Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober Season 2. This is episode 14 for Tuesday the fourteenth of October, 2025.
What Fools These Mortals Be
by Elizabeth Guilt
Hersh's eyelids flutter, hands clenching and twisting. Hersh is - allegedly - the best, a hot-shot consultant, but it's been hours since he passed wetware security and jammed cables into his spine.
And the systems are still down. Heda checks, repeatedly, feeling like he's missing something.
"Hey... new boy. Err... Ike? Get coffee."
Down at street-level, Ike hugs himself and grins. He's grinned like that since he teased sabre-tooth tigers, since he baited centurions. He throws away the name Ike. He grinned before people gave him names.
"You know the best bit?" he asks the barista. "These days, no-one believes I exist.'