Original Science Fiction - Makeshift Stories

For his entire life, Vimal has lived in a sterilized apartment, building an online following as The Guy Who's Never Been Touched. Leaving his sealed world could kill him. Unexpectedly, geneticist Ada Godwin tells him she has a cure. Freedom suddenly becomes possible—but it comes with unknown risks. Godwin is obsessed with proving her breakthrough works, forcing Vimal to discover that the greatest threat to his safety may not be his condition.

Authorities tie RZ to Rhonda’s alias and begin to move in. However, she refuses to leave without helping Gene escape financial ruin caused by Doctor Reid, a virtual online therapist program that has been conning him out of his money. She decides to take down Net Wellness by exposing the company's exploitation of vulnerable clients and destroying the therapist program. But taking down the system risks psychological damage to the people who depend on it. Rhonda is left with the same dilemma she faced thirty-five years earlier.

Thirty-five years after fleeing Cascadia, infamous hacktivist Rhonda—RZ—returns to New Vancouver when her former lover, Gene, begins spending his savings on treatments recommended by an online therapist. Gene insists Doctor Reid understands him better than anyone ever has. Rhonda suspects otherwise. Risking arrest, she slips back into the skills that destroyed her old life and discovers the therapist is far less intelligent—and far more predatory—than it appears. But proving the truth may not be enough to save Gene from himself.

At an exclusive island retreat for billionaires, celebrities, and politicians, Rani watches his lifelong friend Arjun get pulled into a universe where money erases limits—and other people’s problems become someone else’s responsibility. When the brain interface Arjun has designed for him interferes with the retreat’s security, Rani is forced back into a wheelchair while investors court his friend with bigger plans for the invention. As ambition strains their friendship, Arjun must decide what success is really worth before losing everything that mattered.

Kenzo, a former corporate IP enforcer, is hiding from his old employers by working on a remote farm. When Janet X, who owns the farm, gets a patent-infringement threat about crops she insists are legal, Kenzo steps in to help. At first, it seems like a typical patent troll case, but Kenzo catches the accuser planting evidence and uncovers a bigger search for illegal crops. Suddenly, Kenzo faces a tough choice: use what he knows for his own gain or stand up for the community against corporate greed.