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 ...

Author : Dylan Otto Krider I don’t believe in love, but spent my entire professional life studying it, the last ten years in your lab. Our compatriots believed in it. They believed it made us human, separated us from the animals. They think love was the basis of morality: ...

Author : Joachim Heijndermans “Hello? Is anyone there? I can't see. Is anyone out there?” “Yes, I'm here.” “Who are you? Where am I?” “I'm Kon. Can you tell me who you are?” “My name's Harry. Harry Fitzpatrick. I'm an accountant for a firm on 8th street. I...I don't ...

Author : Gray Blix "Pangaea," we nicknamed the planet, after its one-island-continent which resembles Earth's Paleozoic-Mesozoic supercontinent of the same name. I was showing Krispie, named after a... well, you'll see, the relative motions of our two planets around their ...

Author : Alicia Cerra Waters Once a month, someone had to delete the files of the undesirables. It was an easy job; go into the server room, which was illuminated by the light of countless green-glowing network ports, punch in a command, and watch as a neon status bar ...

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Tran adjusted the grapples on the Canbarro reactor core slung under the ship from the relative comfort of the cockpit. He balanced the load as close to center as possible, making sure to clear the four point vertical thrusters he'd need to ...

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer Old Avon looks up: “That’s going to cost you.” He always says that. Doesn’t matter if you pick up a piece of twine or a gold ring, his opening lines are fixed. I grin: “Can’t be worth much if it’s ended up here.” “It’s here for ...

Author : Garrisonjames They used to joke that the world would eventually be taken over by cockroaches or rats. Both are pretty much extinct these days. We’ve all been done-in by the ants. Tiny, insignificant little creatures we used to crush under our thumbs, poison with ...

Author : Beck Dacus The engines stopped burning after a full year of deceleration, and all the ships turned to face their destination. The mechanics triple checked the cannons before opening their compartments, and did touch-ups on all the fighters before deploying them. ...

Author : Nick Wood Five hundred words Izzy. Further we go, less we get. No pictures either. We lose bandwidth as the vast miles mount, so my words must be enough. We’re beaming photon packages with data ten light years back. Latest planet-hope is called Delteron-9. Twice ...

Author : J R Hampton T- minus 14.6 minutes to impact. The automated voice of the starship crackled. Dazzling lights from the control panel snaked intricate patterns across the monitors. As he reached out to touch the buttons, Commander Singh’s hand seemed to vanish into ...

Author : Philip Berry “Is it surprising, really? After what they did to you, that you can’t feel a thing.” But I could feel. Too much. My skin was on fire. “No Lana, I mean really feel. Perceive emotions. You can’t.” But I could sense my own. Disappointment. ...

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer Dead-pirate-flying slams past me in silent majesty, drives blazing, weapon ports opening. I kick the pedals to accelerate port and ahead, then split the sticks: left fully forward, right hard back. There’s a lurch that makes my stomach ...

Author : Olivia Black, Staff Writer “How are you still alive?” “What are you talking about?” Mearene is staring at me like I’m the second coming and I swear I’ve never seen her eyes bug out like that. “Your suit. Look at it.” She points at my exo-suit with a trembling finger. I glance ...

Author : Alana Pasternak Hello out there! Congratulations for surviving this long! If you're reading this, it means you've found a device with this app on it - either one of the devices we've left lying around to be picked up, or one of the devices that was epoxied down, ...

Author : Irene Montaner He had known of his fate since the day he was born. He had been designed to complete an outstanding, yet suicidal, mission. He would be cruising the Solar System for years before disintegrating during one final visit to one of the gas giants ...

Author : Beck Dacus Once everyone in the auditorium was seated, Professor Gildritch wheeled his invention forth. On top of the rolling table was a small, modest-looking device. Gildritch didn’t care to explain it. “I’m sure several of you have heard rumors about what I’m ...

Author : Joachim Heijndermans The floor is so damn cold. I wish they'd turn the heat up or at least let me keep my socks and shoes. What are these floors made of? Some kind of metal, maybe? For a single person cell, it's way too big. You could fit a Firebird model jet in ...