Snarge
We went through the critters pretty fast. I’ve never seen anything quite like that flock: multicolored, almost metallic-looking...
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Path Dependence
I did not choose this course to Proxima Centauri b. Even sheep have a choice.
the gravedigger
They would come soon. Always. A slow procession, farther out each time, and harder. They’d leave their dead, fewer and younger each time.
Muscling In
Sitanni smiled. Jub spoke like death. He liked that.
so the Sherpas say
The great sins, so the Sherpas say, are to pick wildflowers and to threaten children.
gutterspace
I’m the biggest real estate mogul you’ve never heard of, and I like to keep it that way.
slapdash
I mean, who in their right mind would believe you could launch yourself to Mars on a mag-lev railgun in a salvaged WWII submarine?
Bechevinka
If you believe in monsters, you believe in Bechevinka.
a something new
The prairie dog felt it as a restless push enticing it across what was once southern Utah to what was once southern Nevada.
Color Blindsided
Yup. That’s what minor mutants like me do with their semi-super powers. Win at cards.
The Determined Instrumentalist
They were machines. Like dishwashers. Like radios. Neutral artifacts. Instruments subservient to the user’s wishes.
Law 196
I’d come to the Louvre from halfway around the world to see The Code. To really see it. To really believe it.
The Good, the Bad, and the Zombie
The Zombie appreciated the flies. No waste there. Committed to the carnage. Fully alive. The Zombie didn’t believe that of its companions.
Fixed Action Pattern
"All this crap we call life, the sham we call free will. It’s hard wired. Just like the simbots."
beneath the box elder
She wasn’t sure. Not any more. So much of her came and went like this glorious sunlight through whispering leaves.
to the mud
Show me agony! You can’t fake agony!
snow on the convent
Plague. Pestilence. Perfidy. The perfect tools to combat aggressors and oppressors.
Kessler Run In
But the Kessler Run was Scylla and Charybdis resurrected in space. Unspeakable horror.
Intersection
The show will go on. It always will. But you don’t have to let the robot punch through your sternum.
Panoptimized
“Pain is a powerful teacher. Our vengeance should instruct. Remember, many will be watching.”
kan, ya ma kan
The four afoot were guilty only of existence. And resistance. They had souls—all of them—so of course they resisted.
meta
Soon metaMarilyn would be colonized and the rush would be on to find the next big thing. The next unspoiled dream. Was there such a thing?
Splinx
Put Schrödinger in the box with his cat, then add Heisenberg and Kolmorogov, and you’d render a pretty good picture of how Splinx works.
Initial Conditions
The hunt had not gone well today. Nothing to cook on the fire. Nothing to feed their shrinking bellies. It had not always been like this.
colder ways
What were soldiers anymore? In cyberwar there was only the enemy. The other side.
Wild Thang
Thang Danang balanced the hypodermic on the tip of her index finger.
Reckless.
Irresponsible.
Crazy.
Remora
Life is strange. Living in the mouth of a SHARK is stranger.
The Deadest Generation
We are now armed and prepared to complete our academic mission. We are locked and loaded for learning. We are fighting fear with firepower.
Blow In
I think the foreman would’ve spit, if he hadn’t been in an enviro suit. It’s kinda self-defeating to spit in a sealed system.
In Formation
Got no problems with that. But noise is information too. Everything is information. We are the signal, my man, and it’s a beautiful morning.
providential
As colonial plenipotentiary, Suu knew the power of information and misinformation. Only the latter went out to Providence’s populace.
slowpo
“You ain’t listening. Ain’t understanding. It was you. Just you that trashed this place. For me and mine.”
the bend in the end
The age of life was short. The age of sentience much shorter. The age of understanding lasted only a moment.
Just Enough
That was the killer, Lamora realized. There was a slim chance they could all survive, and each made their own cold calculation to live.
Off Leash
It was a kinetic scene. Domesticants of all sizes, makes and models flitted to and fro interfacing with their kind.
not a sequel
You should’ve seen that kid’s eyes light up with possibilities. It was like being at the very start of creation. A Big Bang moment.
Drift
The maps are mysterious and beautiful. And I believe this emerging portrait of the Digital Deep is a guide to our subconscious.
Stigmergy
Stig had me stumped. I ran diagnostics. I wiped its drives. I reinstalled the default software. Stig still wandered off.
Extratouristrials
*It was obvious the indigenous creature was in an expiring condition,* wrdlgrp expressed matter-of-factly.
Hound of Roko's Basilisk
"Moriarty assures me that Roko’s Basilisk will hound and destroy anyone who does not help in its one objective: supremacy."
the monsters from before
A philologist can appreciate a word like tomfoolery. Like this shaft, its roots were deep.
Quantum Jitters
Her vision had begun to waver. As Sampson started to probe the path ahead of them, she began to see two of him. Two Sampsons.
Bait
Entropy is fine for those who prefer calm waters. Me? Get me to the center of a galaxy, the edge of the event horizon, to cast my line.
The Fungilarity
Fungi were among the first organisms to return to the atomic blast site of Hiroshima. From mushroom clouds to mushrooms.
a step forward
They took a step forward. A warning siren sounded as sentry guns auto-targeted.
of all the Nerv
Spineblatt was that smooth. If you controlled two-thirds of the nerv in the known universe, as Spineblatt did, nothing but smooth would do.
the last repairman
The last repairman on earth stared into the eager green glow of the precision-crafted orbs at his fingertips. Worlds of possibility.
Good Old Crimes
That frozen day, the father glowered at his son hunched over the laptop in the kitchen. “This is no way to earn a living.” The teenager...
So Particular
Just as we articulate ideas, we particulate realities. By being picky about his asparagus, Tommy has spun a new universe into existence.
winding down
The planet doesn’t care. The universe either. It won’t require anything big of us. Quite the contrary.
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