Repetition

Author : Michael Strang I know my experiment is a success when I open my eyes in an unfamiliar place. It takes longer to start to wonder what that means for me. A sudden shock of pain interrupts my train of thought as the neural probes retract from my skull, leaving behind a pounding ...

Mercantor GPS

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer The external camera pan across a steely - if a trifle motley - flotilla of guard skiffs, arrayed before a Griffin-class Space Dreadnought painted in the eye-baffling ‘wasp-fragmentary’ colour scheme. Voiceover: “These nights, the long hand of ...

Prolonged Impact

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer "It's a pure stroke of genius that I was able to downsize the stabilizer assembly in time for the conference." Stuart fiddled with his bowtie with his free hand while piloting the sedan with the other. "Does this look alright?" His wife ...

Bearded

Author : Ryan Swiers “My beard, son,” Ivus Hadler said to Heather Brantley, Solipsister correspondent. The old man rocked back in his chair, tapping one weather-bulged knee with his pipe’s stem. “That’s how I know so much.” “Your beard?” Heather asked, ignoring his mistake. She ...

More than Light

Author : Lawrence Buentello Five billion years ago, two members of the Fraca species stood staring at the stars from the balcony of their laboratory. They had worked ceaselessly, along with thousands of other scientists and technicians, to formalize the seeding project many thought ...

The Single System System

Author : EL Conrad Temps pour out of slots, lining the windows and tapping the chipspecs implanted in their skulls. All that platform switching -- everyone going from database to real time data simultaneously -- causes a sysglitch that forecloses production until a tekfix. A maximan ...

Sky's Child

Author : Keith Sheridan They were deep in the forest when the sky began to scream. Above the snowy shoulder of the mountain the orange and navy penumbra of dawn was shattered by the intrusion of a black behemoth; long and sleek, like a dagger slicing through clouds. Tay dropped to ...

Positive

Author : Roger Dale Trexler Peterson peered out through the energy bubble surrounding him and surveyed the place he had arrived in. It was strange, this place, totally unlike his own dimension. The light was different. It cast a halo of yellow around everything, and it took his ...

Hello World!

Author : Gray Blix I know, I know, a blog is not the most effective way to warn humanity about an extraterrestrial threat, but I can't get the mainstream media to take me seriously. I can't even get supermarket tabloids to answer my phone calls and emails. Photos of UFOs or ETs would ...

Feel the Blade

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer The lumen panels are set to ‘candlelight’ and the susurrus of the climate control system is muted to barely a whisper. The room is twilit, draped with banners from a hundred victories. In a depression on the floor, an ornamental pool has been ...

The Autodidact

Author : Jedd Cole Brontë was a sad and curious alien android. That's how I came to know him at least. Most merely saw him as a strange man. But, first and foremost, Brontë was a didact. He did not talk except to teach, and in teaching, I think he believed he was learning. Yeah, I ...

Surf's Up

Author : Clint Wilson, Staff Writer The starship dropped down into the clear atmosphere of the water planet. Inside the belly bay, six surf pods awaited their launch. Each one was five meters long, known as “longboards” by current popular culture. And inside of each one of them, there ...

Erasure

Author : S T Xavier “It’s eating from my hand! Look, David! It’s so cute!” David nods at the image visible only in his mind, speaking aloud the words from the memory. “It sure is, Sarah. You have such a way with birds, my love.” A giggle comes from the speakers, the sound of ...

Baby Names

Author : Martyn Dade-Robertson “How about AtJohnaxith?” “What” “AtJohnaxith. I know its similar to AtRachelsynth and AtJonoheist’s youngest AtJaneith but they won’t mind will they?” “This is not a good time darling--aaaaa” AtMarystrum lay back on her bed, arched her back and dug ...

This is Africa

Author : Feyisayo Anjorin When I was a child growing up in Akure, surrounded by hills and tall trees, and green fields, I believed the book of genesis. The first book of the bible was said to be about the beginning of everything. The first things, the newness, the freshness, the ...

Wasteland

Author : Michael Hughes Commander Gareth released the locks on the landing shuttle’s doors and took in the view as they opened to reveal a barren landscape. This wasn’t what they had seen from orbit. Both the Columbia’s sensors and their own eyes had deceived them. There was nothing ...

Whisked Away

Author : JT Gill Dad shuffled around the kitchen in his bathrobe slamming cabinet doors so hard they bounced back open. His muttering was punctuated with little crescendos each time something banged closed. The roar of the shuttle could be heard from outside, though greatly muffled. ...

Old Soldiers

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer He’s petrified. I can tell from the white-knuckle grip he has on his rifle, the way his eyes cannot fix on a given point for more than a few seconds. My threat scan classifies him as ‘low to negligible’. Which is a bit of a bugger as he’s one of my ...

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