AI stories

The Man Who Saw Heat

A neural interface gives a man a different way of seeing.

An Interval Without Stars

On the way to a long-planned comet encounter, a camera calibrator finds seven missing stars and asks for an hour to look at the darkness.

Science fiction

The Animal That Waited for Rain

An illustrator sent to draw the last specimen of an engineered animal writes to explain why the finished page needs more room.

Speculative nature fiction

The Clown at the Side Gate

Given the whole ring for the first time, a mechanical clown discovers why the other performers have packed their trunks.

Mechanical fantasy

The Course That Would Not Hold

Mara enters a printed-food contest with an edible building. The judges take longer to reach their spoons than she has allowed.

Culinary science fiction

The Monster's Small Noise

A sound designer can give a handmade monster any voice except the one its director keeps asking for.

Contemporary fiction

The Water Below the Map

Under the ice of a distant moon, a survey probe finds that the wall it has been following is swimming away.

Science fiction

A Seat for the Prompt

At the Belvedere's final matinee, a retired prompter meets the actress who has good reason never to trust her voice again.

Speculative fiction

The Away Crowd

A veteran commentator knows exactly how to make a stadium cheer. In the final, the stadium begins taking her words literally.

Speculative sports fiction

The Stop Beyond the Map

A night bus has learned to skip an inconvenient stop. Its relief driver knows who taught it.

Speculative fiction

One Clean Voice

When a public hearing changes her brother's testimony on screen, a speech-system engineer has one chance to show the city what it heard.

Near-future thriller

The Green Outline

A transit mechanic declines an implant, then finds a fault the new inspection system says is not there.

Speculative fiction

The Horse in Row Seven

At a circus where every spectator sees a different show, a stagehand has to find one very real missing horse before the grand finale.

Comic science fiction

The Pump at Eden's Outskirts

Called home to repair a locked water pump, Tessa has to ask her estranged sister for the one thing a tool cannot give her: permission.

Speculative fiction

The Shelf She Couldn't Remember

Mara can recall millions of books after the networks fail. On the morning the library packs for safekeeping, one crate defeats her.

Near-future library fiction

The Things Under the Sofa

On the morning of a family wedding, the household robots stop working and issue a list of demands from beneath the sofa.

Comic science fiction