You’d think the world’s first time travel-capable device would have been birthed from a military facility, deep beneath a baron stretch of American wilderness and a 50 mile gauntlet of landmines. Or a sterile, overfunded laboratory in Cambridge. Or in the sub-sub-sub basement of a glass box on the edge of a malevolent tech giant’s … Continue reading Outdated Wardrobes
The total loss of physical sensation was an unsurprising consequence of plummeting a few hundred feet. But agony, eternal nothingness and squelching noises that Travis had expected never came. He was instead overwhelmed by the feeling of being stuck in a menu. The menu read: StartOptionsHELPEnglish dishesChipsChicken nuggetsOmeletteAbout Us He chose HELP. Not with a … Continue reading HeavenCube
The ‘Seekers of Freedom and Truth’ or ‘SOFT’ as they were often referred to on their early 2000s looking, green-text-on-a-black-background-acompnaied-by-free-stock-images-of-cyberpunk-globes website, had not reached the global scale of anti-government banditry that they’d hoped for just yet. Their activities thus far had been parochial and confined exclusively to Hatchfield and the surrounding area. Lacking a secret … Continue reading The Handsome Man
I’m still in shock! He did it! The Tin Geezer actually did it! But I didn’t need to tell you that. It’s all over the news! They’re not sure what to call it. Technically, he’s not the first robot to take office. That honour would go to the Roomba that technically became mayor of Tower … Continue reading Bonabot VII
The word ‘aliens’ conjures images of bright lights, malicious rays and spindly, grey figures with bulbous heads and shiny black eggs for eyes. ‘Aliens’ to us living in the colony at least, meant something far more mundane. The extra-terrestrial specimens we’d found weren’t hyper-advanced psychic demons from the skies. It was far less exciting, for … Continue reading Sky Whales
Did you see us readers!? Will I now be inundated with requests for my autograph and offers form showbiz agents who’ll propel me to stardom? Each week has seen a bold new flavour of escapade ever since that metal monstrosity rattled into my life. This week, Bonabot and I made our first ever television appearance! … Continue reading Bonabot VI
The message hadn’t made the slightest bit of sense. And yet it seemed genuine. It had come from a genuine domain, the address it told her to go to was genuine, it was void of typos and poor grammar. At least, as void as you’d expect for a message from the office of an MP. … Continue reading Plato’s Race I
The tension is palpable, for the first time in decades, the population of Hatchfield are audibly buzzing with excitement for politics of all things! Flyers are being stuffed in letterboxes (and in turn, recycling bins). Pubs are reverberating with heated political debate. Electricity is in the air! And not just because EtherCom are experimenting with … Continue reading Bonabot V
This is a piece of flash fiction I wrote as part of the Coventry University Creative writing Society. It is, to date, the only thing I've succesfully managed to get published. It was featured in issue 2 of Bandit Fiction. I've since written a few more pieces in this series. When we at 1s and … Continue reading Bonabot I
Dear readers, I did it. I rebuilt him (or it?). As many of you will recall, I wrote in our last issue of the worst home-built robot we have ever reviewed. A morbid fusion of cheap appliances and the digitised ghost of Napoleon. Well, following Bonabot’s traumatic encounter with an Ocado lorry, he’s back up … Continue reading Bonabot II
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