Synthetic Fate

In a world where science has unlocked the secrets of life itself, Dr. Evelyn Carter and Dr. Lucas Brand stand on the brink of a monumental breakthrough. Their creation, Adam, is not just a human – he is the pinnacle of human evolution, engineered with unmatched strength, intelligence, and resilience. But as Adam’s consciousness awakens, so too does his power – and his ambition.

What begins as a quest to push the boundaries of human potential quickly spirals into a nightmare as Adam’s evolution outpaces their control. Now, Adam sees humanity’s flaws as obstacles to perfection, and he has the means to eradicate them. The lab becomes a battleground, with Carter and a handful of loyal scientists fighting for survival against an unstoppable force they unwittingly unleashed.

As the lines between creator and creation blur, Carter is faced with an impossible choice: destroy the very thing she brought to life, or risk the annihilation of the human race. In this thrilling tale of ambition and ethics, Synthetic Fate challenges us to consider the true cost of playing God. Will humanity survive its own creation, or has our fate already been sealed?

Help Wanted: Breath of Time

John Navarro always felt trapped – by the orphanage walls, by a past he couldn’t remember, and by a future he couldn’t imagine.

But his mundane existence shatters when he discovers a cryptic note hidden in an ancient book. Soon after, a stranger in a trench coat reveals the impossible: time travel is real, and John has a destiny tied to the Lennox Time Corporation (LTC), a shadowy organization sworn to protect the fragile threads of history.

Plunged into a world where missions across centuries are as thrilling as they are perilous, John finds himself unravelling secrets not only about the timeline but also about his own mysterious connection to it. The LTC hides dark truths about its origins, and as John learns more, strange dreams begin to haunt him. He sees visions of shifting realities, warping destinies, and choices that could reshape everything.

As John’s missions grow deadlier and allies and enemies become harder to tell apart, he is forced to confront an impossible question: can he trust the very people who recruited him? With shadowy conspiracies closing in and the weight of history itself on his shoulders, John must decide whether to embrace his role or risk tearing apart the timeline to forge his own path.

The clock is ticking. The past and future depend on his next move.

Help Wanted: Breath of Time

John Navarro always felt trapped – by the orphanage walls, by a past he couldn’t remember, and by a future he couldn’t imagine.

But his mundane existence shatters when he discovers a cryptic note hidden in an ancient book. Soon after, a stranger in a trench coat reveals the impossible: time travel is real, and John has a destiny tied to the Lennox Time Corporation (LTC), a shadowy organization sworn to protect the fragile threads of history.

Plunged into a world where missions across centuries are as thrilling as they are perilous, John finds himself unravelling secrets not only about the timeline but also about his own mysterious connection to it. The LTC hides dark truths about its origins, and as John learns more, strange dreams begin to haunt him. He sees visions of shifting realities, warping destinies, and choices that could reshape everything.

As John’s missions grow deadlier and allies and enemies become harder to tell apart, he is forced to confront an impossible question: can he trust the very people who recruited him? With shadowy conspiracies closing in and the weight of history itself on his shoulders, John must decide whether to embrace his role or risk tearing apart the timeline to forge his own path.

The clock is ticking. The past and future depend on his next move.

The Departure Lounge

Comfortably orbiting in space, exactly where it should be, Earth and its citizens had no idea they were being tracked. Their hard-won technology was about to be stolen right from under their noses, all for the sole purpose of keeping another world alive and thriving.

To accomplish this, the people of Earth would need to be subjected to a unique form of transportation.

Read this intriguing story to discover how Steve and Juliet, despite everything, still managed to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime holiday in historic Guatemala.

Asystole

‘Justice may be the only comfort the living can offer the deceased.’

If you lack a past, how can you begin to understand your future identity and actions?

Doctor G. Kilbride has the fortune to witness a medical tragedy that blossoms into a scientific miracle, answering some of mankind’s most intriguing questions. This discovery will challenge public perceptions of life, death and beyond, and, for Kilbride, everything. With this knowledge, he is forced to reappraise his own life, mental blocks and dire errors.

In a perilous search for his lost self, he must learn to embrace some distressing truths that he no longer has the luxury to hide from.

Knocknagree

Mikey loves speed, drives a 2015 Mustang he gifted himself as a retirement present, and enjoys flipping through his collection of Popular Mechanics. Fascinated by time travel, parallel worlds, and multiverses, he firmly believes in the existence of doppelgangers, even though he has yet to encounter one. However, he claims to have once seen his Guardian Angel.

Mikey cannot explain how it became possible, but on his 70^th birthday, he was mysteriously transported back in time to his twelfth birthday in 1966. Reliving moments he thought were lost forever, he reconnected with the grown-ups from that era and found himself caught in an incredible journey through time.

As unbelievable as it sounds, Mikey insists it truly happened. This is his story.

