Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer No guns down there. No swords, either. Nothing bigger than a table knife, and nothing double-edged. The humans who first founded a colony on Kenshun were an unarmed combat cult. Their teachings quickly became the laws by which this odd ...

Author: David Barber Hemmings made his living from hunting trips. It was his way to study clients as if they were big game themselves. Take this Fournier-Clément couple for instance. Madame had glanced into her tent, found it spartan and clean, then busied herself with ...

Author: Timothy Goss 1. They've lost the Dog, it was en route to Vega station. "What happened?" Councillor Lauder drools while foam bubbles form at the corners of his mouth. His red face turns beetroot in the afternoon light. The vessel was dragged from the stream ...

Author: Jeremy Nathan Marks Why wo ee? why wo ee? an' wo ee an' wo ee? -Snow All day long, the droid kept entering and exiting the room. It opened the curtains at dawn and levitated Kurt while he slept. It turned his body, fluffed his pillows, and lowered the room ...

Author: Bill Cox When I was eight years old, my step-dad put me in the hospital. One punch was all it took, but that punch eventually knocked me all the way through the social care system and out onto the streets. Funny to think that it might also have saved my ...

Author: Hillary Lyon "Ugh, what did I eat last night?" Marvin groaned, patting his belly. It protruded, solid and round, like a bowling ball. A pot-belly! Tracy, his girlfriend, wouldn’t be pleased. If Tracy bailed, he'd have to get a real job—until the next generous ...

Author: Rick Tobin “Come in, Hanson. Close the door. What’s up?” A worn senior manager, with tie askew over his crumpled white shirt, sat hunched while peering at three connected computer screens. His visitor took deep breaths, removing his horn-rimmed glasses, twirling ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Captain Jennie Ray arrives on the bridge to find her entire executive team bent over monitors or indicating things to one another on diagnostics displays. It’s a picture of activity she’d usually associate with blaring alarms and an air of ...

Author: Timothy Goss I awake with a start, like something bit my toe. Its dark, early hours of the morning when sound if muted and amplified simultaneously. I sit up and gently shake my head while caressing the sore appendage. My mouth is dry and thick with yesterday’s ...

Author: Aric Coppola The machine whirred and abruptly stopped. It had never stopped on its own before; it had to be told to stop. Yet now, the machine had come to a halt. “What did you do?” Alphonse asked, peering over his computer. “Me? What did you do?” Marie asked, ...

Author: John Adinolfi Jessica always wore a tinfoil hat. Everyone knew everyone’s business in Prescott Bay, but no one knew why Jessica wore the hat - which didn’t stop them from having theories. “Look, here she comes,” called Mary Worthington. “Doesn’t she care what ...

Author: Majoki Doesn’t matter who I am. I am not the land. I walk it. Day in day out. One footing at a time. A footing is not a standard unit. It is determined by growth, the flora and fauna, in a defined area when it is clear nature has begun to rebalance ...

Author: Mikki Aronoff

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer A figure looks both ways along the street. Nothing but dust devils spinning across the plasmac. With a resigned shrug, he steps up to the entrance of the Constabulary House, waiting for it to scan him. Inside the building, he ambles over ...

Author: Russell Bert Waters Grandma isn’t well. Might be a stroke. Incoherent mumbles. Faraway look in her eyes. What to do? What to do? All the EVs in the Orange Sector are shut down today by remote signal. It isn’t our week to have the allotted four hours of driving ...

Author: Majoki The transporter operator tapped his fingers on the console nodding his head in time to some inner rhythm. “Sure, it’s you. Done this thousands of times. No one’s complained.” “Would they know to complain?” “I’m not following you?” “If they were ...

Author: Mahaila Smith "What is this stuff," Bunny asked the spiky lipped girl offering her the small bag. "AdBlok," she said, putting some powder in her mouth. Bunny tipped some powder into her mouth. Her face weighed into her head and her vision blurred, turned purple. ...

Author: Moriah Geer-Hardwick Ira Holt scowls down the loading ramp at the landing pad. The wild tangles of his silver eyebrows hang low and heavy over his gray eyes as he scans the area. His face is pitted and weathered, like rusted steel. He stands with one wiry arm braced ...