Original Science Fiction - Makeshift Stories

During a deadly heat wave, unwilling to abandon his aging collie or give up his independence, 80-year-old Ryker refuses to leave his subsidized apartment. He soon becomes delirious from dehydration and heat, hallucinating that he is alone on a doomed alien world with a loyal robot. But when he collapses, the old collie must save him.

During a dive to repair a submersible mining robot, Rohan, a deep-sea specialist, discovers the true cause of the machine's malfunction: the metallic nodules it was harvesting are alive, ancient, and lying in wait. Too late, Rohan realizes that they can hijack his mind and body. Trapped within himself, he helplessly watches as the entities twist his friend into a weapon for their own spread.

After living off-grid for forty years, Shane is drawn back into society when his former best friend—now the political leader of the territory—announces plans to develop the wilderness area that Shane calls home. While watching the announcement, Shane realizes that Gabriel isn't the person he once knew. He receives an invitation from Gabriel to spend a weekend with him, and once there begins to notice odd lapses in his old friend's behaviour. Eventually, Shane discovers that Gabriel is secretly using an advanced cognitive AI system to disguise a degenerative illness.

Faraday and Quinn arrive at a remote mining site on the far side of the moon that supplies helium-3 to Utopia Base, where they have lived their entire lives believing the Earth has been devastated. Faraday soon realizes that she has forgotten her supply of a medication called Sustain, which everyone accepts is necessary to maintain their bone and muscle mass. As time passes, she begins to notice the alarming neglect of the camp and starts questioning its operations. To prove to herself that she isn't going crazy, Faraday destroys Quinn’s supply of Sustain. This act prompts Quinn to confront the unsettling truth: the maintenance systems have failed, and there are secrets being kept from them. Following a trail of clues, they discover that the resource shipments are not actually being sent to Utopia. Determined to uncover the truth, they stow away in a hopper as it prepares to launch.

At 75, Kaber Grewal should be retired in the sun, not taking gigs to pay for his hip replacement. Hired by a mysterious client to analyze communications, he uncovers signs of cognitive decline in Praeses, the AGI running the government. He is paid well for his time but warned to forget what he found. However, Kaber has trouble taking the money and walking away. When accidents start happening, he suspects his client is behind them. But after all the evidence of Praeses’s problem is destroyed, he must make a decision-walk away or expose the truth before it’s too late, before the consequences become irreversible.

During a routine license audit at a vertical farm, Carmen, a demoted field agent, discovers that the farmhands, including a man named Salvador, are genetically modified and memory-altered slaves. Carmen risks her job and her life to expose the illegal operation. In an unexpected twist, when events turn against her, help comes from a surprising source.

Nickie and her cousin Noah stumble upon a mystery as they plan an adjustment for the Primate Council; someone appears to be following them. The mysterious person turns out to be a childhood friend who reveals their roles as adjusters, make them targets of the Council. In a desperate attempt to escape and preserve their existence, all three set out to cross the border before they are erased.

After a century on Mars, crypto-trillionaire Devon Smit decides to return to Earth. He wants to be a god among the human masses, which he and his fellow elite left behind, to escape society’s downfall and impending environmental collapse. His obsession with gaining godlike status blinds him to the warnings of a fellow trillionaire and subtle signs that his potential subjects are interested in something other than revering him. CONNECT WITH US makeshiftstories@gmail.com SHARE THE PODCAST If you liked this episode, tell your friends to head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe. CREDITS Written by Alan V Hare. Read by Steve Peterson. Opening and closing were composed and created by Matthew Erdmann. Produced by Vecada Studios. Makeshift Stories is released under a creative commons non-commercial attribution, no derivative license.