Author: Colin Jeffrey They returned Bromley, their butler android, to the factory after he started talking to himself while looking at his reflection. The trouble had started the month before when he paused halfway through serving breakfast to stare at his image in the ...

Author: Hillary Lyon The room fell silent as the Admiral strode into the briefing room. He snapped on a holographic representation of a small solar system. The planets on display swirled in their orbits around the ghostly sun. “For the last several generations,” he ...

Author: Robert Gilchrist You know what it will do to you. The warnings are everywhere. The PSAs on holovision. The billboards on the highway into work. Your social circle has even been impacted by it (Sophie’s cousin’s boyfriend is still in recovery). But that’s not going ...

Author: Linda G. Hatton Juniper’s steel-toed boots weighed down on the gas pedal like a cement anchor at the bottom of the sea, letting up only as she pulled her new fifty-thousand-dollar investment into the slot marked “service.” She ducked out of the car as soon as the ...

Author: Majoki You’d think I’d be happy about beating the odds on my very first try, of hitting a hole-in-one, winning the lottery, finding a needle in a haystack. Not so much. Not when you beat the astronomical odds of folding space-time to the exact system that is ...

Author: Rick Tobin “Sir, shouldn’t we turn about? Maybe hide in the asteroid belt?” Ensign Murphy stood to the Captain’s side, expecting an immediate order to retreat as a fleet of hostile aliens approached at maximum speed. “Hardly, Murphy. You were brought on this ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer He sits there like some statue against the rising full moon, hook nose and narrow chin in profile, eyes lost in shadow beneath tousled curly hair from which wisps of smoke rise, describing silver trails in the moonlight. “You’re ...

Author: Ernesto Sanchez I never thought I would ever hear my father’s voice again. Pitying my aimless life, he handed me this job decades ago, a post so simple a witless robot could do with ease. The monotony is the most difficult part; log every disturbed visitor ...

Author: Alzo David-West swirling leagues of double stars and life-pulsating suns, waving bands and cosmic rays and manifold planets turning, plasma clouds expanding in the spaces of the void, inter-solar orbits in great eccentric form— a nova blast ...

Author: Alicia Cerra Waters I remember laying on the midwife’s cot after the world had been deep-fried by a nuclear bomb. I wasn’t feeling very optimistic. The midwife’s mouth puckered with words she didn’t want to say as she offered me some herbs. Problem is, I knew those ...

Author: Alastair Millar Maybe if we’d thought about it sooner, instead of just buying what the newscasts told us, things would have been different. But I’m not sure. I mean, Autonomous Immigration Management Systems sounded like a good thing – they’d be a non-human (read: ...

Author: R. J. Erbacher The vessel approached the large planet and Ot’O was steady and eager behind the controls. This was Ot’O’s world to discover, his accolade. The extensive voyage, aside from a few minor adjustments, had gone as planned. Advanced technology allowed space ...

Author: Cecilia Kennedy If you follow the trail of woods at the Inkston County Line and see a purple and silver spot that swirls and sparkles in the afternoon sun near the oak tree, that’s where Lilibet lives. (At least, that’s what I call my little worm-like pet, who ...

Author: Susan Anthony “Have you ever noticed how bratwurst looks like the dismembered parts of an amorous man?” Jimmy replied, “I feel like we may have got away from recipes again.” “You’re right. I was just reminiscing.” Jimmy echoed the sentiment, “I understand. ...

Author: John McManus The Singularity EDP You can’t travel through time without a good sense of smell. At least, no farther than you can drive a car blind. That’s why the best time travelers come from the same little Riviera town as the best perfumers. Grasse, ...

Author: Frank T. Sikora My gift certificate for DownTime Inc. permitted me one trip to the past for a time period not to exceed 60 minutes and with a .0016 percent risk to the timeline, which meant I wouldn’t be sleeping with Queen Victoria, debating socialism with Trotsky, ...

Author: Emma Bedder The SS-Parrellian drifted through peaceful, empty space. There wasn't anything around for light years. Stars dotted its surroundings, planting spots of distant white into the endless black. Orlene stood on the bridge; her face almost pressed against the ...

Author: Colin Jeffrey "Take your medicine, Jomley," Yanwah entreated, holding the rough wooden bowl to her child's lips. "It is helping you." Jomley made his usual face, turning away and shaking his head. Yanwah sighed. She new the medicine tasted bad, she couldn't ...