"No fans backstage before the fight," said the manager, his jowls quivering beneath his Basset Hound eyes. He spoke directly to the arena employee, ignoring the disheveled man in the jacket. "What kind of amateur establishment are you people running here?" "Mr. Cade here has an urgent—" "I'd like to buy your fighter," said Cade.… Continue reading Before the Fight
Tag: Mind Uploading
Mind is Mind
The small jump shuttle, its name and serial numbers and various tracking devices destroyed in faraway systems, hard docked with the remote outpost. The ship had never been here before, but the pilot had. Sofia shut down the engines and locked the thrusters. Then she started up the various maintenance cycles, including the FTL scrubber… Continue reading Mind is Mind
Freerider
Elijah tried to be somewhere else in his mind. Anywhere else. But he couldn't do it. Even trying to hold the idea of imagining he was somewhere else was a stuttering and disjointed struggle. The pain was too much. Too intense. Too absorbing. He should have been dead a long time ago. Instead of walling… Continue reading Freerider
Too Short a Visit
Catalina thought she opened her eyes but it was hard to know for sure. She was suddenly blind. She held up her hands but couldn't see so much as a shadow of a shadow. Vertigo swirled in her head like a vortex. The ground was solid beneath her feet but she could've sworn she'd been… Continue reading Too Short a Visit
One Wrong Move
Keaton sat hunched over the game board, considering the endless permutations. His clothing clung to his sweat and he shifted uncomfortably. The room itself was very comfortable; the ornate game table sat in the center of a dedicated high-ceilinged room larger than most homes. Intricate gilding covered every surface, from the massive columns to the… Continue reading One Wrong Move
Let’s Do This Again Real Soon
The night was black and starless. Even the moon dared not sail that darkened sky. But below, New Manzhouli's neon glow dazzled, cold and bright. Yuxi stood in the in-between. She could be a phoenix rising from electric ashes, or the angel of death descending from the heavens into the City of Dis. Tonight, she… Continue reading Let’s Do This Again Real Soon
Morals of a Gun for Hire
"This isn't right." "Not this shit again," growled Kendall, "not now. We've been over this: they're not people." Zaine and Seren kept working. They'd heard it before and didn't want to hear it again, though Leon suspected they agreed with him on some level. He was all about pinching mint from the Fedcorp, but murder… Continue reading Morals of a Gun for Hire
Transcending Asija
It was chaos. Asija-36 knew that, but knowing a thing provided little comfort when you were between its jaws. The deviations were becoming increasingly difficult to mask. The human mind is not a closed system, but turn the clock back far enough and you reach a single cell. Limited components: organelles and proteins, themselves made… Continue reading Transcending Asija
Mr. Rupert
Dr. Chen made like she was adjusting her glasses, but she subtly pressed the record button. Sure, it wouldn't get by the ethics board, but that only meant she couldn't publish it. She would keep the recording just for her own research. It might prove invaluable. And any breakthrough could help a lot of afflicted people,… Continue reading Mr. Rupert
RAM
I had to get some more RAM for my dad. He'd been getting slower for a while, but yesterday he totally locked up midway through a game of gin rummy and I had to restart him. He hates being restarted. Sulked around the rest of the night just pacing and mumbling, his slippers shuffling and… Continue reading RAM
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