Author: Joachim Heijndermans Darren rushed into the bathroom as if hell was on his heels. With his shoulder, he slammed the door open. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a figure that stood before the sink, greeting him with a “Pardon me! Growing a tail here!” as he ...

Author: Suzanne Borchers I pinch my arm. “Ouch!” It’s real! I might have met him only a few hours ago, but I know. I’m traveling to Xeron with my soul mate. “It’s not going to happen,” my friends chant, mired in the gooey slime here on Syren. They are so wrong. That ...

Author: Gerard Hutchings The postman was early and had left something for me. I threw on an old tracksuit to go out and check the letterbox. As I approached I noticed a dollar coin on the footpath, so I went to pick it up. The cord on my pants decided it was the right time ...

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer Have you ever grown your own computer? It’s not like they show on MeVee. There’s a lot more liquid blend used because spillages occur all the time. The damn things sweat out unused elements constantly, overflowing the moulds. On a hot ...

Author: Marcel Barker NPA 002 PRENATAL - AUTH GRACE HOSPITAL “And? What does the brain scan say? Is little Baby J going to be a Johann?” “Beg pardon?” “As in Sebastian Bach.” “I see. No, the neuroaptitude algorithm reports no musical affinity. Reasonable potential for ...

Author: Steve Pool Rosalee loved her job. She loved taking care of the home and family of her employers as much as she loved anything that she did. Well, technically, “love” was a bit of a stretch. Rosalee was a robot. Could she feel anything as complex an emotion as love, ...

Author: Chris Stewart In the Spring of 2028, a press conference was held announcing that the Phanes Project, the largest database of human DNA ever gathered (some samples going back many centuries), was joining forces with The Coeus Computing Collective in a bold effort to ...

Author: R.J. Sadler Herman sat at his cubicle nervously waiting for the next round. He could hear the wheels whoosh along the carpet tiles. “Here ya’ go jack.” The forms fell on his desk with a splat. Herman stared at them. “Need’em done by 2.” He looked up at ...

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer I drag the chair into the middle of the room, close to the table and set myself and my coffee down. "Hello Gladyce, you wanted to see me?" The question felt stupid, but she had trouble with social cues, and I knew we'd sit in silence ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The stars appear like fireflies seen through vintage sunglasses, the ones that used to give everything a mellow brown hue. My grandfather had some, an inheritance from his grandfather. Guess they’re buried somewhere in the dust of Earth ...

Author: David Covington Thousands had died, cities devastated, but the war was not real until that day. It had been fought at a distance with drones and missiles. None of the fighters ever saw the others. Weapons were fired and the results of the firings were seen: in ...

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we ...

Author: Janet Shell Anderson The reason I haven’t heard from my brother Jonathan is he’s dead. I made a mistake. It’s foggy, one of those autumn fogs that grow out of the Potomac and everything seems strange; our empty streets feel like someone’s there, but you can’t ...

Author: David Henson “I'm going to lay down and take a nap,” I tell my wife. “You mean ‘lie down.’ ‘Lay’ is a transitive verb requiring an object.” “OK, OK. You've been popping smart pills again obviously.” “The etymology of ‘pill-popping’ is interesting, Walt. It ...

Author : Rick Tobin Dear Humans: By now, you will be fully aware we are living among you. In some ways, in the last four hundred years, we have become you. No, there was no strident message or headline. This change was inevitable, just as Cro-Magnon’s gradual but ...

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer Funny how the roar of wind fades into the background after a while. I loved the wind roar in my rag-top coupe. Drove that antique everywhere, pretty much spent my late teens in it, met the love of my life while driving it, and waved ...

Author: Duncan Shields, Staff Writer “It’s not that I hate being rich. I love it. It’s just that I feel undeserving. I wish my situation wasn’t so unique.” said Carl Whittaker 4 to his therapist. “You mean being the first and likely only billionaire clone to exist?” ...

Author : David C. Nutt “Angel Cordoza, Operator 7157, signing on: 0700 EST 11 Jan.” “Good morning L90-05 this is control, do you read?” “Affirmative control. I know why you’re calling.” “Uh-huh. And if you know why, why don’t you just complete the mission?” “I want ...