Merit Badge
Author: Janice Rothganger
This was the spot. No longer needing his compass, Jackson tucked it inside his shirt. He dropped his pack and went about setting up the campsite: pitching a tent, igniting the fire, cooking dinner. He had planned the trip right down to the number ...
What Dreams May Come
Author: Tyler Hawkins
Bernard gasped awake suddenly, and his eyes frantically darted around the darkened room looking for threats. Greeted only by the slow, rhythmic breathing from his wife laying next to him in bed, he focused on remembering the harrowing dream he just ...
Froxnar’s Miracles
Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer
The dim room is momentarily illuminated as the door opens to admit two men in dark suits. They sit on the sofa, facing their guest across a low table. The door silently closes.
The left-hand figure produces a badge that glows with a pale ...
The Forgetting Box
Author: Rollin T. Gentry
Moira-1403 awoke, eyes wide open, ignoring the slight feedback in her sensors. She stood next to General Sabatyn in a small cave of which she had no record. The last thing she remembered was helping the General select the Cadet of the Year in his ...
A Carpet of Jewels
Author: Kemal Onor
Arkwell sat at the kitchen table. He was looking down into his coffee cup, admiring the roll of clouds. It reminded him of fast-moving July storms, and of rain on grass fields in the country. He made no attempt to stir the liquid. The mug was still full ...
New Currency
Author: Steve Smith, Staff Writer
Peck met Richards at the door of the diner. They stood staring at each other without speaking for a long minute before Peck opened the door and ushered his partner inside.
Gwynne was at a booth in the very back corner. There was a halo ...
The First Robert Stolz
Author: Vanessa Kittle
Robert Stolz looked at the body on the table. The problem seemed simple. He had to get into that thing. It was only centimeters away. The best scientists in the Solar System had been working on this problem for two decades, and now Stolz was ready to ...
Time for an Illusion
Author: David Henson
*The distinction between past, present, and future is only an illusion.*
A stranger is standing on the stoop. Ben lifts the ax and pulls it down in a smooth arc. "Cup of coffee for a wanderer?" the stranger says. As the couple eats, there's a knock. ...
Bad Neighbours
Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer
John trundles the pallet truck toward the ramp.
“A few of us acquired some things from Centra Medico on your behalf. Doesn’t seem right, just throwing you out.”
He smiles and I hope my embarrassment doesn’t show. ‘Civil war’ is a ...
The Treasure of the Kut
Author: David Barber
The new doctor mangles my name. “What is that, Iranian? Arabic?”
I have learned to be still while their thoughts congeal into language. To slow the movements they mistook for nervous tics.
“Is this part of the review?”
Speak slowly, so they can ...
Awareness
Author : Lewis Richards
Today is my 456th birthday.
Growing up everyone is made to think space is a dangerous place full of Alien space pirates and impending doom, ( I'm looking at you, Sigourney Weaver). But as it happens, space is just empty. The majority of problems ...
What Stays
Author: Rick Tobin
“Get out of here, now!” Telerman yelled into his beleaguered colleagues’ faces over blaring dance music inside Omnia, as lights flashed around them, from above, over a vast dance floor of writhing partygoers.
“Chill pill, Telerman,” Sheila Barsted ...
Conquer Earth With This One Weird Trick
Author: Marcel Barker
Rrrtx class destroyer Ssstnbrx hung high over Earth’s southern pole, invisible and silent. Commander Tttx read from the onyx screen in front of him.
10 Facts About Bananas Doctors Don’t Want You To Know
Beneath the English text, the display ...
The Flight
Author: Kevin P Michaels
George Tompkins hated almost everything. He hated buildings for being too tall, he hated cars for being too loud, he hated animals for being wild, and most of all he hated people for being . . . people.
George yearned for a time when things were ...
Silo One
Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer
The cooling towers hum less at night, as the temperature drops in the world above. ‘The World Above’. Oh, how our leaders love that title. They use it everywhere, usually presented in ways that used to be reserved for heaven and similar ...
Blackstar
Author: Steve Smith, Staff Writer
"Do you know what happens when a black star dies?" Tony asks, rhetorically, not waiting for an answer. "It collapses in upon itself, and in one last gasp, ejaculates a single burst of energy into the void."
His assistant nods, numbly, ...
Quiet Now Without the Bees
Author: Vivienne Burgess
I remember Agni on your lap, myself on the faded mat in the mess hall, practicing knots. Agni couldn’t keep his head on his shoulders, but I was listening. You started with the small things, shutting your eyes to speak, said it was important to pass ...
The Price of Sin
Author: Anthony Rove
I am sorry, Samuel. You are thirteen and a man. Today, we go to The Grid.
Oh, nephew. Shed your tears in here with me. You are a man now. And, as a man, it is okay to be frightened. It is okay to cry. I cry sometimes too. Sometimes, I am so scared ...
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