Category: Short Stories
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Every Inode Is Precious
The Operator scanned her left and right side monitors quickly, where several live windows were lined with rows of stylized pie charts, each tied to a different performance metric. When things were going well, the light gray background and a high ratio of green plots were highly preferable to the rather angry looking opposite at…
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And, my third career was going so well
I sat down at my desk and sipped from my latte. Extra cinnamon! The coffee stand lady is always so nice to me. I was looking forward to my work day, another long set of short meetings to continue contract signings. My last employer and coworkers would scoff and poke fun, no doubt, at the…
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Artistic Visions
She prepared his favorite snacks, the ones he liked when he was on another painting bender, but wouldn’t take a moment’s rest to prepare any food for himself. She paused and poured two servings of his favorite beverage, too. He said there would be new work ready to share this afternoon. She did understand that…
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Chip Off the Old Block
Belinda gave up on improving her makeup. She frowned into the mirror and removed the Chinese serpent pin from her dress lapel. She rummaged in a drawer and selected a black cat silhouette. She accidentally poked her index finger when piercing the lapel with the cat pin, and cursed under her breath. Her bedroom door…
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Inner Demons
Maggie sat in her condo’s darkened living room with her back to the door to the second bedroom, the one they had turned into a nursery three years ago. It was nearly mid-day, but the blinds were closed. Sunlight persisted around the edges of the window, but seemed afraid to enter any further. Maggie wondered…
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Love v1.99b73
JHN-483912 finished his current task. He acknowledged the ten minute break that arrived next on his schedule with a certain thrill. As he neared the room where other workers would gather for break time and friendly discussion, he noticed that his coolant system was experiencing decreased efficiency. As this was the third break in a…
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The Heir
The teacher looked around her classroom. Young sons and daughters of noblemen crowded together close to the right wall and its open windows, painting on small canvases leaning on desktop easels. They were copying a brightly lit photograph of the royal gardens. She noted the time and exhaled. We have nearly reached another midday together, she…
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May the 4th
John keyed in the final coordinates for their current destination and let the autopilot take over. He could use the break, since his copilot had excused himself and disappeared over an hour ago. The kid liked to skip out on the technical, boring stuff, but at least he was useful in difficult landing conditions and…
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The Rabbit
“Okay, we are rolling.” I squinted to my right as her crew member and his clipboard backed into the shadows. Greg, I want to say? The halo of bright lights were intense, but I could just make out the camera lenses. The woman sitting across from me shuffled through the index cards in her hands…
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Undo
“This is real life! There’s no control Z for you to press!” Right when she said that, I clicked the invisible buttons and went back once again. My eyes refocused. I was sitting at my home desk, 14 months ago. Good. I looked down at my belt, where the readout now registered 561 in block…