John Moralee - Future Imperfect - A Collection of Science Fiction Stories

“That’s good news.”

“No, it’s not. He says you died last week.”

“What? That’s nuts.”

“He showed me a convincing video.”

“And you believed it? It’s fake, Anson. It’s the Ripplers. They want you to open the hatch for them.”

“I know,” he said. “General Gerlach would never get off his lazy ass to fight. Besides which, I know you. If you were one of the enemy, you could have killed me the moment my back was turned. He thinks I believed him. He thinks I’ll open up the hatch for him.”

“Then we can’t disappoint him,” Dawkins said. “Let’s do it. I came up to tell you nanoforge has already finished baking a cake for him.”

Five minutes later, Anson pulled the lever to open the hatch. It was just starting to open when he fired his smart weapon through the gap, unleashing a series of whooshing explosions before the hatch had opened halfway. He raced to the entrance and continued firing, blowing apart dozens of enemy troops lying in wait. The area was temporarily clear around the hatch – but it would not take long for the Ripplers to regroup and attack.

“Now, Dawkins!”

Dawkins sent a command to the kitchen bot beside her. It rushed outside, zooming past him carrying its cargo in its mechanical arms. The bot stopped 100 metres away while Anson provided cover. He continued firing until the hatch was closed again.

As the bot had rushed past, he had seen the timer counting down on the bomb it was carrying, a freshly-made hydrogen bomb. Twenty seconds. That was all he was given it before it detonated. Anson turned and ran down the tunnel, counting down the seconds. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

The explosion was much louder than the last one.

His ears were ringing when he picked himself up off the floor. Dawkins had fallen over too. They both stood up.

Dawkins shook her head. “Are we still alive?”

“Yeah – but they aren’t. That nuke will have toasted them all. And the explosion will be seen from orbit. The real General Gerlach will figure out we need help now.”

“I’m amazed the nanoforge could make a nuclear bomb.”

“It could make anything if it has the materiel and the 3D designs.”

“So … what do we do now?”

“I don’t know about you – but I need a shower before the cavalry shows up.”

Dawkins laughed. “I think I’ll join you.”

Anson grinned. “I knew you still liked me.”

“How?”

“You still have my first name tattooed on your hip.”

John Moralee is the author of the crime novel Acting Dead , the zombie apocalypse thriller Journal of the Living , and the comic fantasy Crowning Achievement: The Legend of King Arthur. He lives in England, where his short fiction has appeared in magazines and anthologies including The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper Stories , Crimewave , and the British Fantasy Society’s magazine Peeping Tom .

Several collections of his stories are available as ebooks and trade paperbacks.

Acting Dead – a mystery novel

Journal of the Living – zombie apocalypse novel

Crowning Achievements: Legend of King Arthur – comic fantasy novel

The Bone Yard and Other Stories – horror short stories

Bloodways – horror short stories

Edge of Crime – crime fiction omnibus

The Good Soldier – short stories

The Tomorrow Tower is a collection of nine science fiction short stories. In the distant future a woman becomes horrified by the actions of her decadent companions. A man’s brother returns from a war with his mind drastically changed. A television falls in love with its owner. A soldier must track down an old friend before he kills. A race of super-cute aliens arrive on Earth asking to help humankind – but what do they really want? A boy dreams of becoming a cosmonaut in an alternate history where the Russians walked on the Moon first. A man searches for his family in a world wrecked by dangerous nanotechnology and warped virtual reality. An immortal dictator fears for his life while building a deadly war machine. And a grieving man starts seeing strange things after a car crash, making him doubt everything he's ever believed to be real.

The Uncertainty Principle is a collection of science fiction short stories, containing three short stories and a novelette. In a dystopian Britain in the near future, two detectives investigate the disappearance of a young girl, leading them into a dark world filled with evil predators. The Uncertainty Principle first appeared in the anthology The Mammoth Book of Future Cops , edited by Maxim Jacubowski and M. Christian. This collection of science-fiction short stories also includes:

Shipwreck Charlie – A woman receives a mysterious message from her uncle.

A Burning Man – Smoking is not just illegal, but it is punishable by death.

Shakespeare Lives! – The bard is back with a little help from cloning technology.

Visions III: Beyond the Kuiper Belt

Visions IV: Deep Space

Visions V: Milky Way

Visions VI: Galaxies

The Mammoth Book of Future Cops

The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper Stories

Hideous Progeny: A Frankenstein Anthology

Crimewave #1

Crimewave #2

Crimewave #3

Clockwork Cairo – a steampunk anthology edited by Matthew Bright, including stories by Gail Carriger, Nisi Shawl, Chaz Brenchley and many others.

John Moralee © 2018

The moral right of John Moralee to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without the permission of the author.

This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locations is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved.

Paradise Saved , Signal , Yellow Stars and Canyon Falls were first published in the Visions series by Lillicat Publishers. Ripplers © 2017 John Moralee. Dream Baby first published on the Cult of Me website © 2014.