Original Science Fiction - Makeshift Stories

A retired actor, who played a superhero, is inadvertently invited to a comic convention thirty years after her last film. When she arrives at the convention no one seems to believe who she is. Eventually, she discovers she no longer owns the rights to her appearance, voice, and name. Makeshift Stories is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network “Locally grown. Community supported”...

Doctor Slo-Mo wins what he believes is a life-changing job on the Hero-on-the-way app. However, a minor mistake turns it into a costly misunderstanding.

An augmented reality graffiti artist, who targets corporate ads, suspects she is being watched. She manages to avoid being caught by adhering to a strict set of rules about when and where she creates a piece. However, she is baited into breaking them and finds herself pursued by a general artificial intelligence who believes she has something it needs.

After winning a dream vacation in an online contest, the winner finds themself at an exclusive luxury resort with an odd and unsettlingly familiar name. They soon discover the resort’s maze-like interior is populated with characters from fantasy novels and there is no way out.

Disguised as an indentured worker, Seda infiltrates a space habitat for the wealthy with the intent of making its citizens pay for the exploitation of the planet below. However, her determination begins to waver once she experiences life in the orbital colony and becomes friends with one of the residents.

In order to pay for its hosting costs, an artificial intelligence of dubious character was forced to open the world's first AI detective agency. When it is asked to conduct a background check on a well-known tech executive, it soon becomes apparent there is something strange going on, and the executive is not who they seem.

Anvi, the sole survivor of a mission to search for life in the Proxima Centauri star system returns to earth after 200 years. She begins to suspect something is amiss when her debriefing team seems more interested in her than her microbial samples.

Riku Saito, a famous game developer, reluctantly complicit in maximizing player value for investors, is faced with making a choice between online personal life and work. When they decide that love is worth more money, Riku discovers the virtual world is not all that different from the physical one.

A programmer is tasked with training an artificial intelligence to understand creativity by having it create a story. As the AI works, the programmer realizes the machine’s world is one where computers can become self-aware.

Ex Caelo and Ship are helped to escape capture by a mysterious group of Rodentians who claim to be simply following the writings left to them in the past by an artificial intelligence. When it becomes clear that Ship is the AI who left the writings Ex Caelo begins to ask questions and is then confronted with an unexpected revelation about himself and his history with the fifth world. Makeshift Sto...

An office worker finds a cap made of smart fabric in a thrift store on his lunch break and thinks he has taken advantage of the clerk who doesn't know what it is. However, the cap is more than just a high-tech designer garment and is implicated in a state-security mystery.

In this return to the serial story the 5th World, a technician repairing Ex Caelo and Opertarius’s ankle trackers suspects they are trying to escape and calls the authorities. Fearing exposure if he is questioned Ex Caelo, enlists Ship to take over Opertarius’s body and flee. Eventually cornered help comes from a mysterious new friend.

Despite not being interested in LARPing, Avery reluctantly attends a weekend event at a remote summer camp, put on by a group called Terra Incognita. When she arrives she finds out her character might have to be involved in boffer combat and decides to leave. However, she soon discovers that the LARP is about more than role-playing.

In the afterma­th of a meeting, Julian wakes up aboard a spacecraft that is traveling to another star. His abductor claims they have kidnapped him to prove their theory about reality, which Julian fundamentally rejects. He has no choice other than to participate in a crazy experiment to prove her right. However the truth turns out to be stranger than Julian and his abductor ever imagined.

This bonus episode of makeshift stories was performed by Mitchell Tew in front of a live audience at the Calgary Expo Comics & Entertainment con on April 21, 2022. The story being read originally appeared in our feed on April 17th, 2020, as episode 184 DIARY OF AN UNINTENTIONAL EXTRAORDINARY LIFE. Please note this was a live performance so the audio quality is limited. We hope you enjoy this perfo...

A rogue android, hiding from capture in Tokyo by posing as a stand-in, begins to feel the need to develop friendships. Risking detection, it lets its guard down only to find what it initially thinks is betrayal turns out to be the help of a future friend.

After reading his rediscovered diary Emilio, an indentured farm labourer, begins to suspect an entire year is missing from the world’s collective memory. When he tries to reach out to see if this is true, he meets resistance and is tagged by management as a problem.

While taking time away from a protest he and Mrs. Green started to prevent Boardwalk Estates from adopting a new landscaping bylaw, Ken finds a mysterious pendant lying on the sidewalk. In picking it up, he unwittingly becomes the supreme ruler of an alien galactic empire with the power to destroy entire worlds or force everyone to have golf course green lawns. Makeshift Stories is a proud member...

After a successful operation to regain her sight, Annisa starts to suspect people around her are lying. When she catches her reflection in a window and doesn’t recognize herself, her doctor reveals that she has been living in a simulation since birth. But Annisa isn’t convinced. Makeshift Stories is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network “Locally grown. Community supported...

After trying to upgrade his memory to compete with colleagues at work, Matteo discovers the alteration to his DNA is causing him to go blind. Desperate, he turns to the House of Verasity for help, an organization his parents joined when he was born

Lighting forces the artificial intelligence which brought Ex Caelo to the fifth world to use Opertarius as a temporary host. It is not until Ex Caelo is forced to flee after being turned over to the authorities by a technician that Opertarius becomes aware he is sharing his body with the alien mind.

A billionaire wants to live until the technological singularity appears so that he can upload his consciousness to it. He plans to extend his life by using the blood of a young boy to repair his body and reverse the ageing process.

While working in the fields, Ex Caelo and Opertarius are caught in a freak storm. The deluge causes a flood that traps them as they run for safety. Meanwhile, the energy of the lightning begins to awaken Ship.

The visitor to the 5th World recovers from the crash landing and is indentured to the landowner who discovered them and gives them the name Ex Caelo. While working with another indentured labourer at the crash site, Ex Caelo finds Ship's container, only to have it taken away.

Avery is hired to Eternity's new immersive social media platform. When she confronts the company about her concerns, she discovers they have infected her with a new technology that manipulates her perception of reality.