U

The Code

By submission | August 10, 2014
Author : Ryan Somma A software bug killed 64 people this month before it was discovered. The administrators have brought the system down and a patch is working its way through the emergency release process. It will cost the ministry $400 million in downtime after you add up all the ...
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The Argument

By submission | August 9, 2014
Author : Suzanne Borchers I polish the sterling silver door handle for the 103rd time this morning. I have been a master’s valet for more years than that. My duties have been reduced but my importance to him has never waned. His father’s father said to me, “Alfred, you are my most ...
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180 Accident-Free Days

By submission | August 8, 2014
Author : Gray Blix The sign on the wall read, "180 ACCIDENT-FREE DAYS." For the umpteenth time since the accident, UR4-51 climbed into an electronic parts recycling bin and positioned itself chest down on the surface of the detritus, its four motive appendages extended out for ...
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Moon Rocks

By submission | August 7, 2014
Author : Gray Blix Addressing a darkened convocation of world leaders, with images projected behind him, Dr. Spitz began, "To summarize events over the last seven months, a meteor-like object exploded about 6 kilometers above China's Wenchang Launch Center, flattening it and leaving a ...
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Pompeii

By submission | August 6, 2014
Author : Anthony Merklinger I sat across from it, and it sat across from me. There was nothing really aesthetic about it—exceptional, remarkable really, but nothing aesthetic. “Hello,” I said. It had arms and legs like I did, a neck as well, and a head, a spine, and entrails too if ...
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A Game Of Inches

By Clint Wilson | August 5, 2014
Author : Clint Wilson, Staff Writer We had barely a minute. The ship was breaking apart. The floor dropped from beneath my feet and then crashed back into me, buckling my legs and smashing me up into the bulkhead. The captain screamed into my earpiece. “Run Ensign, run! It’s our only ...
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Every Angle

By Julian Miles | August 4, 2014
Author : Julian Miles I’m sitting on a rock on Hezbolla XIV. It’s a damn comfortable rock, overlooking an expanse of tundra without salient feature between me and the horizon in all directions. This is why I chose it. After four months of headlong flight, I can stop and have a cup of ...
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Suburban Singularity

By submission | August 3, 2014
Author : TJMoore At 4:53 EST Ben Freen flicked the switch. An instant later the little sphere of quantum foam, gallium oxide and carbon began to get hot. It started to glow red and then white. It was power! Unending, unwavering, ever-increasing power! He had created a source of power ...
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Dissidence

By submission | August 2, 2014
Author : Robert King My grandfather warned me. I never listened. I always thought he was stuck in the past. A remnant of the McCarthy era -- illegal FBI surveillance and all that. I'd say to him, "I don't really care if they listen in. I'm not doing anything wrong." He'd give me that ...
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The Beginning is Impossible and the End is Impassable

By submission | August 1, 2014
Author : Nathan Witkin “So, pushing this button will cause the entire universe to collapse?” the politician asks, still struggling with the situation. With a benevolent smile, the scientist nods. Wiping sweat from his brow, despite the growing chill of entropy, the politician ...
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Wind Chimes

By submission | July 31, 2014
Author : Sara Norja Where there is no air, there can be no wind. I miss a lot of things about Earth. Fresh bread baked by Mona's strong hands. The smell of the sea, salt-tanged like longing. But what I think of most here in this foresaken escape pod is wind. You can't feel solar ...
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Con

By submission | July 30, 2014
Author : S. P. Mahoney There is an utterly absurd amount of mineral wealth sitting in Sol’s asteroid belt. Was. Whatever. A nickel-iron asteroid of middling size contains enough mineral wealth to choke a multinational, if you were to bring it back to Earth. Not to mention so expensive ...
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Cleanup Crew

By Julian Miles | July 29, 2014
Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer “That’s impossible!” “Previously thought to be. Think what this does to current thinking!” “We’re going to be famous!” The two figures sat side by side on a ledge, far up on the side of the Rock of Gibraltar. At their backs was the ...
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Dinner Bell

By Duncan Shields | July 28, 2014
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer Yes. The aliens came down and harvested the human race. Yes. We asked them to. That was the plan all along. We just didn’t know it. Our basic nature was installed in us by them. We were set down on this planet to evolve until overpopulation ...
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Relayer

By submission | July 27, 2014
Author : Ian Hill Suspended above the ethereal ocean of dense fog was a network of free-standing platforms connected by thin, low hanging wires. Each platform was suspended hundreds of feet above the roiling accumulation of toxic gases. The towers were manned by a single sentry who ...
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Picking Isometric Cotton

By submission | July 26, 2014
Author : E.S. Wynn “Let's go over it again.” “I don't see the point.” Cairns said, looked up, jaundiced eyes full of fatigue, a quiet sense of desperation. “You're going to kill me anyway. I've seen the way the judge looks at me. I've seen the jury. Doesn't matter what I say or how ...
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The Pit

By submission | July 25, 2014
Author : C.Chatfield “…so we trumpeted nonsense about it sucking up our oxygen and our water and the godda-, pardon me, the ozone layer until it brought in enough fear money to build the dome. We said all our equipment disappeared without any readings but, the fact is, we couldn't get ...
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Emotional

By Stephen R. Smith | July 24, 2014
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Martin became aware of taste of metal, then the sensation of his pulse amplified in his head. It took a few more minutes before the electric hum around him pierced the pounding, and the realization that he was bound made him open his ...
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