Peripherals

"Ouch!" I stuck my finger in my mouth and tasted blood. "Damned thing bit me."

"Software conflict," Steve said. "Probably. And now it's run off."

"Maybe the wireless mouse isn't the way to go," I said. "At least when it was on that silly leash, it couldn't get away."

Something hissed. "I think the cat ate it."

"Which one? That's five-cat cable, you know."

The monitor on the desktop turned its scaly head toward me and flicked its tongue twice. "You already had your crickets today," I told it. "Don't give me any lip. I could make you a flatscreen."

Trust but Verify

Dr. Gillicut shuffled his notes. "Our AI has run extensive models and determined the sky is not, in fact, blue. There is no such thing as blue at all. It's a shade of orange with unusual properties."

A reporter raised a hand. "So... what are the practical implications?"

"Well, um, we have to... rename... things. Since blue isn't real."

"But if everyone sees it as blue, why not just call it blue?"

Gillicut's cell phone buzzed. He glanced down. It was a message from the lab: "LOL!"

Dr. Berhaus leaned over. "I told you he was messing with us again."

More Than Anything

Rudy tugged at Bernice's sleeve, and they crept together along the low library shelves. Through a gap in the Encyclopedia Brittanica, they could see the greenish, vaguely humanoid creature perched on a child-sized chair by the Internet Cafe. Now that the initial fright was off, it was almost cute, like a Digimon. It clawed vaguely at the screen, its claws making tink-tink sounds against the glass.

Rudy stood boldly. "What do you want?" he called.

It turned mismatched eyes to him, then glanced back at the computer. "Home," it said, scrabbling at browser window on the screen. "Can't go home."