Orange

Author : Glenn Song Jeanette hated Dr. Kogen's waiting room. It screamed blue at her – the cushions, the walls, and even the magazine covers were coordinated in a fan of azure. Nestled in a wicker basket, on a round table in the center of the room, sat a red delicious apple, ...

45 Feet Over Ninevah

Author : Glenn Blakeslee Forty-five feet over Ninevah, Phillip is enclosed in a spherically symmetric potential. He's feeling somewhat philosophical. Below, on the steps leading to the courtyard of the Library, Ashurbanipal, the last of the great Assyrian kings, faces his ...

Of Andys and Upgrades

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Andy knew he was a relic. He used to violently object when it was suggested that he was past his prime, but after a while the reality was too apparent to ignore. It had been years, maybe decades since he'd been able to find factory fresh ...

Savile Row Steel

Author : Ruth Imeson Edward Smithfield knew better than to hide. The heavy oak door to his lodgings rattled in its frame. The handle spun. Exquisite brass gears, cogs and counterweights shifted. The door swung open. Vapour entered the room, but the man it shielded dallied at ...

Angel of Death

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer The sensor charges go off and for a second I become a percussion instrument for the Devil. I’m wreathed in black smoke and dropping like a stone. Explosions kick me like excited children. I’m a trillion-dollar pinball of curled-up ...

Escape from Io

Author : Adam Zabell and Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer Fifteen days after we landed on Io, Jupiter’s innermost Galilean moon, a faulty weld on the ascent module’s fuel tank ruptured, venting all of our liquid hydrogen into space. Janice O’Connor was able to repair the ...

What's Sauce for the Goose…

Author : Roi R, Czechvala, Staff Writer Charred bodies littered the streets. The blackened faces frozen in the horrible rictus of death. They had been men and women once. Children. Families who had laughed, lived and loved together, reduced to carbonized grotesques of human ...

His Parts

Author : Steve Ersinghaus He gave away his parts at the proper time. Downtown he saw a man without a foot, so he gave the man his foot. A friend told him that the box full of left shoes he put on the sidewalk was a good idea. He gave his right arm to a construction company ...

Moving With The Times

Author : Ray Shirer Vince hates dealing with the vets. They buzz like a swarm of angry bees, producing poison instead of honey. He hates the way they glare at him when he makes the rounds, collecting soiled bed linens and dirty clothes. Like it's his fault they lost the ...

The Perfect Guy

Author : Sam Davis Today was the day, Kari decided. Today she was going to tell Abe. She was going to have a drink and work up the nerve and send him a message and then he would come by and then she could just tell him. She could take her time and explain—Abe was a good ...

Nostalgia®

Author : John C. Osborn The shakes began to violently intensify. Janus couldn't bear it much longer, the nauseating craving, the blankness of mind, the emotional emptiness. He tightly gripped a long slender metallic canister that cost him a days worth of panhandling cash. His ...

Observation without Affection

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer She watched him, often, from the other side of his bedroom mirror, a floor to ceiling affair that allowed her the privilege of spectating from the comfort of her own space. He would come and go, sometimes alone, sometimes with others. He ...

Wake Up

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer We had created a society free of disease and violence. We had a society that was centered on fun and learning. We had a society that knew the difference between entertainment and education. We had cross-bred to the point that there ...

An Ounce of Prevention

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer “If the human ambassador moves, kill him,” ordered the Torellian captain. His two security guards instantly leveled their phasers at Ambassador Dorn. Dorn smiled, and said to his security escort, “Men, if the Torellian guards shoot ...

The Steel Tree

Author : Glenn Blakeslee

It had taken us weeks to get there. My brother Phillip and I, carrying heavy packs, had joined with a group of pilgrims early in our journey. We'd wound our way through the ruins, followed the old freeways to the mountains which rimmed the coastal plain like ...

Have a good look, Mr. G.

Author : Q. B. Fox Bill had never been the sort of person who looked for the limelight. He was the sort of team player that kept his head down and worked hard; no doubt that’s why he had been selected for this mission. But it bothered him that he would be the first person in ...

It Feels Like

Author : Iva Koevska -Mommy, what does snow feel like? I’m in the kitchen taking care of the dishes after dinner. I turn around and there she is. My little daughter’s staring at some snowflake hologram. It’s as big as her head, a gorgeous illusion of perfect symmetry. One ...

IT!

Author : Kevin Hosey It was after him. Captain Kurt Avenel hadn’t seen the alien creature himself, but the last radio transmission from his first officer gave him a brief, panicked description: two meters tall with a reptilian body, razor-sharp teeth, and jagged claws. Their ...

Random Story :