Mac Tom, who creates artificial humans, searches on a chaotic Free Night for the woman he created to be the love of his life. On Free Nights, however, all artificials become independent. Free Nights had been granted to prevent the creation of willing slaves and drones. Mac has until midnight to find Davi Leiko in a crowded party atmosphere and to persuade her to stay with him. ~~~~~ Excerpt ~~~~~ Mac looked upon her with jealousy and loss as he walked toward her. She swayed forward and back as she played the game, watching the rolling silver balls with quick brown foxy eyes. Her arms, like all of her, were smooth and fleshy but firm, tanned just slightly tawny, like all of her, outside her bikini line. ?You shouldn?t have left.? Mac spoke quietly, not wanting to throw her off her game. ?It?s Free Night. Everybody?s out.? She kept her eyes on the game, and snapped another ball into play. ?Everybody who?s full and everybody who?s near fullness.? ?You aren?t ready yet. Just one more week. Or two.? ?I feel ready.? She smiled pleasantly, and glanced at him for his reaction. ?I just wanted you right, first. You don?t have ? well, a couple of things.? ?I don?t?? She pursed her lips, trying to hide an impish smile. ?Don?t I look like I have everything?? ?You know what I mean. Your anger is still missing, and a sense of personal insult ? the desire for revenge if someone hurts you. You?ll be helpless out here. Also, that one front tooth of yours isn?t right. The gum around it is gray instead of pink.? Davi Leiko turned full-front to look at him, ignoring the bouncing bells and lights and silver ball rolling around in her game. Her flowing black hair was swept away from her face in a frame of slight waves. She was stunningly gorgeous, of course; that?s how he?d decided to make her. ?You can?t force me back. I know that. I?m at stage nine now.? Davi Leiko looked up at him ingenuously, as the silver ball in the machine rolled unchallenged between the flippers and clunked somewhere out of sight.
Altered States II doesn't just have cyberpunk in it! Cyberpunk seeps from its pores. Cyberpunk forms its building blocks like DNA forms ours. Stories by upcoming and established authors, curated by Roy C. Booth and Jorge Salgado-Reyes.
The N.E.S.F.A. Index to Short Science Fiction
Since the appearance of the first science fiction magazine in 1926, thousands of short stories have been published in periodicals devoted to the genre. These stories cover a wide range...
Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror
An alien incursion...or nanotechnology run amuck?
In the distant future, battles erupt across the solar system as humankind wages war against the evil forces that have emerged from the darkness of the void, while the five ruling MegaCorporations battle for supremacy among themselves.
Comparative Phonology and Morphology of the Baltic Languages
A man without a memory, trapped in a city of robots gone wild.
Travel to the enigmas of science and time...travel to the altered states of the mind. Stories by upcoming and established cyberpunk/sci- fi authors, curated by Roy C Booth and Jorge Salgado-Reyes.
This is one of the most significant military books of the twentieth century.