Stories

The story of how Richard built a synthetic biology interface between the plant and the machine paled in comparison with the tale his friend concocted for him to supplant it, tale that involved a never before heard of second cousin of his from out of town, the latter's life-long dream to participate in a science competition for school age children that didn't exist, the challenge of a theoretical e...

Nobody managed to figure out how the vine got into the steam pipes, and even less on how it changed itself to survive in such a hostile environment, but the botanists finally managed to figure out what kind of plant it was. It seemed to be a distant relative of the Carolina Jessamine vine, poor man's rope, as they called it, at least that's what it started out as, before it mutated twice and shed...

“We should, theoretically, be able to recover most of the metal,” the expert explained, without any emotional involvement. “The plant will, of course, have to be destroyed in the process.” “That's great news!” another person from the audience exclaimed. “So, what portions of the equipment you think might not be salvageable?” “I'm afraid I wasn't very clear in explaining the situation. It will be p...

One thing was sure: Richard was terrible at hiding the truth, and the last drop of it was pulled out of his tormented psyche despite his efforts; it came out in painful, somewhat inarticulate blobs as Jack attacked the matter from all sides, placing strategic questions at the critical points of the story, to eliminate the possibility of any important details being left out. After he squeezed the w...

“I can't believe I'm saying this, but do I have a volunteer who would like to spend some time with a horticulturist and get an understanding of what makes this thing tick?” Groans and protests ensued. “Please, it's important,” he cajoled. A volunteer stepped forward, with all the joy and enthusiasm of a human sacrifice. After this, the gathering finally scattered and everyone went home, after the...

“Dude! We triggered the silent alarm, the police are going to be here any moment. Drop everything and run!” he said, simultaneously opening the window and jumping out, as police sirens were blaring close by in the neighborhood. Richard grabbed his notepad and jumped quickly after him, making a promise to himself to strangle Jack later, if and when they reached safety again, and fumbled so much to...

The first thing he noticed was that the vine's unbelievable resilience was supported by two basic features: its tension steel strength and its purposeful redundancy. Every one of the twisted ropes it wove around and through the pipes was fed by a myriad of strands coming from different directions, none of which was essential to the stability of the system, but all of whom contributed to it. Much l...

There was a place inside this knot of metal limbs, a clearing almost, a hollow, from which he could see the entire manifold branching overhead, and when he sat there, on a little concrete base that for some reason had remained unoccupied, it made him feel as if the entire power distribution system was an extension of his person, and that as small and weak as he was, compared to this enormous metal...

The walls were made of smooth wood planks, with just a coat of clear stain to protect them, and between the wood finish on the walls and the exposed rafter ties the room felt warm and cozy, like a vacation cabin in the woods. On one of the walls, surrounded by ninja posters, gleamed a very ornate oval mirror, surrounded by a gilded frame, heavily carved. Richard had protested the addition, of cour...

He was sure he had seen that plant before, although he couldn't, for the life of him, remember where. It was a nice looking vine too, if one was into that sort of thing. Plants, that is, something his mother always found a reason to coo over, God knows why! Richard walked around the bend, passed the Belvedere point, without stopping to admire the view this time, and picked up the pace on the old c...

When you get used to the thought of being endless, a life that spans a few decades feels like a cruel and senseless death sentence, the proof the universe really doesn’t care about you.  It is the ultimate banishment from Eden, to live your fated lot as a frail, naked, scared and inescapably impermanent creature. If he couldn’t find the ultimate meaning in all the centuries he’d spent wandering th...

There is no planning life if it lasts just one day, and that’s what his life really was, he was just too cowardly to admit it, so he borrowed time from the future and put things in it, time that didn’t belong to him yet, and for all he knew, he might not get at all.  Planning that borrowed time was just as absurd as venturing into a virgin territory with maps of some place else and relying on them...

He remembered his dream and reviled getting dragged into fake reality again, and acting towards it as if it was real. And even if it was real, he wasn’t Helmuth, and he didn’t know what Inclusion 35B was about. He didn’t choose any of this. Why was he playing along? “I’m not Helmuth,” he declared. “Aah, yeah…” his partner assessed him with a critical eye. “Maybe you should sit this one out, my fri...

In the realities with friends and families, he became Helmuth, and took upon the obligations that came with his persona, but for the most part being just kept churning new contexts and new worlds every day, an endless array of possibilities in every combination of details.  Some worlds were so beautiful and so bizarre he spent days, sometimes weeks, going through the same panel again and again, tr...

He didn’t ask himself who Jennifer was to him. It wouldn’t have made any difference anyway, it could be a Roger or a Taylor next for all he knew.  His appetite now gone, he excused himself for a moment, pretending he had to take a phone call and promising to delve into the subject of phase two when he returned, and made his way out the door, relieved to hear the muzak chiming softly in the backgro...

But what if this was hell? What else would hell look like, if not as an absence of all meaning? He suddenly felt like a condemned man, sentenced to live his disjointed life outside the bonds of family, purpose and love. However much his now husband might hurt from his jealousy and insecurity, at least he could feel human emotions. He lived a story, good or bad, where things happened because of oth...

He leaned back in the chair, trying to make himself as comfortable as possible, and fell asleep immediately, helped by the slowly dimming light. He had no idea how long he’d been sleeping when he woke up, his head pounding and his mouth feeling like cotton balls. There was a blanket on the chair next to his, neatly folded so the edges aligned to form a perfect square. Startled by the discovery, he...

The mind is a strange thing that can twist and stretch to no end and accommodate almost anything, no matter how logically unsound, when caught in the push and pull of human rationalizations. Who would have thought only a few short months ago that this room, which he could not escape, would become the only place in existence where he could find some peace? We all imagine we have all our ducks in a...

He looked at it, focusing his attention on its details to remember them later: the design comprised swirling and winding stems with tulips at the ends, so entangled it was impossible to tell them apart. ‘I’m not going,’ he decided, calm, then turned his back to the gaping hole in the wall and went to the bar to fix himself lunch. A blood-curdling scream emerged from the depths, the sound of a pers...

There was so much peace in this state, in this spirit-filled darkness, that he checked himself to make sure he wasn’t dead, because what person feels safe in the forest at night, with no knowledge of what lays beyond the reach of his arms and no protection from the elements?  It seemed, though, that the elements themselves had granted him asylum, him, the unfit human with no knowledge of their wor...

See, when one faces chaotic patterns, it’s not their strange and aberrant behavior that throws one for a loop. That is to be expected and bows to logic.  It is the consistency of behavior inside the chaos that can drive a person insane, more precisely, the local, provisional consistency, for one must understand that chaos plays by rules too, just rules we can never postulate, because doing so woul...

In a panic, he jumped and started jiggling the handle in an irrational attempt that actually panned out: the door opened with no effort. He looked at the other side of it, while still standing in the doorway, and he wasn’t even surprised to confirm that it was indeed one of the narrow staff doors leading to the restricted section. A golden cursive marked the door JC. He looked inside again and fou...

The room was large and not brightly lit, a feature that had obviously been designed to create a relaxing ambiance and induce a meditative state.  Its calming features worked in concert with the soft muzak tunes and the cozy leather chairs, whose generous width and soft cushions cradled the body into a state close to sleep.  On the back wall there was a bar with under-lit glass shelving and strange...