How to Rescue a Dying Planet
He came to strip the planet for parts. Nobody warned him about the sunsets.
Preview
20–29 min read
He is the first of his kind to set claw on Earth. He came to clear the radiation, take his samples and sell what is left for parts. He is also drunk on his own medication, three months without another voice, and fairly sure something followed him down. Twenty minutes.
Last City on Earth
Her camera went dark and she didn’t report it. That is the whole crime.
Preview
22–32 min read
Seventy million women live under the dome in what used to be Wichita, Kansas, and there is a camera in every room. Rachel47’s living room has gone dark and she has not reported it. She is sitting very still. She has never once been alone. Twenty-two minutes.
Rachel & the Captain
Two punishments exist in the last city. A fine, or death. So she flirted.
Preview
11–17 min read
They emptied her freezer onto the floor and put nothing back. There are only two punishments in the last city on Earth — a fine, or death — and nobody had told her yet which one this was. So she stopped being afraid at him and started smiling. Twelve minutes.
Strawberry Wine at the End of the World
Wine stains on leather, blood stains on pastel. That only means it’s Thursday.
Preview
7–11 min read
Thursday nights at the Strawberry Wine, the bikers take the bar, the debutantes take the upper tables, and the alligator takes the stage without a leash on him. Lynn108 runs an illegal broadcast out of the room. They say a caller got through who claimed to know her from before. Seven minutes.
The Striking Clones of Wichita
The police went on strike. Somebody had to write the demands down.
Preview
14–21 min read
There are two thousand soldiers and eighty captains in the last city on Earth, and they are done. They have every grievance and no plan at all. Then a citizen in a floral blouse walked in through the front door of the barracks, and not one of them looked up. Fifteen minutes.
Lucy & Carol and the Case of the Big Button
She has a two hundred IQ, no hands, and strong feelings about the box.
Preview
9–13 min read
Caroline is the only person in the last city who has never died, and her colleagues cannot forgive her for it. So they sent her out door to door to ask strangers uncomfortable questions about a rumor nobody believes. She brought the cat. The cat has a two hundred IQ and will not stop talking. Nine minutes.
The Last President of Earth
Her assistant is named Madge. So is her head of security. So is her wife.
Preview
5–8 min read
This is President Taryn. Twenty years behind the desk of dead kings, in the last city on Earth. They say she counts everything — the books, your footsteps, the number of times you get her name wrong. They say nobody has ever heard the motorcycle in her office start. Five minutes.
The Last President II: Pencils & Paper
The only private thing left in the city is a number-two pencil.
Preview
5–7 min read
In the last city on Earth every word is watched except the ones written in pencil. Letters travel by hand. Couriers get robbed for them, and worse. They say a woman walked into the president’s office with a letter that was never meant for her, and asked the government for a favour. Five minutes.
The Last President III: The Alligator
She complained about the Wild Woman’s alligator. On camera. Out loud.
Preview
6–9 min read
They say a woman went to the president to complain about her neighbor. Her neighbor is the Wild Woman of the Rim, and the pet in question is thirteen feet long. She said it on camera, in a city where nothing stays in the room. Six minutes.
The Last President IV: The Appendage Problem
She says she saw something the body printers stopped making.
Preview
7–11 min read
There are no men left in the last city on Earth. The body printers leave out anything unnecessary — wisdom teeth, tonsils, gall bladders. The rest got filed under appendix and that was the end of it. They say a priestess came to the president claiming she saw one anyway. Seven minutes.
If You Give a Clone a Cookie
She makes the wine. She keeps the alligator. The soldier is harder to explain.
Preview
10–14 min read
This is Lynn. She makes the strawberry wine out at the wall, in the last city on Earth. They say she keeps a thirteen-foot alligator, and that the dealers who forget to pay her have met him. And they say there is a soldier living in her house. Nobody can explain that one. Ten minutes.
In the Lab w/ Caroline and her Talking Cat
The cat tells jokes. The cat did not start out life as a cat.
Preview
14–21 min read
Caroline’s lab has one of the last locked doors in the city. Inside there is a chess board and a cat who calls the moves out loud and did not start out life as a cat. Ask the science floor what she used to be. Watch them change the subject. Fifteen minutes.
