With a bang not a whimper, that’s what they said. At the end it’ll be a fierce cataclysmic implosion and all will be gone in seconds.
But it’s wasn’t, it’s not.
Continue reading “With a Bang Not a Whimper by Diane M Dickson”
Category: Science Fiction
Direct Democracy by Tobias Haglund
Arnold Dupree, the right-hand man and the representative of President Smith, shook hands with Oscar Bojanovic, the head of the voting facility. Oscar gave him a keycard and a badge and led the way.
“If you direct your attention to the screen, we can observe which question the voter is currently answering.”
114.B-222.
You witness a fight between two equally strong men. Do you;
- Call the Police
- Run away
- Wait until one of them is victorious, and then attack from behind.
- Jump in and throw punches in every direction
- Tell them to stop fighting from a safe distance
The Aviator by Frederick K. Foote
God help me. God help me be patient. God help me harness my anger and control my paranoia. I don’t want to go off on Carol again. Night Hawk completing weather analysis for scheduled high-speed run in forty-six hours, twenty-seven minutes. Alright, I take a deep breath, and I clear myself for take-off for a fifty-minute flight in the turgid air of psychobabble.
I open the door and start to greet Carol, Major Greer, but there is a linebacker looking white dude with blond hair and a neat little beard. Where the hell is Carol? This is her office. Did I get the time wrong or maybe the wrong day?
“Major Harris, I’m Doctor Clark. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
Forgotten Memories by Hugh Cron
The two men nodded and shook hands.
“Please sit. What do I call you?”
“Dymphna.”
“I’m Terry.”
“Pleased to finally meet you.”
Terry wondered about the grin, “…Has everything been done to your satisfaction?”
Dymphna looked around the empty office and nodded.
The Unholy Trinity by Adam West
The following excerpts from *In Reality – An Autobiography by Emilio Ramos Junior also known as King FarOut, are reproduced here with kind permission of Joe Chip Publishing (*first published as an e-book in 2254.)
“In cyberspace I am King FarOut. A distinct consciousness from the real me, Emilio Ramos Junior, yet in some obscure fashion, still me. As if I trade places with an identical twin then forget my true self; an altogether unsettling aspect of the Virtual Reality experience which still worries me despite all the industry reassurances…”
Educated Fishwives by Adam West
I decided to check again. For the last time. No point keep on hoping the consignment would make it here before the twenty-second.
It wouldn’t. No choice but to proceed before it was too late.
A hologram whirred up and out of the console in a lazy fashion, like a half-cut genie who could not care less about being emancipated.
The soon-to-be-re-incarcerated figure intoned: ‘UPDATE: Next consignment due eighteenth of –’
I jabbed a finger at an ephemeral terminal button. Cut the genie’s damn circuits.
Data by Scott David
The soapbox prophets turn to bombs and the lines at the food pantries snake twenty blocks, but my algorithm cranks relentlessly. Markets go up. Markets go down. In either direction, the algorithm wins more than it loses. A few pennies shaved here. A few pennies there.
In makeshift markets, men relentlessly trade. Goods flow. Data flows. The algorithm churns apace. It seems as if the algorithm could function without electricity before it could go without its data. Its appetite is enormous. Its needs are great. Mine seem puny in comparison: a good night sleep. Peace on earth. A kiss goodbye. Safety for my children.
The Show by Charles Bigelow
The bars of the cage sparkled. Each morning the cleaning detail scrubbed them from outside the building using long handled brushes. A clean cage kept life threatening germs away from the inmates, the same germs that caused the near extinction of the human race.
Future Imperfect by Des Kelly
The near future…
“Don’t talk about God or the worthwhile causes. I won’t believe what anyone says. They’re in it for themselves; they have to be. Survival is the only strategy. Take it from me. I know what I’m talking about, and bollocks to the rest.” Edwards paused. “Are you paying attention?”
Panoni wasn’t listening, and to prove the point scratched his balls.
Unit 4207’s Failed Assignment by Piyali Mukherjee
Decrypted sections of the file are as follows:
Data log attributes: Begun on 5787th day of 23rd Lunar Cycle
Type: Personal
Today was the day I started on the gene project. It was not as complicated as I expected. Unit 5481 tells me the beginning is always easy. All you have to do is choose the number of genes you want to work with. It’s maintaining the culture that’s the nightmare.
Continue reading “Unit 4207’s Failed Assignment by Piyali Mukherjee”
