“Can you hear me?”
A very pink face was looking down at me, with huge bug compound eyes and a metal grille where its mouth should be. Oh, I thought. I’m in Hell. Colder than I expected.
Short story
The Mystery Man from Dym River: Chapter One
The other guy fell to the ground with a guttural groan, followed by the splashy sound of what’s sometimes called a technicolour yawn. I massaged my knuckles gently – they were a little sore.
“You done?” I said, squatting down beside the guy’s head. His eyes opened, saw what must have seemed like the face of the devil looking down at him, and closed again. I raised my fist in triumph.
Don’t feel too bad for the guy; he’s a real piece of shit.
Four Reports on the Incident in the Unmappable Region: Report Two
So dangerous, this Marsage, but not so dangerous that you’d send more than one man to bring her in. Or gods forbid, a woman. What a joke…
The Fool’s Blade: Chapter Four
“In due time, I shall,” she said gaily. “But first… have at you!” She caught the hilt of the sword that sailed towards her easily with her free right hand and levelled it at the kneeling man.
The Fool’s Blade: Chapter Two
“Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t go around killing your subjects for something as mild as a riot. You’ll run out of subjects before long,” Band said, chuckling and tearing at a leg-sized lump of game with his fork.
Mexican Wave: Chapter Two
“Have you ever heard the expression: ‘All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun?’” said the woman behind the desk on the tv screen who was, yes, yet another of her. Jason shook her head. She was in what Cass had called “re-orientation”, a sort of untraining course where the only lesson was to sit still and listen. “Well. You are the girl, and I have the gun. Do I make myself clear?”
“See you around, Victrix Lament”: Chapter Three
“Remarkable, isn’t it? That bag of tricks the Empire planted in your head is all you know now. Can’t function without it.” He smiled a smile that was all teeth. “Now us, we may not all be a hundred per cent original human,” he said, and raised his claw demonstratively. “But we know our limits. No bloody transgenetic trickery in here!” and he pounded his chest with a clang.
“Not gene therapy… just… training,” said Lament weakly. The old man laughed.
“That’s what they told you! You trust too easily, yellowjacket! Me, I keep my ear to the ground. I know all about those ‘training’ camps!”
Lament was breathing easier now, and the feeling was starting to return to some of her extremities. She flexed her fingers, imagining the old man’s scrawny neck between them.
“Ooh she’s feeling feisty, boys!” said the old man, chomping on the cigar with some amusement. He looked up at Ballis, the giant. “Hit her again,” he said calmly.
“See You Around, Victrix Lament”: Chapter One
The first shot thumped through the space her head had been a second earlier, as she rolled into the room and pulled her force pistol from her belt. Black outfits. Armoured. No markings. Kill squad. She swept the legs out from under one of them and let fly with a shot at his buddy, who ducked behind Omar’s desk. Ugh. These things were never easy…
Message Intercept: Chapter Four
Where there’s water there’s plants too, and in some of the deeper caverns a kind of blind cave rat, so I haven’t starved. I’m getting ahead of myself. I knew that the fall into the pit was long enough to put an end to me instantly and I closed my eyes and prepared for the inevitable…
Message Intercept: Chapter Three
The wailing noise went on, and then pounding at the entrance of the building.
“We have to open it!” Sita said, darting towards the barred door. But the PhD student and I caught her.
“If you open that door we’ll never be able to close it. We’ll all go through that same horrible process. You’ve seen the pictures,” they said.
“Sita… I’m sorry,” I murmured, letting her go. She fell into the seat of one of the nearby benches and sobbed, her head in her hands.
We all stood still and silent, listening to the wailing until it stopped…
The Write Stuff 