Gone with the Solar Wind
The finals of the twenty-fourth biannual solar wind races were in their thirty-ninth day. The race course was a 15,000,000,000 mile Z-shaped trek within the Alpha Centuri system. The Alpha Centuri system was considered ideal for solar wind racing because ...
The Wall
“The Americans’ new weapon is unstoppable, sir.â€
The Admiral grunted. “That’s a bold claim, Commander Caswell,†he said, shifting in his deep leather chair before the wall of screens. “Care to expand on that?â€
“We ...
Original Death
This time it hurt. Which was rather odd.
He could remember losing body parts in battle before, but never had it hurt. He clearly recalled losing most of his right leg to a direct plasma hit on his way into the bunker at 23-0-9. That had only slowed ...
Potential Loss
Ix looked out the main window, sighing as she viewed the once-vibrant blue world below her, now gray and barren. She wondered if the strange fate that befell this place could have been avoided, and was embarrassed to admit that she couldn’t think of any way ...
The Language Barrier
Altitudal Lapse.
Guy Daschien released the breath that he'd been holding. The seal between his helmet and collar snicked shut, and a little hiss announced that it had become airtight. He gripped each of his wrists in turn, pulling his gloves on tighter, making sure that the burrs ...
Sshh! Quiet!
Jericho sighed contentedly as he eased himself into the contoured leather recliner of the Virtual Library booth. He’d spent most of his lunch break scouring the Multi-Mall for an empty VL booth and was determined to make the most of the remaining ...
Classroom 010
Guerillas in Our Midst
Binary Thinking 101
The war against the Centauri was not going well. For the first two decades of the war, the combined forces of the Earth Coalition had battled the military forces of Alpha Centauri to a virtual draw. However, in recent years, the Centauri offensive had ...
The Delicacies of Zombiekind
Footprints
They say the wind carries the souls of the dead, forever blowing to remind us of things past. At least, that's what the kasht say, but then our worlds usually have less wind than Tun Ekshati. Most humans don't believe it.
Marcus might. He's been ...
Birthdays
When Stacy was twelve, she celebrated her father's thirty-third birthday.
It wasn't actually his birthday. It was two weeks before his birthday, but he was leaving on a mission in five days.
Stacy thought the party was boring. There were a ...
Almost
Battle raged on around him, the constant sounds of gunfire ringing in his programmed earlike audio receptors. He, however, was oblivious to anything but the almost lifelike pain near where his navel would be, where the bullet had pierced his stark green casing. ...
It Takes All Kinds
"And I expect you to show all your work on the problem sets. Points will be deducted!" shouted Professor Smith as his class began to shuffle out of the lecture hall. He began collecting his papers and tri-parencies from the holo-video podium.
A man ...
Biomass
The nails slide out effortlessly from beneath the shizu skin of my fingers. The swollen carapace of my back splits in even sections and the hive breathes. The hum becomes a vibration you can feel in your chest.
Something like icing ...
Ballroom
“We’re flying.â€
His voice is soft. Satisfied.
Her smile never wavers, nor her posture or the angle of her head to the angle of her swan white neck. But the hand in his squeezes for a half-second. Her feet keep perfect time with his as ...
Doppleganger
I’m standing in front of the safety glass and seeing the thing look up at me. Its legs end in black tentacles that look diseased. The fingernails of its left hand are very long. One nostril is dripping what looks like grape juice onto the ...
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