Aftermath of the Fountain of Youth
Author : Lliir Mary Ellen Gratcke had never contemplated murder before. She’d never felt so betrayed, helpless, and naked before, either. A mere thought, a flip of a switch, and the killing began. The fluid levels in the special bath that protected her betrayer from…
read moreThe First Superluminal Data Stream
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer “You know, Cyrus, you can’t violate the law of causality. Even a freshman Liberal Arts major understands Feinberg’s reinterpretation principle. I swear, if I’ve lugged this receiver out here for nothing, I’m going to kick your…
read moreThe Future Was What We Made It
Author : Adam Zabell Commander Deborah Sagmeiser began the ‘big reveal’ of Project Beta. This briefing used to be a formality which celebrated the human race. She looked across the table at a bespectacled middle-aged man, brought into the fold against her better…
read moreInsomnia
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Thirty two years. He’d lost count of the number of homicides. A Detective for twenty one of those years, John Barrick wished he knew how good he’d had it as a beat cop. There was no going back now. John opened the back door of his…
read moreMalfunction Onboard the Rosetta
Author : Jamison B. Medcalf Technical officer Jones had had his first job at 12 during the 2127 crash following the Antarctic War. Those were simpler times when perma-jacks that fed the Internet into your brain were less common. Nowadays only those aboard colony ships…
read moreHanging Around
Author : Q. B. Fox At night, when everything’s finally fallen quiet, the terraces sing; or maybe moan, I’m not sure which. The water where it laps over the first floor windowsills seems calm, except when a boat stirs it up. But deep underwater, by the front steps and…
read moreThe UESS Hermes
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer, and Steven Odhner The crew took their positions in Earth’s first faster than light spaceship, The UESS Hermes, named for the Greek god of flight. Its maiden voyage was planned to be a short three light-minute jump from the…
read moreThe Last Time
Author : Thomas Desrochers There was a warm glow as the Core began to wake up, followed by a spiraling light that worked its way around the room. After a moment a thousand pairs of eyes opened, and a thousand magnetic locks released. Like a routine play nine hundred…
read moreBlind Invaders
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer The soundwaves are so short that they actually shatter meat. Bones shudder but remain intact. Cloth turns to ash. Skin goes translucent and turns into a fragile carapace that break like ice on a puddle. Then gravity takes over….
read moreGrey Matter
Author : Peter Lavelle ‘I think it looks just wonderful on the mantelpiece, don’t you?’ Mrs. Smithey asked cheerfully. Mrs. Everett leisurely stirred the contents of her teacup. The tinkling of the spoon against the fine china was an eerie peal that unsettled the very…
read moreSpace
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer The orbiter had touched down at Vandenberg, and Lewis and a dozen others had flown cargo the thirty minutes to San Francisco airport. They trudged in from the tarmac in loose formation out of habit, unprepared for the crowds in the…
read moreP is for…
Author : Steven Odhner Ah, Mr. Knight! Thank you for coming, sir. Doctor Dave Ewing is going to be calling you at some point to tender his resignation, and – oh, has he? Well, after this meeting you’ll want to call him and get him back, tell him the charges are…
read moreReunion
Author : Brian Armitage The field sputtered light, a cloud of particles flashing in waves and sparkles. Edward was surprised, and a little disturbed, at how bright and colorful it was. He looked over at Sandra, the company liaison, with her carefully neutral…
read moreProductivity
Author : Steven Odhner I’m staring at the clock. Just staring at it, waiting for it to tick off a minute at which point I will have exactly one hour left of this hell. My brother the crazy artist says I’m not living my life. He says that I’ve sold my soul. If he knew…
read moreThe Long Journey Home
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer “Are you telling me a spaceship really did crash in Roswell in 1947?” asked Dr. Ambien as he panned the badly damaged spaceship that had been laid out in the spacious hangar. “Yes, Doctor. The spaceship contained three aliens,…
read moreUnimagined Fears
Author : M. Tyler Gillett We should have known it was a foolish hope. None of us knew each other, but we recognized each other as members of the same faith. We had all signed up with various cryonics companies, preserving our bodies – or more often, just our…
read morePrima Notte
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer Aside from the “more-arms-than-us” thing and the blue colour of their skin, they weren’t as alien as they could have been. They didn’t look like insects or floating blobs, for instance. At first contact, we all conceitedly thought…
read morePassage
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Tucker went through the drills with the rest of the squad in a state of meditative indifference. It took focused effort to keep his mech and chem systems in check while still performing well enough to earn one of the dozen seats on…
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