AlexMcGilvery Array - Nano Bytes

A Collection of Short SciFi Stories

This is a collection of short stories written by Wattpadders who love their Science Fiction as much as we do. It aims to celebrate the diversity of the genre both in subgenre, length and style, so whether you like Steampunk or Hard SciFi, Space Opera or Dystopian, fanfiction or a drabble, we know you'll find something in here you like. Explore, read, enjoy.

The collection is arranged in alphabetical order by Wattpad username. If you want to see your story included here you can submit in line with the submissions process on the profile, but just mention you want your story included in here instead.

We'd prefer stories that are under 5 Wattpad pages long - approximately 4000 words or less - and you can have the story both here and on your profile, in fact we encourage it. If your story is included here, we'll dedicate the story to you so people can find more of your stories if they want to.

We want to see science fiction that's interesting, fun, different, intriguing, and all of the above. But it does need to tell a great story and be grammatically correct too.

Come one, come all. Welcome to NanoBytes!

Hey Frankie, Jeck said. His feet sat firmly on the desk as he rattled the paper news sheet. Someone won that X-Prize thing.

Frankenstein was the doctor, the android designated 743 said. His creation was just called the monster. If you follow that logic, you should be calling me Mo.

What are you going on about? The feet came off the desk and thumped onto the cement floor of the tiny security office.

If you are going to use derogatory names, you might as well get it right.

Everybody calls you Frankies, thats good enough for me. Jeck tilted back in the chair and swung his feet to the desk in a practiced motion.

743.388.02.09 rolled his eyes in a gesture he hated, but was deep programmed into him. Perhaps a focus group suggested artificial beings acting like perpetual teens would make them more accepted. It didnt work. Like this Frankie thing; the damned proties couldnt even get their insults right. Mind you it was probably a compliment to be called after the Dr. Frankenstein, but was it still a compliment, if the speaker thought it was an insult? 743 pushed the problem into his side cache and let a processor work on it.

So what is this X-Prize that youre so excited about? he asked. He might as well try to get along with his boss.

Somebody finally built a tricorder. Jeck rattled the paper again, but kept his eyes on the sheet instead of looking at 743. The shift in facial colour and a heightened heart rate suggested he was still upset. The programming had nothing useful to suggest about people being upset.

743 ran a brief search on tricorder and came up with Star Trek.

You couldnt do that before? It seemed a strange deficiency, to not be able to pinpoint what was wrong in ones functioning.

Nah, we real people cant just loosen a bolt and plug a cord into our heads to diagnose whats wrong. Jeck waved his hands like he was plugging a cord into his head. 743s access port was on his left arm.

Like Data? 743 was still running Star Trek information through his cortex.

What data? Jeck said, This is a hand held thing that will let anybody see whats wrong with them and how to fix it.

Will it cure stupidity? The programming didnt stop artificial beings from expressing annoyance. It had to do with the right to free speech. They were allowed to say whatever they wanted. What they werent allowed to do was think beyond the carefully delineated boundaries of their programming. There were no rights to free thought.

Jeck turned and glared at 743. There you go being all insulting again. Thats why nobody likes you Frankies.

I wasnt aware that being likeable was part of the job. 743 observed Jeck going through all the obvious physiological signs as he moved from upset to angry. He should be more careful. He did need this job, though not for the reasons that Jeck assumed. My apologies, he said, I didnt mean to offend.

Thats just your programming, you arent really sorry. Jeck had his back to 743 and folded the news sheet into his pocket.

Since Ive never had the opportunity to not have programming, 743 said, I cant tell you the difference.

Oh hell, its your first night. Jeck waved his hand at 743, Just dont do it again. sides we have work to do. He pulled a flashlight from his belt and turned it on. The belt bulged with what Jeck called tools of the trade and 743 privately labelled toys. This way, dont get lost. I dont want to waste time looking for you.

743 activated his GPS and prepared to map the route. Jeck walked ahead of him rattling doorknobs and shining his flashlight through the glass on the doors. Not one of the doors was unlocked, and nothing moved in any of the rooms. They finished one floor and moved to the next. Jeck was sweating by now and stains darkened his uniform grey shirt under his arms.

I always take a break on the third floor, Jeck said and leaned against a wall. Im not as young as I used to be.

I will check this floor while you rest, 743 said. Jeck waved his hand in what 743 took to be an affirmative. He walked down the hall rattling doorknobs and glancing in through the windows.

Youre supposed to shine your flashlight through the glass, Jeck said when he returned.

I scanned in the infrared, 743 said, there is nothing in any of those rooms.

You dont know that unless you use your flashlight. Its procedure. Jeck grunted and pushed himself away from the wall. He walked down the hall checking each doorknob and shining his light through the windows. Youve got to do it right, he said and led the way up to the fourth floor. 743 followed him through the same routine. Half of the windows had screens fastened to them.

What about the windows with something blocking the window? 743 asked.

Thats programmers that have something on their computer they dont want anybody seeing. Just ignore them and keep going. They returned to the tiny office on the ground floor and Jeck threw himself into the single chair in front of the monitors. They flashed from scene to scene in a not quite random pattern. Jeck watched the monitors for while.

What about the rest of the property? 743 asked.

Its all on the monitors, Jeck said and pointed at them. 743 saw the hallways they had walked on screen.

Why walk the halls if we can see it on screen? 743 swept the frequencies and found most of the cameras. He let them input to a temporary cache and set a part of his attention to watching them.

You cant check the doors through a screen now can you? Jeck swivelled the chair in a full circle and pulled out the news sheet. He carefully flattened the paper and started reading it again. 743 downloaded the sheet and scanned its contents. He paid special attention to the X-Prize announcement. It was far down the page, below the antics of a protie teen singer. 743 was impressed that Jeck had noticed it.

They scanned the monitors, or rather 743 did while Jeck made a sandwich and consumed it messily. Every twelve minutes one of the screens went blank. Jeck ignored it and pulled out a deck of cards. He laid out a pointless game on the desk. 743 followed the links on the tricorder thing. The success showed a great deal of technological cleverness. He suspected much of it came from the development of artificial beings and giving them comparable senses to the proties.

What about the screen that goes blank?

Something one of the techies is working on, Jeck said peering at his cards. Boss said not to worry about it.

Right.

The night crawled past and 743 turned down his clock speed. They made the walk through the four floors of the building every hour. Each time Jeck rattled the doorknobs and peered through the glass as if something was going to get past them and hide in one of the offices. Exactly at 0700 hours their replacements showed up.