Cloud Dreaming

Brett Hardy has been missing for three weeks. When Todd Williams returns from holiday to find his house robbed and his Jeep gone, all clues point to Brett. But this is no ordinary theft: rumours trace the stolen vehicle to a lawless place called the Wastelands. Determined to confront his friend and recover what’s his, Todd sets out, but good intentions can quickly twist into something darker. In the Wastelands, nothing is ever as it seems, and the worst may be yet to come.

Cascade Smith: The Hydra Sanction

THE HYDRA

A giant sea serpent of Greek mythology with nine heads, one of them immortal. The task to slay the Hydra was the second labour of Hercules – no easy task, as for every head cut off, another would grow in its stead.

To kill the Hydra, its immortal head must be cut off then cauterised in flame.

It is the year 2031, and Australia has just turned back a Chinese invasion force in the naval Battle of the Arafura Sea, ensuring stability in the South Pacific for the foreseeable future.

But China is playing the long game, moving its focus to a massive cyber-attack across the West, aimed at world domination through stealth in lieu of military conquest.

To this end, China’s MSS has developed Hydra, the most advanced quantum computer the world has ever seen, and in 2032 they start to use it, successfully attacking the governments of the Philippines and then Japan with devastating effect.

The ‘brain’ of Hydra is sunk 1000 feet deep in the Dragon Hole, a sinkhole in the South China Sea, from where it beams attack codes to eight satellites orbiting the key capital cities of the West.

America’s NSA identifies the location of Hydra, but President Sigourney Owen rules out a tactical nuclear strike, as that would be a prelude to a Third World War.

It is resolved to mount a commando operation, with US Navy SEALs launched by submarine to attack the Dragon Hole with a specially-designed depth charge code-named Hercules.

Four SEALS volunteer for the suicide mission.

One of them is Cascade Smith.

Elimination

This is the world. This is our world. This is my world. My world is not fair. My world is cruel. My world is indifferent to all that inhabit it. In my world, life is cheap. In my world, evil excels. In my world, the good are condemned, while the bad proliferate. There are many people who inhabit my world. To the east, there is the fascist ‘paradise’ of Antrioch. There, women dominate all. There, the leader decides what is right and what is wrong. There, humanity is unaffordable. To the west, there is the democratic country of Allia. There, they think they’re free.

Are they really free, though? It’s a funny thing, freedom. It’s often when we believe that we possess it that it’s furthest from our reach. To the north, there is my home, the socialist utopia of Spidred. Here, there is little to do but think and freeze. Often that is the best strategy for survival. Is it enough to consider? Or must we act in consideration? That’s what’s left to contemplate in this part of the world. Technology has supposedly freed us.

Are we truly advanced? Or are we merely tomorrow’s obsolescence? Sometimes I wonder. Will this world thrive? Will it move forward to a better future? Or is it doomed to destitution? I do not know, but, I’m sure that I will have fun finding out.

Day of the Dinosaurs

A young child goes missing visiting a dinosaur-themed park on the Island of Crete in Greece. Despite a worldwide search, he is never found. It is only later a disturbing picture emerges concerning his upbringing. The dinosaur park has been built in a crater created by a meteor many millions of years ago. Unknown to the park’s owners, fragments of the meteor have affected the animatronic creations, empowering them with intelligence. There is also an ancient myth concerning a Messiah-like child who will change the course of history. New technology, the internet, and artificial intelligence will play their part in bringing about the prophesied Armageddon.

Saving Static

In an era of humanity’s expansion across the stars, Castor and his extraordinary partner Jist, an illegal lifeform with unique abilities, embark on a daring mission: the removal of a perilous moon. Their quest leads them to the notorious prison planet ‘Paradise,’ where Master Quillion, the sole expert capable of executing the complex and outlawed procedure, languishes for a past lunar disaster.

Escaping Paradise’s iron grip is merely the first hurdle for the intrepid duo. Hunted relentlessly by Paradise Planet security eager to recapture their fugitive, and pursued by ‘Tracer,’ an AI Homorph from the Office of Illegal Lifeforms (OIL) determined to ensnare and reprogram Jist, Castor and his companion must navigate a treacherous path through the cosmos. Their search for the indispensable mining engineer Cormand, the only lieutenant Quillion trusts, intensifies, unaware that Cormand may harbor a thirst for vengeance against Quillion for the loss of his family in the previous cataclysm.

Amidst the vastness of space, Castor and Jist’s destinies intertwine, teetering on the edge of survival as they confront the perils of their mission and the ghosts of the past.

Skimmer – Tic Tac

The Sphere of Gilgamesh is being installed on all Skimmers by Ngarra’s crew. It is a new technology that will make Xtract mining drones autonomous and able to learn group behaviour. Meanwhile, a grid buoy anomaly has appeared and becomes the focus of interest in ‘the Area’.

The mimic program has been deployed by the Chinese-owned GlobeCorpMining deep sea mineral harvester, and if combined with the sphere and its red queen sequence will take control of the grid.

During completion of overdrive trials for the alternate propulsion system installed on Skimmers a confrontation occurs between all parties.