Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer When I came to your world, when I stumbled into your city on the edge of the desert, you paid me no mind. Your guards bullied me like any other vagabond in the streets, laughing as they tripped me, pounded their chests in fits of ...

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer The dim glow of combat lighting is broken by a single white spotlight, which goes out as our new officer scrambles through the side hatch, barely slowing from a flat sprint. I don’t blame him. There’s several varieties of lethal flying ...

Author : Janet Shell Anderson I’m just a kid on my own. The question I have is, should I try to save the man who killed my Dad? It’s just after dawn; the river’s still, silver, silken, the banks, shadowy. A heron yaps. I’m sitting across from the Three Sisters rocks. ...

Author : David K Scholes Canberra, Australia 2095 “It’s limited to a few long term users - one hour access every month to the future view function of face book,” I was face book chatting to a group of holograms. “You get to view your friends’ 3D face book posts up to 2 ...

Author : Mark Renney The homeless are prevalent in the City. We pass them on the streets every day, stepping around them on the pavements. But the Men were different; they simply stood, like sentinels, on the corners or in the middle of a busy thoroughfare, almost ...

Author : Dylan Otto Krider After I got out of prison, I stopped by the O’Malleys place first. I passed a sicky on my way, babbling to himself, screaming about the spirits. “The spirits are upon you!” I hate sickies. Their brains rotted in space. I knocked, but no one ...

Author : Ljubo Popovich On the planet Yug-Yuk, a glandular toad called Opziggle effervesced into a translucent jar. On the stone pedestal twelve similar jars were arranged in a circle. “What took you so long?” asked the creature in the jar to the right, which spoke by ...

Author : Charles Paul Wallace Ladies and gentlemen of the Commission, I wish to explain my actions before I am sentenced. It was me who named the alien civilization the Aeolians, yes. It's a type of harp which sounds when wind blows through it. I thought it was quite ...

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Jack stood a few feet to the side of the station wagon, the door hanging open, the engine having just rattled and coughed into silence. Ahead, bathed in the yellow glow of the headlights was Celine, barefoot in the jeans and tee she'd ...

Author : Fred D. White After crossing the interstellar void for more than half a century Captain Carey, now fully awake, and his passengers, still in cryo, escapees from the toxic nightmare that Earth had become, entered orbit around Proxima Centauri-b. The human species ...

Author : Mark Renney Thomas was having a bad day. The bugs were everywhere, he was rife with them and he was writhing. He hated this - he knew how he looked. He had seen others like it, in a high level state and unable to control themselves and quite frankly he had thought ...

Author : David Henson I turn around, push open the door to the clinic, then spin back around and march to Check-In. “Ralf Pattersen,” I say to the guy at the desk. “That’s ‘Ralf’ with an ‘f’ and ‘Pattersen’ spelled ‘en.’ “ “Yes, Mr. Pattinson, how can I help ...

Author : Amy Sutphin She was perfect in every way. Her soft blond curls framed her perfectly proportioned face and amber, almond eyes. Not a single blemish marred her perfect skin. Yes God had made her perfect above all others. Of course in her case, God was a 3D printer ...

Author : Vanessa Kittle Something was wrong. Bear sniffed the air. There was no meat where meat should be. The sky was bright but there was no meat. The flocks of watchers were not watching. His stomach hurt. He sniffed the place where the greens came to bring meat. He ...

Author : Jeremy Koch Little was known of Planet Bes save that it was a world of impenetrable darkness, and according to the chronometer in Simonova's exoarmor, she had already been there for six days. Six days since the crash of the *Grigory*... six days alone. *I suppose ...

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer They’re leaning on the Antares descent stage. Von is sipping a latte from a little café in Venice. Griddin is swigging real kumiss from a Mongolian bar in Gwanghui-dong. Their view flickers with the pulsations of the environment field ...

Author : Morrow Brady ​"It's a planet and it's coming right for us" After three hours sleep, Director Reeve Scali struggled to comprehend the message. “Come down Sir, you must see it for yourself” Scali, puzzling momentarily in the cold night, sprang into ...

Author : David Blatcher Jason threw the low fat yogurt drink at the smartFridge and it splattered pale pink against the door. He had told the fridge to order milkshakes, the kind he always had after running. His new phone buzzed; 'Stay hydrated after exercise’. He tossed it ...