Author: Sarah Klein The birds are gone. Last week, one small sparrow, digging in vain in the ashy ground. Sue puts up pictures of birds around the compound to join the squirrels, rabbits, and foxes tacked up. Dave says we have to go. But there is still too much food to ...

Author: Hillary Lyon Moj awoke to three white-coated beings hovering over her, murmuring amongst themselves. One leaned back to choose an elongated needle-like device from a tray of gleaming instruments. Another swabbed her arm with a moist, stinging pad. They pressed ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer There’s a crow talkin’ shit about me to the drone passing overhead on its way to Skiogar. On a good day I wouldn’t mind: bigots keep giving cybercorvids good reasons to hate us. Today’s not a good day: been raining since midnight. Nothing ...

Author: Charles M. Mwangi A hum. The judge’s head cranks forward. His neck whirs when he turns, and his blue eyes flicker. From where I’m seated inside the cage, the initials A.I. are visible on his forehead. His fingers converge into one single probe, which he uses to ...

Author: Richard Dalglish Harry walked into Jake’s Tavern, nodded to Meredith behind the bar, and perched on a barstool. He was the only customer. A distant rumble, like a truck downshifting, rippled through the cool silence inside the bar, and Harry felt the floor quiver. ...

Author: Majoki Even to a NavSys, it was apparent the crew was agitated. Increasingly so. Understandably so. When a storm-stoked supermassive black hole that spins your galaxy starts shooting “cosmic bullets” your way, it’s time to take cover. That’s what the crew was ...

Author: Colin Jeffrey When people imagine an infinite number of monkeys jammed into a containment bubble of twisted infinite spacetime, they think of screaming, chaos...flung feces. But that was just speciest bigotry. Mostly. Also, an infinite number of monkeys isn’t ...

Author: Alastair Millar “Are you sure you’re okay doing this?”. That the older man’s question was more than rhetorical was clear. “I wasn’t planning to have you on rotation for months yet, but Simon’s first walk didn’t work out: agoraphobia. He was lucky to make it back. ...

Author: Starlight When I was a kid – however long ago that was, ten years or a hundred, I wouldn’t know – when I was a kid, there was this game we did in nursery. Over, under, forward, back. The teacher would give us all a toy and have us stand in lines like little ...

Author: Brian Ball There's a pantry in the basement, or at least there was. It’s gone now. St. Mary’s, our parish, used it most when the soup kitchen was busy. One Saturday, Judy Grezlick went down to grab some rice and lost her footing. She fell to floor and rice ...

Author: Hillary Lyon The shining silver ship cruised in, causing waves of wind to unfurl across the landscape, spawning swirling towers of dust and dirt and debris from an abandoned civilization. Once the craft stabilized, the main door slid open and the four spacemen ...

Author: Mark Renney Replacements are more prevalent than flesh and blood, skin and bone, almost everyone at some point becomes part of the System. There are still a few holdouts, of course, those professing it is better to age gracefully but there isn’t anything graceful ...

Author: Stephen R. Smith, Staff Writer The factory hadn't been used for anything legal since before the wars, and beyond the smell of the place, there was a feeling, one that settled deep into one's bones that made even the hardened criminal want to throw themselves through ...

Author: R. J. Erbacher It happened again. She was on vacation in Ireland, standing with a bus load of tourists on the Cliffs of Moher. The view was magnificent, gray clouds with shafts of peek-a-boo sun streaks, despite the typical weather which was not great; strong winds ...

Author: Colin Jeffrey I was looking for a tin of tomato soup when I bumped into myself. He was wearing my old leather jacket - the one I’d donated to charity because it reminded me of my ex-girlfriend. He looked as surprised as I felt. For a few seconds, we mirrored ...

Author: David C. Nutt It was a sad day for the Preston family. Della was being put down. She had been with the family for almost 12 years. Had shared the joys of promotions, birthday celebrations, and holidays. Della had seen the oldest Preston girl, Ashley, grow from lanky ...

Author: Miranda Held Lucy Goldman attained the role of right hand and impromptu partner to her close friend Captain Gabel on the mission Salacia 8, the 3rd manned exploration of the oceans of Europa. The Salacia 6 mission used a series of drones to start building a ...

Author: Majoki Walk it. That’s how I processed a murder. Walk the crime scene, walk the neighborhood, walk until my mind caught up with my legs. This case would take a lot of walking because I suspected this wasn’t an isolated killing. This looked to be related to a ...