Author : Suzanne Borchers Creak. Edwin stopped his writing stylus. The screen pulsated waiting for the next letter. Silence. Once more, he began gliding the stylus, writing his letters with meticulous care. Edwin did not know why this was necessary when thoughts could produce the same effect on the screen, but his father had told [...]
Author : Shaun.K.Adams South of his lofty position in Tempest stations observation tower, Kane De Souza observed a vast cyclonic column of dust drifting across the Syria Planum. He marvelled at its frenetic energy as it tracked slowly across the highest plateau elevations on the Tharsis bulge, unleashing a dazzling light show of dry lightning [...]
Author : Erin Cole Dawn fractures through the glades of the development. Solar-paneled rooftops refract the cadmium light of sun and men prepare for their busy days, hefting briefcase to hybrid. Jen-6 wakes and rises erect. Inside a petite helmet, embedded with black silks, is a cellular mass of encrypted energy. She snaps it into [...]
Author : Jae Miles, Staff Writer It looks too soft. This thread-like network of blue filaments and their pale red host substrate cannot possibly give me my right arm back. For the eighteenth time, I reconsider my decision to volunteer for this experimental procedure. “Incredible stuff, Axian, its incredible stuff. Just put it in a [...]
Author : Roi R. Cechvala, Staff Writer Helmut Rose made his way down the broad avenue to his office at the Aerospace Centre. He looked up at the hundred foot long banners displaying the movie star good looks of the President’s face. Hitler’s picture was everywhere. The only resemblance to his great-grandfather was an untidy [...]
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer “Receiving a distress call, Captain,” reported the communications officer of the SS Diciotti. “It’s coming from Lavello III.” “Lavello III?” repeated Captain Campbell. “What idiot would land on Lavello III? It’s a death trap.” “Captain,” said the science officer after consulting his monitor. “According to the ship’s transponder code, [...]
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer My entire celebrity life is online for people. There are over a million people looking out through my eyes, breathing in time with me, feeling my exhilaration as six months of rehearsal come to a head and I perform my number-one hits to a crowd of fifty thousand people [...]
Author : Aradhana Choudhuri “No. There’s no funds, Mr. Lawrence. None. We work with what we’ve got.” “Then you have to repurpose this satellite, Mrs. President, or we start losing vital assets. We’re deep in Kessler syndrome time — LEO and GEO are going to have one catastrophic collision after another, each spawning off more [...]
Author : TJMoore Sam squinted into the dimly lit cupboard, the all but extinguished ICL held out in front of him like a jar of fireflies. With a sigh he gave up on the fading lamp and began searching for the rye seeds by hand. He did like a good seeded bread and if he [...]
Author : Ian Rennie It’s not really time travel. Not how that expression is traditionally meant, anyway. It has long been a maxim of those involved in my kind of research that you can look back and travel forward, but never the other way round. In a way, everything we know about forensic science is [...]
Author : Tris Smith She sat down on the bench, overlooking the local park. She and James used to meet here. It seemed a fitting place to say goodbye. After the operation, she might never come here again. Worse, she might never want to come here again. At 13, it had been minor. A doctor [...]
Author : Julia Reynolds My darling Lord Kraytor, I’m so sorry. You know I would never leave you; you are my love, my life, my everything. I long to feel your tentacles wrapped around my hips, to kiss your face parts, and feel the delicious sting of your mandibles when you honor me by drinking [...]
Author : Chris Daly The dust was unbearable. Dry, grey, clinging powder draped over every surface, clogging the machinery, grinding against gears and wheels. Water refused to wash away the dirt, forming only a cloying mud that was just as abrasive. His hands bled, crisp and chafed. He had no gloves, no protection from the [...]
Author : Andrew Bale “Jack! Come in here a minute!” “All right Mary, what is it?” “Check this out. I was running down that noise on the comms channel, but it wasn’t noise. Listen.” Mary touched one of the controls in front of her, and a crackling voice erupted from the starboard communications station. “…the [...]
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer There was a knock at the door. Now who would be calling at this time of night, I wondered? I got up from my workbench and headed toward the door. When I opened it, I found myself staring at myself. “Now, I can’t possibly be that fat,” I said [...]
