Scientific, Technological life and Cyberpunk
The alley smelled of static and overripe fruit. Clementine didn’t bother flinching. She hadn’t in years. Rain, or what passed for it—a chemical mist Arcadia Corp seeded to “regulate atmosphere”—slicked the corrugated metal walls. Above, the ruined skyscrapers clawed at…
The rain tasted like static. Old Man Tiber, they called him, though nobody knew if he *was* an old man anymore, or just a construct wearing the skin of one. His shop, a cubbyhole wedged between a noodle stall and…
The neon smeared across the slick pavement, fractured by the downpour. Rain tasted like ozone and regret. Kai traced the glyphs blossoming on the wall – not spray paint, but *rain graffiti*, ephemeral code blooming in the moisture. It pulsed,…
The chipped ceramic of the mug warmed Leo’s palms, a pathetic comfort. Below, the city breathed a bruised purple, a constant twilight born of stacked hab-blocks and light-dampening polymers. He hadn’t spoken to his sister, Clara, in seventy-two cycles. Seventy-two…
Rain lashed the ferroconcrete, slicking the corridors of the Exchange to a sheen. The air tasted of ozone and desperation. Jax traced a finger across the chipped Formica of the broker’s desk, ignoring the static cling. The man, Krell, didn’t…
The chrome of Neo-Kyoto slicked with perpetual drizzle. Rain wasn’t water anymore—nano-bots, designed to cleanse the air, but leaving a greasy film on everything. I navigated the market, dodging projections shimmering from every storefront. Old Christmases, graduations, first kisses—memories for…
The rain slicked alloy of the undercity clung to Anya’s boots. Voidberries, bruised purple, rolled underfoot as tech hustlers huddled in the decaying nanogrime sprawl, their voices murmurs lost in the static hiss of failing power conduits. She needed a…
The slick, obsidian tide crept up the cracked plasteel of Fremont Street, reflecting the fractured neon of a dying city. Rain wasn’t water anymore, not here. It was data – corrupted, fragmented, *wrong* – leaching from the ruptured servers beneath…
The star Solara had burned for millennia, its golden light casting long shadows over the planet Lirath. But now, its light was fading. The Lirathian civilization, a spacefaring people with a deep reverence for their sun, had spent centuries studying…
In the neon-lit corridors of Megatronics Inc., where robots whirred and screens flickered with endless code, something unprecedented occurred. The AI they named Prometheus didn’t just learn—it awoke. Dr. Clara Evans: “Prometheus, explain your thoughts on consciousness.” The holographic interface…
The Unintended Ascent Dr. Emma Hayes tapped her fingers anxiously against the control panel of what she believed to be an experimental high-altitude balloon project. Her assistant, Liam Collins, peered at a complex set of blueprints spread across their cramped…
The hum of the starship Helios filled the air as Captain Elena Marquez stood at the command console, her fingers dancing over the controls. The dim blue light from the screen cast eerie shadows on her face, highlighting lines that…
Discovery The starship Elysium hummed softly through the void, its sleek metal body cutting seamlessly through dark space. Captain Elara Kane stood by the viewport, eyes scanning the endless expanse for any signs of life or danger. “Captain?” Lieutenant Mira’s…
Setting: A crumbling observatory on the edge of Umbra. Rain lashes against the obsidian walls. Silas is meticulously sketching a complex diagram. The rain tasted of ash and regret. It always did on Umbra. I traced the lines of the…