Author: David C. Nutt Chaos and wreckage all around me. How did we get this way? Collision? Battle damage? Malfunction? It was still hazy. I pulled myself up and limped down the corridor. Not really wanting to look down I did anyway and saw that mercifully the six-inch gash ...

Author: Josie Gowler Janelle rounded the corner. She stopped next to me and sighed, all the usual motivational talks abandoned. “It could have been so beautiful here, David,” she muttered. The ship was on its way and I didn’t have time for pleasantries. “You knew. The ...

Author: Rollin T. Gentry Sweating and panting, I skid to a stop in front of apartment 4-G. Old Haxalot might be losing his touch. He normally locates the newbies in half this time. The black SUVs are only three blocks away. On the other side of this door is a young ...

Author: Janet Shell Anderson “Who’d slash a fifteenth-century Madonna?” That’s the question the robots at Zup’s grocery in the far, far north of Minnesota asked. They didn’t talk about Nils or the bear. I was accused. Last summer, up at the lake to buy Nils ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer “Listen to me closely, Commander, and form a visual. The beautiful naked Christian is lashed to the side of the mighty bull as it agitates in the stall beneath the arena. Hands scream for air as they are bound with braided leather to its ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Shadows dance across the wall as the spotlight swings from its broken mount. I see sparks in the darkness of the crack left by my blow. Too long looking! Its backhand catches me and I bounce off a wall. Getting my feet under me in time to ...

Author: Glenn Leung In the skyscraper-laden landscape known as Tri, Howard lived and worked as a lecturer and a father. His students were the exciting sort, always full of surprises with their in-class antiques and colorful essays. His family was the loving sort, his wife ...

Author: Rick Tobin Sanders’ trembling hand hovered over an ejection hatch separating him from interstellar vacuum. He paused, chest heaving, fighting his ending as if a stealthy gorilla was reaching through cage bars, catching him staring too closely. “Always heard ...

Author: David C. Nutt The chief of security removed the object archaically nailed to the briefing room door. There were gasps. It was paper. Forbidden by their protocols on the station. With a reverence and awe once held for holy relics, the chief delicately unscrolled the ...

Author: Robb White “God, not Apophis again,” Eddie said. He set the tray in the middle of the table. “‘fraid so,” Kathy sighed. “They started up as soon as you left. All the bars in town and we choose the space nerds hangout.” “I beg your pardon,” Bill said, “but as a ...

Author: David Barber These days visitors were few. The slim guidebook mentioned the Palace of the Red Emperors, famed once, but felled by an earthquake and never rebuilt; also the market, where travellers of discernment might purchase items from ages lost; a broken radio, ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer The cliff face rises shear above the old skeleton. A tidal wave hewn in ancient granite, it crests high above the smoke that bleeds a bitter mist from the ruined city. A thin wisp that sweeps out upon the great lake that fans out as ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Tuesday night, post-shift beer in hand, prodding my phone with the other thumb to see what Alanna’s up to. Looking up, I see I’ve emerged from phone fog in time to take the shortcut I usually miss. The cut-through runs behind some empty ...

Author: Jeremy Port-Tuckett They danced until midnight. She kissed him full of hunger. Her chaperone watched from afar. “I have to go,” she said. He walked her to the car. “Who are you?” Dave whispered into the neon. “Where did you come from?” He watched the ...

Author: R. J. Erbacher What is it that grips onto the edge of a shadow in the too-close distance and peers around its corner with yellow pinprick orbs and a spiky grin? Who is the ethereal figure in the night that I scan for outside my window as the rain sheets down but ...

Author: Hillary Lyon The beaded curtains sounded like the patter of soft rain as they closed behind Georgina. She navigated the dimly lit room, taking the only seat at the small round table situated in the middle. In the LED candlelight, a crystal ball gleamed in the center ...

Author: Skye Sweven Sand slips through my fingers. The sky is dusty gray, with a mix of amaranthine glow reminding me that it is dawn. This time of the morning is quiet. Stars, too, must feel this way, as they lose their glitter on the clouds and begin to fade away into ...

Author: Arkapravo Bhaumik Meera was a superhero minus the cape, the streaky lightning, and the fan-following. Right from her childhood, she could listen-in to the thoughts of other people. Unfortunately, her superpowers were a curse and her own social skills were never ...