[2018 WATTYS WINNER] Louise Johnson was an African American teen living on the brink of the Space Race. Her hobbies included studying the twinkling night sky, ignoring her racist classmates, equally fantasizing about both killing and kissing Patricia Morris--and oh, using quantum teleportation to her own advantage by the means of a perplexing silver Ring. That was, until she found herself knee-deep in a heap of files revealing that the newly-formed NASA was hiding inconceivable research from Project Vanguard that should've destroyed the entire planet worse the than progressing Cold War. Now obviously, the forty-eight states of America are still intact, and so is our beloved Earth. But why? Fortunately for humanity, Louise Johnson and her diverse team of science-loving geeks turned the imminent apocalypse into just another facet of American history. And this is the entirely illegal story of how. [©2017-2018. All rights reserved.]

My father types a command into the laptop, and he jerks upright with a shudder and a wheeze. Compressed air flowed beneath silicone skin, triggering actuators that raised his arms and lift the corners of his mouth into a demure smile. He seemed to compose himself, eyes panning the room where he stood fixed to the platform-tubes and wires running down to his ankles. He blinks, lashes casting beautiful shadows over royal blue eyes. And I fell in love with someone that was just a little human

"I'd say like... 30 percent of my thoughts are ones I recognize?" Shane said after careful consideration, idly tapping his lower lip. "I still care about you, my job, my parents... but I also seem to be caring about a lot of other things I never used to care about." "...Like what?" Ryan asked, softly. He wasn't sure he wanted to know, and by the dead-eyed stare Shane gave him, he figured he was right.