Future Days Anthology Read online

  Future Days Anthology

  A Science Fiction Short Story Collection

  The Days Series, Vol I

  Future Days Anthology Copyright © 2018 by Castrum Press

  The Good Citizen Copyright © 2018 by Aline Boucher Kaplan

  Cell Effect Copyright © 2018 by Christopher Cousins

  Greener Pastures Copyright © 2018 by Justin C. Fulton

  Orbital Burn Copyright © 2018 by David M. Hoenig

  A Winter's Day Copyright © 2018 by Edward Ahern

  Colony Copyright © 2018 by Gunnar De Winter

  The Pink Star-Ship Switch Copyright © 2018 by James Worrad

  Custodian Copyright © 2018 by Johnny Pez

  The Caller Copyright © 2018 by Lisa Timpf

  The Trickle-Down Effect Copyright © 2018 by Mark Lynch

  Jericho Copyright © 2018 by Matthew Williams

  Ghosts Copyright © 2018 by RB Kelly

  Mother Copyright © 2018 by Rick Partlow

  The Cull Copyright © 2018 by PP Corcoran

  The Rescue Copyright © 2018 by Claire Davon

  The Man Eater Copyright © 2018 by Christopher G. Nuttall

  Castrum Copyright © 2018 by JCH Rigby

  All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  Cover designed by 100 Covers

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Printed in the United Kingdom

  First Printing: Aug 2018

  Castrum Press

  Print ISBN-13 978-1-9123273-4-8

  Aline Boucher Kaplan

  Christopher Cousins

  Justin C. Fulton

  David M. Hoenig

  Edward Ahern

  Gunnar De Winter

  James Worrad

  Johnny Pez

  Lisa Timpf

  Mark Lynch

  Matthew Williams

  RB Kelly

  Rick Partlow

  PP Corcoran

  Claire Davon

  Christopher G. Nuttall

  JCH Rigby

  Contents

  Introduction

  The Good Citizen

  About Aline Boucher Kaplan

  Cell Effect

  About Christopher Cousins

  Greener Pastures

  About Justin C. Fulton

  Orbital burn

  About David M. Hoenig

  A Winter’s Day

  About Edward Ahern

  Colony

  About Gunnar De Winter

  The Pink Star-Ship Switch

  About James Worrad

  Custodian

  About Johnny Pez

  The Caller

  About Lisa Timpf

  The Trickle-Down Effect

  About Mark Lynch

  Jericho

  About Matthew Williams

  Ghosts

  About RB Kelly

  Mother

  About Rick Partlow

  The Cull

  About PP Corcoran

  The Rescue

  About Claire Davon

  The Man-Eater

  About Christopher G. Nuttall

  Castrum

  About JCH Rigby

  Books by Castrum Press

  Introduction

  Future Days is a multi-author anthology with thrilling tales of starships, artificial intelligence, cryogenics and exotic aliens. A combination which makes this collection a must-read for science fiction short story fans.

  This anthology features USA Today and Amazon bestsellers and award winners alongside rising stars in the science fiction genre. Let the authors take you on adventures through dystopian worlds and far flung planets that will stretch your imagination.

  Welcome to Future Days:

  “The Good Citizen” by Aline Boucher Kaplan

  Out of work? Need to pay the bills? Don’t worry the government is looking for a few good people to work in the colonies. And, oh yeah, its compulsory.

  “Cell Effect” by Christopher Cousins

  Saiden has abilities. Abilities the government wants to weaponize. Only one thing stands in their way, Ret Saiden.

  “Greener Pastures” by Justin C. Fulton

  When the line between a utopian virtual world and harsh reality become blurred, the choices we make can be fatal.

  “Orbital Burn” by David M. Hoenig

  Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. Who would have thought convicted criminal Slade would be one of them?

  “A Winter’s Day” by Edward Ahern

  Ever-Young Cryogenics promise its clients a brief spell of life every decade. But, what happens when your family grow old and die, but you don’t?

  “Colony” by Gunnar De Winter

  In a hierarchical society decided by birth, instructions must be followed. Unless you are a radical and want to destroy the system.

  “The Pink Shar-Ship Switcher” by James Worrad

  Jada is a businesswoman intent on climbing the corporate ladder by sealing a lucrative deal. That is, until a Being from another reality intervenes.

  “Custodian” by Johnny Pez

  Only a special kind of person volunteers to stay awake during the long voyages between the stars while the rest of the crew sleeps. But what happens when he gets lonely?

  “The Caller” by Lisa Timpf

  A job she hates on a world with too many problems. But what if she can escape to a new world and start again? Can she leave everything she knows, and loves, behind?

  “The Trickle-Down Effect” by Mark Lynch

  Denton, a man who would do what needed to be done to survive in the ‘Pit’. The lowest, dirtiest, crime ridden part of a mega city forgotten by the ‘One Percenters’ living in their luxurious towers.

  “Jericho” by Matthew William

  A new world. Ripe for colonization. Pre-prepared by nanite Seedlings for the arrival of their human designers. But what happens when the designers become your God?

