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 ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Do you see the snow as it gently falls? Can you feel the frost as it climbs the walls? How do you feel now our world is gone? Why did you leave us to carry on? Well, ‘us’ may be a bit of a stretch, but ‘me’ is too cliché. After all, ...

Author: Patrick Hueller Peter cinches his only tie, pushes the bathroom door open, and there Laine is: standing in their bedroom, trembling with excitement. He’s never gotten used to seeing her tremble. He’s never gotten tired of it, either. For a moment they stand ...

Author: Joachim Heijndermans “And thus concludes this portion of our tour,” said Theo to his group. “If there aren't any further questions, I suggest we all sit down for lunch and--,” He stopped when he saw that one of the Lidilian tourists in the back had raised his ...

Author: Mark Joseph Kevlock I remember a day I hadn't remembered. I stood in the field, at the edge of where the woods began. Childhood came through the trees with the morning sunlight, at just the right angle to trigger longing -- an overwhelming desire for uncluttered ...

Author: DJ Lunan President Nugrubyev looked deep into the lens of the RTV and BBC cameras and smiled broadly. He caught his image in a control monitor. All those hours with his hot voice coach, body language course and hours aping De Niro in front of his wife’s mirror, ...

Author: Kaelen I’m tired, yet I can not sleep. Of course, sleep is not something I need or can even do, but I do enjoy taking quick naps, as I call them. Getting disconnected for short periods enlightens me to new pathways and new directions I can explore. I am ...