Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The laboratory is quiet at last. Carrie crouches down to retrieve a champagne bottle. As it’s not quite empty, she drinks the rest and stands up, pausing to let a lightheaded moment pass. Dropping the bottle into the bin, she turns and ...

Author: Michael Ray Fill in the Blanks' I'd had enough. And it was getting dark. And he was still talking. "They have no concern for our well-being. Why should we? After seeing that. You saw it, right? What are we supposed to do?" he said. "What we are supposed to ...

Author: Steven Holland Unit 153 drummed its fingers on the armrest of its chair. The android’s eyes darted around the room. Frantic. Searching for stability. Finding none. "People are watching me. I know it!" its voice modulator mimicked unease. Behind a one way mirror in ...

Author: Rick Tobin "But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind…” Luke 14:13 “Colonel, we can’t hold the line. Radars don’t work. The bastards have taken our coasts and Rockies. If Kansas falls…” “Drop it, Major.” The aged Colonel ...

Author: Hari Navarro The bullet that didn’t kill my distant ancestor struck him just above the peak brim of his steel helmet. Our histories are boxed and sent and folded for us so neatly. I received my past on my ninth birthday, no surprise everyone does. Memories gleaned ...

Author: Leanne A. Styles The day the parade came to town was the best day of my life. I remember jostling through the crowd to reach the front, before begging my mother to lift me onto her shoulders to get a better look. My idols were even more beautiful than I’d dreamed. ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The bulb swings in lazy figure eights on its long cable. Somewhere in the darkness above, there must be a breeze. The shifting light is doing more to soften me up than the ministrations of the knuckledragger dancing round my chair like ...

Author: Steve Smith, Staff Writer Jodie climbed into the passenger seat of the big sedan, the door closing itself with enough force to remind her never to leave anything in its way too long. Jacko was already behind the wheel, flipping switches and bringing the old ...

Author: Lance J. Mushung I tightened my grip on my black mini tote and stepped out of the elevator on the top floor of Parasol Corporation's headquarters. The CEO, Kal Shakti, used the entire floor for his office. A few steps brought me to a human receptionist with ...

Author: Katelyn Goule Traveling along a lesser known path, she found Hope idling at the side of the road. He was dressed in all blue and white, and the reflection of the sun smoldered in his glossy eyes. Hand outstretched, he beckoned her closer, sunlight gleaming against ...

Author: Carolyn Myers A well-dressed woman flung the office door open and collapsed onto the sofa across from me. I pretended not to stare at the woman whose body appeared completely artificial. She had cosmetic work done to accentuate what I supposed were her good ...

Author: Thomas Mills Some say it was bound to happen. But people no longer talk about it. After years of governmental and military alien cover-ups, who could be shocked at all? We saw something, that’s for sure. But what? Millions of flying saucers just started ...

Author: Hari Navarro She sits at the console, the warm glow of beading sex sits at her lip and the sleeping monster it shifts and turns in her bed. Silently her fingers glide, swirling across the holographic keyboard that projects from sensors embedded into their ...

Author: William Gray These bite marks on my forearm. Just below the crease of my elbow. They’ve always been there, even as a child growing up on the colonies of Ganymede. Their pattern is unique. All slim, clean lines with the exception of one wide, jagged rip exactly ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The snow is so fine it sometimes drifts about for hours before finally settling. The result is a mist that makes everything vague before fallen snow obscures it completely. This being acid snow, obscuring may become erasure when thawing ...

Author: Steve Smith, Staff Writer I look out the viewport to the crushing void of space. It doesn't feel real. I don't feel connected to any of this, out here alone amidst all this nothing. "Put all the weight on the balls of your feet and press them into the floor," ...

Author: David Henson I wake up sweating, check the alarm clock. Three fifty-nine? Too light. I fumble for my watch. Almost 10. “What’s wrong with the a/c, Daniel?” Jean says sleepily. *** I come back from Kyle and Lisa’s across the street. “They don’t have power ...

Author: Mark Joseph Kevlock Solinsky sat upon the mountaintop and watched his hometown die. As the sun set at his back, the farthest outskirts of the city fell into shadow first. Solinsky had his telescope trained there, upon the edge of town. He gasped to see the first of ...