The 10:04

Author : Mishal Benson

"This is nuts!" Kitty whispered harshly to her companion, "Why did you bring me here?" He remained silent, framed by the subway's exit, waiting as she surveyed the scene before her. Am I nuts? She thought. Tall glass buildings rose around her with aluminum ...

The Yellow Room

Author : Seth Koproski

“Mr. Jones, is it?”

“Yep.”

“Hello. I’m Doctor Jack Worth, head of the research team. Do you have any questions you’d like to ask?”

“So how much ‘compensation’ will I receive for this?”

“Enough to last ...

Laziness

Author : Timothy T. Murphy

Lola heard shuffling footsteps behind her and cursed her laziness. Lingering at shops she could no longer afford, dreaming of days long gone. Now she was out after dark in a bad neighborhood. She was only a few minutes from home, but it only took a few ...

Bio Bill

Author : B.York, Staff Writer

"I guess you found me. I just wonder what's keeping you from cutting me open to find out how I do it."

The doctor sitting in front of him adjusted his glasses and smiled, trying to remain reasonable with the locked up felon before him. The white ...

Good Help

Author : Benjamin Fischer

“So you’re a butler.”

Xero repressed the urge to roll his eyes and sigh. The woman across the aisle on the maglev had seen his replicant’s sigil, a broad tattoo of the symbol for Gemini on the back of his left hand. She’d also seen his ...

Fiat Undo

Author : Luis Barjo

“It's not a scam,” Robin explains as he plugs the cloning tank into the wall. “It just grows in there for a few hours and, when it's ready, just hop right in. They proved it, man, they proved it with science and we're gonna be rich.”

Picture a ...

Meteorological Engineering

Author : Kathy Kachelries, Staff Writer Eric Hayton was not happy. In fact, his unhappiness was palpable: it could be seen in the four empty coffee cups on his desk, in the disgust with which he regarded his wall of monitors, and mostly, in the overfilled ash tray positioned on the ...

Oedi's Opus

Author : Tim Hatton

The black is total.

Oedi’s life is devoid of light and endlessly deep.

Only stars prick the canvas. He stares at them, each in turn, for entire shifts. He finds it odd to realize that what he is looking at has moved from that spot eons before ...

After Dark

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Kyle shifted in the metal chair, suspiciously regarding the toaster sitting on the table in front of him. "So, it's a toaster," Kyle finally spoke, not taking his eyes off the appliance, "what's so special about that?" Niles cleared space on a desk ...

Awful News

Author : Cody Lorenz

Mike was nervous, you could tell by the stains at the armpits of his shirt, and the way he kept shifting, causing that awful gown to rustle. He coughed, if only to make the little man with his chart speak up.

“It is hard to put this,” he started, in a ...

Count Bodies Like Sheep

Author : B.York, Staff Writer

The pills didn't work. Private Dawns was still unable to recall anything that might help. Stuck between an ambush and a colony outpost somewhere off the Z sector of Alpha Centauri, Private Dawns had nothing but her rifle and the training she'd been put ...

Europa's Subterranean Secret

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer The unmanned Marius Lander (in honor of Simon Marius, the German astronomer who named the four large Jovian moons, and claimed to have discovered them before Galileo) successfully touched down on the icy surface of Europa. After a quick systems ...

Inconspicuous Conspicuous Consumption

Author : Lucas Atkinson

"Tell me what it is you do, Mrs. Adam, In your own words."

"Well," she said, and leaned forward onto my desk. "I deal in luxury goods. One specific luxury good." She smiled. "Obscurity."

"That seems a strange way to say it. Usually one ...

Mutiny

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer

I looked at the dashboard with a mounting fear.

The mutiny had gone off and turned messy. The company pilots had been killed when we blew the cockpit door. We’d had to execute our hostages. The airlock was empty now and their ...

Mythlabs

Author : Andy Bolt

Senator Bigfoot sat at the top of the Eiffel Tower daintily sipping espresso from one of Café au Francais’ literally bottomless vortex glasses. His massive, gorilla-derived nostrils inhaled the artificially addictive coffee smell, and he smiled to himself as ...

Caution, Adults at Play

Author : Jennifer C. Brown aka Laieanna

Mary passed the town’s graveyard, her eye on the mobile facility parked in an empty lot. The line trailing out from the small trailer door was already thirty deep, but a rush of people was only a few steps behind her.

Linda turned ...

The Cave Witch

Author : J.R. Blackwell, Staff Writer

The witch is bony, skeletal, his spine in a permanent curve. His liver spotted hands tap on his rubber console, fast like shuffling cards. He cackles with glee, casting his code-spells. The only light in his little cave under the mountain is the ...

Crowbar Subtlety

Author : Sam Clough, Staff Writer

I work on Opingtu. Two-and-a-bit AUs from civilisation, on a good day.

Lee thrust the crowbar into my hands, and set off down the corridor at a run. I swore, and ran after him. Me and Lee were as thick as thieves -- always had been. Started ...

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