Ultimate Showdown
No one saw the meteor coming. It was faster than any meteor yet recorded. It didn't so much as break the speed of light as it did beat its face in, set it on fire and sleep with its girlfriend. No one saw it coming when it smashed into what once was the Pacific Ocean, and a century later, not ...
Method Man
It was a week before opening night and Bub was still flubbing his lines.
“I don’t understand,†said Bub, “Why can’t I have a feed? Why do we have to memorize our lines?â€
“You have to memorize your lines,†said Daven, clenching his hands into fists “because that is the way ...
Queue
Innocence may be a commodity, but it's easily emulatable. I get it in thin aluminum cans from the drugstore downtown, the kind that energy drinks come in. They're kept behind the counter; innocence isn't a controlled substance, but like condoms and suppositories, it's kept out of reach to ...
Programmed to Receive
"I'm leaving." Viktor said as he pulled the duffel back over his shoulder and made for the door. He'd had enough of the quarantine, and he had a hankering for Luna stew that needed some satiation.
"You can't do that, Vik! They've got every spaceport in the continent under lockdown. Something ...
Better
It's my first time at the Persomod. Tann, who's been my best friend since my family moved to Set, took me as a surprise gift for my birthday. We planned it carefully; Mom and Dad are traditionalists, static to the core. Let their only daughter get a personality graft? No, thank you.
I ...
Grand Theft Reality
"Who can blame them for what they do?" Sergeant Dobbs sipped his coffee as he leaned back in the patrol car, musing to Lieutenant Carson. Through the windshield, the morning throngs of people left their homes and crowded the streets on their way to work and life as they knew it.
"I can blame ...
Criminal Psychology
It's a dangerous job. They told me that in college, they told me that in my doctoral studies, they told me that when they recruited me, and they tell me that every morning of a jump. It's a dangerous job, Jodie. But I know the risks. Everyone in this field knows the risk.
My first case was ...
Just the Thing
The rosy Martian sunrise had just dusted over the white curtains on Beth's bedroom window when her parents heard the wild thudding of eight-year-old feet charging their door like a herd of wild horses. Marlene groaned and stuck her head under the pillow as a small fist tapped earnestly on the ...
The House Remembers
They sealed Emily's room three days after the accident, trapping puzzle games and animatronic bears behind the white hydraulic door. Her parents did not want to see the small proofs: things like names doodled on digipaper, the I's topped by pixellated hearts. A week later they shut down the ...
Brietards
The Annual Garden Party was called such more out of tradition than anything else; there was no vegetation to be found, only green crystal ferns and porcelain roses. However, appearances and traditions had to be respected and kept up. It was commented on that the way the artificial sunlight ...
Where The Wild Horses Run
Even in the heart of the city, Rene is in the open places. His feet splash in streams, not gutters, and his ears feel the whistle of the wind and not the cry of sirens. Past the dumpsters and yakatori stands, Rene smells green grass and the air right before a storm. He can hear his brother's ...
Weekend Warrior
By federal law, I am required to inform you that by stepping outside of these doors, you are releasing the federal government from liability for your safety. Although I have never lost a person on one of my guided tours of the Outside, I have seen people maimed and kidnapped. People have died ...
Welcome To The Monkey House
The stranger had come full of bizarre smells and even odder forms of payment, and while Hikari wrinkled her nose at the collection of coins and seeds, it was technically money. So she tucked the coins away, placed the seeds in some soft earth so they could blossom properly, and offered the ...
Liberty
Liberty ate her lunch alone. It wasn’t that she was shy; back at home in the national park where she grew up, she had been very outgoing. In the city, under the press of glistening buildings and cars speeding through the sky, advertisements wailing and the press of people, sensation zappers ...
Stitches
Today, my arm itches like hell. Then again, lots of me itches. Everyone has an itch somewhere, but the scarring is never permanent. I'm working my new arm left and right trying to get the feel for it down while walking to my favorite breakfast place. Everyone I pass looks at me in the same way ...
Happy Trails
The neon sign outside the dingy brown building said "Roxie's Travel Agency" and featured a woman in a fedora holding a white machine gun. Few people but Roxie, the owner, are old enough to get the reference. She's had a good deal in front of her that night, a couple of newlyweds right out of ...
The Big Red Button
"What just happened?"
Eliot's eyes were as wide as Cid's as both of them skimmed the code-riddled display. The letters and numbers went on for as far as the eye could see…literally. Their cruiser looked like a speck of dust next to the onyx-colored greatness that spanned out farther than ...
In Touch
She carried the link with her on the airplane, exchanging witty comments and gossip with her friends through small boxes on its high-resolution screen. "I'm going to miss you so much!" Cindy typed. "You'd better keep in touch!" She promised postcards and souvenirs, though she rejected ...
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