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 ...

Author: David Barber Nova Education was paying Jacee Egan a pittance to interview famous scientists. Nova hoped the links would make their failing on-line physics course less dull. It’s not about the science, they insisted. Give it a human face. Nobel-winner Darius ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer The little girl clutches into her blankets and runs her cheek over the ancient concrete veins that etch into the great wall at her side. “I love the wall. It is strong and tall and beautiful and long, isn’t it Dad?”, she says, thinking ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The view goes negative, then my tummy does the thing where it tries to chuck everything out whichever end is the nearest. It’s an hour before I can pick up the coffee left by an orderly barely older than my little sister. She doesn’t say ...

Author: Gerard Baars Surging forward he crosses the sonic boom, his toned body unaffected by the turbulent forces. Accelerating he hits the second boom. Then the third, fourth... G-forces now threaten to rip his body to shreds, but his perfect physique shrugs it off. ...

Author: Richard Wren “Aaaagh!” It was always a shock to return, to feel the meat encase him again, to stare out through balls of jelly. Felix Bonaparte, time traveler, twitched his body to relieve his aching joints and waited for his heart to stop racing. With eyes now ...

Author: Michael Hopkins It knew itself as awareness. No center. No end. Awareness. It did not know its name. It had no I. A perturbation arose - from where? The agitation expanded - a significant change. It grew. It caused disruption - a point of focus with hope for ...

Author: Jeff Hill A woman is crouching in the bushes, patiently waiting next to the house of her estranged husband. He has to know, she thinks to herself. The neighbors see her, but they pay no mind. They know she’s harmless, and they know she’ll never actually confront ...

Author: Irene Montaner By the time the aliens reached Paris, the streets were empty. Parisians and tourists alike had sought shelter inside the many churches in the city or underground in the metro tunnels. They prayed and hid or hid and prayed but regardless of their ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer Tāne hoists himself over the wrought iron gate and as he falls heavily to the ground, he feels it. A deafening coldness as the old building strains and grins. It had been enticing him here for years. Villa Mater had once been a home for ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Another cold coffee. It's the last one I'll have for a while. Tigerhouse closes tonight and affording bean coffee will go back on the luxuries list. "Last one?" Elena slides into the seat opposite, looking like a pinup from the side of ...

Author: Rick Tobin Pressing slick walls within Perri’s briefing center opened gigantic multi-verse mapping systems across a great briefing hall aboard Haven’s interstellar spacecraft. The Order’s enclosure pulsated with its anthem, rising to crescendos oscillating beneath ...

Author: Bryan Pastor “We should have listened to your father and stayed out of this place.” “Nonsense… Woo what is that?” Neil and Toby paused to examine their find. It stood twice as tall as than them, reminding Neil of the holoart of Michelangelo’s David, they had ...

Author: J. Edward Hamilton Fragments of shattered glass float elegantly before him, and as Cameron imagines the glittering specs are stars in a little microcosm galaxy, he realizes this scene is the last beautiful thing he’ll ever see. It’s growing warmer now as their ship ...

Author: David Barber It was an old silver Zippo lighter. You had to hunt down little squirty tins of fluid for it. After his dad quit smoking, it had banged around a kitchen drawer until finally claimed by Max. He inhaled the heady smell of naphtha. “Hurry up, ...