Ag-Cat

A teenager stood inside a decrepit phone booth, phone in one hand. He glanced at the murky glass door behind him. A girl around his age was waiting outside and giving him a thumbs-up. He nodded and turned back to the phone. Taking a deep breath, he executed a long series of numbers with the rotary dial. He put the handset back and waited. There was a mechanical whirring, then a piece of paper slid out of a slot at the bottom of the phone. “What did you get?” the girl asked as he stepped out of the phone booth. “A cryptograph, I think,” he showed the piece of paper to the girl. “Well that’s cryptic,” she crossed her arms. “The way the symbols are grouped together… I think each group of symbols is a word.” “Each symbol corresponds to a letter in the English alphabet, perhaps?” the boy said. “The star is probably ‘A’, which doesn’t have much since it isn’t repeated in the other words.” “The red cross and wing could be “IN” or “NO”. But then there’s the dollar sign and yellow moon

Nina might be new on the scene, but she was pretty good at this hero-ing business, if she was to say so herself. Her mission today was to take down a small-time criminal that was holding up in a house at the edge of the suburb. Her power was electricity and there was a convenient swimming pool in the backyard. This would be a piece of cake. “Step out of the house and surrender now, criminal; or I will use force!” she raised her voice as she kicked open the wooden fence gate and strode into the backyard, lightning crackled in the air around her. The shallow pool of clear water sparkled under the sun; but it was not as dazzling as her, of course. Not only she had a force of nature on her side, she also had excellent five senses. Her ear caught a groan from the house – inaudible to a normal person’s hearing, she was sure. “I know you’re in there!” she shouted. There was a flutter behind the curtain and the door to the backyard slid open. The criminal must had figured out that it was

The car stopped in front of an old apartment building and Mizuki glanced out of the side door window. Someone had left a tacky frog-shaped armchair on the side of the road, its fraying green fabric damp from the rain. ‘It's comin' down on me’; the chair seemed to be saying, looking upward to the miserable sky. Mizuki related to that chair more than she related to the other, normal kids at her school. Normal kids lived with their loving parents, not got dumped on their dad’s drinking buddy like a piece of unwanted furniture. Speaking of her dad’s friend, he was opening the trunk of the car and saying some dumb thing about her luggage and her being a little runt. “Stupid. I can carry it myself,” she lifted up her suitcase with one hand, swung it over her back and strode into the building. Date placed a pot of water on the stove, glancing at his new ‘roommate’. After they put away her things she just sat by the coffee table and stared at the carpet. He sighed. He had been friend with

Sean wasn’t having the best day; though to be fair, he couldn’t recall if he ever have a good day. He was supposed to be on break right now. Just 15 minutes. Barely enough time to stretch his legs outside and grab a coffee. He stopped and turned to look at the building on his right. A bar…? He didn’t remember this bar being here. In fact, this entire road looked unfamiliar. He cursed under his breath, his fingers snagging on the headphone around his neck. That was what he got for walking while sleep deprived. He sniffled. A heavenly aroma was wafting out from the bar. Well, he was looking for coffee. He marched in, all ready to demand the bartender or barista or whoever ran this store to make him a take-away double espresso ASAP when he saw it. A giant Pacific octopus on the counter. A live octopus, here, where he should be safe from all manners of seafood. He felt his mouth went dry. The memory of when he had an allergic reaction to salmon shoved itself to the forefront of his mind.

Different from your homeland, this planet had four seasons due to its tilted axis and lopsided orbit. The part of the planet you were in was hot, but you predicted that it would transition to a cooler season soon. Your ship sustained heavy damage during the crash-landing. You had managed to set up a temporary base and a beacon that sent signal to space, but you were in the middle of nowhere so you didn’t expect help to come anytime soon. For now, there weren’t much for you to do but exploring the beach you found yourself in. Your scan indicated that there was a large settlement of an intelligent life form nearby, but it seemed to be abandoned. There were many small creatures living within it, but they could not be the original builders of these tall, cube-shaped structures. Calculation shows that these structures were suitable for land creatures with bipedal stand and dexterous forelimbs. It might be a place worth checking out later; but first, you wanted to inspect the synthetic

He loved his parents, but he couldn’t wait to inherit their company. They said he needed to be more serious, but they didn’t get that he worked hard and weed helped him relax. That day he was smoking just that when the television said the airplane his parents were in crashed. He couldn’t stop laughing.

As a daughter of a noble house, Corrina accepted that her marriage was going to be an arranged one. A marriage was a business deal between two families, and she was good at business. Her groom-to-be was Cadmus Vieno, an active and handsome nobleman from a house of good standing. The week before their official wedding was the first time she saw him again after many years. The meeting confirmed what she expected: he was still the same spoiled brat that made fun of her bad vision, found her in her favorite alcove and snatched her book from her hands. “So you’re going to be my wife?” he said, smoke trailing from his tobacco. “At least you got rid of those glasses that made you look like a fly. You would embarrass me otherwise.” Corrina’s smile did not twitch. “I’m glad you think so,” she said. “A bride of the Vieno House has to look the part, after all.” Sharing a bed with her new husband for the first time was as awkward as she thought it would be. Neither of them said anything for a

Vonte loaded up his caravan with potatoes and scrap papers. His band of merry nomads had been saving for a while, and he was quite pleased that he was able to buy all that he needed for his nephew’s upcoming birthday party. Four wasn’t a special number or anything, but they had been having some pretty good years and wanted to do something fun this year. He whistled at his horses and they made the journey back to where his group was camping outside of town. “So, I know what dish you’re going to make with the potatoes, but what do you need the starch for?” Sahar, his youngest sister, looked over his shoulder as he lined a colander with a piece of cheesecloth and place the entire thing onto a pot. “Adhesive. I’m going to make a few simple paper kites so we could all play with little Laxi,” Vonte answered, pouring a mixture of warm water and grated potatoes into the pot. “The weather is good so the papers should dry in two days. I think Laxi would love to learn how to make her own

The wooden oar sliced through the misty water surface, pushing the small vessel forward. The boatman moved with practice ease. He did not falter when he heard his passenger waking up. Not that they could do much with their hands and legs tied, anyhow. The boatman did not turn back, but the rustle of clothes told him the passenger was sitting up and looking around. “Ah. I guess the priestesses didn't use enough sedative if I’m already awake now,” the passenger intoned. The boatman did not response. He had brought many sacrifices to the sacred island over the decades. Sometimes they woke up and begged for their life. It did not change his duty. “You’re not very talkative, are you?” the passenger said. “Hey, entertain me before the last moments of my life! How often do you have the chance to chat with a holy scapegoat, huh?” More than you would think. Is what the boatman caught himself from saying. “Ohh, I know! You fear that you will change your mind if you talk to the victims. Have