Dialogue - Dignity or Profit?

Dialogues | Dignity or Profit?

Bain and Shi Xin sit next to each other, trying to remain still. Waiting for Hunter has become a meaningless phrase, a distant hope evaporated into random sounds. They cling to the knowledge that Hunter has promised to return, but if he doesn’t the Service Robot seems persuaded to consider their plight. Bain’s weary eyes fall across the short length …

Is Belief Merely a Comfort?

Dialogues | Is Belief Merely a Comfort?

Shi Xin and Bain sit slumped against the coffee cart, surrendering to their endless wait for Hunter’s return. The light of the long departing suns is finally replaced by the unsettling breaths of night so the service bot has turned itself into a pale android torch. The glow seems unnatural in the ancient walls of the cave, but it provides …

Does Imagination Have a Purpose?

Dialogue | Does Imagination have a Purpose?

Waiting still for Hunter, Shi Xin and Bain have grown used to studying every detail of the cave entrance that effectively holds them as prisoner. Their kindly jailor, the service bot with its curiously vintage coffee cart has become more amenable over time, certainly more so than the rabble of greedy traders who slur between alcohol and gambling in the …

Does it matter if we care?

Dialogues | Does it Matter if We Care?

Shi Xin and Bain stare at each other, sitting on opposite sides of the cave. Bain, rubs his face, tracing the lumps and wrinkles of his flesh. He knows that Shi Xin is actually looking over his shoulder, seeking into darkness gathered around the distant hills, but he pretends she is looking him. He has no delusions of romance, isn’t …