice jumped, spilling the two hundred year-old cabernet all over his ratty clothes. "Y'know what we got here, fellas?"
The other two looked at him. He was grinning like a fool, strings of diamonds draped over his neck and clothes dark with ...
Joana Baker
Vice manager Hans Heidelberg exited the elevator with unusual nervousness. He knew the chief was awaiting his report but never in his life had Hans been so unsure about himself.
“Mr. DeVries… The report on the 2 hour outage of our mainframe is ...
Summer of Love 2.0
“I mean, what I’m saying is,†he said, “is that going skinny dipping never killed anyone.â€
Her eyes trembled back for a second and her look softened to a vacancy that let him know that she was accessing.
“Brandy and ...
Barfly
"There's a bug in my drink," said the customer.
I lifted the glass and held it to the light. Sure enough, a little fly floated midway, almost obscured by the amber liquid.
"Sorry about that." I poured him a replacement, and he went back to his ...
The GENErevolution ™ is Now
"Are you sure this will work?" the President asked. He was broad, clumsy and permanently flustered. These were his only defining qualities, and his election was still regarded as something of a fluke.
"Of course, Mr. President." The GENErevolution ...
The Icemen Cometh
They think we are unaware during the Freeze. They say our brain activity is too low for rational thought. At best they say we might experience vague fleeting dreamlike states. They think we sleep. They’re wrong.
It’s been two years since our last ...
Commodity
Kala waited till the sun rose above the mountains, and then got up out of the dirt to find Awn. Kala was covered in dirt and dust, some of which had gotten into the metal shoes that were locked to her feet. Awn was standing in a stream, cleaning ...
Bob Dexedrine
Robert Meier quietly walked between the rows of tanks. Each tank held a blank, a three hundred kilocredit backup body for whoever could afford the fee. They were low-maintenance, but regulations meant that a pair of eyes had to check each tank at ...
And The Winner Is…
The host of the very popular holovision show slithered to the center of the stage. The thunderous ovation of 1500 tails pounding on the floor died away as the host’s three antennae motioned them to quiet down. The holocameras panned slowly from the ...
The 2X Project
It wasn’t until I opened my eyes that I knew what had happened.
Lisa Sagan and Andrea Hawking were helping Petra Turing make sure my vitals were stabilizing. It was Henrietta Einstein that was chairing the ‘wake. I could see my dear ...
Celestial Mechanic
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