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    Deity: Hard Time, #6
    Deity: Hard Time, #6
    Deity: Hard Time, #6
    Ebook56 pages39 minutes

    Deity: Hard Time, #6

    By Erec Stebbins

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    About this ebook

    Where survival is the meaning of life. A speculative fiction serial of adventure novellas set in a strange and punishing world. In Book 6, "Deity", an entity guides a motley crew of creatures toward a new beginning in a planet's last gasp at life.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherErec Stebbins
    Release dateFeb 6, 2019
    ISBN9781942360520
    Deity: Hard Time, #6

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      Book preview

      Deity - Erec Stebbins

      1

      Asleep

      The fragment of masonry clanged off the metallic structure and plunged to the ground. It shattered with a puff of dust.

      Nice shot, Mateo!

      A gaunt teen grinned at his cheering friend. Piercings studded his face. Black hair dyed a rainbow of colors and shorn bald on the sides ran to the middle of his back. He hoisted another chipped brick.

      Light faded through the grimed glass in the school hallways. The boys stood alone in the deserted corridors. They glared across a reflective, wet surface at a mechanical manikin mopping the floor.

      The robot stuttered to a halt, reached down, and grasped the broken pieces of stone in jointed, metallic fingers. Its camera-lens eyes clicked, focusing on the teens.

      Please place waste in the proper receptacles.

      The voice was awkward, mocking human speech and uncanny in its near misses. The pair laughed.

      Remember, chirped the machine, a clean school is a happy school.

      Fuck you, synth shit!

      With a loud grunt, the boy flung the piece. This larger fragment struck the bot at a knee joint, breaking the part. The right leg failed.

      Mop launched skyward, arms flailing like a puppet with severed strings, the automaton plunged to the ground. Its head struck exposed piping. The right eye popped out, the lens shattering. Wires dangled from the bot’s head, fixed to a naked camera circuit board.

      Mateo whooped and pumped a fist.

      Hell, yeah!

      Always be considerate to others. Vandalism is a crime.

      Steam shot from the busted pipe and bathed the head of the robot, its words garbled in the noise.

      Mateo bent down and raised a large slab of rock. His companion grabbed his shoulder, a gray hoodie obscuring his features.

      Stop, man! That’s enough. Let’s get out of here!

      I’m gonna wreck that thing, Dan, said Mateo, struggling as he lugged the large object toward the babbling bot.

      Dan shook his head. Why? We’re gonna get caught!

      The android thrashed, words pouring out, the circuitry overheated.

      Fucking janibots, gasped Mateo. He stopped near the malfunctioning machine. My dad started quark when these things took his job. My whole hood’s outta work. These metal shits are takin’ over everything.

      The artificial voice croaked through the hissing steam.

      I am broken. Please return me to an authorized repair shop.

      Go to hell!

      Mateo heaved the heavy rock over his head. A metallic arm rose in defense. The boy dropped the slab over the janibot. The steam pipe bent back, angling the belching vapor. The rock smashed the metal skull of the robot, sparks spraying out like fireworks.

      The janibot did not move.

      "Okay, now we go?" begged Dan.

      Stop! Stop!

      The Woman placed her hands to her head, her eyes pinched closed. She swayed and fell to her knees.

      Opening her eyes, she squinted, shaking her head.

      Where am I?

      The desert was gone. The mauled forms of Trunes and humans, of Fenn the Synth, gone. She floated in a multicolored nebula, rotating around a central point.

      At that nexus burned a figure of dust and light. Humanoid with naked skin colored ash-gray and cracked like a field of aged volcanic rock. Light and dust squeezed between the deep fissures that opened to cosmic vistas.

      I am, said

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