1: In Dreams It was a slow, mild Fall evening. We were sitting in our local Irish pub, The Lion and the Lamb, watching a beautiful young blonde woman on stage. It was karaoke night, and she was singing “In Dreams” by Roy Orbison. The song was mesmerising; her voice was like an angel’s. I suppose that’s how we ended up talking about dreams. “Has anyone been having any strange dreams lately?” asked Selena.I looked at her and the others at my company, pondering the question. The others around my table, Father Ethan Drake, the mayor himself Simon Montague and his wife Margaret, all seemed to be thinking about their own respective dreams as well. The first to speak was,…

Abstract The longitudinal study was conducted to observe what has been regarded as the Final Filter of Civilization among 3-dimensional lifeforms. While preceding observations provided valuable insights for the mechanism, this study considered variables hypothesized to be more relevant. After searching extensively, a suitable candidate was found on a solid-state planet orbiting a yellow dwarf star; and for the sake of standardization the observed time was measured in “years”, referring to the observed planet’s orbit. The subject race – henceforth referred as “sapients” – had evolved the inherent attribute of social affinity alongside the previously considered ones of sexual desire, aggression, self-preservation, and intelligence, associated with survival for their carbon compositions. The sapients were discovered as four-limbed, semi-bipedal climbers with…

It was finally time. Ever since the cave was discovered in the mountain next to my hometown, I had always wanted to explore it. It was my right after all, I was the one who found it in the woods as a child. But everyone always told me I was too young to try. So I did the obvious thing and waited it out. I waited twelve years, watching the cave become a point of attraction for scientists and explorers, dreaming about being one of them some day. Literally. Barely any nights passed without me descending into those depths in my dreams, camping in the darkness and discovering new tunnels, and sometimes even stumbling upon unknown cave monsters and trying…

It’s almost seven. Zoya leans back in her chair, stretching her arms with heavy sighs after a fifteen-page essay. It’s due tomorrow, so there’s still time for edits – but she’s been staring at her screen too long. She peeks out her bedroom window to the right. The last creeping bands of pink and orange sun grow dim across the barren treetops of the forest nearby, bleeding into the horizon beyond her corner of the suburb. The autumn air is cool and fresh, the wind is tame and her work is done for the day. She’s looking forward to her daily run. Kicking off the chair, putting her PC to sleep and slipping into freshly-laundered workout clothes and a thin…