Author: Ron Humble The most deadly device ever conceived by the human mind has not been a weapon, but a word. It’s a word of mass destruction. Its danger lies not in the power to motivate foolish actions. On the contrary, it encourages passivity. The word is ...

Author: Dylan Otto Krider We thought after landing on the moon, we would be like Christopher Columbus, and usher a new world. In turned out, we were like the Vikings, who frittered around before being forgotten. Anything that leaves the Earth now is either a probe, ...

Author: David C. Nutt Hand in hand they walked up the hill to look at the night sky. “Am I old enough for the download Papa?” The old man smiled. “Yes sweet pea, you're old enough. Been old enough for almost three cycles now but-“ “I know, the ancestors haven’t ...

Author: Mina Ana waved at the barperson with rainbow hair and forced herself to speak louder than usual to order a Cosmic Sunrise with a Twist. The drink was slapped in front of her as she waved her anonymous credit key over the payment scanner built into the bar top. She ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer I’ve shipped many things since the day I left Oktoberfeld. Some legal, many dubious, a few contraband, and nineteen wanted beings. Technically, this is my twentieth. The job came with some unusual aspects. On a ship like mine - one of the ...

Author: Rick Tobin “Nobody makes choices carelessly about losing one of their senses, but you know the risk of blowing your neural nets outweighs keeping all your Earthly capacities.” Paloma Derth leaned towards her reluctant client. Behind her were rolling holographic ...

Author: C.R. Caison The laser round exploded in a flash of light by Yuri’s head. He jumped and rolled to the side before a second shot struck the wall where he’d been standing. The blast weakened the wall and it collapsed into a heap of fragments. The crowd roared above ...

Author: Philip Berry Reciprocation minus 90 minutes: Rebecca Fenton tapped in the melt codes, but the circle of light that had appeared briefly on her curved monitor persisted as a dense shadow in her visual field. It was geometrically perfect, except for a notch ...

Author: Rebecca Field Each time I go to the morgue, I expect to find him. And then each time I leave, I wish that I could fall asleep and not wake up again. Become one of them. Lined up in death, all the colours of the rainbow coursing through their cold flesh, their waxy ...

Author: Mina Newsflash: The outpost supply ship Reliant exploded this morning at 09:00 earth time. All 62 crew members died instantly. The Nicene anti-expansionists claimed the attack as one of their own. It is the first time they have targeted a non-military ...

Author: Alex Sventeckis “Have you ever skinny dipped before?” Raheleh winked with his second eyelid, and Rian tried mightily not to blush. She hid reddening cheeks underneath her mop of blonde hair streaked with magenta. While she held her own in the colony pool, she ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer “Everybody ready?” “Hell, no. I want to go home.” “I didn’t ask where you’d rather be, Andrei. I want to know if your suit is sealed so you don’t give us away.” Muted assent follows Don’s outburst. There’s no more banter. I wriggle ...

Author: Ádám Gerencsér I refuse to believe that you don't exist. So I sit here every day and talk to you - through words, feelings, stirrings of the heart. I would lie if I said there's ever been a genuine response. Yet I do not give up, but sojourn in this isolated room ...

Author: Dylan Otto Krider The lands of Diika and Igbo had been trying to eradicate each other for time immemorial for reasons no one remembered except for the last tat for their tit. One day, a tiny ball bearing came down from the sky and landed on the lawn of Gand, the ...

Author: Kate Runnels Tan sighed as he turned course, with the gimbaled piloting stick, following the search pattern. They needed to find a flux field. Even a flux point. That would take them somewhere. Somewhere not here. They were running short of, well, of ...

Author: Jules Jensen Rock sat in a cool café, taking a respite from the punishing hot summer heat that filled the dusty small town. She was sure she was heinously offending the patrons there by putting her booted feet up on the table, but she didn’t care. As far as she was ...

Author: Ken Carlson Ron had some time before the cartoon was over. He saw Dan the cameraman who glanced at his Timex and silently signaled, “three minutes.” Ron remained in the wings, enjoying the animation and the rich taste of his Chesterfield. Say Hey, if they were ...

Author: Mina CROSS PATCH Merike caught him out the usual way. Why were cheating spouses so unoriginal? She’d wondered who he was messaging non-stop on his wrist com, so she’d hacked it. She was angry, of course, that he was screwing the doc’s assistant, but that wasn’t ...