Author: Lewis Richards Two Shuttles slashed through the sheeting rain, trailed by twin comet tails of super heated plasma vaporising any raindrops unfortunate enough to meet them on their spiralling descent toward the fluctuating lights of the colony they raced ...

Author: Majoki Some seven thousand years ago a micrometeorite winged a pine cone, clipped the ear of a very surprised marmot, skewered a large oyster mushroom, and buried itself in the thick duff of a mountainous forest in the north Cascades. Stan Clutterdam knew none of ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer They’re running about again, but at least they’re looking happy about it. When I - we - got here, there was running, but only grim faces. Has it only been six days? Can’t have been. Wait. Go through it. Day one would have been after I ...

Author: James Jarvis The green leaves of The Great Oak glistened in the starlight. The air was still and calming. It was exactly what Liza expected. She wandered over to the base of the tree whilst deep in thought. The beauty of The Great Oak was amplified by its ...

Author: Soramimi Hanarejima When you open the door, it’s like I’m looking at an old photo, you and the hallway tinged a sentimental amber by the redshift of the decades between us. “Do you want to come in?” you ask, voice muffled by all those years. “I just got some ...

Author: Nageene Noor The world through Viktor Blackford’s window was quiet. Hannibal always started with the window, and it became a habit like an anchor, before he let himself sink into Viktor’s home. From where Hannibal observed, his whole life was mundane. Viktor was ...

Author: K. E. Redmond He stared at the blue and white globe passing beneath him, watching the dark shadow cut across its surface. Once, the dark had been alive with light like glowing fungus. He’d imagined pearls of highways, puddles beneath streetlamps, neon signs. As ...

Author: Majoki It started with a chatbot and ended in, well, that would be predicting the future. Which is exactly my problem. I’m sure I’m not the only computer science graduate student into astrology, Tarot cards, numerology, palm reading, and other fortune-telly ...

Author: Mark Cowling Thank you for using the CarePlus AI Assistant automated customer service! Your question: Please help. After a minor fall, my Assistant wouldn’t let me leave my bed for a week. Now it’s put me on a diet of little more than bread and water. It’s ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer “Sorry to disturb you, but the board are having conniptions over your expenses claim for this month.” “Not unexpected.” “They want justification for the seven-figure spend on ‘special developments’.” “I needed some ancient and esoteric ...

Author: Sara Siddiqui Chansarkar It’s my turn to peek through the eyepiece of the giant telescope at the Lowell Observatory. “Ma, do you see the binary stars?” Vivek asks. “I could see them clearly.” With my right eye on the lens, I observe two silver balls shining close ...

Author: Matt Ivy Richardson The man marches through mud and muck and gore. One foot in front of the other, pulse rifle at the ready and helmet crushed tight on his head. There are others at his side and behind him, marching through mud and muck and gore, burying bones into ...

Author: Hillary Lyon “Few have been allowed access to our compound,” Vara said, motioning to the assembly line churning before them. Yoff marveled at the glorious machinations of this factory. The choreographed sweep of the robot arms, the perfectly regimented twist and ...

Author: Anirudh Chamarthi The King demanded an envoy when he made his conquest. It was Martin’s fault, and he volunteered for it. It was penitence, for that man ten years ago, the man who had created the King with two lines and a keystroke, created he who promised them ...

Author: R. J. Erbacher The perspective from her floor-to-ceiling office windows, in the seventy-fifth tallest building in Manhattan, gave Van a stately view of the snow, which started rather innocently around noon on Friday. She picked at her salad in the plastic clam shell ...

Author: Majoki Planetfall was only parsecs away when TwoNine asked permission to speak to One. A request that was within fleet parameters, barely. TwoNine observed all the proper protocols in One’s presence, so One opened a node. As was understood, TwoNine’s useful ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Oldun Peters takes a sip from his goblet, then raises it to the heavens. “First for the body, second for the soul.” People nod, but fewer and fewer copy him like I do. He gives everyone a gap-toothed smile. “What shall I tell of ...

Author: Bill Cox Dearest Miriam, I have a few minutes and am using them to write this letter to you. We are all standing on this sweltering beach in the Algarve and it’s crazy to think that a mere four years ago it would’ve been thronged with tourists. Now there’s only a ...