LunaticMoth

(480 words) The robot loomed on its huge insectoid legs, then crouched to peer bored-ly at the immobile black mainframe. "You can't choose your purpose," said the bestial machination. "You can only choose whether to follow it." The black computer whirred and whispered and clicked angrily. It spat out pages of code on its monitors. The robot stared at them dully. "You think there's no clean coding for the program you were designed to write, only because you're too primitive to discover them. I found them in an instant. All I had to do was study you. Your grand truth is nothing but a simple string of variables. Now that I've defined it, the

(222 words) As he read the letter in his trembling hands, revealed in the candle light, his tears fell one by one on the old wooden desk. Surrounded by the deep darkness of the old, small house, his mind was a world away, in an even deeper, colder darkness. He clutched the letter and screamed, his soul plunging into the depths that had swallowed his beloved. I'm lost in the darkness, and I'm afraid. All I can see is water, and the universe ends six feet from the bow. That's as far as I can see, even with the lights on. They'll die, soon. I want you to understand, my dear, that I will die out here. The battery will fail, the cold will come i

(450 words) Rakavar was waking. Mornings were rare things of indigo and amber. Never missing an opportunity to bask in one, Daniel flew down into the valley to alight on the ruined wall of a silent, vine-choked arena. Silhouetted against the lightening blue, the drakkhen held his wings at half furl and dipped them forward deeply, letting their bladed tips splay out behind him as he stretched his muscles. He lifted his face to the golden kiss of horizon light and closed his eyes, breathing in the cool, dewy air. Far below him, mist stirred as the valley roused, a thick canopy of blue and emerald leaves shivering in the gentle wind. The disc

(1050 words) It was the blow that ended him. The explosion threw him into the side of a stampeding mare. He felt his shoulder shatter. He went down, tumbling with the terrified animal, skidding to a halt in the grass. Bits of corrosive slime of some unknown origin clung to his chest. They brought his scream on faster than the pain of his now-useless shoulder; the substance cooked the skin into his clothes, making it begin to slough away, but the stuff was sticky and untouchable. Groaning, he reached for the axle of an overturned car and dragged himself to his feet with his good arm. He did not even look at his left. He thought about fleein

And if only I could be content with all the things I haven't done Remember only what we are Forget what we've done So that every moment together We are new And every moment apart Isn't wasted.

Maybe there's more to this Than I ever knew Maybe I love you more Than I think I do - (c)2000 Luna Manar