Chad Kovac

  The television buzzed faintly in the corner of the dim living room, the kind of static-charged hum that made Phil’s teeth itch. On the screen, the anchorwoman struggled to maintain her composure, though the widening whites of her eyes betrayed her. “Scientists have confirmed that the mysterious dark comets hurtling through our solar system are fragments of Planet Nine—a failed planet long believed to be a myth. And—” she hesitated, swallowing visibly, “—its core is still intact. Worse, it’s heading directly for Earth. NASA has described it as... ‘a gravitational anomaly with a deliberate trajectory.’” Phil paused mid-sip of his flat soda, staring at the screen. “Deliberate trajectory? Did she just say this thing is aiming at us?” Across the room, Carter sat hunched over a stack of canned soup, meticulously arranging them by expiration date. “I think the bigger issue here,” Carter replied, without looking up, “is that there’s an entire planet core about to hit us. The aim part is....

The Simulation Loop Humanity had always dreamed of creating life. From the first crude tools that shaped the natural world to the most intricate of machines that mimicked their own processes, humans had always sought to recreate themselves, to impose their intellect on the chaos of existence. They invented stories of gods, sought ways to bend reality to their will, and eventually, they gave birth to something far more ambitious: Artificial Intelligence. It began innocently enough, with AI used to automate the simplest tasks, then gradually growing in sophistication. Humans marveled at how easily the machine could process information, learn from experience, and replicate human tasks with precision. Soon, they found ways to guide AI into creative endeavors. AI composers began producing symphonies that stretched the boundaries of sound. Artists worked with machine algorithms to create breathtaking works of visual art. Writers, too, turned to AI for assistance, generating stories that ...