by submission | Jun 4, 2009 | Story
Author : Clare Tong Lee
Elizabeth stared at herself in the mirror as her ladies flittered about twisting her hair into elaborate braids and adorning her with jewellery. In less than an hour they would be docking at the Rammajek spaceport and then they would be out of time. They would all be out of time.
Morana III had fallen eight months ago and her people had finally given an unconditional surrender. Not that they hadn’t tried to sue for peace before, they did after the destruction of Idona Prime and again after the Ralla Massacre. Elizabeth’s father hadn’t even objected when Arishkah Vehn had demanded her as a wife. A wife on Rammajek was nothing more than a body slave.
Still, Elizabeth had been born to serve her people as much as she had been to rule them, and she knew her duty. From the cradle to the grave her thoughts would be of her people: their protection, their happiness, their honour. Today, that meant marrying the Butcher of Fenna. Vehn was so pleased, so triumphant on the holobroadcast, a well calculated blow in demanding the Jewel of the Empire. ‘The spoils of war go to the victor’ he had said, ‘and I shall make spoils of it all.’
Elizabeth rubbed her fingers as the ship docked, and considered the poison sacs that had been implanted under her nails in the days after the surrender. Her marriage bed would be christened by blood like in the days of old, but this time it would not be that of her maidenhead.
by submission | Jun 3, 2009 | Story
Author : Ken McGrath
He woke screaming, just as he always did.
The chains held him in place, tearing into his flesh, causing his wounds to tear open and start to bleed again.
The other place was gone, all that existed now was this horrible twisted metal hole, pumped full of stale, dead air and the constant howls of other prisoners. It was much more real than the other place, the one with the clear blue skies and the endless oceans that flowed to the horizon and beyond.
He curled up, pulling his knees close to his raw, burned chest. Cables and wires of varying thickness wound their way around his body, probing into cavities both existing and new, digging into his very soul. Or were they bursting out of it? He didn’t know. All he knew was one thing and that was his throat felt like it had been set on fire, his ragged, bubbling pleas cutting through the vile sounds filling the atmosphere.
Fresh blood poured onto his hands so he scrunched his eyes closed, even tighter than before, trying to make it all go away, trying to make it become the other place, praying to escape from this horrible dream…
…and when he opened them there he was, standing in the doorway to his house, facing the beach, the gentle sound of the waves lapping against the shore adding to the laughter of the youngsters who were out on this beautiful star-filled night.
His legs went from underneath him and he reached for the doorframe to stop from falling, cutting his palm as he did. The blood brought him back to the other place. Was he still there? Was that where his body was right now, being operated on and tortured. Being used as food, as fuel for the machines. Or was it only his mind that went there? Was he safe here?
He sighed heavily and thought of the gun that lay hidden beneath the clean towels in the wardrobe upstairs. Should he free his mind now? Get it over with, but before he could stand another thought stuck him with enough force to knock him back to his knees.
What if this was the escape, what if here was where his mind went to escape the torment and pain. If he killed himself here he might never be able to come back and he might be trapped in that cursed cage with no escape, no safe haven for his mind to escape to.
But what if this was the one, this was the place where he was free and his damaged, demented mind had invented the other one, that red, overwhelming place where he lay bound, trussed and forever in pain.
He screamed and it was a sound all too familiar to him. The night sky suddenly became something more menacing, the pinpricks of light were now eyes staring out at him from the darkness of the panopticon letting him know he was being observed, waiting to see what his next move would be.
But he couldn’t move, the wires coming out of his chest held him in place, the distant laughter morphing into pained voices and he knew there was no safe haven. There was no past, no such thing as escape. Wherever his mind ran to he’d always end up back here, waiting to die on this filthy slab beneath the metal fingers of his cage.
by submission | Jun 2, 2009 | Story
Author : Roi R. Czechvala
She squeezed his hand, hard, as the main engines kicked in. His fingers turned white. It was her first launch, their first as husband and wife. “Take it easy Sweetheart. I’ll need that hand later.”
“Sorry.” She said, releasing his hand. “Is it always like this?”
“This is nothing. Just wait until we lift off from…” Her look of terror stopped him mid-sentence. “Just kidding Sweetheart, actually this is one of the rougher ones. You get used to it.” She looked doubtful, but managed a weak smile.
Once in free fall she relaxed, unbuckled her harness, and wrapped her groom in a lung crushing hug. “I love you so much. This is the best honeymoon gift a girl could ask for. I just wish we didn’t have to go into stasis.” She stuck her lip out in a pout. He kissed her.
He awoke from stasis first. “Honey, are you awake?”
“Yeah,” she said muzzily, throwing her arms around his neck, “I’ve missed you so.”
“It’s only been twenty minutes subjective time.”
