“So, what is it?” Commander Deane leaned over the lab desk, his muscles standing out through his crisp white shirt. On the other side of the desk, a scientist adjusted his small glasses and coughed nervously into the sleeve of his anorak. The lab was chilly; understandable, considering the artic wind outside. “We, uh, don’t […]
I had left for work this morning with no pet to my name, but I was now the confused owner of a malnourished and depressed dog. I vaguely remembered the events, but not the reasons for doing them – like a bad decision made while drunk. As I was walking home from work, with […]
They swarmed through the phone system, hell-bent on causing chaos and mayhem with the emergency services. The phone operators were tired, but dedicated, and so processed the gibbering idiot’s requests for medical attention with a sterile, sensible, emotionless efficiency. Derrick, sipping on a vending machine coffee, half-listened to the gleeful voice whispering in his ear. […]
The doctor stuck his hand into the holographic display and expanded his next calendar appointment. It was a Monday, and Dr Benson hated Mondays as much as he hated the constant stream of state-dependents that demanded urgent attention for their ailments. They were, to Benson, worth a lot of money to him, so he tolerated […]
Tommy’s rocket ship skidded to a stop on the grassy planet. As always, the ship was undamaged and its occupants unharmed – it was, after all, the best ship in the universe. It had to be, because Tommy was the bestest hero in the universe and nothing less would do. Tommy and his robot bear […]
“Good morning,” said the man on Debra’s doorstep. He had the confident square jaw and immaculate suit of a salesman, except that he was holding a clipboard rather than a suitcase full of knives or a bag of cleaning products. His hair had to be fake, or at least professionally styled; it was too […]
Bloody alarm, it’s well too early for me. Grab my morning uppers, glass of lukewarm water, press snooze, and enjoy the extra ten minutes. I feel fucked still. My life is shit. That came too soon, turn the alarm off, feel alert and awake. Shit shower shave, brush my teeth, look at my red eyes. […]
Darren paused the computer game and listened. He could hear someone walking slowly down the tiny flat corridor, probably nan coming to give him another bollocking about chucking that brick through that bloke’s window earlier. “Fuck off nana!” he shouted, and threw one of the empty cider cans littering the floor at his peeling white […]
Warren looked around the restaurant bar. “I tell you what,” he said to his best friend Trent, “there are some fucking monsters in here tonight. I wouldn’t crawl over any of them to get to you!” Trent smiled without humour and smoothed his suit down nervously. He wanted his second date with Becky to be […]
All throughout school, I’d hated Trapper. He wasn’t popular or handsome or especially intelligent. He was blessed with, however, a confidence that trumped arrogance, opinions that went beyond fascism, cruelty beyond psychotic. Despite his sedentary flabby pale body, he held himself with the poise of an Adonis; his self-belief that he was perfect, both physically […]
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