Author: R. Michael Jenny sat looking at the wonders out her window. In her right hand, she slowly twirled a bit of her silky, auburn hair, and in the other hand, she held a pen. Though intending to jot something down, she mostly just chewed on the end. In her mind’s eye, ...

Author: David Barber “So,” Hoffmann said to Cally. “You are the poet. The one who claims to hear meanings in queentalk that our software misses.” The man from Transuranics GmbH had brought his own translator rig; Cally listened to it murmuring the subtext of pheromones ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer I love Christmas, everyone’s preoccupied or in a good mood. A focussed gent like me can make a fortune. Times have changed, though: used to be all I had to do was hang around and look a bit down and out. That’s become a good way to get ...

Author: Glenn Leung "I'm sorry, what?" I gave the man my 'I don't believe you, but I'm intrigued' face. "Perhaps I should use visual aids," said the man as he set his drink down. He proceeded to grab a napkin from the counter and whip out a pen from his shirt pocket. In ...

Author: David C. Nutt “As I told you to begin with, if Renslo dies, you would die too.” I thought the Renegade Commander said that so I wouldn’t kill Renslo under the knife by violating my Hippocratic oath. Oathbreakers never understand the power of an oath taken; ...

Author: Timothy Goss Where to begin? Start at the dance. It’s a very good place to start. But the dance was slow. Everything was on its best behaviour, including the Humans’. They were representing Kircher and his crazy ideas. The Galactic community wanted assurances ...

Author: Steve Smith, Staff Writer Tenn disengaged the flywheel on the powerbike and coasted to a stop against the curb. He steadied the bike with both feet on the ground, glancing down as he did at the rough-shaven scalp of the man seated next to him on the sidewalk. An ...

Author: R. J. Erbacher “I’m sorry, what?” Aaron was about to tip his tray of leftover lunch into the bin and now held it frozen in mid-spill. Maybe telling him wasn’t a smart idea after all. I thought, out of everyone I knew and trusted, he would have an open mind. I had ...

Author: S. Sedeq Never had I expected death to eject half of my body into the void of space. Eons spent feeling the gradual, yet inevitable ebb of my essence has done little to prepare for an explosion more massive than any energy I have emitted as a star. Just now, ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer With slow majesty the huge spacecraft swings about, displaying alien lines in the distant star's light. Mantled wings of golden energy cant toward the tiny needle that darts about, shooting beams of visible and invisible energy at it. The ...

Author: James A Brown III Father Provious Del Ladra stared out the window at the green planet. His hands were clasped in front of him, his eyes closed and head bowed. “And please, Father, bless the 237th, especially Commander Nadia Ryes, as they protect your works so ...

Author: Glenn Leung The night the stars spoke; I was listening. It was not light they sent us, but a series of electrical pulses in M code picked up as instrument static. They sent it all at once, bypassing the lightyears through what we now call Hyperspace. They have been ...

Author: Jeff Hayward The fluorescent lights switched on flickering and humming – the clock on the wall read 6:00 AM. Patrick sat up in his bed, wiping the sleep from his eyes. He stood up unsteadily, using the steel sink to gain his balance. He shuffled the few steps to the ...

Author: James A Brown III “Well, I guess it’s time to head out.” “Where to?” “Grandagar.” Sri tapped some keys behind the bar and read the display, his face glowed a deep reflected red then blue as he worked down the list of ingredients. “That’s going to be a ...

Author: Ken Carlson “Hello and welcome to Burger King. How may I help you,” said the disembodied out of the drive-through speaker in a dark parking lot off Interstate 5, Tacoma. The voice belonged to Chad Stearns, 16 years old, 120 pounds and already drained of hope. He ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer The great starving horde marched through space. No, they didn’t. They swarmed and, just as the hive-minded are apt to do, they toiled relentlessly, each individual an integral part of the whole. Every last one a citizen and willing ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer In the beginning, there was a world. It wasn’t a particularly unusual or outstanding one, just another ball of rock with a hot liquid interior and a solid lump at the centre. The usual early planetary phases passed without anything of ...

Author: R. J. Erbacher The incongruence of this bridge’s construction boggled Samm’s mind. Using her ship to cut, haul and position logs, if they could be called that, when they should be using carbon graphene girders. This planet didn’t have traditional trees but tall ...