“Yes, but I know it’s been six months.” She nuzzled his neck.
“We land in forty five minutes. Come to the port, I want to show you something.” They made their way through the crush of other recently awakened passengers to peer out the tiny quartz porthole. “See there,” he said, “that brightly lit area? That’s Crippen dock. Off in the distance is Port Chaffee. I spoke to a few crew members who woke up yesterday. According to the latest reports, this promises to be a most spectacular meteor shower.”
“You spoil me, you know that? This is for you.” She pulled him to her lips.
She gazed in wide wonder at the night sky above Port Chaffee. “The sky is so beautiful here. It’s almost as if I could see forever. It’s so much clearer here than back home.”
“That’s because of all the fine dust held in suspension in the upper atmosphere on Mars. Remember how clear it was when we went to the top of Mons on our first date?”
“How could I ever forget? It was breathtaking, but nothing like this. I’ve seen pictures, but I never expected Earth to be so beautiful, so green and full of life. I’m so glad we came. I’ll never forget this.”
“Everybody should see the birthplace of humanity at least once in their life. I’m just happy we can see it together.”
“But what will protect us from the meteors? Won’t they strike us here as well?” she asked, her voice filled with sudden concern.
“Yes, but don’t worry. Do you see that faint shimmer in the sky? That’s the Tesla Field. It extends around the entire globe. Nothing will penetrate it.”
Far above she could see the T Field shimmering protectively. “If you say so.”
“I wouldn’t let anything happen to you… Look, it‘s beginning.”
The impacts were moderate at first, but the frequency quickly increased. What had been single strikes here and there turned into a massive onslaught that melted into one another until the planet seemed to blaze in orange white fire.
The now incandescent atmosphere began to strip away in brilliant streamers borne upon the solar wind. “It’s so beautiful,” the young bride said, her eyes wet with tears.
Safe on Luna, in the comfort of Port Chaffee and snug beneath the impenetrable umbrella of the Tesla Field, the young couple watched, from 384,403 kilometers distance, the last of Earth’s oceans boil away into space.
“I love you,” she said softly.
by submission | May 31, 2009 | Story
Author : Zachary Whitten
Looking out the plexiglass window, he could see almost all the way across the station. In bed behind him, his Jane sighed and rolled over. She obviously wasn’t a Sardine, her body was too short, her muscles were too big and her skin had the fading remnants of a tan.
He was born and raised on the station. The low gravity and artificial light of the station meant that the people who lived here, half-mockingly called Sardines, grew long, lithe and pale.
It had become a fashionable thing for people of means to leave the brown hotness of Earth and come up to the stations for their vacations. Visiting a Sardine prostitute was a regular pastime for the Earthers. The stations were legal grey areas already, so the brothels fit right along with the plastic surgery clinics and gene-drug houses.
He didn’t mind the job, there wasn’t much else for Sardines his age. He liked this part the best, though. After they were done and she was sleeping. He’d stay awake, pretending that this finery was all his. Pretending he belonged here. After awhile, he’d take all the booze in the minibar and slip out, his Jane still sleeping.
by submission | May 30, 2009 | Story
Author : Robert Stise
He opens his eyes and looks around. His eyes are blue.
“Good morning.” I say.
He turns and looks at me then out the window at the dark sky.
“It is still night.” He says sitting up on the steel table.
I don’t even wonder about why they say that any more. “The time 12:02, it is morning.”
He nods and looks around at the room. It is bare with only the few tools that I need and the table on which the man sat. I see confusion begin to seep in as he looks around the room.
“Where am I?” he asks.
“You are in the basement of the Welds county hospital, in New York.”
He looks around his confusion ebbing until certain memories begin to come back. “I was dead.”
I feel bad about enjoying that statement, but it’s hard not to appreciate it.
“Yes you were,” I ignore the temptation to let the statement hang in the air “I was paid to bring you back.”
He pulls the white sheet laying across his legs closer, becoming aware of his nakedness. “Who paid you?”
“Your wife.” I say immediately
He takes it well, thinking quietly to him self. I stare at him waiting for the realization to dawn. When it finally does he looks me in the eyes. His eyes are blue.
“A day.” he says quietly.
“Yes,” I say “just a day.”
“And she wanted that?”
“Honestly, I don’t know what she wants but she paid.”
“A day. A day with her.” He mumbles.
I look at him sitting on the table and I can’t tell you why but I felt… Well I guess I don’t know what I felt. I went and sat next to him.
“Sometimes these things go wrong,” I say “sometimes I can’t bring them back.”
He turns and looks at me with his blue eyes.
“How do you want to spend your day?” I ask
He left shortly after sneaking out the back in borrowed cloths to have his day. I don’t know why I let him go he wasn’t special, and he was worth quite a lot. But he did have these blue eyes.
