l.m.orchard's published ficlets
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Resurrection of a Shade
He had no words to describe what was happening to him. More accurately, he had nothing in his possession from which words cou…
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Do sleep-deprived engineers dream of electroplated tofu?
The hiveminded, phosphorescent lichen are conspiring with the mechanized saurans in low earth orbit. They share a common conc…
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Starhook
One hundred vapor trails and more struck upward that day, all around the world, all away from the world. Most took advantage …
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A Night of Wild Cycles
“What the hell were you thinking?”
The machine was silent, offering only a slightly energetic twinkling of blinkenlights acr…
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Limits of Immortality
“Do you remember the first time you were badly hurt?”
“Not really. Don’t we all experience our share of scrapes and bruises …
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Held Up at Customs
They wanted his pinky finger at customs.
At first, he’d thought maybe they just wanted a print or a blood sample. But then,...
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Self Knows Self
I sat at a bus stop a few blocks from my old apartment, waiting. I’d fended off a handful of half-hearted self-assassination …
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Joey and Sparks, part 2
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Shiny Mudballs
The pair boosted forward into the asteroid’s single inset airlock, pulling a cargo sled behind them. It eased into the habita…
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A Burden Shared
“Looking for this?” said Cynthia, behind him.
Startled, Philip whirled on her. With a jaw clench, he regained his dignity an…
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Always Something Left to Learn
He remembered how he’d tossed a crust of sandwich to a lone seagull, one summer long ago.
The poor thing had just been on t…
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In Absentia, part 2
Minnaloushe was John’s name for the cat, who he’d always bragged was more canine than feline. Minnaloushe played fetch, loyal…
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Offworld Weirdos
“You know those things over there are pretty much perverts, right?”
“How do you figure?”
“Well, for starters, that one on t…
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Nanorepair, part 1
In anguish, he stared at the surface of the picnic table. Just the day before, this table had been far from perfect. Its surf…
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The Anomalous Grouch
The bridge shuttered and rocked, crew members clinging to their consoles. Behind the Weapons Officer, a conduit suddenly vent…
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Waste not, Want not
Mana from Heaven it was, almost literally.
We woke one day to a strange rain, flaming meteorites the size of cars streaking…
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BooBooUndo
NEW! The BooBooUndo Button, just $19949.99 from Cronotron Industries!
They said time travel was impossible, but they never m…
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The Hush of Battle
A trio of men cowered in a trench under the full moon and starry sky. Crickets and night-flying birds were the loudest sounds…
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Self-Winding Samaritans
When the little toy robots started showing up, I thought they were just part of some urban art project. You know, like those …
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Opportunity in Hell
“You know,” I said, once his scream had died down, “as bargains go, yours was pretty disappointing in its terms.”
“W-what?” ...
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