  “Ghosts” by award winning author RB Kelly.

  The storms bring the Seekers. Machines with one purpose, to bring death. Only sometimes death is not quite death.

  “Mother” by Amazon #1 bestselling author Rick Partlow.

  A mother’s love is the strongest of all. Protect and nurture your children to your dying breath. Even if that means genocide.

  “The Cull” by Amazon #1 bestselling author PP Corcoran.

  Humanity has reached its peak. Genetic manipulation makes humans faster, smarter and stronger. But at what cost?

  “The Rescue” by Claire Davon.

  An Alien shuttle is downed. Lt. ‘Dee’ Delaney must find it and secure the alien survivors until help arrives. Easy. If Delaney can trust her own people.

  “The Man-Eater” by USA TODAY bestselling author Christopher G. Nuttall.

  Three ships vanished testing the new faster than light engine. A desperate scientist

  wants to prove his engine works. How? Why you steal it of course.

  “Castrum” by JCH Rigby

  Sergeant Joel Edwards is wakened seconds before being dropped into combat. A faceless enemy. A nameless place. All he knows, is a cyborg is ready for anything.

  The Good Citizen

  ALINE BOUCHER KAPLAN

  The heavy knock on the front door cracked like a pistol shot. Elena jumped, and her family stopped eating. Henry froze with his fork halfway to his mouth. Cory choked on his glass of water and put it down. Their faces turned to her. Little Marta looked around the table. Her eyes grew large, her seven-year-old face crumpled, and she began to wail.

  The knock boomed again.

  “Mom?” Cory said in a hoarse voice. “Is it them?”

  “Yes,” Elena whispered. She thought frantically, where did I leave the exemption letter? Right, it’s on the table by the door. “I’d hoped for a few extra days, but they’re right on time.”

  The knock came again, louder. Elena pushed back her chair and stood up. If she didn’t answer, the whole family would lose ration points, and they couldn’t afford less food for the children. Things would get worse if they had only Henry’s teaching salary and ration card to live on.

  “It’s all right,” Elena said. “I’ll show them my exemption letter and they’ll leave. Don’t worry.”

  She walked to the front door. Her mouth was dry, and her cheeks and hands had gone numb. Heart pounding, she manipulated the triple lock and opened the door.

  A plain woman in a dark skirt suit, with a gold badge hanging from a lanyard, faced Elena. Two uniformed guards stood behind her in black body shields and helmets, with dark faceplates that masked their features. The woman held a tablet that cast blue-white light onto her face. Cold November air fell into the house.

  “Are you Mrs. Elena Tremblay?” the woman asked.

  “Yes,” Elena replied. “I am.”

  “Our records show that you have been out of work for 180 continuous business days. Is that correct?”

  “Yes, it is”,” Elena said in a voice so soft the wind carried her words away.

  “Speak up, ma’am.” The woman’s bright badge labeled her as Reassignment Agent Moira
Ferris, Number 3411.

  Elena cleared her throat. “Yes, yes it is,” she said with more confidence. “But I’m looking. I have prospects. I’m expecting an interview next week.”

  “Do you have a formal offer in your possession for a job of any kind?” Agent Ferris studied the tablet’s screen. She looked up at Elena again with a softer expression. “Any kind of a paying job? No matter how menial?” She leaned slightly forward, as if encouraging Elena to say yes.

  “I, um. I thought. I tried. I applied.” Elena took a deep breath to stop babbling. “No.”

  “Have you applied for a temporary work assignment through the Agency for Civilian Mobilization?”

  “Yes, of course.” Elena flushed, remembering that appointment with its drug test, endless forms, and personal questions. “But the ACM said that I was over-qualified and not suitable for the jobs they had left.”

  The woman nodded and touched the link. “According to Section 42, Article 15, Paragraph 8 of the U.S. Full Employment Code, you have, as of today, forfeited your right to independent status as a citizen. Your body is now the property of the United States government to be deployed as needed. Do you understand what I have said, ma’am?”

  “No. No, I don’t.” Elena took the exemption letter from the basket of mail on the hall table and held it out. Agent Ferris didn’t even glance at it. “I have two minor children, one under school age,” Elena continued, pushing the letter toward the official. “I knew you would contact me, of course, but I have a valid exemption right here. The law says...”

  “Congress repealed Article 21 of the Code last week,” Agent Ferris said in the flat tone of someone who had repeated the same information too many times. “The number of children, their genders and ages no longer render anyone exempt.”

  “But we heard nothing about that.”

  “It was passed in a closed session, ma’am,” Ferris said. “The Congressional vote was unanimous, and the President signed the revision immediately. We need workers for the in-system colonies.”

  Elena began to turn, as if to run away. This can’t be happening. But she couldn’t think of what to do. The law was the law. Where could she go that the government couldn’t track the chip embedded in her skull?

  She turned back to Agent Ferris. “Yes.” Her voice sounded like a croak. “I understand.”

  “I am required to take you to a Federal Reassignment Center for processing.”

  Elena closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Back in the house she could hear Henry and Cory trying to quiet Marta.

