The first time he heard of the existence of a robot that writes fiction, Pat T. Knight, bestselling author of detective novels, laughed. How could a machine, let’s face it, barely more than a program, ever be capable of conceiving a coherent, innovative book that would keep its audience on the edge of their […]
“There are many locked doors in this house,” Tesla told me skipping down the corridor, in her ruffled dress, giggling delighted. Her sounds should have been those of a playful child, but coming from her mouth, in that house, they seemed more like the distant laments of a ghost. Her face was covered by a […]
The day Mr Tanaka decided to say goodbye to the world it was a crisp spring morning and the cherry trees lining the Kamo River had yet to bloom. The buds, still wary of the last chilly breaths of winter, lay huddled on the barren branches, waiting. Mr Tanaka was sitting on a bench […]
My name is Akihito Fukuda and I am 8 years old. I live in a small village in the northern part of Japan. I like baseball and eating watermelon in summer. Lately, I have realized, there is an alien living in our village. It all started early in summer, about the end of the rainy […]
“Really, at your age, what were you thinking?” Jor asked as Rul entered the office, all stitched up. On account of the blood loss and head trauma, he had apparently passed out and fallen overboard during the body retrieval. “Can’t let the subs have all the fun, can we?” Rul tried to laugh, but stopped […]
“Oh, this guy,” Jor suddenly said from behind him and Rul startled awake. The office, previously occupied only by a few drifting colleagues, was now suddenly much too lively. He blinked rapidly a few times and turned toward Jor. He was looking at one of Sparky’s sketches from Lucy’s memories. “You know him?” he asked […]
It took Rul another two hours to return to headquarters, get the lab to construct the tissue needed to emulate the fingerprints – something the labs usually denied the knowledge of, but that was a far too standard subversion tactic not to have become routine – and then return to level 15 where to his […]
MegaKaleidon had a population just shy of one billion. It had been an ambitious metropolis from the very beginning. Its first ever recorded census put it at 30 million. One year there had been nothing there but fields, the next, a colossus had been erected with the seal of approval of the almighty viceroy himself. […]
Maast blinked when the watch – the third stand on the right, above the bloody kitchen knife, beneath the bundle of wires he kept promising himself to sort out tomorrow, never today – started beeping uncontrollably as if possessed by real life and a rather choleric personality. 00:00 it boasted far too proudly. Too bad […]
