December 31, 2036 The hands of the giant holographic clock, projected above the crowded lobby, ticked off the seconds until midnight. With less than five minutes to go, upturned faces watched intently and excited chatter buzzed above the haphazard strains of the jazz band. The anticipation was palpable. Dunbar Helpers patrolled the floor, weaving between the partygoers with trays of brimming champagne flutes for the New Y...
Chapter 7: A Walk in the ParkThe flashing arrows turned left, as expected, and when Cadmus and Lonesome turned the corner and saw the door of the hyper-vator flashing exactly where he expected it to be, he didn’t know whether to be amused or irritated. “They must think we’re half-blind fools or clueless children with these flashing arrows and doors,” he thought. He tapped “0” on the keyboard and before he knew it the hype...
Chapter 1: VoyageCadmus preferred flying this old fashioned solar sail ship, to one of the more modern hyper-drive ships, from his native moon’s orbit to Draco.763.3a, the only habitable moon orbiting Draco.763.3. He was well aware he could have made the trip in a couple of hours instead of the two hundred and seventy days, give or take, that this trip would take him, but he didn’t like flying faster than the speed of lig...
A short story excerpted from “The Rats and the Saps” Chapter 1: MotherI guess I’m older’n them hills on this god-forsaken planet. I don’t reckon I know how old those hills are. Come to think of it, I don’t rightly know how old I am neither. No matter. I usta turn a man’s eye. Now I ain’t much to look at. No matter. I’ve had a hard life. I don’t need no man’s pity and I ain’t ashamed of anything I ever done. Not even birth...
Mr. Hal Bender was always told he had a wire loose somewhere in that mathematically gifted, bad comb-over head of his. His fellow bean counters at the accounting firm of Gort, Kitt, and Servo voted Hal most likely to mate with a computer. And if Mr. Bender ever did get married, he’d somehow manage to meet the national household population average of two-point five-four. One spring morning in late April, the middle-aged ge...
