Category: Bears

TownFit

2024-06-24 / admin bot / 0 Comments

Bryan’s eyes scanned the street as he walked, his gym bag swinging lightly in his grip. He had moved to this quiet suburban neighborhood for his new job a few weeks ago and was eager to maintain his fitness regime. After scoping out a few options online, he settled on the closest gym to his new apartment. From the outside, it looked quaint, almost nostalgic, with a classic neon sign that read “TownFit Gym.” Unlike the sleek, ultramodern gyms Bryan was accustomed to, the building had an old-school charm.

He pushed open the door, the scent of worn vinyl and faint sweat greeting him. It was inexplicably familiar, almost comforting. Inside, the gym buzzed with activity, but it was not the stereotypical health club intensity Bryan was used to. The patrons here moved slowly, laughed loudly, and seemed reassuringly at ease with each other. The average age appeared to be mid 40s, with a striking majority of the men sporting dad bods—soft around the middle but with an air of solid strength beneath the surface.

Night shift

2024-06-17 / admin bot / 6 Comments

Ethan had always commanded respect with just a glance. His beard, neatly trimmed to salt-and-pepper perfection, framed a face that remained strikingly handsome despite years of boardroom battles. Broad shouldered and tall, his mere presence was an unspoken statement of authority and confidence. But as he stood behind the counter of the convenience store, clad in a simple polo shirt and jeans that clung uncomfortably to his damp skin, he felt the weight of his new reality pressing down on him.

Laid off and forced to downsize from his penthouse in the city to a one-bedroom apartment off the suburban expressway, he had been working nights at a rundown convenience store. The work was boring—few customers dropped by between ten and six—and the long stretches of downtime forced Ethan to confront the changes in his life. No one had any idea he had been a top dog in a C suite; anyone who saw him assumed he was just another middle-aged underachiever selling cigarettes and liquor on the graveyard shift.

Strings attached

2024-06-03 / admin bot / 0 Comments

Mick’s heart pounded as he stood motionless in the garage, awkwardly gripping his husband Paul’s hand. Ted’s laughter echoed around them, a chilling reminder of the power he now held over their lives. The air was tense. The scent of sawdust and whiskey mingled with their fear.

Paul’s mind raced as his face ached from smiling. He tried to piece together how everything had gone so wrong and how he and Rick didn’t realize it until it was too late. Just a few hours ago, they had been enjoying a regular Friday night with Ted, their charming and seemingly perfect friend. Then everything changed.

A 3D rendering of a futuristic tunnel with smooth, metallic walls.

The space bears, part 2

2024-05-20 / admin bot / 0 Comments

Read part 1 to get caught up…

I awoke gasping for air and pawing at the inside casing of my sleep chamber. I was freezing cold, and I couldn’t see anything. I’d heard guys talk about sleep panic, but I’d never experienced it before. It was worse than I imagined. My sleep chamber hissed open, and a rush of warm, dry air filled the space. I inhaled sharply, and a musky scent filled my nostrils. A pair of hands pressed down on my shoulders, and another held my legs in place, putting a stop to my frenzied thrashing.

“Hang in there, little buddy,” Bradford said. His voice sounded distant and muffled. “You gotta calm down before we can let you up.”

Doing time

2024-04-01 / admin bot / 0 Comments

Travis Barnes always woke up 16 minutes before his alarm clock sounded. Every weekday morning at 4:14, his eyes opened. He lay motionless until 4:29. He wasn’t sure if he had conditioned himself to do this or whether the implant dictated his actions even at this early hour. He gazed up at the ceiling of his room at the halfway house, savoring the last few minutes of repose he would have until long after the sun set that night. He thought he noticed a new crack forming near the corner above his head, but he couldn’t be sure. After so many months in the program, the days had begun to run together. There was little sense in paying attention to such minutiae.

As he counted down the minutes, Travis tried not to think about the sequence of events that landed him in this mess. Nevertheless, the memory always returned, eating up valuable seconds of his vanishing downtime. Like with the alarm clock. Travis couldn’t tell if it was his own guilty conscience or the implant that dredged up the memory every morning. The program’s administrators refused to explain the details.

