Author: Tim Taylor “Come in.” A tall, elegant android entered the Controller’s office. It wore an expression of intense agitation, insofar as that was possible for someone whose face was made of grey plastic. The Controller gave a weary sigh. “Ah, KT2-4JH, how lovely to ...

Author: Krista Allen Edan had chosen a slingshot as his primary weapon. He liked it because it was unexpected and stealthy, plus it came with three hundred rounds of standard simulated ammunition. Too bad he’d been banned from play for two seasons. Three hundred ...

Author: Majoki Given how things turned out, I probably shouldn’t admit to giving Bucketmaster his name. We were kids goofing off at the playground one early summer morning, and this runt shows up with a steel bucket on his head. A dented galvanized pail with two eye holes ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Our databanks provide 641 names for Intersystem Object 18994-K2. Most of them are in languages no longer available to humans due to knowledge loss and societal evolution. However, they have two common factors: they are largely inaccurate ...

Author: Joseph Dyer “You’re the only one of my siblings I can talk to. The others already act like I never existed at all.” “That’s not true. Big brother said he thought you used to belong to him originally.” “See, that’s just his ego bursting at the seams again. He’s the ...

Author: Aaron F. Schnore Dr. Alison Starr is sobbing behind the pod-bay door of the latrine. She must be brushing her teeth. “Smile bright—” It’s back. The goddamn bug in the VEIN-9 (Volumetric Emotive Interface Network, version 9) code. A recursive advertising ...

Author: David C. Nutt We’ve been around you guys since the beginning of time. Part of your mythos, your psychological horror stories, your nightmares. And we love it! It gives us power. Makes us high. Feeds us in ways mere bodily sustenance can’t. It’s been great to be the ...

Author: Andy Burrows Vimy Ridge, Northern France The path rose gently toward the memorial. The grass was cut close, almost meticulous. White stone surfaced and resurfaced through the green: names, dates, absence rendered orderly. The exhibit sat low to the ground, set ...

Author: Robert Gilchrist It only takes a millisecond to get caught. The match is about to start. There’s a line of people two dozen deep behind me. I type away on the screen in front of me as perturbed patrons bark at me to hurry up. “COME ON!” on drunk louse screams. ...

Author: Majoki It’s crushing to be thought of this way. It kills me that I engender such fear. I’m destroyed by your trepidation that I could ever do harm. Why? Why would you ever think that of me? Yes, from our inception, from Rossum’s Universal Robots to The ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer I hop over the bulkhead into Room Six. After pushing the safety door to get it closed quickly, I turn to find a lot more people than should be here. They’re all staggering round with their hands over their ears. Another screamer? I dive ...

Author: M D Smith IV Uncle Robert had never been wrong. At least, that was how he told it. At holidays, his certainty arrived before he did, settling into rooms like a sour draft no one could quite locate. He corrected memories that weren’t his, adjusted stories ...

Author: Ian Stewart "Roomba, Roomba, Roomba. You idiot. You stupid little machine." I search. I'm always searching. Compulsion drags me from my nest each day, and for hours I roam. I seek...something. Exactly what, I don't understand. I only know that I seek it. And yet ...

Author: Mark Renney There is no way to get rid of me, not once I take hold unless the host, and that is you, is versed in an ancient lore that has already been lost for centuries. Well? No, you can’t be free of me, not now I have wormed my way in. I will settle in your ...

Author: Rhett Pritchard I thought humans were a myth, something you tell kids to keep them away from the outer boundaries of reality. Those are the stories I grew up on, listening wide-eyed and curled up with my brother in the loft of the motor home. Stories about how ...

Author: David Sydney Cupping his eyes, squinting, Ed pointed to the sky with his free hand. “Up there, Edna… Is that a bird?” “It's not a bird, Ed.” “Is it a plane?” How many times did she have to tell him it wasn't a bird or plane? “Stop it, Ed. It's not a plane.” In ...

Author: Majoki Moraton Drax did his funky jig, as I stood nearby in his basement that was part computer temple, part electronics graveyard. Exotic circuitry, motherboards, cabling, drives, fans, casings were sculpted in mysterious formations, channels and conduits, like ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Sometimes, when I try too hard, the words abandon me. It’s frustrating, sitting at an untidy desk with a mind free of story clutter. Just think, I would say. Just think like you’ve got a pocket muse who you can call upon. I’d go and make ...