Irina floated to the catwalk where her governess waited. Instead of taking the water pouch offered to her, she swatted it away and banged her side fist repeatedly against the bulkhead. Her governess swam over and scooped Irina loosely into her arms. "What has gotten into you, child?" Irina shrugged the woman off. "I don't… Continue reading The Price of a Scholarship
Tag: Socioeconomic Disparity
Nothing Left to Lose
"Dr. Ahmed, please. There must be another way." Maryam had the unfortunate distinction of being the most frequent target of identity theft in the world. After selling her biometric authentication startup to a Big Tech company for $100 billion, she disappeared for a couple years before reemerging as one of the strongest voices advocating that… Continue reading Nothing Left to Lose
The Roll
Kenzo woke up when the cigarette burned its way down to his fingers. Must have dozed off. He wasn't sure the last time he really slept. Or ate something, for that matter. He checked the little baggy in the pocket of his red leather jacket. Two white rectangular pills with red dots in the center:… Continue reading The Roll
Deadflower Refinery
"Isn't this just something?" she asked with enthusiasm. She clasped her hands together in front of her heart. Her eyes sparkled in that excited way of hers and I nearly ceded, but caught myself. One of these days those eyes would get me to blindly agree to something foolhardy. Maybe today. But not yet. I… Continue reading Deadflower Refinery
Terraforming Terra
Cole sat slowly down, owing the slowness to the low surface gravity, and nestled his body down. The armchair shifted on its own to hold his doughy body more comfortably. He bit the tip off of a thick, tightly rolled cigar—imported from Europa—and lit it with the small butane lighter he kept beside the armchair… Continue reading Terraforming Terra
Invisible Ladder
Kendi's feet hurt. It was an unseasonably cold September—record-breaking, as it seemed every September had been all her life—but her toes were especially frigid. She put thermal gel in her thick socks, but nothing seemed to help. As many pregnant women did these days, she tried to focus on her work. But unlike them, she… Continue reading Invisible Ladder
The Encryption Ward
Sawyer Trill was intuitive, observant, and a quick learner. He was a talented coder. Dealt a different hand he could have led a comfortable happy life. Instead, the most responsible role model he'd had was his mom's hush dealer—guy called himself the Glass Man, and everyone else did too because his real name didn't matter.… Continue reading The Encryption Ward
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