Mech Cloud

Author : Chris McCormick

Crouching slightly, she trod softly towards the small brick hut. Her cloud poured through the door ahead of her, flooding the small room, and through it she felt into each corner. She brushed over each surface, carefully checking for anomalies. There were ...

Dreaming

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer

My arms are long and my skin is blue. I’m thin. I can feel long-forgotten muscles flex all over my scalp as my head tentacles wave. I have four huge orange eyes on the corners of my square face. Slowly, I get used to four viewpoints of vision ...

Chass

Author : Brian Armitage

Murray grunted, straining against the bars of the cage, willing his arm to stretch further. Finally, his fingers closed on his prize. He plucked the knight from the board and dropped it carefully into place, one move away from Hjdarrrr's ...

My Troubled Relationship with Robert

Author : Robert Gilmore

I woke up in the middle of the night. I'd been poked. Ugh. Robert again.

He's become more tolerable since school began (he's not around so often), but his requests are now far more demanding.

Moaning a bit, I stirred and blinked trying to rouse ...

Little Renoir

Author : Guy Wade

The little robot on the laboratory table had a smooth plastic face and expressionless coal-bead eyes. Professor Trunk flipped the switch in its back. It stood up and bowed.

"Greetings, I am Renoir.”

"Amazing!" said Trunk's supervisor. This made the ...

The Pilgrimage

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer The taxicab bobbed gently on its agrav field after gliding to a stop at the threshold of the Mauchly Hotel in New Philadelphia. The dampers quickly stopped the rocking motion, and the iris to the passenger compartment rotated open. ...

Winter

Author : Dana Sullivan Sometimes on her way to work, Hannah thought of the days when nuclear weapons were left in the hands of humans like her, fickle, emotional humans, and shuddered. How had they survived without blowing themselves up before the Coordinator robots were ...

Mathspacing

Author : Sam Clough, Staff Writer Oreska saw the world in numbers. He saw, below the fabric of existence, the harsh grid of mathematics with which everything could be described. He had shown an aptitude for manipulating numbers at an early age, so it had been decided that his atypical neurotype should be encouraged. Through an intensive training regime, Oreska's facility for numbers was turned into an obsession, and from there, into an neurological imperative.

Book Burner

Author : Benjamin Fischer “You’re a hard man to find.” Victor’s eyes were hazed with blood. His own blood--the cop had put a baton across his forehead. His ears still rang. “Nothing to say, huh?” said the black coat. His cudgel flashed. Victor doubled over and fell to his ...

Charon's Rest

Author : Luke Chmelik

The Eldest coughs, hoarse and frail from the vagaries of stasis. Dull orange light from the isotope heater gives a glow of health to a man who has cheated death for many, many lifetimes. He has awakened for the first time in centuries, and the young ones ...

The Jump

Author : Viktor Kuprin Jump drive, hyper drive, quantum drive, there were many names for the exotic-vacuum engine that propelled our ships to the stars. In the CIS Space Force, we called it the Super-Space Drive, the S-Drive. Thirty of us lined up outside the training ...

Repossessed

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer David closed the door and slid the deadbolt, tossing his keys on the hall stand. He crossed the small parlor to the sideboard, and as he reached for a tumbler and the bottle of Jamesons, he was startled by a voice from the corner. "I'd prefer you ...

Grandpa

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer I remember his wide dead eyes. It was like a fish had been brought back to life and told to pretend to be human. His legs and arms were folded with too many joints into the rocking chair. He slowly creaked back and forth, disturbing the ...

Watch

Author : B. Zedan The woman on watch stood barefoot, a coil of rope slung 'round her waist. The belt at her hips carried a sheathed hunting knife, the handle carved by her mother. Below the knife, as if in magnification, swung a scarred and keen machete. In perfect balance ...

Quality Time

Author : Peter Carenza It was a special day; not merely because Bobby opened his eyes to an absolutely picture-perfect sunny surprise straight out of a travel brochure, but because he had been waiting for today for a long, long time. Rubbing the sleepy crust from his eyes, he ...

Wings of Drifted Snow, Eyes of Flame

Author : J.R. Blackwell, Staff Writer

Lucifer Morningstar stepped out of his sleek black starship and smiled a sharp smile into the barrel of a particle gun. There were twenty armed guards in the hanger, four on the balcony and the rest on the ground, all of them with their sights ...

Rags

Author : Grant Wamack Coins, they’re thrown into the small pile that sits in front of a heap of dirty rags. The rags shift and the metal underneath shines in the dull afternoon light. It rises to its feet, specks of dirt fall to the ground, gears groan and its body ...

Heat Death

Author : William Tracy

Call me Sarah. That was my name, in one of my lives.

I have the memories of many lives in me, you know. Male and female, old and young, short and tall, light and dark, human and not human. Presidents and ditch diggers, starship captains and desk ...

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