Author: Ken Poyner Stoyan looks down at the broken glass. “You would be this awkward if you had six legs,” he says. And I probably would be. No matter what else, this host-an-alien program is proving a way to expand perceptions. I am learning oh so much. Stoyan is ...

Author: Nick Carter Blackness. Brilliant light. Twinkling suns. It was beautiful. He had never seen anything like it. Even from the starship, it wasn’t like this. There, he was held back by man-made metals and alloys. “Barriers,” he thought. Barriers holding him back from ...

Author: Brian Maycock Free drinks for life. I was nineteen when I said yes. The machine announces its intentions with a gentle hum. A can is dispensed. I feel dizzy, nauseous. I've hardly slept for the last week. We're going to lose the Mitchell account and it's ...

Author: David K Scholes Through the Unified Mind I perceived the vastness of this Einstein-Newton Gap. One of the tracts of interstellar space where neither true teleportation nor even hyperspace travel were possible. You just had to crawl across these “gaps” at just ...

Author: Mina Karo-Pik landed the one-man shuttle in a clearing, high in the mountain chain that crossed the largest continent on Kymera but below the tree line. He exited the craft as the sun rose, casting an orange glow to his golden eyes. Eyes that could spot a beetle in ...

Author: David Henson “Roger, I know you like vegetable soup, but I can’t stand that slurping,” Rhonda says. “Aw, let me enjoy my lunch. You do things that bother me, too.” Rhonda clicks her tongue. “Things like that. So ...” Roger exaggerates a slurp. “Have it ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer | After the old nations fell, the survivors formed tribes. They argued, fought, and reformed into smaller tribes, always defined by ever-shrinking differences and increased fanaticism. When a tribe reached stability, it promptly set off ...

Author: Elizabeth Hoyle “Come on, Calla! The meteor is almost here! We need to get to the shelter!” I thought my door would last at least five more minutes of Paul’s battering. He grabs my arm, attempts to wrench me away from my telescope. I push him away. I keep my eyes, ...

Author: William Torphy “You’re messing with nature.” Dean’s tone is vehement. His green eyes flash. “Haven’t we done enough of that already?” “Of course I’m messing with nature,” she replies. “Nature is screwed. Only intelligent interference can rescue it.” “Someday, ...

Author: Thomas Andrew Fitzgerald McCarthy Charday Dee Williams’ entire body froze in mid-step on the sidewalk at the intersection. That thing happened which she’d heard stories about all of her life. All thirty-five of her years had begun to flash before her eyes. Memories ...

Author: Noah Viti The twins sat before the checkered board as they always did: Ide was on the right, and Ire on the left. The chamber they played in was silent, but there was a black glass panel adjacent, and they knew that the others were watching. Neither of the twins ...

Author: Katlina Sommerberg Joe has until the automatic build at 12:05 am sharp to submit his feature. It’s a stupid button that does in one click what used to take five, and the UX designers loved it in his presentation last month. It hadn’t been done before because of all ...

Author: Samuel Stapleton “What do you think it is?” I asked as Clarence stared at the dataset I had collected. By accident. He was stumped, so I went to get Sean to see if she could help. “I promise it’s worth your time,” I said as I walked into her office. “If you ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer We raise our fists and give a round of hearty ‘hurrahs’ for our intrepid leader. He waves from the engine deck of his Chieftain before clambering up into the turret and taking command position at the top hatch. He brings a loud hailer ...

Author: Mina There was a pause in the trial being held in the starship court Serendipity just before the cross-examination began. If the wall behind the Alpha Nebula circuit judge’s chair had not been filled with stars, the room could have been anywhere. Only the judge and ...

Author: Joshua Fagan Universe 277A: After a decade spent wandering Andromeda, General Louis Patterson arrived at the conclusion that his dream of ruling an entire galaxy was nothing but a cheap fantasy, something out of the discount paperbacks he’d read as a child. Rather, ...

Author: Bill Gillard Vic bellied up to the counter at Plaskett’s Diner and ordered a donut and coffee, black. He smiled, waited for the waitress with the glistening bald head—to each her own—to respond with a smile at his joke, but she dropped the menu in front of him and ...

Author: Ken Poyner I do not know what I want to be today. The people who serendipitously gave me the ability to wrap ambient electromagnetism around my DNA and in seconds remake my body thought I would have a natural state, some pleasant default configuration that I would ...