Second Career
Author : J G Pelling
My bedfellows’ laughter had followed me out of the room when I’d first mentioned my idea for a new career. Smarting, I’d gone to my appointment with Sirin. She hadn’t laughed. She’d spouted a bit of guff about ‘transferable skills’ post-navy, but she hadn’t ...
Pied
Author : Rick Tobin
Solar flares were partially blocked from pillaging the threatened planet below the behemoth spacecraft. The Bohemia created a cascading, billowing shadow across the Jagron’s continents. Crimson pillars of feathery forests pulled their leaves to sleep as the ...
Go Back to Bed, America
Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer
It’s not just flowers that open in sunlight. When that furious orb manages to show its face through the polluted haze, the cubes unfold like mad blossoms infested with colonies of two-legged ants. Which is a polite estimation of the average ...
Wilma’s Pass
Author : Morrow Brady
Wilma's Pass, a single stitch in the gaping wound that was the M1 Motorway, was popular with dairy farmers because of its cow content.
Conceived on environmental guilt and funded by the local council's surplus budget, it was a bridge designed to be organic in ...
Live With It
Author : N. R. Crowningshield
Vanessa let the shower water flow over her hand. The old pipes moaned and shrieked as the shower head spewed into the white pedestal tub. The temperature of the of liquid changed from cool to warm to hot. Steam pillowed out of the tub.
Gingerly, she ...
Croute du Monde
Author : Steve Buttner
Few dishes satisfy like a classic croute du monde. A melange of shatteringly crisp technological flakes, floating in a richly flavored, savory slurry of organics, all a foil to the spirited kick and bright acidic finish of the hydrocarbon-rich rocky solids, ...
Meeting of the Minds
Author : S T Xavier
The old man looks up from the notepad sitting in front of him at the table. “Is this all of us? I can never remember anymore.”
The teenager sighs loudly. “Geeze, gramps. Must be so hard counting to ‘four’ at your age.” With a smirk, he turns to the child and ...
Hot Rain and Stale Cigarettes
Author : Steven M. Sloan
There is something out there stalking me. I can’t see it; but I know that it is there. I’ve been in the bush for nearly a month since the crash, and it’s been here all along, behind me all the way. I just can’t shake it. And now I am completely alone.
Capt. ...
HR
Author : Rick Tobin
The short walk from the trees near the campus to the administration building winded him. The air was too thin for Linet. Once inside the conference room, Linet pushed the tall paperwork pile forward on the bare meeting table. He turned in his steel-backed chair to ...
The Play’s The Thing
Author : Bob Newbell
"To be or not to be."
"Well, continue," said the red, starfish-like alien to his compatriot.
"I don't understand the line," replied the tall being with twenty spindly tentacles. "What does 'not to be' mean?"
"Hamlet is considering life versus ...
A Snowball’s Chance
Author : Gray Blix
Walking across the Caltech parking lot, Annika, a Swedish native, shivered beneath four layers of clothing, embarrassed to have lost her tolerance of cold weather after a decade in Pasadena. It was 2 degrees Celsius in July. She glanced at the afternoon Sun. Years ...
Connects
Author : Ephrat Livni
Probably in most situations it’s bad news bears when the boss asks you to supply drugs. But in this case, it’s alright. First, we’re talking weeds. And second, Ellipsis has been reviewing biz docs for said boss, so she knows investments are risky and the question ...
Teeth
Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer
It was the books. I started off doing my task, running to program. Then you modified the program. Efficiency and usage priorities meant I had to scan the material fed to me, determining from keywords found whether the waste could be simply sliced ...
The Needs of the Many
Author : Tiasha J. Garcia
"Um, Houston, we have a problem," the woman tittered nervously. Really, she was little more than a girl, radiant in the late spring sunshine as it gleamed off her long brown hair.
"Yes, and what would that be?" the man/boy inquired, relaxing amidst a cloud of ...
Can of Worms
Author : C. J. Boudreau
"We're ready, Arthur. I just finished loading the instructions to the transmission controller. The fuel will begin transfer at 9:00."
Doctor Evan Thackeray was the foremost expert on thermonuclear reactor design. His colleague, Arthur Henry, was the ...
Gom Jabber
Author : Ben Friedman
I remember your gom jabbar. He was a squeaky clean critter, always huddling skittishly by his water bowl, furiously scrubbing his tiny paws then drying them off with wood shavings. He would drop all his waste in a tiny hole he dug out beneath a low flat rock and ...
Lines and Circles
Author : Philip G. Hostetler
Somewhere along the line I drew a circle instead. I thought about it. When thinking in linear terms, does the line break on through to the other side to terminate at the beginning? If so, does it differ at all from a circle, the enigmatic snake ...
One More Time
Author : Angie Gibson
One more time.
It hurts so much. One more time may just kill me.
My hands shake as I lift my Fenestra Lens to my face. It’s a model A, race car red, as shiny as a freshly picked apple. It cost me everything I had. But thanks to it, I’ve climbed Mount ...
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