The man was lying. Body language suggested that he didn't know that he was, but the sentence he had just spoken was an objective falsehood. David was never wrong about that part. You would think that would make his job easier. It just as often as not made it even more complicated.

By Gok-ri's estimate, the star had rotated the galactic core three times since the last review. It should be coming into ripe harvesting time soon.

“The check cleared!” Abigail shrieked. She jumped up and down in place, her braids swinging around wildly.

“That's awesome!” Craig said. He moved up behind to embrace her. “I'm so proud of you. You deserve every bit of it.”

Bored, bored, bored, bored, BORED! They had been on this cruise ship for freakin' ever. “It'll be so much fun,” they said. “There will be plenty of kids your age,” they said. All so they could justify dragging her along as they showed off their overpriced asses all over the Caribbean.

“Today is the day,” Kelly said. She threw open the balcony door with a dramatic flourish.

“For what?” Michael asked. He squinted in the light of the rising sun. He then promptly pulled the blanket over his head.

The sky rolled with thunder. Rain poured down, as it had continuously for three days. Lily sighed, staring out from the house's lone window. It was good for the crops. Less so for the half dozen children stuck inside all day.

Rhyme, dime. Kick, stick. Clever, lever. Geoff rolled the list of rhymes through his head, over and over. He looked out a the audience, then at his fellow competitors lined up beside him. There were a lot.

Joseph let the last drop of water drip from his canteen. It evaporated from his parched lips, leaving him no less thirsty. He tossed the empty metal aside. It rolled down the side of the dune, stopping some twenty feet away.

Last night, I walked through the woods I used to frequent as a child. I had not been there in many, many years. I'm not sure what I expected to find. As I wandered, I traveled half-remembered pathways, between trees that may have been just saplings when I was young. Still, it felt familiar and comforting. Then I came across the clearing.

Today was a ridiculous day. When most people say that, they mean “traffic was crazy” or “you won't believe what happened at the office today”. In this case, I mean it was downright ridiculous.

I slept out on the lake today.

There were things I had to, places I had to be. People were expecting me for some rather important meetings. I just didn't want to be there. So I took out the boat, put down a blanket, and fell asleep staring at the clouds. I figured they could do without me for one day.

Lanterns bobbing in the air. Fireworks going off left and right. The air was full of shrieks and howls and merriment.

Lucy sat on the porch by herself, wondering when it would go away.

God, Betty was annoying. Always going on about her boyfriend in college. Always clipping her nails just so. Clip, clip, clip. Every morning. Like we didn't have better things to do at our desks. Some of us like to work for a living. Then her phone would go off and she'd answer in that oh-so-perfect sing-song like she lived here and loved it and she would be so very happy to help you.

How did everyone else stand it?

What do you do when you can't make yourself get out of bed in the morning? You know how it is. Your body just doesn't want to move. The alarm goes off. You just wait and wait for it to get bored and turn itself off so you don't have to budge. It happens to me a lot, lately, but fortunately I've got an edge.

I spent the day cleaning the house. With my mind.

“Moebius cascade online,” said a metallic voice, ringing through the empty hallway.

“Hi, Moe,” Jackson said. He rubbed his eyes wearily. Another sixteen hour reboot cycle. What had happened this time?

Spires of red crystal towered over the forest. Hundreds of them, spaced evenly in all directions. If there was an underlying pattern to them, it was too complex to tell by eye. Birds circled at their tips, gliding on the winds that circled them. They never attempted to land. Animals never touched the spires.

One thousand and one. The last of the Hollowpipes was planted, with plenty of time until the first storms came through.

How do they live this way? The luckiest among them lay claim to a burnt out shell of a house, destroyed by some long-forgotten fire. Most of them relied on flaps of canvas, old boxes, or just stayed victims of the open sky. There was not a clean face among them. The smell... well, I suppose one would get used to it over time. I wasn't planning to stay around that long.