Author : Kraig Conkin The gray skinned youths standing at the edge of the platform cheered when the silver saucer broke the clouds and descended towards them. Upon landing, Winkus popped from the hatch and ran to meet his schoolmates. “Did you do it?” Tizdic, leader ...

Author : David C. Nutt “You think I’m crazy?” Sammy stopped hammering the board he was working on and turned to the old man. “Just because your building a boat dock in the middle of a Kansas wheat field, 417 miles from the ocean? Let’s just say I think you’re a tad bit ...

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer Do you need to have a defensive engagement but can't afford it? We can help. UNITED DEFENCE is the acknowledged leader in warfare solutions throughout the Milky Way. From terrorist suppression to continent-spanning strategic ...

Author : Malcolm Carvalho “Do you have to leave so soon, Arun?” Arun slipped an arm under Eliya’s head, allowing her to snuggle closer to him. “Eli, that’s the nature of my job. I can’t stop at just one place.” “Hell, why not?” Eliya said. “You’ve already set up the ...

Author : R. W. Warwick I ran from the parking area up to the back of the queue. It was huge. I tapped the shoulder of the woman in front of me. “Why is it so busy today?” I asked. She half turned but didn’t face me. “What rock have you been under? It’s always busy ...

Author : Travis Gregg The snow was falling gently all around, big thick snowflakes that stuck to everything. It was the first real snow of winter and in a few weeks the whole area would be under a couple feet. I'd been out an hour before sunrise, my joints stiff and aching ...

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer June looked up as the diner door opened. There was Jack, ten-fifteen every morning like clockwork. Same dark, carefully pressed single-breasted suit, always with his trench coat folded over his left arm, fedora perched on top of his ...

Author : Tim McDaniel The ceiling opened and the Priest Judge Arbitrator descended into the Control Center. Tloygruu bobbed his head up and down the correct number of times, but one hand snuck down to tug on his genitalia. There was no need for concern or worry, he ...

Author : Gray Blix Glastonbury Tor was cordoned off by military, of course, but one hundred and fifty metres below tens of thousands coursed through the town and fields east, where a festival was underway. Costumed performers from Renaissance faires, popular in Somerset, ...

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer I’m pulling taters when I hear the bell and the rhyme starts pounding in my head. I scatter the haul as my legs take off of their own accord, carrying me with them. Run, run, run, The snuffymen come! No time to hide Just dive ...

Author : Chris Lee Jones My twenty-first birthday, and I've got him a gift he can't refuse. He's older than me and I know that bothers him. He hasn't expressed as much in words, of course; he's not that kind of guy. But he's my kind of guy. "Wait a few minutes," I ...

Author : Beck Dacus I knew she was weird well before I talked to her. Why? Simple: she tripped. Nobody walked around without Antrips. These little computers in motors on your knees can predict when you’re unbalanced, and the braces connected to them around your upper and ...

Author : Garrisonjames It isn’t extinction if we’re all still alive. It isn’t an apocalypse if the process of societal transformation brought on by accelerating technology eliminated all the old problems like poverty, taxes and death. It isn’t any kind of dystopia or ...

Author : Callum Wallace Bob and Dave were digging. Neither was sure what they were digging for, nor when they had started. Bob's hole was bigger though, and he knew this was good, for some reason. He vaguely remembered an old story, a myth, about some chap who ...

Author : Kraig Conkin Being a state of the art security drone, the People Pleaser 2200 didn’t feel the need to celebrate milestones. It held no sense of personal accomplishment, so when it’s internal logic board reported that ten days had passed without a single safety call ...

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer When the last of the ships left, they blasted craters a mile deep in the earth, so large it would take the better part of a day to walk their circumference. The ground at the bottom of these holes had been heated to molten, and had ...

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer Crystallized atmosphere streams in slow motion from shattered windows and blown-out doors. It catches the light and paints rainbow banners against the starry night beyond the curved expanses of cracked supraglass. This was Balyen Station, ...

Author : David Henson "Tommy and Sally, fly down to your seats and turn off your levitation belts, OK?" Miss DeRozan says gently. The two children ignore their teacher at first, then glide down to their places. "Let's get started," the teacher says. "We're going to have ...