La Valse de Capitaine Merroux
Author : Luke Chmelik We were about to set in for refitting in the drydocks of Neptune when Capitaine Merroux of the Frégate Royaux Joyeuse came forth with a grand announcement. There would be a night of revelry in her private quarters, a formal ball to commemorate…
read moreGreetings, I Come in Peace
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer Johnny pointed his broomstick “phaser rifle” at Tommy and squeezed the imaginary trigger. In his mind’s eye, the evil alien from the planet Zircon vaporized in a flash of light. But Tommy kept on running. “I got you Tommy,” he…
read moreMeat Farming
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer My family became meat farmers in the spring of ’22. Like a lot of city dwellers, we tired of the hustle and bustle of metropolitan life. We sold our possessions, liquidated our assets, and bought a stake in Canada that was ready…
read moreStorytime
Author : Ian Rennie The puddles of rainwater reflected neon and sodium up from the streets as the two men stood at the taxi rank. One waited, the other waited with him. “Shame you have to leave so early, Tom. The evening was just getting started.” “Sorry Jake, it’s…
read moreThe Ham
Author : William Tracy “A Ham is coming!” The news spread like wildfire. Even the adults were swept up in the excitement. “A Ham is coming!” The Ham came from the east in a truck. I had never seen a truck move before! The adults eagerly asked the Ham for the news. I…
read moreThe Incomprehensible Being
Author : Cal Glover-Wessel There is a being, I have witnessed that, through some strange twist of evolutionary fate, is able to move any which way through time, but through space can only move unceasingly forward. It lives a life parallel to our own, one where “day”…
read moreA Calendar Full of X's
Author : S.R. Dantzler “Hey Yates!” Dorian turned to see who called him. The thin blue laser of a retinal scanner flashed over his eyes. “You have been served.” The young courier handed Dorian an official-looking envelope and turned away, disappearing down the busy…
read moreTests
Author : Bradley Hughes “Fucking tests.” I turned to look at the speaker sitting beside me at the bar. I noticed she had a small doll on the bar along with her drink, one of those wooden posable dolls made of jointed oval sections. I’ve always assumed they were for…
read moreGit Along Little Dogie
Author : Bob Burnett A glint of reflected sunlight caught Will McRae’s attention. He ground-hitched his sorrel gelding and bellied up the slope to look into the next draw. He scooted back down the slope, turned on his back and stared at the sky, his mouth suddenly…
read moreThe Gyre
Author : Christopher Kueffner The ocean swell was enough to induce the whisky to move back and forth in the glass, but just barely. This spectacle occupied the close attention of Arlen Tidmore, Systems Assurance Specialist II. The minutely swaying liquid in the glass…
read moreDesperate Measures
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer A few hours after Tom and I had the science module operational, we decided to explore the terrain around the base camp. Silex IV was a warm, barren, desolate planet. There was no oxygen in the atmosphere, and no water anywhere,…
read moreHonest People
Author : J.R. Blackwell, Staff Writer Joseph’s Grandfather knocked down the cabin door, and stood silhouetted in the blue morning light of Io. Inside, Joseph and Thomas and Betti and Lil lay sprawled over the king sized bed, naked. The room smelled like sex and sweet…
read moreReverse Psychology
Author : William Tracy A stranger walked through the door of the diner. The man sported sunglasses and a comb over. He was sweaty from driving through the desert in his suit. His collar was disheveled; his tie was loose. He must have been lost—people like him were not…
read moreRecord Game
Author : Jacinta A. Meyers He had a reputation from the time he brought in his first kill from the lush planet. Walked through the warden’s office lugging the thing in a sack over his shoulder. Everyone involuntarily gasped when they felt the floor shudder, heard the…
read moreRigg(ed)
Author : Sam Clough, Staff Writer Jack sighed, and tabbed through the moment’s top links. They hadn’t changed much since earlier that morning: still the usual desultory mix of politics, tech articles, and irreverent ‘humour’. Lolcats had been ceased to be funny almost…
read moreDeus Ex Survivor
Author : Asher Wismer Here’s me, walking through the deserted streets of Chicago. I can see a few ravens pecking at some unidentifiable detritus in the gutter; somewhere, a car alarm is weeping to the night sky, and I can still smell the restaurant exhaust on the…
read moreRocktopus
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer Nothing could live in a volcano. That was the assumption of the landing party. The twenty-meter slab of articulated rocktopus that turned a diamond eye to these squishy walking icicles of meat was puzzled at first, then alarmed….
read moreThe Perfect Vacuum
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer Dr. Kathleen Haley walked into the dimly lit Advanced Physics Laboratory at Cambridge and spotted Dr. Thomas Mitchell staring intently at a one meter in diameter, hollow transparent sphere. “Hey, Tom. How’s the experiment…
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