Author: Philip G Hostetler I'm a light-rope walker, it's my business to tread where particles are waves. And I've been walking for all of eternity, a grave responsibility that wasn't so much given to me, but I became. It's a curse that I speak in poetics, it turns out ...

Author: R C Olivares Dave was the operator on duty that evening. He walked with his hands in the pockets of his snow coat through the cold corridors formed by thousands of metal racks that buzzed like a massive beehive. He stepped out of the elevator and into FNC’s control ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer You walk out the door and I can’t help but smile. Sure enough, you slam it, then shriek as the last remnant of wall topples your way. The door frame had been the only thing keeping it upright. The cloud of dust goes away on the breeze to ...

Author: San3sus It began with a mid-1600s book of collected feathers tied into ornate flies from the Smithson Museum. The hand tied flies had been made from the feathers of rare and extinct birds with each bird’s taxonomy written next to a skin sample tacked into the back ...

Author: David Barber Welcome to all the action from this year’s Sunsports! With my new co-host, AL, a series 7000 artificial intelligence... We prefer the term Autonomic Lifeform, Chuck. So, AL, talk us through the favourites, the latest cooling units and what to ...

Author: Sarah Klein Candy watched her brother cross the room and hit the woman in the face. She blinked, stunned. She watched for a moment longer out of morbid curiosity. Then she quickly closed the tab and firmly punched the THUMBS DOWN button. She tabbed over to the ...

Author: R. Gene Turchin We hired college students for work at the moon history park during the lull between semesters. The cost to get them up here is still high even though we now have weekly shuttle runs. The shuttle carries 20 passengers plus a crew of four. Launch and ...

Author: Majoki The Good was the worst. The Bad was worthless. The Zombie, at least, was willing. Life is so energy intensive. Though the Zombie held few thoughts in its putrefying head, this one stuck as flies buzzed feverishly around, attracted by the kill on the ...

Author: Mattia Ravasi They came out of mirrors. Out of shop windows. Out of lakes and ponds, if the water was clear and still enough. Our doubles. Identical, but opposite. Indistinguishable from us except for that look in their eyes, the look that people like my mom (mired ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer There are mornings when you wish you could reset the world by going back to bed. For me, today is one of those. I woke to find the newsfeeds saturated with pictures of someone who remained a friend despite their ever-increasing fame. I ...

Author: Sophie Villalobos Phyllis was carrying in a three-tiered sponge cake. Her hips ticked one way and the cake the other. She lifted the party hat that was perched on top of Brain’s tank and set it down on the table beside him. ‘Happy birthday, Brain!’ A lacklustre ...

Author: A. C. Weaver The Franz Josef Glacier has a smoky flavor and a granular texture. The Mendenhall glacier is gamey, with notes of musk and vetiver. The Greenland Ice Sheet has a powdery sweetness to it, like fine sugar. Ice of the Baltoro Glacier -- which I enjoyed ...

Author: Brooks C. Mendell Victoria remembered when, as a girl, she walked through Wellington Wood with her father. They listened to woodpeckers banging their heads for bugs and looked for promising oak trees to climb. The arrival of the Grafters and their technological ...

Author: Igor Dyachishin More than thirty years have passed since we were made sure that we were not alone in the universe. Aliens appeared unexpectedly in Jupiter’s orbit. Huge space fleet with unknown intentions. Our governments, of course, did not immediately tell us ...

Author: Melissa Kobrin The first step of unLeveling is to dial down my Sense-thizer. Have to maximize my time to adjust to unsensethized bio senses. Caleb, set it to zero. Strings of code slide through the mixed flesh and machine of my brain. The world runs away while ...

Author: Hillary Lyon Inspector Morrisey stood between the empty easy chair and the ancient cathode-ray television. He withdrew a pen and a small notepad from the inside pocket of his wrinkled trench coat. “Tell me again Mrs. Kittle, what happened.” “My husband was ...

Author: Majoki “Now then, Mr. Klatubowski, what is it I can do for you?” Jerome sat across from the unremarkable little man in a billowy black rain jacket and fedora. He looked very out of place in Jerome’s ultra modern office of modular metals and arid glass. In ...

Author: James Callan Metallic is in fashion, in women and in men --silver lipstick, bronze eyeshadow, the carapace sheen of loud, scarab hues glinting in the crests of loose-fitting, transparent plastic, artificial fabric. Sometimes you think you see one; a synthetic. Then ...