retune

The new type of insurance did not compensate, it erased. It reversed any event, and its effects were untraceable. A legislator introduced a bill to ban it, but as the bill moved through committee the ban was removed and replaced with heavy regulations, and then these moved to the background of discussions, and the focus became centered on proposals for how the government could purchase these insurance contracts as a form of legislation. Many wanted to nationalize the insurer offering these policies, but the company was located offshore.

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hypermnesia

The shop sold many strange things. “What is this, Crazy Seed?” she asked.

“That allows you to sow lunatics, as many as you’d like.”

“You mean, like, new people? Or can it turn living people into lunatics?”

“Well, you put four of these seeds in a house. If there are only three people there, they will all go crazy and another will join them. Maybe he’ll be born there, maybe he’ll come in as a traveller. You can’t control exactly how it works.”

“I want it,” she said, and reached for it, but her hand couldn’t find purchase.

“You have to grab it with your mouth,” the storekeeper said.

opposability

The first thing he published after the surgery was an album of drawings he had made in the asylum. He hinted that all of his subsequent work was based on some one of those drawings, which put critics to guessing what the inspirations for each new release. But in one of his last interviews he admitted that the relationship between his pre and post treatment work was a marketing one.

bore reckoned

During John Henry’s race with the steam-powered hammer, he was fitted with a light harness that measured his breath, to compare with the readings of the valves on the machine. He breathed more heavily, it was argued, than anyone else in history, with the possible exception of Hercules. Some argued also for Ulysses, but they were fools who did so.

hostess

I tossed the muddy cue ball onto the floor and it rolled underneath the divan. She couldn’t be bothered to get up. I stood back up from my the crouch of my toss, and my garment shifted to expose the skin of my flank. She smiled, amused and contented.

imitation surge

External communication was cut off, it was said, by the grain of the wood in the outer walls. Perhaps it was something else in that wood, or elsewhere in the house, that led us to hate external communication in the first place. Even though it filled me with disgust, i could at least entertain the idea. And that was progress, wasn’t it?

held back

In order to retrieve the secret message we knew we had to build a model that swam. We were at the swimming pool every weekend but so far they all sank. One of them somehow grew heavier once it was in the water and we couldn’t get it out. However it was gone by the next time we came.

some discussion

One year the family were plagued by dead squirrels. They were piled before our doors and dumped in our cistern. The family wondered if it was an animal or a person. They didn’t think they had any enemies, but couldn’t find any tracks or spoor of an animal. Only a few years later when one of the sons went to the city did he learn what it was. Someone, when they learned where he was from, remembered a story that was in the city papers at the time.

autonomous variant

Working through the night, we were able to tighten the flapping of the creatures wings and reduce the cuffing. The movement was still sporadic, but just jerky now, not so close to flailing. We hypothesized this would enable more controlled flight, including gliding. Unfortunately we didn’t have another creature to use as a control to test our idea.

roamers

Most travelers he met were like him: moving slowly to acclimatize themselves to each new place. In this world the local micro-biome made newcomers sick. Moving slowly, growing used to a place and letting the place grow used to him gave him time to learn the local customs. In many senses, he took time to fit in. He met a few other travelers who moved quickly, flitted from place to place. They had the latest news. But they were always sick. Then he heard of their city, a place that had antisepticized itself, They had wiped out the local micro-biome. Newcomers did not get sick. That’s where these fast travelers came to rest.