  “You have to say the words, ma’am.”

  “Yes, yes, I understand,” stammered Elena.

  Agent Ferris held out the tablet. “Just press your thumb here, please.”

  Elena raised her right arm, watching as if it belonged to someone else as Agent Ferris grasped her thumb and pressed it to the sensor.

  Henry came to the door and stood behind her. “You can’t take my wife!” He strode toward the door. The two guards took a step forward, their boots clomping in unison, hands on their weapons.

  Agent Ferris raised one hand, stopping the guards. She shot the two civilians a nervous glance. “Think carefully about your next move,” she said to Henry. In a lower voice she added, “Your family needs you.”

  Henry stopped, made a rough anguished sound, and went back to where Cory stood with Marta in his arms. He put an arm around his children, and tears pricked Elena’s eyes.

  Agent Ferris stepped to one side to give Elena room to pass. “We have to go now. Come with me, please, ma’am.”

  “Can I bring a few things?” Elena knew she should have packed a go bag and kept it by the front door, but she’d relied on the exemption to protect her. Besides, doing that had made the possibility of this day seem too real, too immediate.

  “Not necessary.”

  Elena looked upstairs. “I have to get my medication.”

  “Not necessary.”

  “My coat?”

  Agent Ferris nodded. Elena hesitated between her good wool coat and the old down jacket. Ferris murmured, “Wear the old one. They’ll just take it away at the Reassignment Center.”

  “Will they give it to the poor?”

  “There are no poor people.”

  Shrugging on the jacket, Elena kissed Henry and hugged Cory. Marta, shrieking, held out her arms, but Elena didn’t dare take her. She would never be able to pry those warm clinging arms from around her neck. Instead, she kissed each one. “I love you,” she said to them.

  “You can’t go, Mom,” Cory said with a voice choked by tears.

  “It’s the law,” Elena replied. “We’re law-abiding citizens.”

  “But it’s wrong!” His face was twisted with anger. “The law is bad. You have to fight.”

  “We don’t get to pick which laws we obey, Cory,” Elena said. “And we can’t ignore the laws we don’t like.”

  “Yes we can!” Cory shouted. “Don’t go with them.”

  The two guards behind Agent Ferris lifted their weapons in one motion.

  “That’s enough, Cory,” Henry said in a hard voice Elena had never heard before.

  “But – “

  “Stop. Now.”

  Elena could hear the panic in his voice. She knew the guards wouldn’t tolerate any resistance. She had to end this right now.

  “I’ll be doing important work in space,” she said to her family. “Think of me when you look up at night.” Elena forced what she hoped was a smile. “Besides, I’ll get superpowers.”

  Turning her back on her anguished family, she walked down the front stairs and across the lawn. Frosted grass crackled under her shoes. The guards lowered their weapons and followed, one on either side.

  “Can you tell me where I’m going?” she asked.

  Agent Ferris replied, “As I said, you’re going to the Reassignment Center for processing.”

  “I mean…after.”

  “No. I can’t say.”

  “Oh. Not even where...?” Elena looked up at the night sky.

  “No.”

  A black bus with tinted windows waited on the street. The outside held no markings of any kind, neither an official seal nor a commercial logo. Agent Ferris stood aside so Elena could board the bus, then stepped up after her. A row of seats at the front looked like those in a normal bus. A Plexiglas barrier separated them from benches that lined both sides of the vehicle, with a low rail on the floor in front.

  Other detainees sat on the benches with their wrists in restraints. Three or four in the back were hunched over and fastened to the rail. They looked like they’d been in a fight.

  Elena halted, unable to take another step. This can’t be happening to me, she thought. I’m an educated woman. I’m a manager, a professional. I have a respectable job.

  Not anymore. Not since she’d been called into a conference room and found a human resources supervisor facing her with a wireless printer on the table and a tablet next to it. She had taken Elena through the layoff process and made sure the right signatures went in the right places, along with an official thumbprint on the last page. Finally, she’d handed Elena a formal statement of separation from the company.

  My death warrant, Elena thought. Only I didn’t know it then.

  “I’m sure you’ll find another job soon,” the supervisor had said in the complacent voice of someone who was still employed. “You’ll be fine.”

  But there were no jobs, not for people, not anymore. Kiosks, robots, touch screens and AIs had replaced humans in even the simplest positions, especially the easy jobs. You needed at least an MBA to be considered for the few non-automated positions left, and the competition was fierce. Elena had been too busy with her family, and working long hard hours to keep the job she had, to even think about getting a graduate degree.

  Agent Ferris took her by the arm and guided her to an empty spot on the bench. The bus smelled of sweat and fear. Elena sat down. She watched, stupefied, as the guards put restraints on her.

  “That’s not necessary,” she said.

  “It’s required,” Agent Ferris said. “Standard procedure.”

  The cold bands chilled her. They told Elena she’d gone from a wife and mother to a prisoner. She stared at them, wondering how this had happened to her when she’d always obeyed the rules. Elena couldn’t understand how the country had come so far from the way it had been only a few years ago.