Tag Archive for: microfiction

With Great Power

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by Darlene Holt

 

When CyDocs became a thing, they needed volunteers to test out the new ware. I was among the first, opting for a cybernetic arm which promised never-before-seen strength.

I won arm wrestling contests with ease, effortlessly ripped doors from hinges, and threw blows like a sledgehammer with my fist.

One night, I challenged a stranger with neuralware processors to a fight. He hacked the arm before I could even swing. It turned on me, titanium fingers clutching my throat, constricting with every attempted breath. The stranger’s laughter lingered as the metal hand tightened, my human arm powerless to stop it.

 

Darlene Holt

Darlene Holt is a writer, editor, and educator. Her most recent fiction appears in Sirens Call Publications, The Raven Review, and Horror Tree’s Trembling with Fear. She especially enjoys writing drabbles with several appearing in Eerie River Publishing’s forthcoming drabble anthology Dark Magic. She currently resides in San Diego, California.

Roots

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by Colleen Anderson

 

The layering of nanobytes into his hypodermis laced Nirved’s nerves with lava. The pain muffled him. The nanotechnologist paused.

“No,” Nirved grunted. “Continue.”

The protective barrier had been set. Planting came next.

Large swaths of jungle lay barren, plants crisping under the sun’s inferno. Trees toppled throughout countries, and oxygen thinned. People died with the trees.

At best, this experiment could save the world. At worst, Nirved would die before Earth did.

 

Colleen Anderson

Colleen Anderson writes fiction and poetry, and her works have appeared in such publications as Polu Texni, Pulp Horror Book of Phobias, On Spec, and Cemetery Dance. A Body of Work was published by Black Shuck Books. She lives in Vancouver, BC, where she watches for mermaids and mould monsters.

Inclusion

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by N.E. Rule

 

My stomach growls in anticipation of the U8-rations downloading to my dwellment dispenser on sign-on.

I push down memories of Mom’s last warning during her D-leet ceremony: Don’t accept it. But living as a grid-free hacker during the Great Overpopulation is a struggle.

Employment is impossible without it. Convertors say it opens doors, literally. Also, GloBank downloads cash creds to your braindrive directly.

The SysCtrl swipes at the bloodtear after the microchip’s implanted. He smiles reassuringly as LiFi starts up. The eye-con app for D-leet registers 9125. Now that I’m assimilated to the system, I’ve ten years to break it.

 

N.E. Rule

N.E. Rule attended Ryerson University in Toronto for creative writing and business communications. Her writing portfolio includes software specs, marketing copy, and training materials. However, her passion is creative writing. The characters in her head are getting louder, refusing to wait for her spare time to come out and play.

Cheap-Ass

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by Rich Rurshell

 

Dana tore through the Obsidian Plaza Hotel, despatching security with ease. Her body had cost a pretty penny, but her speed, reflexes, and combat capabilities were unrivalled. All four limbs and her torso had been replaced with top of the line Linneman Industries augmentations. It was ironic she was on her way to assassinate their president, Charles Linneman.

Dana burst into the penthouse suite to find Linneman and his entourage eating dinner.

“Nice augs,” said Linneman. “Shame you didn’t buy our firewalls, too.”

Linneman manipulated a holographic interface in his palm, and Dana began dancing.

“Tonight’s entertainment, gentlemen!” he cried.

 

Rich Rurshell

Rich Rurshell is a horror, fantasy, and science fiction writer. From his Suffolk, England home, he ponders the existence of the sinister, the fantastic, and the downright terrifying, explores the darker side of life and what lies within, and celebrates the beauty in the world and what lies beyond.
Facebook: @RichRurshellAuthor

Cool Kids

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by S Jade Path

 

Ren stood on the gore-slicked dancefloor, blood sluicing down her armour. Dancing holograms still gyrating in the wet smears, and the pounding music seemingly quiet in the absence of screams.

Staring, smiling, at what remained of the Syndicate Children—the Cool Kids.

They had made me, saved me, she sneered at that thought. They had taken her dead, junkie’s body, fused armour-scale tech to it, trained it to kill.

Made her into this abomination.

***

Ren sat on a ledge, 172 floors above the street, combat boots swinging.

Whispering, “Cool Kids never sleep.”

Leaning forward, she pushed off.

Falling—finally—to sleep.

 

S Jade Path

S Jade Path is a fledgling author of small fiction and a prolific creator of dark poetry. She has had a life-long obsession with crawling into the depths of the psyche and forging shadows into words. Her work parallels this penchant for delving into the fantastical and strolling amongst demons.  Follow her on Facebook: SJadePath

News from Sister No1

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by Joel R. Hunt

 

Garzo grabbed my shoulder.

“Quick, check the prime stream.”

I tuned in. The newscast flickered over my vision, showing our movement’s spokesperson, Sister No1, smiling.

