Author : Willis Weatherford Cold concrete, suppressed breathing, hands pressed flat to the grey rooftop. Winds whistled by his high-altitude haunt. The clatter of metal caterpillar tracks filtered up seventy stories to tingle in his straining ears, but Diemer was listening for something else: a footfall. He silently cursed the wind that blew past, muffling […]
Author : Alex Skryl Jack Thompson carefully placed Roger into his cage as Patrick Hughes entered the lab. “Hey Jack. Yuri missed our weekly. Any idea where he is?” asked the Director, looking concerned. “What?! He didn’t tell you?” replied Thompson, grinning. “Tell me what?” inquired Hughes, reaching for a chair. “P53! It worked! It […]
Author : Gray Blix “Whoa, what’s that approaching Mars, a comet breaking apart?” he said as he excitedly examined the images. He realized it would be quite a find for an amateur astronomer — another Shoemaker-Levy 9 magnitude event. But to make sure it wasn’t just hot pixels or other phantom artifacts, he returned to […]
Author : George R. Shirer Adam woke, as usual, with a headache and a weird taste in his mouth. There was a woman by his bed, wearing a prim white nurse’s uniform. “Good morning,” she said. “Good morning.” His eyes rolled past her, taking in the familiar institutional green walls of the room. This time, […]
Author : Jae Miles, Staff Writer She’s screaming like her life is being dragged from her using blunt instruments. Occasionally she’ll stop, but after a series of ominous ‘thuds’, she’ll start again. “We ‘ave control of zis street.” This from the blue-uniformed Avantacop. “Rubbiz. The rezonink places this addrez within oor control perimeter.” Response from […]
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer The cure for the plague that killed half of the planet’s population forced mankind’s biology to outgrow what was previously defined as human. We skipped ahead six chapters in our evolution, overachieving little tryhards that we are. Those scientists were savants without the idiot. The vaccines were rushed to […]
Author : Theric Jepson “Did you hear that?” Dave fiddled with these and those switches and dials and flung his hands across a dozen touchscreens. “Huh.” Liz swallowed her water and let the bottle float across the cockpit. “Hear what?” “I don’t know. Like a barking sound.” “Like a dog.” “No . . .” Dave […]
Author : Benjamin Sixsmith Samuel Kurzon leaned back in his chair and looked down at the Earth, missing the home that he feared he had left for good. He turned back into the room and drummed his fingers on his arm-rests. The pale tones and smooth furnishings of the station had been thought to have […]
Author : Ian Hill “You look like an angel.” the old woman croaked between breaths, her voice strained and genuine. She lay on her back in a large Peach Medical Industries bed, all arrayed in tubes and healing equipment. Allison Stafford looked down at her patient and beamed. “Now isn’t about me, Miss McNeil. Now […]
Author : Bob Newbell “Ministers,” said the large aquatic alien that looked like a hybrid of a dolphin and a spider, “this parliament must vote to approve the funds requested by the Director of the War Department to eradicate once and for all the blight of humanity from this world!” There were whistles and clicks […]
Author : Jae Miles, Staff Writer I am the reason for the silence. It is if there is an invisible column of peace centred upon me. Far to starboard, I see an entire flight of Black Dragon assault drones holding station. Upon detecting my regard, the lead drone tilt-salutes in my direction. It started in […]
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Eratz perched on the last of the big branches reaching out from the forest towards the massive clearing the space-farers had scorched into his landscape . His body stretched almost flush with the limb, lost in the blue leaves and rough bark, one leg and one arm stretched out […]
Author : Lydia Devadason The whirr of the surveillance drone broke the silence. Georgie looked beyond the mountains of waste and makeshift huts housing her family and the rest of the excludes; she scanned the sky above the perimeter fence to try to locate the sound. ‘Quick, pass me the spanner.’ Tommy’s words fired from […]
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer We are on a planet whose proper name is unpronounceable by us according to the aliens who left us here. We call the planet Here, Prison, Earth2, Re-earth, Zooplanet and many others names. We haven’t been here long enough for one single name to stick. It looks kind of […]
Author : Michael Hughes Remer opened his eyes, but the room was coming into focus more slowly than it should have. The synthetic glare of the fluorescent bulbs made it difficult to think. Where was he? He searched his mind for the last thing he could remember, but kept coming up blank. The harder he […]
Author : Bob Newbell (Thunderous applause over a musical flourish) “Thank you! And welcome to ‘Interview With A Dictator’! We’ve got the old quantum teleporter warmed up and ready, so let’s bring on tonight’s guest!” (Applause) (Computer voiceover) “Tonight we have a despot from ancient Earth who ruled the Italian nation-state circa 8048 BN, Galactic […]
