The Tenth Robot

The Lords of Leaping by Jack Fennell

Find out more about his work by visiting the Tramp Press Website

First, the clockwork rabbits appear on the edge of town. Ten of them, seven feet tall, eyes glowing green. Chanting.

You’ll notice you’re jumping higher each day, and you’ll find it harder to walk. Your car handles like it’s driving on ice.

Trying to damage the rabbits won’t work. Animals, vehicles, screaming children – everything loose will eventually drift upward into the sky.

It’s happened before. There are columns of inverted gravity all over. When your home-place is scoured clean, other things will graze there – livestock from some other world. Then they’ll move on, and develop another patch of underutilised land.