determinatives

He had a theory that mass communication was not a sentient animal, not a machine, was not governed by an evolutionary process. Memes did not act like genes. It was more basic that that. It was chemical. When he went on trial he was invited to test hi theories on the panel of jurists. Just as with chemisty, at such a small scale, he said, it was more a problem of physics. Introducing a distorting field could control the outcome.

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discerning shades

A certain kind of trouble was endemic to the region. The formal decorations fostered a preponderance of armed citizens. I had affections for a strategist, but he was alert to other things, and interpreted the distortions in my behavior to ambition.

fat finger

Once software was recognized as sentient, destruction of data became prosecutable under a number of assault-related charges, including rape and extending even to murder. A file backup using an out-of-date codec resulted in a kidnapping indictment.

intrusion

The soldiers forced us to take our cakes out of the ovens. They stomped our ovens flat. They took our fuel but left the food. We ate the cakes half cooked. After our half-raw repast, we gathered more fuel and wondered what kind of cooking gear we should use: hard to break, or easy to fix.

tremble

I was riding a bird when he began to melt. he was some kind of native icarus, demonstrating a weakness inherent to his race. good only for short hops, because you never knew how ripe they were. Once he was completely reduced, his bones were ground up into a delicious spice. So i was stranded, but could be eating well. I tried to remember if this was a dream.

knock out of shape

“Well,” he said, “I can’t really appraise the place until you mow the _______ lawn.” He was quite rude. I didn’t mention the claims that were already upon it, and he didn’t ask. I began to realize that the insurance policy would pay more than any buyer would be willing to offer, but I had to act fast before the appraiser finished his work and it became the basis for the insurance. In fact he had already gotten too far. I had to get him out of the way.

dwell on

Their rivalry grew less and less sporting, culminating in a liberal use of manure. Their guardianship was then divided, and they were sent to separate schools. A year or two after graduating they landed at the same company.

devastating

Upon applying brief pressure to the diaphragm, the room fell silent. Then we could hear the rootworm crunching through the floorboards beneath us. It was the dissidents’ trick to make us indisposed, their plot to overturn us through snaky humiliation. We looked forward to savoring the miscarriage of their plans.

resinously

On the weekends I had a part time job serving as referee for surveillance contests. Most of the drones, cameras and disguised microphones were printed at home, or molded out of warm PLC, and then painted. The two top players were a locksmith and housewife, whose rivalry was growing extremely friendly.

exasperate

It was either an animal that had reproduced three times, or a robot that had rebuilt itself three times. This time it had eyes, though I had managed to pierce its stem. I lured it onto the grass tennis court where I managed to trick into tangling itself in the net. I tied it up by the legs but I knew that wouldn’t stop the fourth generation.