“Glorious day!” she said. “Our struggle against Pleasure Inc is finally over!”

I frowned. Didn’t the megacorp still control our water supply and the air farms?

Then the CEO of Pleasure Inc stepped up to Sister No1’s side.

“This morning,” he said, “Pleasure Inc bought out the Anarcho-Libertarian Collective, including its records, assets…”

He held out a trigger, thumb at the ready. My neuro-implants began to itch.

“…and the life support codes of its operatives.”

 

Joel R. Hunt

Joel R. Hunt is a writer, proofreader, ex-teacher, and part-time human currently residing in the UK. He has a passion for horror, science fiction, and all things bizarre. His drabbles and other short stories can be found in a range of anthologies by Black Hare Press, Eerie River Publishing, and Paper Djinn Press, among others, and he posts daily microstories on Twitter. Updates and examples of his work can be found at The Weird Worlds of Joel R Hunt.

Leader of the Pack

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by Charlotte Langtree

 

The woman walked alone.

“She’ll have food tokens,” Jenna said.

Five men nodded. Jenna fingered the trigger of the holo-knife she’d stolen from a rival; it fooled scans and would leave a pretty hole.

They cornered the woman at a junction, weapons raised. Golden eyes flickered. Jenna’s gut clenched. It was a droid mole: a trap to catch rebels.

It opened its mouth. Scorching flames shot out, burning Jenna’s men to a crisp. Jenna screamed. The flames were hot, but the burn of the dragon-droid’s laser planting a chip in her heart was worse.

She bowed. “What is your command?”

 

Charlotte Langtree

Charlotte Langtree is an author and poet from the North of England, and her works have been published by the Inner Circle Writers’ Magazine, WPC Press, The Poet, Iron Faerie Publishing, Paper Djinn Press, and Black Hare Press. You can find her online on Facebook or at Charlotte Langtree Author/Poet.

Small Print

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by Simon Clarke

 

Gerry was asleep. His left eyeball pulsed and popped itself out of its socket and slithered onto the floor, heading for the door. It slithered along the hallway and out through the cat flap. Cybertronic Systems organs had state of the art neuro-connect functionality hence the searing pain in Gerry’s head, causing him to scream and tear at his face in agony. Outside, his cat licked aqueous humour from its paws and padded off satisfied, tail flicking the air.

When they said there were sometimes rejection issues, Gerry assumed he might be doing the rejecting, not the other way round.

 

Simon Clarke

Simon Clarke lives and writes poetry and fiction in Norfolk, United Kingdom. His works have been published by Hedgehog Press, Black Hare Press, Fifty Word Stories, and Breaking Rules Publishing. He regularly submits to UK and international publications and enjoys reading poetry at open mic events. Visit his Facebook page.

The Rift

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by Bernardo Villela

 

All aboard were awestruck. Creating the dimensional rift was simple, but from it came a spacecraft identical to ours.

The mission commander’s words echoed in my mind: Conducting geopolitical and scientific experiments over there shields us from consequence.

“Full speed ahead!” I said.

Our comms buzzed.

“This is the Nautilus.” From our twin ship I hear my voice speaking. It was us from another dimension.

“Thanks, our tech failed.”

My heart rate tripled. We looked at one another.

“Houston!”

“Remember your objective.”

We proceeded. The rift closed behind us sealing our doppelgänger’s fate. We were expendable, all versions of us.

 

Bernardo Villela

Bernardo Villela has published a novella The Isle of Helyr and three short story collections The Bloodmaster Trilogy and Teenage Death Songs Vols. 1 & 2, and has short fiction included in Coffin Bell Journal, The Dark Corner Zine, 101 Proof Horror, A Monster Told Me Bedtime Stories, Page & Spine, and forthcoming in 42 Stories Anthology, Constraint 280, and Rivet. You can read more about these and various other pursuits at www.miller-villela.com.

Annihilation

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by Victor Nandi

 

Blood spattered as bullets tore through soft flesh. Olivia and her followers fell. Their bodies lay still for a moment. Then, electric sparks sizzled from their artificial limbs that yanked them to their feet.

Olivia rose, stabbed her metallic hand into a guard’s chest, and walked into the control room. Teary-eyed, she hit some buttons.

“Target cities locked,” the console said.

A slot lit up displaying Insert key to launch warhead.

“You need the key.” A dying guard grinned.

Relief filled Olivia’s face. But it soon changed to helpless horror as metallic nanoparticles extended from her fingertip forming a key.

 

Victor Nandi

Victor Nandi is a Senior Content Developer with an Edtech Company. His works have been published in Verdad Magazine, Amanda Steel Publication, Virtual Zine, Clover and White, Tiger Shark Magazine, FTHM Magazine (publication due in January 2021), Healing Words Exhibition in London, and Nano Nightmares.