Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer Jolla looks toward the setting sun: “A million light years from home and we still instinctively count ‘one’, ‘two’, ‘three’, ‘four, ‘lots’. Our territories are virtually limitless, yet our minds still consider a horizon as the end of the ...

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Kanárek walked a few paces ahead of the squad, weapon in the low ready position. He talked back to Caufield, the squad leader, as they advanced, glancing back only occasionally to see if she was paying attention. "It's bad enough they ...

Author : R.D. Harris Do you want to get away, but don't have the money? Look no further than your friends at TeleGo! Our state-of-the-art teleporters are cancer-free and stress-free. No muss, no fuss. Choose any of our models for you trip. We offer the TeleGo 86, 87, and ...

Author : Christina Dalcher You have to bid right in these things. Too low, you wake early; too high, your money is lost. No refunds, no exchanges, all sales are final. The first decisions are made on the outside, when the surgeon wears white and not green, when talk is of ...

Author : Kate Runnels The monkey tattoo stared at Zim. Forever frozen as it climbed a tiny branch. All it did was stare at him. No, that wasn’t quite right. It had started something else. It questioned him. -Why am I here?- Zim had gotten the tattoo long ago. Too ...

Author : Olivia Black, Staff Writer The entrance to the tunnel was much less circumspect than we expected. Had to have walked past it at least three times before we found it. I wasn’t sure how Birdie even knew about this place, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to. It was miles ...

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer "So when's your kill frenzy?" asked the giant, barbed Tark beside me. His name was Jant. We were both assigned to navigation in the starship. It was our first day. He had hundreds of holes in the back of his uniform to accommodate his ...

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer Getting used to sleeping while your body moves is the hardest thing about exoskeletal operations. Right now, I’m tail-end Charlie in a forty-man column accompanying a trio of Big Dogs lugging the payloads for tonight’s test. Above us, a ...

Author : David Henson I notice the message in the sky as I'm going into Eat-A-Lot mart -- COMING SOON. I figure it's a vapor-trail promo, but when I come out, the words are still there. By the time I get home, not a single letter has frizzed. Looking more closely, I see the ...

Author : Russell Bert Waters ...fireworks exploding, the smell of sulphur… ...sliding off the road on a slushy day… ...first kiss, soft, lights of the city in the distance… ...fighting, bloody nose, principal blocked by a crowd of kids… ...nervous job interviews, too ...

Author : Adam Fout Her hut is digitized light. They are coming for her. Her prayers to the netGODS continue. But there will be no deliverance. She has heard the whispers. She has seen the dissention. Her daughter screamed at her this morning. "Go." "Go!" "You must ...

Author : Olivia Black, Staff Writer The clinic is smaller than Joan expected. The surgical lighting and immaculate white surfaces make the space feel less claustrophobic, but it doesn’t do much to settle her nerves. Truth be told, she’s not entirely sure what she’s doing ...

Author : Philip Berry I am not formally sentient, but I do feel. In the beginning each encounter added to my knowledge of people. My dark hours were spent arranging those observations and filtering the inferences. After one month I had modelled the behaviour of my clients ...

Author : Dez Thomas Instinctively I closed my eyes: I didn't want to record my death. My heart pounded in my chest. I landed with a thud on the surface, expecting the scorching heat of the baked earth to surge through me. My legs buckled and I felt the unforgiving ...

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer The laboratory is filled with the sound of slow drops landing. The smell alone is enough to drive three officers back. Seeing the mess does for the next five. Officer number nine moves his torch in slow arcs, picking only edges and ...

Author : Victoria Benstead-Hume We made it to twenty-eight weeks before my neighbour reported me. Twenty-nine and the doctor classed it tainted. As if that mattered. Lace curtains lend a sheen of respectable domesticity to the surgery sat on the edge of the dead-zone. ...

Author : Jack Strange Funny, I never saw myself going into showbiz. I started out as a lawyer, would you believe? It was a good living. I was paid well and saved up a good-sized pension pot. But not good enough, as it happens. Because when I realised I was coming ...

Author : David C. Nutt “What do you mean you’re not an alien?” “Just that. I am not an alien. I am a herald from another dimension- another plane of existence-“ “Not from these parts, not a human, yup, you’re an alien.” “No. I am not an extraterrestrial, well I am ...