No Time for Teaching
Author: William Gray Look, we don’t have much time here, okay? Corporate really cut corners on these new spacesuits. That ripping sound is not reassuring…I’m pretty sure I’ll get a view of Earthrise before….well… This all began years ago. After earning an…
read moreA Different World
Author: David Henson When earth passed through the Great Inter-dimensional Anomalous Wave, everything went blurry. After things cleared up 56 hours later, it was a different world. Great Grandpappy Goose was one of the last to remember when the world had three spatial…
read moreIncorporeal Living
Author: Anthony Nguyen I woke up outside my body. My husband welcomed me onto a server called dasn.incorporealliving3.mw. Like normal, my mouth moved and words emerged,”Hi John, it’s been a while.” “Yeah babe, ya don’t have to be so formal.” “I feel like I’m breathing…
read moreThe Sword is My Soul
Author: Jae Miles, Staff Writer I raise my hand above my head, knuckles to the rear, palm to the sky, fingers softly curled, thumb tight. As the weight tips the arm leftward, I let it drop and curve away to the right, knuckles uppermost until that extension stops like…
read moreDream Worlds, To Perchance Live
Author: Jeff L Mauser The soft high-count sheets are cool against my skin. I’m greeting by soft spring sunshine, I smile. Throwing the curtains aside, the green fields of home flow from beneath my window as far as I can see. The aroma of coffee sashays in, overlaid…
read moreThe Dollhouse
Author: Greg Roensch You’d be 40 years old today, my age at the time of the first strike. There’s some comfort knowing you didn’t have to live through the disasters that came like seasons – drought, famine, disease, war, more war. I awoke one morning without sight,…
read moreAlice, After the Wormhole
Author: Chad Bolling “I’m not sure I remember your name,” a soft, gender-neutral, synthetic voice said. “I can’t see anything,” a human, female voice responded. “Can you smell or hear anything?” the synthetic voice asked. “No. Wait. I can smell. It smells like a farm!…
read moreThe Look Of Love
Author: Dave Ludford “Well, what do you think?” You turn from the window to face me and the force of the emotion I suddenly feel hits me like a physical blow. Your third face is pure, serene, and beautiful beyond words; it is the face of love. An unbelievable…
read moreA Marked Man
Author: Rick Tobin He wandered in idle thought. Not like practicing poking on oranges or pigskin, before both disappeared. Can’t get them shipped to Mars since the war. This guy’s skin is tougher than expected. A wrong needle plunge and free-range nanobots will rip…
read moreClose to Heaven
Author: Lance J. Mushung My patrol ship, Topaz, entered the upper atmosphere of Earth. I always watched the black of space change to a sky of blue when returning home. Logan, my best friend and Topaz’s AI, said, “Liz, we set down at the Ellington Naval Station in 2.37…
read moreInfernal Logistics
Author: Jae Miles, Staff Writer “This project costs more than every other clandestine operation put together! In fact, I could equip a division with the best we have right now, and still have change to buy a squadron of F35s!” Senator Godley starts hammering his fist…
read moreLove Poems of Father Catullus
Author: Maura Yzmore I tossed and turned late into the night, being kept awake by a soft wail coming from the woods. Was it an animal in distress? A mating call? I remembered a saying from centuries ago, that cats in heat sounded like human babies crying. Only the…
read moreThe Turret
Author: John Carrick Charles had been at the station for six months now. Housed in a small assembly to the right side of the ammunition drum, the belts rattled as they cycled through their daily reseating. The heaters ignited and the cold of the evening was offset for…
read moreThe Day of the Great and Terrible Second Sun
Author: Don Nigroni On September 2nd, 2049 at the Prime Storage Facility, Jules Deschamps told me, “In the 12th century, the Templars, whilst looking for the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy Land, stumbled upon a three-foot diameter tungsten sphere hidden in a cave…
read moreGreener Pastures
Author: Helen Merrick Theresa Davies wrung her hands. “It’s not been an easy decision.” “You co-signed both contracts, agreed to the payments.” “Yes, but circumstances have changed. Please, I have no choice.” * Shielding his eyes, George scoured the horizon. “I give…
read moreThis Place
Author: Samuel Stapleton For a long time, we have dreamed of finding our next home planet. And yes, we know the probability is that it’s out there already, but you see it’s finding them that’s the difficult part. I mean have you seen how big space is? No, you haven’t,…
read moreNow Appearing at the Twilight Lounge
Author: Hillary Lyon Justin clenched hist fists, then slowly unfurled his fingers. “See, the little finger of my right-hand sticks; it’s not as flexible, as quick, as my other fingers. These gloves are no good to me if one finger lags.” The technician stared down at…
read moreReveal
Author: Jae Miles, Staff Writer Miguel Jarvis Wong had lived on three continents before the age of thirteen, and been a trouble-finder on all but the first. To this day he doesn’t know exactly what his father did for a living, only that it meant making home in more…
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