The Internet of Things

Author : Philip Berry . Elizabeth, good morning. I have laid out your favourite summer dress Is it warm out then? . Warmish. 17 degrees Not enough. Get me my blue trousers will you. I feel the cold too easily nowadays. . No. The dress will do Err... Sarah, ...

Radiation Afterburn

Author : Timothy Marshal-Nichols

“That leg is pretty, that leg is pretty, and that leg is pretty, and that one, and that one, just look at that one, so pretty, and that one, gorgeous, and this one's especially pretty, ...

Run

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Are you listening? I'm going to Initiate a conversation, albeit a little one sided, and when I'm done, there will be a Test. Seven, Six, Two, Two, Five, Zero. Sorry, that's not part of the ...

Visiting Mom

Author : Gray Blix "So, dad, did you think about what I asked you the last time we chatted?" "I don't want to think about it." "Come on, join me tomorrow. It would make me so happy to talk to you both, like we were a family again." "But it wouldn't be the same, because... because, ...

Meeting of the Minds

Author : Bob Newbell The tiny spacecraft skimmed the atmosphere of the turquoise world that orbited Tau Ceti. When the ship had completed its aerobraking maneuver, a small sphere emerged from it and plunged toward the planet's surface. The sphere grew larger and became buoyant, ...

Joy

Author : Kenny A Chaffin Joy was shunned by society. She chose therefore to spend much her time alone; in her room, in her cubicle at work, listening to music on the bus, eyes downcast to avoid attention or conversation. For her mother it was a difficult pregnancy with morning ...

The Love of a Sister

Author : Olivia Black, Featured Author Eve poked at her bowl of noodles again. She hadn’t been hungry when she’d ordered that food over an hour ago. Now, the broth was cold and the noodles gelatinous.

The Bear Follower

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer Across a starfield as vast as it is unexplored, two pinpricks of light crawl. Getting closer, their crawling progress is revealed to be a trick of distance. Both specks are moving at tremendous speed. “How far, Davey?” “Less than an ...

The Hair of Nazareth

Author : Beck Dacus The year is twenty - twenty seven. An archaeologist squats in the dirt, staring stupidly at a hair pinched between her fingers. An outside observer would have no idea that she was marveling at her way to bridge science and religion. For years she had felt like ...

One Man’s Trash …

Author : Edward D. Thompson (edacious) It’s just like hunting, Marcus thought, as he scanned the past at double speed. Know where the good spots are, know how to watch and wait, and mostly, it was just dumb luck. He let himself go, drifting up the current of the past, waiting, ...

Nothing But Time

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Edison wasn't immediately aware that anything serious had happened. The room he was in, a specially lined, sealed containment bunker in a facility designed for these kinds of tests, was devoid of any feature that would change noticeably. ...

Gathering

Author : Rick Tobin “Get down!” Carol yanked private Pennington to the ground below low walls of disintegrating bricks. Enemy snipers pinned them. “Sorry Captain. Just wanted a look.” Pennington stared at his commander. The ship’s cook was learning the game. An alien shootout ...

A Rose by Any Other Name…

Author : Arthur Carey Sacagawea stepped off the damaged recharging grid. Battery life registered in the “failure imminent” range. Within hours, the robot would become an immobile piece of junk in a deserted space station pummeled by raging solar winds and debris. The scientific team ...

Witnesses

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer We don’t have the technology to make the instruments to understand what they do, let alone resist. Every eleven months or so, grey column descends from space and encloses a city. Twelve hours later it lifts. The population is dissolved and ...

Foot Soldiers in The Zone

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Aimee propped herself up against a transformer just outside the halo of the lone streetlight. A kilometer up the road in each direction, red and blue lights pulsed, parked cruisers discouraging vehicle traffic into this part of the city ...

New Horizons

Author : Hasen Hull “Rise and shine, sleepyhead.” He groans, as if forced to life. “It’s eleven and we’ve got things to do. Come on. Get up.” “Ten more minutes, baby, alright?” I smile. “Five, and that’s my final offer.” There were protests at first. Human rights activists ...

Employee of the Month

Author : Travis Gregg The two men sat in silence across from each other in their usual booth at the diner. Thomas was brooding, clearly upset about something and Stan had known him long enough to just let him stew. The two men had been friends since college and still tried to get ...

Conduit

Author : Matthew Prosperi The glowing keys of the command console reflected lazily off of my “Best Team Player!” mug that sat dangerously close to the expensive equipment in front of me. I considered knocking the mug over longer than usual before glancing outside my small observation ...

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