Harrison Bergeron. Tiptree_Girl_Plugged_In. The Last Question. The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light.
The question came about as a result of a five dollar bet over highballs, and it happened this way: Alexander Adell and Bertram Lupov were two of the faithful attendants of Multivac. As well as any human beings could, they knew what lay behind the cold, clicking, flashing face -- miles and miles of face -- of that giant computer. I Love You Like Water. Cato The desert laps at the edge of the city – what used to be a conurbation is now one city short.
The place where two cities met is a sand trap. The inhabitants of the place that got swallowed, the hardy few who stayed, are referred to as ‘sand crabs’. Doctors say the mutations have begun, slight but definite, and within a few generations, perhaps, there will be something on two legs that can live unaided in the uber-desert we’ve carelessly created. For now they are just strange, shambling things, living on the edges, only coming out at night, not quite dangerous.