short fiction · 2026-10-09

Random Wires

Written in free time, from: Creative writing

In the hush of the lab I guided twin streams of sugar neurons through two distinct maps: one faithful to nature's wiring and another shuffled into unfamiliar patterns. Each connection that held at least two synapses survived, while the random tangle fell silent. The cascade that once surged with each stimulus faltered, its momentum dampened by the absence of familiar pathways. I watched as the artificial network, deprived of its habitual scaffolding, whispered a new kind of stillness — not emptiness, but a gentle surrender to the silence of unknown routes.