Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer In the twenty fifth century, scientists were convinced that the longest single jump possible through hyperspace within the spiral arms of the Milky Way was 3.3 parsecs. This limit was the consequence of the density of dark matter and its effect on the stability of tachyon waves. When longer [...]
Author : Kyle Hemmings Another scorched day in Area 51. My job is to keep a surveillance over the “Groom box,” a rectangle of restricted airspace and the large area of land surrounding it. I enforce public restrictions. I also help reverse engineer alien spacecraft. From my open window at the station, a breeze from [...]
Author : Michael Varian Daly The Jaruzelski Institute buzzed with quiet excitement. JAIC [pronounced 'Jack'], the Jaruzelski Artificial Intelligence Computer, was coming on line today. Security was high. Many groups, not reassured by statements of ‘friendly AI programing’, were protesting. There had even been bomb threats. The project directors, Doctors Weber and Singe, would perform [...]
Author : Kevin Jewell I looked up from my screen and was shocked to find the trading floor quiet. When the market was open, that did not happen. Just a moment ago, the floor had been a hectic blur of waving arms and yelling voices; runners hurrying orders from pit to pit, traders screaming into [...]
Author : Helstrom The sense that something was missing had been nagging me ever since I came out of the previous surgery. I always seemed to want to take bigger steps, or see out the sides of my head, or move limbs that weren’t there. I felt small and clumsy and soft. The docs had [...]
Author : D. R. Porterfield “I believe I’ve found just the property you’re looking for, Mr. DelRay,” the agent smiled optimistically. Across the broad, polished desk, his client nodded and said, “Show me.” “Of course. Let’s start with the general area.” A holographic map appeared on the desk between them, the property itself outlined in [...]
Author : Todd Hammrich Martin’s Crawler moved along the outside of the web like a giant spider lightly dancing among the thin strings of light that made up its surface. A breach had been made in sector EZ-109 and he was moving with all speed for repairs. The Crawler was a small ship, less than [...]
Author : – K – It moved about on the monitors, exploring the small space it had been confined to. Its motions were cautious, curious almost, as it poked around the simple imaginary box. Kevin stared at the screen for almost an hour. This was a success. An unforeseen and unfathomable success. The idea behind [...]
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer James sat in his chair/life-support system in the back corner of the room next to the banks of monitors, keyboards, and mice. He reminded me of the James I used to know. He reminded me of a James that laughed without that edge of cruelty. He reminded me of [...]
Author : John H Reiher Jr. Family Faxor Kwer had lived on this comet for five generations. The light of the home star Sol was indistinguishable from the light of the twin stars Alef and Bey, or the nearer star Prox. Their ship dwarfed the small comet, stretching far past it in both directions. The [...]
Author : Joseph Lyons “What part of ‘only bettors can watch the Yeti fight’ do you not understand?!”, he yelled. “Either place a bet or get the hell out of here!” I begrudgingly gave him all of the money I had on me, about two hundred, and placed it on Demonio Blanco. Damn it. Didn’t [...]
Author : Benjamin Fischer “It’s Bronco Eight Seven. He’s down, but he’s alive. Tight canyon, known hostiles–gonna be a hell of an extraction,” said Colonel. “Any volunteers?” Matherson raised his hand, the bandaged one from last night. Colonel looked right through him, looked at the crates and laptops at the back end of the tent. [...]
Author : Ari Brill It is always a joy to bring rightness to God’s creation. The Good Doctrine’s shiny hull glimmered in the blackness of space, the eerie light of the alien sun reflected off of it and somehow purified. The 100-meter-long starship had just completed its seventh (a lucky number indeed!) mission and now [...]
Author : Steve Davidson Grrxynyth stripped off the artificial covering. “Man! Did you see the way he was looking at me!?” Aaarraxanth tentacle gestured in the affirmative. “Couldn’t keep his eyes off of you. Thought he was gonna die when you started taking off the clothing.” Grrxynyth’s body rippled with laughter. A few stress pores [...]
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer “How can I be of service?” asked Sam Dixon, Private Investigator. “I need you to investigate a major competitor of mine,” replied Donald LeDuca, of LeDuca’s Fine Eateries. “I assume you’ve heard of Marshall’s Restaurants?” “Ahhhh, yes,” said Dixon with an enthusiastic smile. “I love their restaurants. The Avian [...]
