A small hand squeezed my own over our compartment’s handrail. “Look, Daddy — lellephants!” She smiled, radiantly. “I see them.” I tousled her eternally knotty hair as she continued to stare in wonder at the giant African mammals. Or were… Continue Reading
Anna drummed her fingers along the flour-covered counter and glanced at the old clock that hung on her wall. “Set a timer for 6:10,” she said. Timer set. How are you feeling today, Anna? “Just peachy,” she mumbled. That’s great!… Continue Reading
My phone rings as I walk into my company’s lobby from the staff parking garage. Probably Dan Simmons. I’m late for our meeting because a disheveled man accosted me as I got out of my car, shouting gibberish and blocking… Continue Reading
He was disconnected, cut adrift, left alone, lost, all of this happening so quickly he was not even frightened at first. He heard the motors spooling up, rising to a shriek, and arcs of electricity erupted from the machine behind… Continue Reading
Didn’t want to be here but knew I had to be. Ovarian cancer. Stuart, who had been my doc forever, it seemed, convinced me to get the kind of care I needed by going to a big medical center. He… Continue Reading
I was standing in my kitchen, straining to watch my neighbors arguing through their living room window. It occurred to me how cool it would be if my AR headset could zoom in and analyze their lips, giving me some… Continue Reading
Could I stay ahead of the three giant green spiders chasing me? As I glanced over my shoulder, the grassy landscape disappeared, leaving me in the nondescript administrative area of the cloud. The feed from one of the complex’s cams… Continue Reading
We are sitting on two iron chairs you pulled from the rubble, watching the dying, honey-coloured flames caress the remains of the smouldering café, the metal at our backs still warm. Dark smoke, filled with the sharp scent of burnt… Continue Reading
We were in a real bind. Grandma was having one of them spells, and there was no way we could get her to the hospital in the city. The hurricane had knocked out the electricity and the phone line. We… Continue Reading
The number flashed on my watch: seventeen-million, four-hundred forty-two thousand, six-hundred and eighty-three. Everything looked strange in the small restaurant. A translucent haze of shimmering multicolored light radiated from the tables, chairs, floor, people. My waitress, Colette, stood beside me,… Continue Reading