DancersThe dancers whirled across the crystal floor like flowers on swirling water. The lights of the hiveworld spread a carpet of diamonds below them.A young girl, dark-skinned and dressed all in red, whirled to the edge of the dance floor. She pulled away from her tall, slender partner and carefully curtsied. The gentleman returned a deep and graceful bow before taking the hand of a waiting lady and returning to the whirling waltz.The girl settled on a chair beside a short, pale man. His hair and fur collar were striped black and white, his eyes and the gem at his throat were red, and the wine in the glass he offered her was blue."The Ch
Barstow Station+++TRANSMISSION BEGINS+++We were on the shuttle to Barstow Station when the math began to take hold. It had been over an hour since I jacked the hacked dataslate into the back of my skull, and I had begun to worry that my cogitator had developed a workaround, a resistance, an immunity. But as the lurch of deceleration yanked what was left of my bowels toward the floor, I felt the left side of my body crawl with bugs and soft whores' fingers as my mechanical rightbrain choked on the irreversible computations and self-annihilating fractions I had fed it. Half of my visual and audio input was flooded with error messages and the smell of flo
And the Wind cuts to the BoneAnd The Wind Cuts to the BoneChapter 1Nilus Eisen's dream echoed with the crash and rumble of walls coming down.In reality, he had fled to the armory of the Adeptus Arbites precinct fortress on Cosflame. Behind him, in the infirmary, Brother Domis was changing. The mad little old man had been so single-minded in his faith, so certain in the protection of the Immortal Emperor. Always babbling a prayer, always screaming praise in battle. Now his piety had broken into one long scream as the Daemon poured through the hole in his mind, stretched and warped his flesh, clawed its way into being.In reality, Varn, the hulking savage Guards
Loyal Like a DogBen set the two coffees on the table and slid into the plastic bench seat opposite Amy. She was huddled in a hooded sweater. Her eyes were hidden, but a curl of her yellow hair had escaped and was hanging down past her lips, swaying back and forth as she breathed.Ben ran his fingers through his own short hair, the same shade as hers.He cleared his throat. "I'm... um, I'm glad you came. Wasn't sure you would."Amy wrapped her hands around her coffee. He could feel her gaze on his chest, boring into his striped sweater.He laughed nervously. "What are the chances, huh? Running into each other on the subway? I... uh, I didn't even
Sta.sh