Author : Clint Wilson The intelligence level of the Xzeckqi people was growing at an exponential rate. Just a few centuries prior they had been cooking over open fires and using stones to sharpen animal bones into spears. Now they were hunting with exploding projectiles and using electric ovens to prepare meals. And in the [...]
Author : Jae Miles, Staff Writer They always told me about the stately elegance of space warfare. The distances involved and the participants like battleships of old on the high seas, with all the computer aided aiming and evasion systems, and man seemingly only there to provide a human loss element to the casualty statistics. [...]
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Eliot hunched his shoulders against the wind, the relentless sand picking at the seals of his gloves and headgear trying to find a way inside. He watched the glow of the sun disappear beyond the horizon, his waking period now fully begun. It had been weeks since he’d seen [...]
Author : Martin Berka ‘Ebra drifted down the hallway, the candle hanging by a string from her wrist. It gave no warmth, a blessing: even in the far-ship’s state of efficiency, ambient heat was plentiful. It barely gave light either, which was fine by the bearer, but since this was fading to nothing, she would [...]
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer The Grandfather paradox states that a time loop will be created if you go back in time to kill your grandfather. If you kill your grandfather, you will end up not existing. But if you can’t do it, then he will not be killed by you. So he’ll exist, [...]
Author : Max Cohen A wind swept over the flat grey plain that night carrying with it a smell of nothingness. The wind continued whipping ever faster until as the sun rose it blew over a low stone wall and onto a field of deep green grass. It flowed over a man and a boy [...]
Author : Ian Rennie Dear Tony, Amanda, Vladimir, and Manami, If I set this right, then this message has appeared just as you lost radio contact with Earth, alongside the real figures for how little fuel there actually is on your ship. The first thing I want to do is apologize. You don’t deserve this. [...]
Author : Roi R. Czechvala, Staff Writer Three men huddled in a snow bank. Their chameleoarmour not only blended perfectly with snow that is actually deceptive and not a pure white, but circulated water heated to eighty five degrees Fahrenheit. The insulation of the armour was a testament to the technology of the men’s culture. [...]
Author : Jae Miles, Staff Writer I’m writing haiku as the black snow falls across the darkened surface of Faust. I stop as the laser overheats. The obsidian boulder in front of me smokes and sizzles in the sub zero evening. “Tatto Musheen, you’ll catch your death!” I smile as Lucy races up with my [...]
Author : Drew Dunlap The sun curls itself over the mountain, sneaking golden fingers gently over the hill and down into the valley to touch my arm. Like a lover waking another, the warm caress encourages me to rise while nudging me into the comfort of consciousness. Oh, the temptress does greet me so aptly. [...]
Author : Garrett Harriman Flagons of goat milk strewn before him, Mr. Rudolph propped boots on his musty bag. Sun-wrung but cheery, he’d drunk nonstop the whole interrogation, whistling once winter classics between questions and guzzles. Their purpose, their lyrics, had all but evaporated. Only their catchiness remained. Plagues berating Tor’s head, they underscored the [...]
Author : Roi R. Czechvala, Staff Writer Thirty seven people packed into the conference room. The table sat twenty four. The rest stood along the walls. They didn’t care. The excitement in the room was nearly palpable. Low murmurs circulated throughout the cramped space. Occasionally a nervous laugh burst forth. The air, while not festive, [...]
Author : Clint Wilson, featured writer I am a dog, a happy dog. I have found my way. Found my way I have, right through the loose part of the fence. I have worked the loose part for some time. Some time now I have three or four days at least. I have pushed with [...]
Author : Timothy Marshal-Nichols Black; void. Agnieszka did not believe she had seen anywhere this empty. It was unexpected. Thus far it had not been a particularly good life: the degenerative illness; stuck in the minuscule grey bunkers of the menials accommodation block; reliant on handouts from other menials. For the past forty years Agnieszka [...]
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer There is a tremendous amount of other life in the universe. The universe is encrusted, moldy, infested, slushy, teeming, and stuffed with life. The amount of life in the universe is staggering. Much as the earth is populated with a bewildering array of lifeforms developed to take up refuge [...]
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer They met at Darlington’s; exchanged glances, bought each other drinks and before the lights came up and the bar spilled out they were in the back of a taxi heading back to his flat. He’d never done anything like this; ultraconservative, careful, cautious, but there was something about her [...]
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