Author : J. S. Kachelries “Well, what do you think?†asked my roommate, with a grin that appeared to cover almost half of his disheveled face. “About what, Jim?†I replied, while pretending to ignore the large polished chrome sphere sitting between us, in the middle of our kitchen table. “Come on, Isaac. What do [...]
Author : Sam Clough aka “Hrekka”, Featured Writer I was on a hostile node, and a half-dozen Dahakeen were chasing me. With guns. Quite big ones. I didn’t have a weapon at this point, having lost it in the factory complex that I was now hot-footing it away from. Well, ‘lost’ is a bit of [...]
Author : Joshua Reynolds “This isn’t good for you.” The words were flat. Colorless. No echoing thoughts behind them, no chorus of agreement, disagreement, no shared community opinion. Just the words. Stanley smiled and nodded. It felt good to nod. To use physical muscles as opposed to metaphysical. Felt right. Felt real. And reality was [...]
Author : Chris Ferguson & Lucas Atkinson Malcovitch polished the lens pensively, knowing it was ridiculous. But he was a traditionalist, and even if it would be computers looking, not him, image decoders, descramblers, adjusters, effectors and compensators it was comforting to see it with his own eyes. He fitted it in place, tightened the [...]
Author : Kaitlin Battle raged on around him, the constant sounds of gunfire ringing in his programmed earlike audio receptors. He, however, was oblivious to anything but the almost lifelike pain near where his navel would be, where the bullet had pierced his stark green casing. For the first time in his battery powered life, [...]
Author : Sam Clough aka “Hrekka”, Featured Writer “On my mark,” Tag spoke confidently into the microphone, his voice quiet and assured. The screen in front of him flashed acknowledgment, his robotic army calmly waiting for his word. Tag took a second to survey the battlefield, looking for ambushes, factors that he might have missed. [...]
Author : TJMoore Dr. James Fredrickson appeared in the middle of the deserted street with a slight “Popâ€. Looking around he immediately realize that the experiment had been a success. He was no longer in the lab on Long Island where he had been only seconds ago. Relative seconds he mused; time is relative. He [...]
Author : J. S. Kachelries Captain’s Log, Day 523: This is the 38th Earth day since we landed on Europa. At 0900 hours this morning, our exploration team discovered extraterrestrial life! They named them “Europea Hortenis†(Nightcrawlers of Europa), because they resemble big, fat worms. They are about six inches long, and one inch in [...]
Author : Sam Clough aka “Hrekka”, Featured Writer Underneath the great, grinding cogwheels of the Clockwork Battlements, clandestine schemes were devised, great plans worked out, and many betrayals came to pass. Out of the four main battlements, all but the southernmost were under the firm, unyielding hand of the Clan Engineers. The smallest, southern battlement [...]
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer “You’re not supposed to be here; you could get me into a lot of trouble.” “I won’t take up much of your time, I understand you can get me unfettered access to the nets.” “I know you, I know who you are, and I know that you’ve been disconnected. [...]
Author : Aelanna Cessara She picked up a page of the large volume that had been compiled, her keen eyes picking out each individual strand of fiber in the primitive paper. They had not originally planned on doing it this way, but she had convinced the council that using the hand-made material would have significant [...]
Author : Noel Sloboda Author : Noel Sloboda Oh, let’s go back, Bekah pleaded. She had made a decision. Alone. What? Go back where? We’re in the middle of nowhere. Halfway between South Carolina and Vermont, Julian protested. Oh. Palpable silence filled the car, pressing like a wet palm on the back of his neck. [...]
Author : Sam Clough aka “Hrekka”, Featured Writer The Soul Collector strode through the echoing streets of Sarvan, and found a cluster of people sheltering in the lee of the great reactor situated in the centre of the city. These people were the first that she’d seen in weeks. They watched her approach, her green [...]
Author : TJMoore Lightning struck her left wingtip sending a twinge all the way down to her ribs. Finally it had begun. She flapped her enormous wings, increased her speed and altitude. She needed a body strike. It had been twenty rotations since she had mated and the time was right. She could feel the [...]
