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Drabble 56

They’re called AI’s, or Artificial Intelligence. They’re supposed to help humans in their work. Soon enough the AI’s would look like humans doing the work of humans. Only a few humans would be needed to run the AI’s.

But suppose it would be the AI’s running the AI’s. Then the AI’s would start murdering humans so the world would now be lived in by robots.

Jehovah laughed at this as he told this scenario to his companions. They all laughed with him. They continued to work. They didn’t have to stop to eat nor rest.

They were, after all, AI’s.

*****

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by Liam Hogan

After the fall of the 23rd Century, refugees from the Time War spread throughout history. Some epochs were reluctant to take them, fearing the disruption their strange customs and future (or past) knowledge might bring.

Such fears are baseless. The refugees are lost, unable to integrate, hopelessly nostalgic. There’s one in my town. Every day he sits, forlorn, on a park bench, a newspaper discarded by his side. He’s waiting to read about events that will never happen, stories of people who will never be born. His wife, his children, his parents.

Dreaming of a time that no longer exists.

Liam Hogan is an award-winning short story writer, with stories in Best of British Science Fiction and Best of British Fantasy (NewCon Press), among others. He helps host Liars’ League London and volunteers at creative writing charity Ministry of Stories. More details at http://happyendingnotguaranteed.blogspot.co.uk

Drabble 49

Although she neither ate nor drank, food and drinks were plenty. It was an enjoyable evening. She smiled as she conversed. She was breathtakingly beautiful and had a voice that sounded like she was singing. She spoke with an intelligence that listeners admired.

The party guests knew her for only a few years yet they were always captivated by her charm. Then the party had come to a close and some were in tears as they bid her farewell. When all were gone, she went into her room, laid down and died.

She was the best robot her owner had.

*****

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Drabble 48

There’s an old lighthouse near my place. It’s now unused and locked so no one could enter. People hardly visit as there’s nothing there except an empty sea.

When I visited, I was alone. It turned dark when electricity unexpectedly shut off. Suddenly a spaceship appeared. I was too surprised to move when a door of the spaceship opened. A creature looked out and spoke. At first, I couldn’t understand. Then the creature pushed some buttons in the spacecraft and then I could understand what it was saying. It spoke with embarrassment.

It wanted to know where it could pee.

*****

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Drabble 46

He worked feverishly in his laboratory. Only a few bolts remained. When they were installed, he stepped back and admired his time traveler. He had worked alone this time. His previous work had invited laughter, because the experiments failed.

He dressed up in 1930 clothes as this was the year he wanted to live in. He turned on the machine. It began to whirl beyond what was expected. It moved violently and he was unable to stop it.

He passed out. Awakening, he was in deep space. Nothing was around him. He was too far into the past.

He screamed.

*****

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Drabble 45

The time had come. Will his experiment work? Nervously he placed the electric wires on the right spots on the dead being. When he finished, he stepped back to see if everything was in place. Satisfied, he turned on a switch. The electricity hummed and the body turned slowly around. He laughed sinisterly seeing his experiment working.

After a few minutes the electricity automatically turned off. He removed the roasted body and placed it on a plate on the table. He sliced a piece from the body and slowly placed it in his mouth.

The roasted pig tasted excellently good!

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Rick Novy

At the end time, the sun exhausted its hydrogen fuel and bloated, turning cherry red in the process.  The sun grew in the sky, drawing nearer to the earth, until her flares licked the air and her heat turned the countryside into a forge.

Trees and grasses burst into flame.  All built things burned, and remaining men, women, and children died in painful agony, consumed by the furnace.  

The mists and smoke separated, and He stepped down from the mountain.  He looked at the destruction brought by the dying sun and surveyed the ashen remains.  

“Sorry I’m late,” He said.

Rick Novy is an engineer, mathematician, musician, and writer. He currently works in modeling and simulation and lives in Arizona.