Author: Alzo David-West My name is VC-60. I am a mechanical intelligence. The two letters in my name stand for “Virtual Cognition.” The two numbers mean I am the sixtieth-generation model. My makers were not mechanical intelligences. They were men and women. They were ...

Author: Moriah Geer-Hardwick With a single, well-practiced motion, Ernst flicks a cigarette up from the pack and brings it up to his mouth. The filter barely touches his lips, but as he swipes the pack away, it remains behind, dangling precariously. His other hand comes up, ...

Author: Ian Hill We came to the dead planet, left our vessel in orbit, and used an old mining lighter to reach the surface. The gray, withered husk of a world was even bleaker than it looked from above. It was a dry place, all wind-scoured and slaggy, porous, rolling—or ...

Author: Suzanne Borchers *This is Romey, Outpost 324, District 19, Outerlands. #Homebase here. Go ahead, Romey. *Thank the Stars! I’ve been transmitting for weeks with no answer. #Homebase here. Go ahead, Romey. *Catastrophe! #Standard procedures must be followed. What ...

Author: Thomas Tilton Their date had gone fabulously well, which was why Simon was so depressed. Invariably, dates ended badly for him. Par for the course when you had a softball-sized parasite attached to your left flank. “I should go,” Simon said, poised to leave Alice ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer The Prisoner Lucian Lockley is in a cell on the moon. He lays on the stainless steel bench and his eyes take leave and run up the side of his cage. The walls seem to angle inward. Elongating in his mind until they all but touch at a ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Another flawless afternoon. “Spin for me.” I smile and cut a perfect seven-twenty, poised on one heel, arms spread to imitate the mantling of an eagle. As I come to a stop, I let a flash of dragon wings spread down from my outstretched ...

Author: Ian Hill We showed each other our wounds in the iron room. I saw the soft sump of skin on her head where part of her skull had cratered, and she peered at the fused and welded tendons that twisted the back of my leg. I felt her erratic heartbeat, and she counted ...

Author: Bart Williams Jeremy awoke to see Karen hovering over him. She covered him with kisses until he was aroused and then they made vigorous love. “Good morning, birthday boy,” she said. Jeremy looked up at Karen’s perfect face, hair and skin. He never tired of her. ...

Author: Ian Hill Maisie swept through the workshop, skipping from bench to shelf and beaming at everything. As she went, the loose sleeves of her shoulder-draped coat knocked over little bottles of gears and springs. Her astrakhan lapels gathered ceiling-sifted motes, and ...

Author: Suzanne Borchers Her fingers fumbled with the fasteners on the uniform. She breathed out harshly and shook her left hand. Trying again to manipulate the loop, she cursed under her breath so that her crew wouldn’t hear the unprofessional words. They were at war, ...

Author: Moriah Geer-Hardwick It was a good arm. You’re cognitive its loss will have negative effects. Absently, you work the fingers on your remaining appendage, one after the other. You seem to control a decent amount of movement and function. You ignore the barrage of ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer The angel sits at the end of the Pope’s bed and toys with an errant strand of gold thread. Running it between thumb and finger, a residue flicker; a remnant of the mass shunt of energy that had pulled him here from across the universe, ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The airlock used to be palatial. Now the four-metre walls are coated with sickly golden crud: the exudations of a million desperados. The bouncer is vaguely human. He waves at us: “Leave your weapons here.” Pointing to an upturned crate ...

Author: Olabisi Bello I feel it in my heart before anywhere else. The painful shock that leaves my body reeling with pain, that makes my every nerve wish for relief, and that makes me wonder how I am still alive. It only lasts for a second but I never stop hurting. “Take ...

Author: David C. Nutt “So, how many today?” “Ummmmm, six. No. Seven.” “Seven? Dude, that’s gotta be a record.” “Nah. I did twelve in one day last quarter. It’s easy. Find their operational metaphor, login into their universe, use the behavior health override, eject them ...

Author: Alzo David-West Distant stars blinked over Buguma island in the lower southern delta of West Africa. Sea waves turned, crickets droned, and guinea fowl warbled. I was on a forest path, walking to my village, looking over my shoulder, for I could hear something ...

Author: Suzanne Borchers I’m one of three applying for the position of Assistant to the Chairman. Why me? My parents placed my application to the Great One. Mother’s favorite story is about my birth. Daddy laughed, hugged me close to his chest, and called me his little ...