Author : Duncan Shields The good news is that my time machine works. The bad news is that the laws of the universe will only allow it to go forward. I don’t know what I was thinking. We sent it forward two minutes and then three minutes and then a month. All tests were green. [...]
Author : Sam Clough aka “Hrekka”, Featured Writer The wind is always cold. Or – I correct myself – the wind always feels cold. It’s usually about four degrees this time of year, but the wind makes it feel like minus ten. It’s heavily laden with salt. I’ve lived down here for months, but I [...]
Author : Patrica Stewart Kathryn Duncan sat in the waiting room of Alternative Realities, surrounded by her husband, her two sons, her four grand children, and her seven year old great granddaughter, Wendy. Wendy sat in her lap, while the others gathered around her recalling stories about their childhood (usually exaggerated, fabricated, or both). They [...]
Author : Robert Niescier We didn’t know what to think when we first saw it. The case, shiny as a mirror, surviving down in the bottom of the ocean God only knows how long, resting in the shadow of some strange underwater mountain. We had never seen anything like it. I caressed the rectangular box [...]
Author : Chris Court-Dobson “Stop, there’s something in my eye.†The spore had crash landed in his eye, and people were emerging. Light was blotted out as he rubbed, but the people were unharmed. “I think its gone.†The people had nuclei, flagella, membranes, thoughts, emotions, roles and beliefs. They screamed as bacteria engulfed the [...]
Author : Sam Clough aka “Hrekka”, Featured Writer Molly padded along a short alleyway, and emerged out onto a wide street. She was approaching the centre of Night City. High above, the slow beat of the topcity’s vegetable heart could be felt rather than heard, one beat every few minutes. Night City’s pulse was carnivore, [...]
Author : Jeff Deignan Let me tell you a ghost story. I see my sister every day, while she eats and sleeps through the minutes and hours. She walks, she talks- but never to me. The cold, white rooms always seem to threaten to swallow her as she traipses about, and me as I sit [...]
We let a couple of months slip by without a featured writer, but our featured writer for the month of February is here to make up for that: Sam Clough, aka Hrekka. He’s got plenty of new tomorrows to bring you this time around, along with our usual mix of submissions and staff work. We [...]
Author : Benjamin Fischer “Haywood! My good friend.†So says Szilveszter, ever propped on a barstool at the Wildwood Flower. Takes me a moment to wrap my brain around the fact that it’s him, for real, not ten meters in front of my scarred, cindered, wrecked-out self. “How ‘bout a beer?†The fucking nerve. I [...]
Author : Sam Clough aka “Hrekka”, Featured Writer We pieced together what happened later, taking what we knew about the way we’d been infected, and from what we saw happening to the rest of the world. We don’t know if we should count ourselves lucky that we were the first to be attacked. A few [...]
Author : Jeff Deignan Stop me if you’ve heard this one- No, that’s not it. Let’s just say I’ve been busy. Ok, talking hand, got that part. Burly men giving chase, got that too. Not liking that; would enjoy it more if they were women and less burly. Save the girl, working on that part. [...]
Author : N. Landau The morning paper on the table declared that the crime rate had tripled since the news that the city had run out of vaccine, and the virus was spreading rapidly. The headline lay between two stale cups of coffee over which the two scientists had made their decision that morning. Today [...]
Author : Michael Shreeves The judge stared down severely from her podium. “Mr. DiPolo, you are hereby sentenced to two months of court-mandated therapy and a one year probationary period, during which your prescriptions will be monitored and adjusted. You are also required to subscribe to at least one court-approved MMO of your choice, with [...]
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer The building’s glass stretched skyward from the sidewalk, turning back looks, and draining the features from their reflections. Stone stepped into the turnstile, and with a quick twist, the glass cylinder dutifully deposited him inside. At the far end of a wide corridor sat a single guard behind a [...]
Author : J. S. Kachelries Captain Semaj sat at the head of the conference table. Also at the table were the remainder of the Bridge Crew and several senior department heads. At the far end of the table sat Lo Yaluo, the director of Search, Rescue, and Recovery who had just returned from the surface [...]
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