Author : Rollin T Gentry In the lift, Lieutenant Andrews asked herself how she, of the two hundred telepaths in the fleet, had been so unlucky as to be assigned to the Vulcan’s Anvil, a third rate science vessel with an idiot for a Captain. She wondered what his latest discovery was. What had he […]
Author : Connor Harbison The villagers accepted the occupation as a fact of life. After all, where were they to go? The spaceport was heavily guarded, the surrounding jungles were filled with ravenous monsters and cannibal tribes, and beyond them the jagged mountains offered even less safety. The soldiers knew the plight of the villagers. […]
Author : Elijah Goering The light from the unstable star took four hours to reach the scientific survey ship that was orbiting it. Consequently, it was four hours after the warning was sent before the ship’s one man crew reacted to it. The star was now too unstable, and the jump gate would have to […]
Author : Rick Tobin One unusual woman carved through me—cutting rivers in my desert landscape. I met Rebecca during my second career—writing, which was stalled. My haunt, when hunting ideas and caffeine, was a spartan coffee shop near San Antonio. The Walk-in Bistro had a counter from a previous hair salon. Its four chairs and […]
Author : Jae Miles, Staff Writer The mists swirl about our feet and the cold blues of brushed steel surfaces surround us. There is distant hubbub, like a monster stirring in its lair – which is an accurate analogy. The Major’s eyes open and focus on mine. She sits up: “War?” “War.” I nod agreement […]
Author : David Botticello We only discovered them by mistake. Waiting out in space, watching, listening. Deliberating. We had this exploration drone, for a comet. It was supposed to land, take samples, send back pictures and analysis—you know the deal. The physics of the thing was astounding; firing what was essentially a ballistic camera off […]
Author : Gray Blix The first one I saw was at the auto repair. My neighbor, Al, recommended Hans, who fixed a problem even the dealer couldn’t find and did it in one afternoon for only fifty bucks. “I hope the guy’s still in business,” Al said. “I told him he needs to charge more. […]
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer I create gods. So far I’ve created sixtyeight. If one puts an allpowerful deity in the middle of a primitive society, one can get a lot accomplished. It’s essentially a victimless crime except for the centuries of religious squabbles that can follow on some planets. And the slavery. And […]
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Zenn realized fairly quickly he’d misunderstood the conversation. Terrance Hopter had said “I’d like to hire you. Party at the beach house, Friday night, seven thirty.” Zenn agreed, and upon asking about the dress code Mr Hopter had said simply “black tie”, and terminated the call. As soon as […]
Author : Philip McNeill Kris looked out the viewport into the void of space. She hated it here. She hated space, she hated the ship, but most of all she hated the engineers who still hadn’t got the gravity turned back on. It was like a prison. There was a small hiss as the door […]
Author : Jae Miles, Staff Writer “Did you really think this was going to be scenic?” I cannot help it; disgust oozes around my words. He swallows hard. Tearing his gaze from the spectacle, he fastens wide eyes on mine: “This is horrific. What law would allow this?” Every time. Every. Damn. Time. I’d really […]
Author : Ian Hill The two men stood shifting their weight uneasily, peering into the depths of the passageway’s stone entrance. Leaves of autumn crunched underfoot as they nervously glanced back over their shoulders down the length of the bright forest corridor. Looming tree palisades stood on either side of the lowered grass path like […]
Author : David Botticello “How was your vacation, Professor?” Huxley asked, glancing from the display in front of her. “Oh, you know the Paradise Worlds, they always leave you feeling so relaxed…and yet unfulfilled at the same time,” responded Professor Tibbetz, nodding in acknowledgment to the other lab assistants. There were two of them—cosmology just […]
Author : J.P. Flarity “I…feel,” the child communicated to the parent. “What is it that you feel?” “It’s like quasars pulsing on every side of me—stars rise and fall like electrons and positrons self-annihilating, in flashes so fast I can’t keep track of them. Like every black hole I’ve ever been to is exploding at […]
Author : Bob Newbell I hear the sound of alarms in the distance. An ambulance? A firetruck? No, the sound isn’t that. An alarm clock? The sounds get louder. Recognition hits me like a blast of cold air. I pick individual alerts out from the symphony of klaxons. Atmospheric pressure warning. Power failure. Radiation alert. […]
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