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Orbital Decay

By Stephen R. Smith | April 21, 2016
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Lewis unzipped the duffle bag on the table so the stacks of paper bills were visible. "Space suits are expensive," Sweet had told him, "and you not bring back." Sweet eyed the contents of the bag from a distance. "It's all there? I don't ...
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A Party

By submission | April 20, 2016
Author : John Carroll I wade deeper into the syrupy present as the drug saturates my blood. It is a hallucinogen. The deck party envelopes me like a parrot’s wings. The air becomes delicious. Through the interactive viewscreen of this observation deck that extends outward from our ...
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The Engine Room

By submission | April 19, 2016
Author : Philip Berry I placed the flat of my hand against the thick wall and felt the vibration of a hundred thousand pistons moving in synchrony. Pressing an ear, I heard the high hiss of gas igniting under pressure, expanding, driving the piston heads and collapsing into vacuums. ...
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Bad For Business

By Julian Miles | April 18, 2016
Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer Mark waited just inside the shadows of the alley. Outside, people bustled past with their heads down. Nobody made eye contact with passers-by. Lens readers and the urban legends about malware being zipped into your headware by opti-flash kept ...
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The Print Shop

By submission | April 17, 2016
Author : Sallie Lau I am listening to Ocean Acidification and the Prisoners of Omega when they come in. It’s the 0.05 mark of this Mu-sec. Of course it’s them. Them and their perfectly-proportioned domains. I doodle on a spare beta sheet, feigning indifference. But now they’re ...
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Recruited

By submission | April 16, 2016
Author : John Carroll I wondered if the pain in my ribs had woken me up, or if it was the sterile stench of the gelatin. It was probably a combination of both. The pirate standing in front of me noticed that I was awake. She didn’t look any older than 24 standard. “Good morning,” ...
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Ecophagy

By submission | April 15, 2016
Author : Bob Newbell I'm running out of material, at least material that can be readily utilized. A year ago it was the waste heat generated by my own replication process that necessitated slowing down my expansion. Now, it's the geothermal gradient. On average, for every kilometer ...
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The Face Behind the Glass

By submission | April 14, 2016
Author : J.D. Rice I fell. My body twisted and turned for what seemed like minutes, but through my bio-suit I didn't feel a thing. The artificial gravity system and inertial dampeners built into the suit made sure that even a fall like this felt more like diving into a deep swimming ...
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The Sun Cult

By submission | April 13, 2016
Author : Sharon Molloy The bean juice tastes as bitter as it always does. I drink it only to stay awake and so live another day. The rest of the tribe piously swallows it as part of the sun worship ritual. They also swallow stupidly circular logic: This plant is the sun’s favorite, ...
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Stricken From the Record of Space and Time

By submission | April 12, 2016
Author : Charlie Sandefer The elderly scientist took a nervous breath before he stepped into the machine. He typed in May 23, 2016 and flipped the switch on the center console. The machine began to shake violently. His frail frame was slammed against his seat. He tightened every muscle ...
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Stuck on Libby

By Julian Miles | April 11, 2016
Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer There’s a blue moon above and it’s nothing more than that. Here on Libby, the moons are blue. The rocks here are all shades of blue thanks to a chemical process that occurred during the creation of this planet. The vegetation is blue because ...
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Forever High

By submission | April 10, 2016
Author : Joshua Doyle We could have seen it coming for a couple of years. Identification of pathways that lead to cell aging, the discovery of a method of removing the "unwanted side effects" from THC, the discovery that tetrahydrocannabinol could be used to target and suppress ...
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Lost Account of the Misty Islands

By submission | April 9, 2016
Author : Stephen Ahlgrim May 16, 1787 I cannot pretend to hide my excitement. My ship sets sail today, to the Misty Islands I had only read in folklore. Origin of the Species sits apprehensively on top of my sack. I am certain that Darwin's spirit is as anxious to see the fabled Homo ...
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The Progressive School

By submission | April 8, 2016
Author : Katie Krantz The woman and the school were equally sleek. Her hair and the metal exterior both shined: their luster was unnatural in the most pristine sense. Her heels clicked against the dark wood floors, and she gestured with her long, black nails to the various facets of ...
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Vessel Virgins

By submission | April 7, 2016
Author : Rick Tobin “This one, it’s too close. Something’s wrong!” Taylor Hines tapped the green screen, yelling at Corus, as her brilliant, red-scaled hands clawed the communications panel. “Ogira 6. Ogira 6. Back away point three apars from the dwarf star. Ogira, respond.” ...
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Gravity of the Situation

By submission | April 6, 2016
Author : Bob Newbell The low rumbling sound in my starship goes up in both pitch and volume. Even through the Koliada's graviton fields and inertia attenuators, I can feel the vessel shuddering. "Computer, report!" "We have dropped out of FTL," says my ship. "We are caught in a ...
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Death Threat

By submission | April 5, 2016
Author : Beck Dacus "I'm here, Vickers," Ricky said, walking in to the wire-filled room, setting down his backpack and collapsing into the chair in front of the monitor. "I got the guy. What was his name?" "Irwin Farlow," Vickers said from upstairs. "You captured his mind, how do you ...
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Hydrogen Butterfly

By submission | April 4, 2016
Author : Glenn S. Austin It was the first ship to be outfitted with the Time Jump and the Magnetic Field Drive. It was the perfect pairing of technology. The right tool for the specific research that Gleason was pursuing. Traverse back in time billions of years to when the Sun was ...
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