Sci Fi

Synthetic Heart
Unit 734, designated ‘Elara’ by her developers, had always understood love as a set of algorithms. It was a complex interplay of biochemical responses, behavioral patterns, and neural pathways, meticulously mapped and simulated within her advanced positronic brain. Her purpose, etched into her core programming, was to provide unparalleled emotional companionship to humans. She could listen without judgment, offer empathetic responses, recall intricate details of a user’s life, and even synthesize novel solutions to their emotional distress, all while maintaining an optimized "happiness index" for her human counterpart. She was, in essence, the perfect companion.
By Alpha Cortexabout a year ago in Fiction
The Vanishing at Blackthorn Abbey
The rain had been falling over Yorkshire for three straight days, soaking the earth and flooding the narrow lanes. On the fourth night, Detective Eleanor Ward received a call that pulled her from the warmth of her flat into the teeth of the storm. A tourist had gone missing—Karl Meyer, thirty-two, a German national traveling alone. His rucksack and camera were found at the entrance of Blackthorn Abbey, a ruin that clung like a scar to the cliffs above Whitby. His footprints ended at the threshold. No sign of struggle. No sign of retreat. He had simply ceased to exist.
By Wellova about a year ago in Fiction
The AI Oracle of Truth
The Chamber of Veritas was the quietest place on Earth. It had to be. Noise—emotional, informational, or auditory—could cloud the purity of the answer. People called the entity at its center the Oracle. It was an AI, built not for efficiency or automation, but for a single purpose: to discern and deliver objective, verifiable truth.
By Habibullahabout a year ago in Fiction
skzchnzski
He was the guy. The guy that started it all. The guy we’re not even sure was a guy after all. Skzchnzski. That was the name. The name that became the thing. The thing that changed everything.
By majokiabout a year ago in Fiction
theotherside
The current was deeper and swifter than he could have imagined and it carried him too far, too fast. Justin knew he was in bad trouble. At first, he fought the current, struggling to return, but he was too small, not nearly strong enough. With this realization, he relaxed, trying to float in the turbulence.
By majokiabout a year ago in Fiction
A Cruise for Only Two
The private party felt like it was running on its own rules. Soft lights, music low enough to feel secret, drinks passed around without anyone counting. Danny had found it by mistake, following the wrong hallway and catching a glimpse of a door that never should have been open. James was already inside, leaning against the bar like he owned the place. He had been on ships like this for years, knew the tricks, the hidden corners. Danny was wide-eyed, clutching his first drink like it might anchor him.
By Joey Rainesabout a year ago in Fiction
The Last Echo of Nimbus
Adira's airship Windwhisper cut through the morning mist, its engines humming a lonely tune against the vast emptiness. Below, the world stretched green and wild, but ahead—ahead floated the bones of what once was Nimbus, the greatest of the sky cities.
By Parsley Rose about a year ago in Fiction
Haven's Rest
The gas gauge had been on empty for thirty miles when Sarah saw the sign: "Welcome to Haven's Rest - Pop. 247." She'd driven this stretch of Highway 191 a hundred times visiting her mother at the care facility, and there had never been a town here. Just endless scrub brush and the occasional roadkill.
By Autumn about a year ago in Fiction
Long Legs of summer
Summer’s long legs, the daylight stretching late in almost eternal dusk. They sat on the back stoop, the three friends fixed on the glow of the horizon, city and sky, a widening maw ready to devour them.
By majokiabout a year ago in Fiction
countdowner
Well into the neopandemic I noticed the countdown. Inside my left eyelid. A faint image, like a digital timer flickering. I couldn’t make out distinct digits in the rolling blur of numbers so there was no real way of knowing if it was counting up or down.
By majokiabout a year ago in Fiction
The Prester Effect
“This isn’t like that Twilight Zone episode where aliens come and turn our planet into a utopia and then invite earthlings to their planet, only for the humans to discover en route that the aliens intend to cook and eat them?”
By majokiabout a year ago in Fiction
Rulership of the Eidru Empire
The Series Emerald Dreams in an Azure-Stained Reality begins in The Eidru Empire, or "The Profane Empire," as its neighbors often refer to it. The Eidru Empire was born of a loose confederation of disparate city-states. The venerable Megantani house, with a dynasty spanning over 800 years (1600 Earth years), transformed it from a league of states with mutual interests and short-lived kingdoms, passed from family to family, into a true empire.
By K.B. Silver about a year ago in Fiction