A ship sits moored off the shore of exile. Broken, yes, but still afloat. And when Snow tells Temple to go secure it, the answer must be “yes.” Either that or a brutal, unforgiving death.

Temple, obviously, says yes.

But in doing so, Temple unexpectedly finds more than a moored boat.

A Companion to The Grey Stride.

—

Ible wants to feel alive.
But in District 6, the sun never shines, the buildings clutter out the sky, and life hides in the cracks between things.

At the suggestion of a trusted colleague, Ible visits The Grey Stride, a place of dirt, decay…and the drug Tranquility.

Rumor says Tranquility opens up the cracks where life hides, and lets you see inside.

But once you do…

If I’m not alive or dead, what am I?

By the time Ible learns enough to fear that question, understanding comes too late.

Once you go Tranq — you never go back.

A film over reality.

It exists between lips and gums, tongue and teeth. A barrier that stoppers up the body’s absorption of the necessary. Crow feels this barrier constantly. On the street, strangers slip by without a glance. Nobody says anything, but everyone feels it.

This film between people and the ability to feel alive.

So, Crow climbs to the top of a skyscraper instead of returning to work. And there, on a ledge, Crow makes a choice between life and death.

Summer 2079. Paradise, alive in Portugal. An ad claims the beaches are back. What could jumpstart a recent high school graduate’s photography career like an opportunity like that?

Ry travels to Lisboa for the truth. The fancy hotel, the crowded streets, the promise of adventure and success.

Ry finds a bar in the basement of a random building in an unfamiliar part of the city. Time to get to know the locals.

Will things go sideways or will it all pan out?

“It’s your time to shine, Mag.”

Exile means hot winds. Dust and desert sand. A desperate need for water…and crossing kilometers of wasteland to find it.

And then, in order to get those life-giving water packs and well diggers, sneaking past the armed guards of the district.

Magnet, determined to shine bright and prove trustworthy to their leader in exile, takes along brand-new recruit Tie on a mission for water on an insufferably hot day. Only they set out too late, and realize their many mistakes even later.

And now, trusting those once exiled could mean the end of their life. But then, trusting anyone district could prove a worse mistake.

Or…maybe the one opportunity for Magnet to shine bright.

Either way, in order to survive, they must choose quick.

A stray lightning bolt slices the sky. The glint of a space tether’s nanoscopic line flickers into sight.

A high end officiate in a neat suit steps from the elevator with a pocket full of special drugs.
The plan? A deception of nano-robotic limitations.
The goal? Freedom from corporate bullshit.
The twist? Grapefruit, just a little bitter.

Will Charcoal get the sample they’ve come to District 6 for or will Lithograph refuse to play along?

Coming out really threw a wrench in Jordy and Lyle’s relationship. Becoming human refugees in an alien organization called the Anti-Scouts made it worse.

Can a simple game set things right? Or will virtual reality make reality worse?

Jordy logs in to the Dream Trust Test to find out.

Scouts shipper Jordy gets a weird assignment from his boss.

[MAKE FIRST CONTACT WITH THE POSTONI ON PLANET DERNEG]

But average-jo shippers don’t go out on all-important first contact missions. So what’s the deal?

Jordy doesn’t want to find out, but he has no other choice.

The msision is set, so off into space he goes.

Will he make contact, or will he never be heard from again?

=A Broken Circle Story=

Thrown together in a dismal war camp, native and imported refugees share no common culture. No common tongue. Suffering, and no more.

In this wasted land, Abrir manages to finds a few friends, but one by one, they take their lives.

“I am the last one. And it’s time I left too.”

Could a single friend change Abrir’s mind?

A Companion to Are You HAPP(y)?

Gull wants one thing in life. To feel alive.

But in District 6, the sun never shines. Buildings clutter out the sky. Dirt clings to everything. Life hides in the cracks. Gull doesn’t know, but suspects. If only there were a way to peek in between.

Even briefly.

“Take Tranquility,” Fox the trusted colleague advises. Once you go Tranq- you never go back.

A single bar in all the district sells it. Specific behaviors are necessary to buy it. Gull agrees to everything. In a single shot, everything come apart.

The cracks reveal a truth Gull has been missing all along. Can Gull survive the aftermath?

When we started the fun drugs — 

Diseases? Not a problem. Between the nano-robotic upgrades and the medical facilities, no one had any reason to get sick. Bored kids downloaded viruses off the cloud to get their nano-bots fucked up. Gateway style stuff. 

The thought they’d pose a threat to humanity was a novel idea. A good joke.

Then, late one night, everything changed.

Chip builds mechs called spider suits to collect junk in a ravanged land. The machines look tough, but they aren’t. The violent Juniper gang rules the streets. Spider riders keep away. But one day, the inevitable.
A Juniper catches a spider suit.
Can’t run and hide.
What will Chip do?
Try and fight? Or, expose the secret they harbor in an attempt to survive?

=A Broken Circle Story=

Unity Fest in District Three. That one special day when everyone packs the dirty streets, concrete wall to ugly concrete wall, and forgets their troubles.

Only translators knows better. Tensions rise in festival times. Fights break out. Miscommunication abounds.

Things can go sideways fast.

As Analys roams the crowded streets, a word jumps out: DADDY stitched on a baseball cap in neon green.

Well, shit. “Daddy” spells big trouble. Analys goes for cover.

A hand reaches out and grabs ahold of their arm.

Will Analys wriggle their way out of a tight spot or is this gamve over?

Feral finds a strange box made of unbelievable material. Then, Feral starts thinking strange thoughts. And then, a stranger appears out of nowhere.

Is it all connected? And if so, where does all this strangeness lead?

Curiosity burns in Feral to find out…

Jordin and Pepper lay lazily in a park when the lights go out. All of them. A blackness opens up that fear fills with every nightmare.

“Could be a power outage.”

“There’s no light for hundreds of miles.”

The city tries to stay calm. On every mind, a single question arises. Will the light come on again? If it does, what ruin will it reveal?

=A Broken Circle Story=

*Winner of the Writers of the Future Silver Honorable Mention, 4th Quarter 2016*

Miru scales a vat. Perching on the edge of the lidless rim, Miru plunges a dirty rebar into the mash digging for a bite to eat.

The wind picks up. The tang of rot and trash slap Miru in the face. Miru slips, scrambles, nearly falls into the vat’s gaping mouth. Catching the rim, Miru dangles.

A scream pierces the air.
The sound of a beast.

Miru slithers down and chooses to go hunting. Real meat over artificial vat proteins. Killing over starving to death. Moving over waiting to die.
A good choice or just the only one?

A Niu Lifeship travels through deep space looking for the truth about humanity’s downfall. Jafen 1.0 takes care care of the navigational calculations and other such mundane things. At least, that’s how things are supposed to work. But, Jafen and the ship keep agruing over the most mundane things.

Until, Jafen 1.0 logs a strange distress signal.

Could it be a trap? Will the Niu Lifeship Zero find more than they bargained for if they answer the call? Or, are the last secrets of humanity somehow aboard?

Only contact will reveal the truth.