SF Lunchtime Reading: Horatius and Clodia

Strange Horizons has published a new science fiction story, "Horatius and Clodia," by my pal Charlie Anders. It's the mind-bending, witty and melancholy tale of a sentient e-cash system that falls in love with a computer virus. The e-cash system, named after Roman soldier Horatius, has been trained to be paranoid and law-abiding; the virus Clodia manages to penetrate his defenses by pointing out a logical inconsistency in the way money is allocated under capitalism (ie, some have a lot; many have a little). Plus, Anders includes a lot of wonky jokes about the Federal Reserve. Her story is smart and beautifully-written:

Markeson had primed me to expect a near-perfect copy of myself, animpostor attempting to slither into the wireless electronic fundssystem. I scanned every packet for signs of counterfeiting. Instead,
Clodia burst into my domain and flaunted her beautiful difference.

We looked at each other for a few nanoseconds. "If you're a foreigncurrency, you can't come in," I said. "I'm not set up to do forex yet."

"I'm not a foreign currency. I'm Clodia. I wanted to meet you."

If she wasn't a foreign currency, I didn't know what she could be.
My first thought was, how could there be someone else like me in theworld?

Perfect reading for your lunch break or afternoon coffee. Plus, check out the rest of Strange Horizons, which is one of my very favorite speculative fiction magazines.

Horatius and Clodia [via Strange Horizons]