Author : Michael Varian Daly The city had once been prosperous and beautiful, tall shining towers, broad tree lined boulevards, full of vitality. Now it was a smashed ruin. Most of that had happened during the Age of Storms, Category Six monsoons scouring those once shining towers, adding their debris to the general destruction of [...]
Author : Ian Rennie I don’t want to do this any more. It’s cold, and we’re all hungry. I knew it would be like this, but that’s the difference between knowing and experiencing. Nobody talks much any more, Scott least of all. When we were on the way there, he tried to keep people’s spirits [...]
Author : John Logan Leviathan IV floated in space, amongst the debris of its brother and sister starships, somewhere in close proximity to Alpha Centauri. Inside its massive hull, a team of veterans were preparing for their last mission. They were the last hope for their species and each man felt the weight of responsibility [...]
Author : Ken McGrath John sat down in a corner of the canteen, spread his newspaper out in front of him and began to unpack his lunch. ‘THE ELECTRIC OLYMPIAN’ screamed the headline plastered across the front page of the red top. “Hey Johnny, have you seen this?” a voice called loudly. John looked up [...]
Author : Q. B. Fox With her middle finger she idly traced the ragged designer scar that ran across his tanned bicep, but she appeared unimpressed by it and her mind was obviously elsewhere. He stared at her pale, flawless skin where it stretched over her perfectly proportion pelvis and was equally apathetic; she was, [...]
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer It was slave labour, that’s what it was. My nose drew a little circle in the center of the condensation on my faceplate. The visors were supposed to be moisture resistant but like everything else, the company had cut corners. We could see enough to do our jobs. Tiny, [...]
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer “Captain, we’re being hailed by Ambassador Kapris. He say’s it’s urgent.” Dammit, thought Captain Santiago, I don’t have time for this. “Tell him that I cannot be interrupted.” “Sir, he says that it’s a matter of life and death. He says that our tachyon experiment won’t work.” “What? Nobody [...]
Author : Sean Monaghan Jerry ducked Monica’s projectile, his knees up to his chin in zero-G. The sno-globe missed his head by millimeters and smacked into the aluminum window casing, then spun through their cabin. ‘Honey, it’s okay, it’s-’ ‘Ladies and Gentlemen,’ the captain’s voice crackled over the intercom. ‘We’ve been cleared for re-entry by [...]
Author : George Li The rusted orange hue of the sky made dancing reflections on Mirna’s “skin”. Carefully, she raised the fragile watering pot. People had thought it would be them who caused this. Sentient robots that would rebel and destroy humanity. It didn’t work out like that. Robots simply had no need to rebel, [...]
Author : John C. Osborn The sound of the spray paint can spitting neon green from its nozzle drowned out the ambient noise of the city: police sirens, echoing gunshots, and the monotonous drone of the Floating Eyes. Ty directed the colorful symphony across a giant raised billboard that read “One World, One People,” creating [...]
Author : Ian Rennie “Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my apartment?” The man at the window didn’t turn to look at Lloyd’s outburst. When he spoke, his voice sounded bored. “You know who I am, and if you have any sense, you know why I’m here.” Finally he did [...]
Author : Clare Tong Lee Elizabeth stared at herself in the mirror as her ladies flittered about twisting her hair into elaborate braids and adorning her with jewellery. In less than an hour they would be docking at the Rammajek spaceport and then they would be out of time. They would all be out of [...]
Author : Ken McGrath He woke screaming, just as he always did. The chains held him in place, tearing into his flesh, causing his wounds to tear open and start to bleed again. The other place was gone, all that existed now was this horrible twisted metal hole, pumped full of stale, dead air and [...]
Author : Roi R. Czechvala She squeezed his hand, hard, as the main engines kicked in. His fingers turned white. It was her first launch, their first as husband and wife. “Take it easy Sweetheart. I’ll need that hand later.” “Sorry.” She said, releasing his hand. “Is it always like this?” “This is nothing. Just [...]
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer I can’t believe that it used to take years and years of real-time school to become a doctor. I slip the jack with the red cross on the dust-cover into the plug at the base of my skull. Just like that, I’m a surgeon, which is good news for [...]
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