The Rich Can Have All the Lemon Tarts They Want

Author : Janet Shell Anderson Black holes can now be rented. Aliens may arrive! That’s the headline on everyone’s App. “The rich can have all the lemon tarts they want.” Another headline. Giovanna Romanova Baldwin said that three days ago, then disappeared. If Aliens landed, would ...

Jargangil

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer The tide is full of bodies and the sky is filled with lies. Sullen waves roll corpses back and forth, trailing organic tatters in varying shades of death. Above me, seagulls scream furiously at the metallic crags that obstruct their flight and deny ...

Song’s Next of Kin

Author : Morrow Brady Following hospital sedation, Song Jai's medical file displayed next-of-kin as MAC 1500t, Song’s Mechanised Automaton Companion. With no legal reason to deny such a request, the hospital duly summoned Mac, Song’s robot assistant. Mac’s tungsten humanoid frame ...

Aoyama has Left the Building

Author : Timothy Marshal-Nichols It had been on all the news channels but that didn't make it any the better. Today was the first visit of holiday makers from our nearest inhabited planet Narimiya. Simmons hadn't been paying attention to those news reports and he'd been called in that ...

Chimera

Author : Bob Newbell "This is the Apollo Farstriker, signing off." Having completed my weekly report, I tap the transmit key and send my dispatch on its three year journey back to Earth. That being done, I go to the galley. Through the window in the galley, Proxima Centauri ...

TimeCorp

Author : Steven Journey “It isn’t that simple!” Shelly couldn’t hide the exasperation in her voice. Dr. Keroth was an impatient man, and understandably so. He needed this time machine to work to save his wife. “Look, you need to stop thinking of this as a time machine. It’s a ...

The Barry

Author : Edward Turner III He was smiling again, the dumb bastard never did anything but smile. We did not return the smile. He was a Barry 4.21, the newest in the line of Barry’s and the most annoying we had met so far. In this day and age though you had to have a robot helper ...

Survival

Author : Bob Newbell Consciousness returns abruptly. How long was I out? I check my chronometer. It's been nearly 178 hours. I'm down to nothing but the solar panels for power. It took them that long to collect enough energy to charge the batteries sufficiently to bring me back ...

Welcome Aboard

Author : Chris Limb Patrons and customers, my name is Azure Gemollua and I’m your chief flight attendant. On behalf of Captain Swaran and the entire crew I would like to welcome you aboard this Paragon Starline scheduled flight to Nu Phonecis. We are particularly delighted you have ...

Slippage

Author : Hannah Lackoff “Do you feel as if time is passing by more quickly?” he said, “As though you’re missing bits and pieces, chunks and change?” She hadn’t wanted to say anything, thought she was just getting older, that maybe her mind was going, maybe she had a brain tumor ...

Blue Planet

Author : Christina Richard The walls of our Ford Starblazer convulsed as we broke the atmosphere of the tiny blue planet and hurtled through the gray haze of clouds, down towards a sprawling, rocky plane. Outside, there was a violent noise of metal ripping away from the body of our ...

Poet224

Author : Suzanne Borchers “Armpits must stink, be hairy and itch, While snot pours down the hooked- nosed witch.” Threading his fingers through his hair, Robert squatted next to his prototype. The Poet224 bot definitely needed more work. Okay, his rhythm and rhyme senses were in ...

Cheap Eggs

Author : Callum Wallace “A spray bottle?” “That’s right,” she smiled merrily, pulling her gloves further up her arms. “To make it easier to apply.” I stared, deadpan. “A spray.” She nodded. “Have you tried pouring a bath of this stuff? It’s difficult to test the effects on larger ...

Manter’s End

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer The office is derelict, with many more overturned chairs than collapsed desks. Filing cabinets stand crooked and burst, the once-precious burdens they held now repurposed as nesting materials or fodder. A few plasticised pieces of paper flick or ...

The UFO

Author : Harris Tobias The night Janet saw the UFO was the night she threw Frank out of her life. She had just finished dumping all his stuff—clothes, records, comic book collection—into several black plastic garbage bags and placed them on the lawn in a neat row. Let him come ...

One Way

Author : Rosalie Kempthorne “Are you quite sure you want to do this?” He was asked that question again. And once again he answered “Yes.” “This is a one-way trip.” “Yes, I understand.” I know what I'm signing up for. But not without signing yet again. Another form, crawling ...

Genius!

Author : Beck Dacus “We noticed from orbit,” said the commander of the fleet form Quijote III, “that you have quite the renovation project going on here, and we have to commend you. Taking on a project of that scale is very admirable. And the foresight that involves! I think we could ...

Fallen

Author : Kristin Kirby I caught him in my arms as the others ran for safety in the shelters. The fires began to die around us. I sat on the ground and held him while the sliver rays took their inevitable toll. An agonizing way to go, the rays. They moved fast and deadly through your ...

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