Roulette Reality 1: Fire

Roulette reality one, spin and fire. They called it a hammer, a trigger: it was in truth a massive burst of energy drawn off from a caged singularity that they used to slice and dice reality into chunks that their quantum computer told them were there. Comparing it to a gun seemed somewhat childish to [...]

some time later

‘You’re acting like a child.’
‘I never took any lessons.’
‘My, then you must be a natural.’
‘Thank you. I have to admit that I am having trouble remembering your name.’
‘That is because we erased it from your mind. We are not letting your reality survive.’
‘No? And how do you intend to prevent it surviving? Isn’t reality a [...]

the scheme of things

The first Brewlat, the original, the one from the prime timeline, the one from which all others branched off (for they had proved that theory to within an inch of its life) had to build a dimension jumper to travel to wherever his doppelganger had come from and prevent him from building a dimension jumper. [...]

Engine Ear Part 1: Booting Up

He took out his eyes and cleaned them, it was a mechanical action taken over by sense memory. One of the few automated actions that his biological elements still had domain over – most of that had been handed over to subroutine and hardwiring. The future is elective surgery; it is not something foisted on [...]

forge netting 1: dismantling history

He stuck that long tongue of a needle into the vein which had jumped to the surface almost immediately that he had tied off his arm. Memory rejig commence – those single function nanites hardwired with his internal map, knowing exactly which site in his brain to aim for, going straight for the right string [...]

thoughtwork 1: preparation

He was constructing an entry point through the careful collaging of photographs he had taken over a long period of time – this kind of thoughtwork was never simple. It was different to the rewriting he had done before – with that he had just sat down with a pen, tuned out the conscious mind [...]

Out Through 1: Click

Click click click, you’re just a click through. She stared him down, her eyes blank as radio whitenoise.
‘What are you doing, Spira?’
‘Spinning you.’
‘What?’
‘Tuning you to another frequency – as far as I can tell your aura is indicating that you aren’t resonating at the right spatio-temporal frequency for optimum experiential throughput.’
‘In English, please.’
‘I am giving [...]

Drags 1: Black Hole Son

This alternative they don’t call them drugs – they call them drags. Not in the same way you refer to having a drag on a cigarette either. Chemicals here are seen as anchors – they create existential drag that holds you back from full acceleration. They talk of some great singularity planted at the end [...]

Universally Acknowledged

The Temporal Relocation Officer had told her that she should have absolutely no problem with finding herself a new job, that her name would surely give her some cache. He had said he understood that it was a forced relocation and not something she had been seeking to do, but due to the stress fracture [...]

Goldfishing

Goldfishing was the latest trend – people using artificial implants to shut off some of their higher brain functions so they didn’t have to think about anything; it was mainly the memory centres and after a while it was said the damage could become permanent. That wasn’t definite – no one had been doing it [...]