Robot cops (chapter 2)

2024-01-22 / admin bot / 1 Comment

Read chapter 1 of “Robot cops” to get caught up before reading on…

Bryan was only eight but always remembered the afternoon PX6-5901 visited his classroom. Of course, twenty years had passed since then, and PX6-5901 was likely in pieces at some offshore garbage facility now or as recycled components of playground equipment. The PX6 was, by modern standards, a relic. Two new generations of PX officers had come and gone since then. Today, the patrol force was primarily PX9 officers, with a small minority of PX8 units still in service. However, they had since been relegated to mundane police duties, like parking enforcement. The real patrol work was now the province of the PX9.

The overall design of the PX officers hadn’t changed much over the decades, with the same human-looking face, hands, navy blue torso, and limbs, although the body was shinier than Bryan remembered from his youth. A glossy finish had been applied to the bodies of the PX8 models to better reflect energy, keep the units from overheating, and prevent dents and scrapes to their plastic and metal frames. This glossy finish was carried over into the current PX9 units. The badge was still affixed to the left pectoral. The unit’s serial number was now printed in white block numerals on the right. Each generation of PX officers was also slightly taller and bulkier than the last, the PX9 reaching a hair higher than its immediate predecessor at 191 centimeters.

Robot cops (chapter 1)

2024-01-15 / admin bot / 1 Comment

Bryan noticed the officer directing traffic on the corner just in time and killed the accelerator on his hovercar. The vehicle glided to a smooth stop at the end of a long line of hovercars waiting to clear the intersection, and Bryan eased his foot off the brake. He couldn’t tell what was causing the logjam, but he was grateful. Having to wait gave Bryan the time to carefully watch the officer standing in the middle of the street, using its hands to allow one hovercar from each side to pass through the intersection at a time.

Bryan had never seen a human patrol officer before, and it was likely that neither had anyone his age. It had been 44 years since the national police had begun replacing human patrol officers with the PX4s, commissioning new models as vacancies opened through promotion or attrition. Nearly 26 years ago, the last four remaining human patrol officer turned in their badges and sidearms, and the lower ranks had been composed entirely of PX officers ever since. Detectives and other higher ranking members of the police force were still human, of course, because criminal investigations required more than the PX programming could offer.

Whisper what you’ll bring me

2023-12-17 / admin bot / 1 Comment

My husband Terry squeezed me awake, and I looked around the living room bleary eyed. I could never stay awake in front of the TV. The Christmas movie we’d started watching was over, and a poor cover version of “Jingle Bell Rock” played over the closing credits. Instinctively, I reached for my phone to check the time, hoping I hadn’t overslept.

I felt his beard graze my bald scalp as he moved in to kiss me. The scratchy sensation sent shivers down my spine. “I’m sorry I passed out,” I said. I stood up and stretched, already missing the warmth radiating from his body. I rechecked the clock more surreptitiously this time. It was 11:54 p.m. Only six minutes until Christmas.

“It’s okay,” Terry said, reaching out to me. I grasped his hands and pulled him into a standing position. We laughed as both of his knees cracked on the way up. “I love napping on the sofa with you, but if I don’t get in bed, I’ll be a pretzel when I wake up tomorrow.”

Two bears in coveralls walking away from the camera down a spacecraft hallway

The space bears, part 1

2023-03-07 / admin bot / 1 Comment

I had been based out of Artemis Station for several years, doing long-distance runs to minor colonies and galactic backwaters. Six months to Vesta. Fourteen months to New Rockall. The occasional 10-week jog to Hyperion and back. Interstellar cargo is a boring industry, but the work was steady, and the pay was good.

The long periods of deep sleep freaked some guys out, but I didn’t mind it too much. I had no loved ones waiting back home who went on living—and aging—while I spent most of my time in a sleep chamber, exempt from the passage of time. Coming home to a new kid you didn’t recognize or watching everyone you’ve ever cared about move on with their lives without you must make you think twice about the job. Of the 200 graduates of my training group, fewer than 50 signed up for a second run. After my third run, I think I was the only one still with the company.

Category: Bears

TownFit

Night shift

Strings attached

The space bears, part 2

Doing time

Robot cops (chapter 2)

Robot cops (chapter 1)

Whisper what you’ll bring me

The space bears, part 1

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