Summer 2026 Short Story Contest: One Small Thing

The rumbling, subtle hum of Minmi's wave enhancer filled the room, mechanical chatter of her hands intertwined in a new problem. Unlike her, the calamity upon Archen's head continued to swoon.

"You're awfully quiet today," Minmi didn't look up from her circuit, casual as always her words rolled of the tongue. Though she tilts, enough to betray attention.

"Just thinking, continue" solemn response, eyes scanning the cracked tiles in the floor. The outcomes seemed to come and go, a voice would whisper of the one wrong move to collapse the glass dome they've built. The solder iron came to a halt, "We've been through worse, haven't we?" their eyes didn't meet, just a small gaze, a shimmer beneath his eyelashes. "Remember the east tower? You fried yourself with calculations of the structural shifts.. couldn't even let me fix the conduit in peace"

"I recall," not a lie, not the whole truth. The tower had fallen thrice, all collapsing upon Minmi's fragile body, in none the ending could he safe her. He said nothing of that. Not yet. Minmi shook her head, continuing her spectacle of craft. "Sometimes I think you enjoy knowing too much."

"I don't, not always." He knew there were no harsh feelings, how would she understand? When the hum in his eye synced with his heartbeat, the burning when he wavered even for a fraction. Imagery of failure, the thoughts of what his father would say. His gaze drifted to the far all, a stack of repurposed obelisk fragments. "Maybe I take grandiour in the responsibility, the invebitability of it all."

This time Minmi lifted up her head, for a brief moment she glanced at him. The old familiarity softened the rigid edge he carried. Yet, he was no friend in the way she wished him to be. A walking calculation on two legs, and she was just a variable in his equations.

Yet, she stayed. Because he needer her, and she tolerated it.

When will the results be posted?