Always 8:24 AM, I awake with a cold sweat. It started two months ago, and no matter when I go to sleep, I wake up at the exact same time; 8:24 AM.

And right before I wake up in a cold sweat, I have the same dream... The same nightmare.

Olivia didn’t know for how long it had went until the whole structure started breaking down.

Structure is key to performance. And Olivia didn’t know any other way to go about her daily business. A time for every activity and an activity for every time in the day. Wake-up pill. Breakfast pill. Office pill. Lunch-break pill. Ride-home pill. Sex pill. A pill for every activity and an activity for every pill in the day. A perfectly ordered office with just the right amount of light coming in from the desk window and the door always open for anybody coming to check in on her.

Three short poems. Each can stand on its own, but when read together paints a picture of a troubled relationship.

It is the final exam for the third-year students of Holistoric Reconstruction, and their professor, Richard Cardmen has taken them to Normandy to reconstruct the ancient landing. But perhaps the horrors of war are a little too gruesome for the young ones, so they got an alternate plan under their sleeves.

On a mission to aid in the exploration of a new world an accident leaves Laura stranded in space. She soon realizes she is the sole survivor of the vessel that harbored her crewmates, save for the few on the surface of the planet which includes her husband.

“The Javelin System is a massive steam cannon,” Carl continued, “and it is used to put high G payloads into low Earth orbit. It essentially replaces the first stage of a conventional rocket. The payloads are equipped with a second stage solid rocket booster to complete the journey into low Earth orbit. The Javelins are unguided, and we are simply lobbing payloads into low earth orbit at the lowest possible price. They are all retrieved by a remote piloted space tug. The primary payload is fuel for space operations. Food, liquids and gases and structural materials like beams and fasteners are secondary payloads. The Javelins are long and skinny for aerodynamic purposes and have many compartments. ‘Soft’ payloads will be carried on shuttles with much lower acceleration rates.”

Darkness descended with the fall of night. I looked out and saw the electric dark blue of water receding into that darkness. 

And then came the Hum. 

In a future where virtual reality is an escape from reality, Liam is content living in his digital world until a chance encounter with a young tea-seller disrupts his routine. Through their interactions, Liam begins to rediscover the beauty and connection in the real world, questioning the life he's been leading. Themes of isolation, rediscovery, and the importance of human connection weave together in this introspective journey from virtual escape to real-world engagement.