"Update on Rules for the Spatiotemporal Use of Campus Spaces" by Andrea Kriz + "[Part 2] Six-Gun Vixen and the Machinist of Doom Valley" by Ashok K. Banker

This episode of the Lightspeed Magazine Story Podcast features two distinct narratives. First, 'Update on Rules for the Spatiotemporal Use of Campus Spaces' by Andrea Kriz presents a dystopian, satirical vision of a university grappling with a rogue time stream that has drawn students, staff, and even alternate versions of people from past and future timelines into its orbit. The newly appointed president issues sweeping regulations to maintain order, including strict ID checks, prohibitions on protest duration and coordination, and the erasure of historical memory—particularly of those who died in a past encampment. The tone is chillingly bureaucratic, masking authoritarian control under the guise of academic freedom and timeline restoration. The second story, 'Six-Gun Vixen and the Machinist of Doom Valley' by Ashok K. Banker, is a gritty, cyberpunk Western featuring a half-wolf, six-armed protagonist known as the Six-Gun Vixen. After being betrayed and captured by a corrupt industrialist, Mr. Beecham, who seeks to 'improve' humans by forcibly merging them with machinery, she escapes with the help of her cubs and a mysterious ally, Rattlesnake. Together, they infiltrate Beecham’s factory in Doom Valley, where he has enslaved and augmented countless victims, including tribal leaders and engineers. Through a combination of courage, ingenuity, and the rebellion of the very machines Beecham created, the Vixen defeats him and liberates the captives. The story culminates in a powerful affirmation of identity and resilience: being different is not a curse, but a source of strength. The episode closes with the Vixen and her companions riding toward a new horizon, embracing their hybrid nature as a form of liberation.