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    Robot and Raygun: Issue 1 March 2014
    Robot and Raygun: Issue 1 March 2014
    Robot and Raygun: Issue 1 March 2014
    Ebook86 pages1 hour

    Robot and Raygun: Issue 1 March 2014

    By Christopher Ford

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    About this ebook

    Science fiction short story magazine.

    Robot and Raygun features all kinds of science fiction, from post apocalyptic worlds to starships travelling through the voids of space and all that lies between. It is our aim to help fire your imagination and to envision the many futures that lay before us.
    Each issue is made up of a selection of short stories to help you discover great new writers of science fiction.

    Issue 1:
    The Host - Ellen Denton
    Umbilicus - Alex Burns
    Burst My Bubble - Sierra July
    The Enemy Within - Ellen Denton
    Binary Dreamer - Paul D. Hayes

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChristopher Ford
    Release dateFeb 17, 2014
    ISBN9781311927217
    Robot and Raygun: Issue 1 March 2014
    Author

    Christopher Ford

    Robot and Raygun Science fiction Magazine

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      Book preview

      Robot and Raygun - Christopher Ford

      Robot and Raygun

      Issue 1 – March 2014

      Edited by Christopher Ford

      Published by Christopher Ford

      Copyright 2014 Christopher Ford

      Smashwords Edition

      License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please visit robotandraygun.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the authors.

      Table of Contents

      The Host

      Umbilicus

      Burst My Bubble

      The Enemy Within

      Binary Dreamer

      Heavy Rain

      Connect with Robot and Raygun

      Artwork Credits

      The Host

      By Ellen Denton

      The great fire-sickness had felled the white intruders in the space of fifteen moons. When Makito and his people stepped out of the jungle into the now deserted city, they had to stuff boar fat up their noses to keep out the odor of decaying bodies strewn everywhere through the streets. The corpses were open. Insects and other vermin had eaten their way to the insides the way the plague had eaten away the surface skin, leaving the faces of its victims bespattered with lesions and blood.

      Word about the plague had earlier been brought to his village by means of talk-carriers who secretly watched from the outskirts of the city. After discussion with these traveling emissaries, the elders of his tribe proclaimed that no one need fear entering the white man’s town of stone; any lingering sickness would not go through their own tough, dark skins.

      Makito, along with thirty other young, aspiring hunters and warriors, was thus entrusted to make the ten moons walk-time journey. For years, messengers and observers had brought news of great food and material stores in the city, which now might be theirs for the taking. If Makito and his group were successful, they could then rightfully take their place among the adult men of the tribe.

      #

      They walked along a flat, black road, staring in awe at the shiny animal-machines parked here and there along the way. Some were empty inside. In others, white-men bodies stained with fire-sickness blood slumped this way and that in the seats. The creature-machines that enclosed them were made out of something parrot-colored and hard, with massive legs, thick, black, and round, not muscular and thin like the loping jungle beasts, nor narrow, like the bumpy, hand-hewn wheels at the bottom of the carts they had brought with them on their journey here. They had heard of such things over the years from talk-carriers, but no one from Makito’s tribe had ever seen one or been in a white-man magic village before. These animal-machines were also now motionless and dead, like the men they once carried.

      In going through the town, they encountered places that housed fruits, greens, nuts, beans, and meats, but all of it was rotted and crawling with bugs; none of it was useable anymore.

      They did find many fine garments and cloths with textures that filled them with awe. There were also tools – some similar to the spears and knives of stone they themselves used, but smoother, shiny, and the color of rainwater. There were other implements too, though on many, they could not even guess at the use of them.

      In one place, long, water-clear boxes were filled with sparkling stones for body adornment of a kind much different from the grey and white pebbles used for such things in their own village. These had many-sided surfaces that caught sparkles of shifting colors in their depth.

      The young tribesmen made their way from one place to another, loading up their carts with anything that looked to be of use, of beauty, or of helpful, magical powers.

      #

      The sun was sliding down low in the sky when they came to the place of tree-high stone huts where the white men had lived and sheltered their families. These structures lined both sides of the road for as far as the eye could see.

      Makito discussed with his group the wisdom of entering these abodes. Their carts and back-carriers were already loaded with more worldly goods than their tribe had ever seen together in one place.

      They agreed they should enter at least one such structure, as no one, not even the talk carriers, had ever done so. There could perhaps be things within of greater value than what they’d already found. If nothing else, they would have grand tales to tell when they themselves were elders sitting around a fire, dispensing wisdom and lore to the young.

      They walked up to and through the door of one, stepping around bodies thick with maggots and flies. They came to a skinny hill with steps in it and climbed to another, higher floor. There were doors all up and down on both sides, which they entered, one by one.

      As seen in the other parts of the town, the dead littered every space, some on thick, raised sleeping pads or seats, others sprawled in twisted positions on the floor, as though they had suddenly fallen down dead when they stood or walked. Many of the goods encountered in these home-enclaves were of the type they had already earlier seen and gathered elsewhere in the city, but there were some new and wondrous things there as well.

      They found many big white boxes full of cold that contained some food that was still good. There was much debate about whether or not it was safe to eat anything that had been in a magic box, and in the end, it was agreed that it would be more prudent not to risk even touching these.

      They also wisely, quickly exited a living space in which they saw a

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