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101 Word Short Stories

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Call to Arms

August 12, 2024 3 Comments

By Tom Ziemer

Your son wants bionic arms, the high-end ones reserved for the most accomplished resistance fighters. You try to explain the scarcity of rare-earth elements, the complexity of the haptic systems you’ve devoted your life to, the sensitivity of the signal processing and algorithms that enable movement, all these costly considerations. He won’t be dissuaded.

You sigh. Unlike the technology you work on, he isn’t under your control. You declined the implant during gestation. “If you want them, you had better come to my lab,” you say, staring into his hazel eyes, a color you did choose. “And it’s going to hurt.”

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kevin says

    August 12, 2024 at 10:38 am

    Great piece. Stands alone, or as a preface to a sf story. Kudos.

    Reply
  2. Lisa H. Owens says

    August 14, 2024 at 9:51 am

    Fantastic microfiction! I agree with Kevin, great by itself or part of a much longer story. Perhaps dystopian in nature.

    Reply
  3. Ed Kratz says

    August 15, 2024 at 8:41 pm

    I agree. Stands alone, or part of more. Excellent world building in such a short space.

    Reply

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