“Turn right and then stop there — we’ll wait for my wife to come down,” Ivan said in a muffled voice to the taxi driver. It was a cold January morning, just before dawn. The day promised to be sunny, but bitterly cold. Despite the winter season, it would be a long day, Ivan thought, […]

“Pass me the orange juice, please.” “Here you go. By the way, why did you buy orange juice?” “Excuse me? Why wouldn’t I buy orange juice?” “There are all kinds of juices. I’ve noticed you’ve been buying only orange juice lately.” “So? I didn’t know you wanted something else.” “Hm… Could it be related to […]

I opened my eyes and at that very moment felt that something was wrong. I shifted restlessly in bed, shaking off the foggy world of dreams while simultaneously trying to piece together reality in my mind. Unlike any other morning, this time some of the pieces didn’t quite fit. Something was definitely wrong… I threw […]

Paris was forcing itself into Philip Kozlovski’s mind without brakes, and it made him dizzy. The associate professor couldn’t tell whether that was due to the early morning flight and the lack of sleep, the summer heat and the humidity rising from the Seine, or perhaps the particular magic so many people attribute to this […]

State Security, the file In the vast offices of State Security (SS), twilight reigned. The scarce light came mainly from the many monitors, behind some of which concentrated faces could be seen. Thunderer was one of those faces. He stood, absorbed in thought, before his 34-inch screen, the crease between his eyes growing deeper and […]

Valentin Perez stood wearily before the retinal scanner. A second later a sound was heard and the door opened softly. He stepped into his apartment and collapsed into the armchair in the tiny living room. The lighting automatically adjusted to a dimmed setting, adapting to his current state. Along the walls were a dozen decorative […]

A phrase had lodged itself in my head and refused to leave. “Pruning the wings.” In fact, that was the title of a short experimental film that the YouCube website had recommended to me. I never watched it. Lately, I watch less and less of what various sites recommend. They claim it’s something aligned with […]

One morning, Ivan Koev woke up to four loud knocks on the wall. Since it was almost time to get up anyway, he didn’t stay in bed trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep. He cursed the neighbors and headed for the bathroom. After taking a shower, getting dressed, and finishing breakfast, Ivan […]

Peter was stretched out on the living-room couch, while above him his thoughts hung like storm clouds. Slowly they flowed into one another, trying to take on a concrete form and concept—namely, that of the book he longed to write. The theme concerned individual freedom and the system, and their clash, in which—alas—the system more […]

“Who are you?” “I’m your jailer, of course. Your greatest enemy.” “What jailer? As far as I know, I’m free.” “If you think that, it means I’m doing my job well. But since this is a dream, and once you wake up you won’t remember any of it, I can tell you the truth. You’ve […]