World Without War

In a sleek, high‑psi future where cooperation is outlawed, Mark pilots his air‑car over a river of glassy magma, racing against a chronometer that threatens to make him late for Jennette’s birthday. The landscape shimmers with brittle shards and half‑vitrified cliffs, a backdrop for a sudden, violent encounter with three stranded strangers. He pulls a strange zuzz pistol and, later, a broad‑beam weapon, turning the sky into a frantic ballet of violet flashes and molten eruptions.

The clash leaves his craft a flaming wreck, and Mark barely survives the scorching impact. Disoriented, he removes his helmet and discovers a storage cabinet filled with eleven humanoid bodies that mirror his own form, each marked by past accidents. The stark scene forces him to confront the loss of his preferred body and the urgency of reaching the birthday celebration.

Amid the lingering smell of tepid mist and the hum of machinery, Mark’s thoughts linger on Jennette—an enigmatic love that drives him forward despite the chaos. Her birthday becomes more than a date; it’s the anchor that keeps him human in a world gone cold.