Until—
Author: Tyler James Russell We shook her and asked if she was okay but she wouldn’t budge. Even when Davey tugged on her jacket and said Mommy she held her position on the sidewalk like it was something that might be taken from her. She clutched her briefcase, a paper…
read moreEmbedded
Author: Steve Smith, Staff Writer She studied his naked body as he slept, unconsciousnessly comparing the network of scars to a mental map burned into her subconscious. Every knife wound, bullet hole, piece of shrapnel, every evidence of every torture session, a…
read moreEnthusiasts
Author: Jae Miles, Staff Writer Two guns: one an Earther automatic, the other a Lenkormian beamer. “Holy Marduk, that’s a Grifone!” And we have an enthusiast. I grin at the young trooper. “Only by looks. It’s a custom Perez .557 automatic. I spent some time at his…
read moreLights, Camera, Inaction
Author: Emily Wilcox She died today. Blonde ringlets trodden down into the hardwood floor. A world overlooking her, eyes slick with awe and grins stitched firmly just below. A kingdom, a fandom, whatever we were, we were building from the inside, elevating the…
read moreThe Wall
Author: Tyler James Russell When a wall of bone and fascia bloomed from the earth a hundred miles from our village, my dead almost-girlfriend stood over my bed, waiting for me to wake up. “You,” I whispered. We’d been longtime girlfriends but only vaguely girlfriends…
read moreAtomic Covenant
Author: Gwynfryn Thomas Shena’s fingernail glistened under the afternoon sun. This one didn’t hurt when it came off – it fell like a mere petal onto the dusty ground. A breeze stung the exposed skin. Wrapping his tongue around the sore finger, he kicked a spiral of…
read moreUnintended Peril
Author: Dick Narvett It sat on the shelf behind a T-Rex action figure and a feminist coffee mug with the saying “If they can put a man on the moon, why not all of them?” Finding a laptop in Mr. Chapa’s secondhand shop was like discovering an Apple watch on an Egyptian…
read moreFeline Representative
Author: Steven Holland “The owl isn’t an owl.” “What?” I asked. In retrospect, this was a stupid question. Far better questions to ask would have been “how are you able to talk?” Cats aren’t known for doing this. Or better yet “why am I on a spaceship?” At least, it…
read moreThe Day the Monsters Came
Author: Connor Long-Johnson We haven’t forgotten the moment the monsters came, and we still pass on the stories of that day. They descended in their rocket ships, cutting holes through our peaceful skies and filling our air with their toxic fumes. First, they came in…
read moreSalvage
Author: Jae Miles, Staff Writer “Hey, Pete. What’s the name of this station again?” “Celeste.” “Appropriate.” “Hush up, Davy. Get back to duty or the captain will murder us.” “If he does that, he’ll have no-one to pilot or fix the ship.” “Good argument, but I don’t…
read moreFlesh Trade
Author: Jatayu When David first met her she seemed sad, but afterward, when their time had expired she held him close, asking him to stay a little longer. When he came back the next week her eyes lit up and she smiled just a little, unsure if it was okay. They made…
read moreWe Only Travel at Night
Author: Kathleen Bryson We only travel at night and we only travel in a small pen. The pen is an invention that means we can keep our time travelling in a small place so we can’t create anomalies. We only travel at night is a phrase that popped up in a dream of my…
read moreS(2013)A(15)B(04)
Author: Kathleen Bryson We succumbed to space tourism at last and went last week to see the prickly end of the sun, you know it’s always got those jutting little rays like in a good graphic design, and we petted the end of one sunbeam. It was furry like a sun kitten,…
read moreThe Face
Author: Harry J. Bentham A deep vista of stars rested in the boundless black, subordinate to the rays of a single white sun above the time-scarred wastes of the surface. There stood cliffs, cruel and capricious, and the winds piped in an endless song through deep…
read moreYang Paints the Clouds
Author: Peter Fossey Ria is eating one of those flaky pastries with almond paste in, so my coffee tastes like I’ve snuck in a shot of Amaretto, and that makes her laugh. Or one of us, anyway. It was hard to get to know people, for a while. Meeting face-to-face became…
read moreThe Transition
Author: Mark Renney The hardest part for me was the departure, turning from the body, walking away from my earthly remains. I lingered knowing it was dangerous to do so. I couldn’t stay there, in that room. I stepped backward and gazed down at the body slumped on the…
read moreChains
Author: Jae Miles, Staff Writer The viewing room is hushed as we approach the co-ordinates. Every being not on duty has gathered. For some, it’s a rite of passage. For others, a renewal of faith. “Exiting shiftspace in three, two, one.” Conventional space and time…
read moreSelf Checkout
Author: T. Thornton Gray It’s called no man’s land. That space between the entry doors and the actual store. The sensor zone one must pass through to get in and out. I can see the drone docks overhead and the red blinking eyes of the Taser firing drones where they…
read more