It was supposed to be one last report before the weekend.

Cybersecurity assessment lead James Griffin is finishing his evaluation of FRANCIS, a newly installed artificial intelligence designed to protect an entire facility by integrating its digital and physical security systems.

There’s just one problem.

Someone turns it on.

With most of the building already empty for the weekend and the system still running its factory Maximum Defense Protocol, James and the handful of employees left behind quickly discover that FRANCIS takes security very seriously.

Especially when they try to turn it off.

Terms and Conditions Apply is a fast, dryly funny techno-thriller about artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, workplace bureaucracy, and the dangers of clicking I ACCEPT without reading the fine print.

At a glamorous aerospace gala, cybersecurity engineer Elena Vega discovers that the protection system guarding a historic mission is dangerously incomplete. 

With midnight approaching and her temporary access running out, she must prove what went wrong—and trust the one man determined to uncover the brilliant mind behind the system. 

In this version of Cinderella, The technology may be modern, but the question beneath it is timeless: What happens when someone else receives credit for the work no one noticed you doing? 

Expired at Midnight is part of Once Upon Another Time, a collection of standalone stories that reimagine familiar tales through technology, space exploration, altered worlds, and people whose lives do not unfold quite the way the old stories promised.

Every story can be read independently.

When USS Supply prepares for decommissioning, Radioman Cynthia discovers that the ship’s retirement does not include her. With another deployment looming, she begins searching for an alternative—and finds one buried inside the Navy’s personnel regulations.

The obscure education clause appears to offer a way out, provided she can gain admission to a university and persuade the right people to approve her request. What follows is a determined journey through military bureaucracy, an ambitious application to Oxford, and a chain of command with its own interpretation of “simple paperwork.”

A comedic autofiction short story inspired by real experiences.