Long Haul

Author : Bob Newbell I extend my hand to Jerry. He decides a handshake won't suffice and gives me a hug. I return his embrace while I roll my eyes. "Will I see you again, Chris?" he asks. "Of course you will," I lie. Jerry turns and walks through the entrance to the hospital. ...

Twinkle

Author : Zach Williams Alex felt his eyes blink open before he realized he was awake. The window peering into the speckled darkness outside was the first sight that greeted him as consciousness reasserted control over his mind. He yawned and stretched out his arms as he glanced ...

Unjust

Author : Beck Dacus A problem philosophers have had for a long time is the difference between consensus and truth. In a court, for example. One can present evidence, call witnesses, and use common sense to confirm the perpetrator of a crime. But they will never really know. There is ...

Say Goodnight

Author : Angie Gibson An old man noted Grain’s uniform, tugging his elbow. Grain turned to the whittled, pockmarked, and radiation burned face, nose like a pointed finger. “Get me on.” “I can’t.” A woman, starved, ragged, children like clinging tumors to her body. “Please, ...

The Space In the Numbers

Author : Ray Burke Maybe he was broken. It would certainly explain a lot. He always felt lost, hurt, angry even. It never mattered how many were around him, who he talked to, even when sleeping with them in the throes of romance. He just felt alone, detached, like none of it was ...

Start The Cycle

Author : Ryan D. Harris "They'll get what's coming to them. Isn't that right, dear?" Dr. Charles Kilborne had his last remaining--and live--specimen in front of him. With his left gloved hand on his tweezers, his right hand took a syringe from a table littered with lifeless male ...

Extinction 74

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer It sat there, yellow feline eyes glowing gently in a face that reminded me of the top of a burned rice pudding. Short, bald, muscular - if what moved under the garment was muscle – and completely at ease. “Can you understand me, Evan?” The ...

Space Slobs

Author : Thomas Tilton “Stax, hull breach!” Wattler gurneyed from portside of the Excelsior, his plastoscreens ablaze, his catheter tube streaming a current of nervous yellow piss to the ship’s water purification system. “I need refueling!” cried Stax--telepathically, of course. The ...

Living Chromatography

Author : D.H. Arnold Okay, don’t panic, you’re not dead yet, get a grip, dammit, DON’T PANIC! God, how I hate that cliché in movies where someone in ZedGee space pauses to note the beauty and wonder of the planet above which they float. God, I hate those movies, I hate this, why the ...

Amongst the Stars

Author : Tino Didriksen The crying boy slunk down by the obelisk. "Everyone says you listen at these stones", he whispered, "so if you really do exist, please take me away from here." To his surprise, the aliens whispered back, "why do you wish to fly amongst the stars, young ...

Nothing but a Sigh

Author : Suzanne Borchers Larry 360 wished he could sigh. Larry 360 checked again through his integrals and components. How could he hide his broken Integrating Unit? The night before, Sigmund 4 (Larry 360 referred to him as Bossy) had said during Larry 360’s last work evaluation, “I ...

Joe’s Stake

Author : Morrow Brady Like fireflies born from air, the HoloTV image morphed into view. Through its ethereal glow, lay scattered beer cans and ecig batteries. Everyone's favourite reality show Joe's Stake was about to start. "Hurry up Honey, they're plugging in the Joe!" said a grey ...

Five Alien Hours

Author : Kate Runnels Saree had been sentenced to five hours on the alien planet where her crime had been committed. Where on any human controlled planet or sector, what she had done would not even be considered a crime. And five hours. Five hours didn’t seem like that bad of a ...

{BLINK}

Author : Brad Crawford {BLINK} There it went again. This time he noted the time and severity of the event. For the last two days or so, Dr. Samuel Coughlin, world-renowned physicist had experienced a strange phase in/phase out effect. It started with a gradual feeling as though he was ...

Watching the Telemetries

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer “Section three. All clear.” That’s Christov. Which is clever, because according to the heartbeat monitor I have, Christov’s heart stopped beating ninety-four seconds ago. My claw comes down on the ‘Section Three Purge’ button as people about ...

In The Light Of The Red Sun

Author : C. James Darrow There was a time when man set his eyes on the stars beyond our own. Yet as the centuries passed man still found himself stuck on the world upon which he began. Through our own advancements we eventually found ourselves setting foot onto the Moon and Mars. But ...

The Collated Shore

Author : John K. Webb This was not South Carolinian white sand beach. He'd instructed Jacobson—the spherical little Dispensation Drone with its twitching antennae and the prying, bulging crystalline eye—to direct them to a nearby exoplanet with a white sand beach. Corporal Weyer had ...

Recruiter

Author : Rick Tobin “Major, Allen’s alive. He got through Iraq. He didn’t disappear in a Nevada training mission.” Reed Winston leaned over the small table in a cramped conference room filled with file boxes, copy machines and a coffee mess. Burned coffee aromas perforated Reed’s ...

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