Flicker
Author : Leif Hansen
Terra didn’t laugh. Not because I pushed my joke too far, as was typical, but because she suddenly realized what I was.
Within the few seconds it took for me to deliver my puerile punchline, her mind had grasped the meaning of my eyes’ incautious flicker from blue ...
Mutter
Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer
“Did you see them? Silver streaks through cumulus, probably an Andorini scout formation. It’s not like anyone here would recognise them.”
Officer Peters looked over at the shuffling, muttering figure. Taking in the irregular gait, the handful of ...
Time Streams
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer
If I was tripping, my colleagues must have been as well because we all saw it. Just us four janitors on the night shift, mops and brooms dropped, staring at the nightmare in the corner of the building. It spoke to us but I couldn’t see where its ...
At The Bottom Of The Well
Author : Bob Newbell
Consciousness returned slowly to Inderak and Wynep. Memory took a little longer but in short order the events that lead up to the present flashed back into recall: The malfunction with the hyperdrive. The failed attempt to enter orbit around the moon of the third ...
Small Mercies
Author : David Atos
The man was sitting at Donald Thompson’s kitchen table when he got home, reading a file.
“Right on time, Mister Thompson.”
Donald jumped back against the wall in alarm.
“Who are you, and how the hell did you get into my apartment?” he shouted.
“I suppose the ...
Severance Package
Author : Connor Harbison
The old man watched red-orange dust rise from the trail. Perks of living up on this promontory, only one way to come in. He filled his pipe again and leaned back in the rocking chair. The visitor would be here soon enough.
The visitor dismounted his hoverbike ...
Occupational Hazards
Author : Connor Harbison
The sand got everywhere.
Lieutenant Sawyer cursed her luck. Others from her Academy class had postings all over the galaxy, on exotic planets and flashy space stations. Only she was stuck here on this assignment.
Aurelia IV was her home for the foreseeable ...
Torn and Frayed
Author : Joe Essid
The air felt greasy as Shane climbed off his Harley into a tropical Virginia July evening.
Even shirtless, in ruined jeans and a leather vest, Shane felt clammy. Only the wind, all the way from Leavenworth and freedom, had kept him from melting.
...
The Universe Keeps Slipping Away
Author : Decater Collins
Two years ago, they wouldn’t have been able to afford such a house. Debra didn’t like thinking about before.
“We can afford it now. That’s all that should matter."
“You’re not worried about it being too remote?"
"Look at this bay window."
The house was ...
Wayward
Author : Bob Newbell
I raise my hand and wave to get Scott's attention as he walks into the restaurant. He comes over and joins me in the booth. He gestures at my drink.
"Is that whiskey? Never seen you drink anything stronger than red wine. Something up?"
"Yeah. Remember a couple of ...
All Your Banners Are Dust
Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer
The robot stands there just after dawn, under the skies of another beautiful day, atop a rusting hulk, waving a steel pole about in a way that hints at long-lost purpose. On the ground nearby, two large felines rest on their haunches, their ...
Takeover
Author : Clint Wilson, Staff Writer
“Kraaaxxx, a full report please.”
“This one will be easy sir. Take out their electronic web and they’ll be virtually blind. It’s still in its infancy and these bipeds are extremely dependant on it for everything from news to ...
Meatless
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer
"It's not meat you know."
He'd slipped up silently beside me at the meat counter and was pointing to the shrink-wrapped flat of striploin I was holding.
"They print those, from meat flavoured engineered inks, but they're not meat."
As I ...
Doing Smore with Les
Author : Rick Tobin
“See, the smoke goes straight up. Nice day tomorrow, if we could go outside.”
“Meter still reads dangerous. Maybe the Van Allen will come back.”
“Out of our control. It’s the Sun. No wonder cultures worshiped it.”
The elder, Lester Simpson, rested on flat ...
She's in my Head, While I'm in Hers
Author : James McGrath
I began by stealing money.
Hacking mindchips isn't new; thousands across the planets survive by stealing bank details, logins, passwords, and rerouting what they find. Making it disappear, to pop-up elsewhere without the slightest of trails.
It was challenging ...
Procrastination
Author : Jaime Astorga
John_357897453 woke up, looked at the timer which sat next to his bed, and realized that he only had five minutes to live.
Five sidereal minutes, anyway. For him, it would feel more like several hours, not that was an excuse to waste any more time. With a ...
Inter
Author : Clint Wilson, Staff Writer
“But it’s been almost two hundred years sir! How could this be?”
“I don’t know. No one on board can explain it, but there are definitely at least a dozen human lifeforms showing on scanners down there.”
The ancient story of the plankton combine, ...
The Waiting War
Author : Bob Newbell
"May 18th is totally unacceptable!" says the Thrike admiral. "That date falls in the middle of the Feast of the Blessed Serrod, the Great and Enlightened. But on June 4th, then...THEN," he raises his neck frill for emphasis,"you should beseech the Mother of All ...
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