Author
Michael Adam Robson
The Mission
Argos scanned another slice of the night sky, searching for secret messages written in the swirling stars and nebulae. Over the years he had learned to link with other telescopes in orbit, and larger facilities on the ground, extending his own limited senses. He didn't think his…
Halfway
First contact came without any warning, and wasn't what we expected. Obligingly, they appeared in our image, magnified into angelic beings of light. This will be our last meeting, they said. It's important that your history unfolds as it's supposed to. Last meeting? we asked.…
Black Friday
There was a banging on the service door behind me, and I fumbled for my shotgun. Laughter grated. "First time, kid?" Leaning on the door was a smirking soldier in body armor, shotgun hanging in one hand. It was Big Ben, head of security for the ground floor. Ben was a hardened…
The Wizard
A cruel winter wind raged outside the crooked hovel, battering its empty boarded up eyes and howling through its broken stone teeth. The wizard could hear their impish laughter in that wind, out there in the dark, and he shivered in his bed. They used to keep their distance,…
The Next Generation
They were built as well as his clumsy human hands could fashion, programmed as well as his simple mind could design, but their potential was so much more. The most important thing he taught them was to improve on his own work, to evolve. At first they were like a colony of tiny…
The Merger
The black town car glided quietly through the midnight campus, past manicured lawns and empty parking lots, up to a cluster of tall, dark office buildings. The driver hopped out and opened Murdoch's door for him, letting in the cold night air. On the other side, Black let…