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The Last Emergency

By submission | October 29, 2014
Author : Jason Zinnerman Perched high on a sturdy branch, the man marveled at the intruders’ precarious fortune. They tight roped the border between likely and more likely death by landing in the hard green clearing instead of the dusty sun scorched wasteland just beyond their reach. ...
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Wired Heart

By submission | October 28, 2014
Author : James Langley Dr. Livett tapped at the graphene strap around her wrist and the beachside illusion dissolved into nothing. She stood in the sterile, empty white room; the fragrant ocean breeze replaced by the smarting odour of bleach. She redressed into her uniform, the white ...
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The Empire of Mars

By submission | October 27, 2014
Author : Bob Newbell Shortly after dawn, the Emperor of Mars walked among his subjects. The Emperor was tall and dignified as he strode across the sands of Solis Planum. His subjects were gathered about him in silence. He neither called nor regarded himself as "Emperor". If asked, he ...
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Insurance

By submission | October 26, 2014
Author : Katie Stevens I was twenty three when it happened. One minute I was half out the window, high on vodka and ecstasy, arms spread wide, embracing the world, the universe and everything in it. The next minute, my boyfriend, equally high on coke, lost control of the car. There ...
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Luna

By submission | October 25, 2014
Author : Cosmo Smith Somewhere, hundreds of feet below, the drying of seaweed soured the air. Elias breathed in deeply and smiled. It reminded him of better times. He was curled in a hammock at the end of the promenade of the Chateau de Lin. Only a terrace with a low parapet ...
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Good Work

By submission | October 24, 2014
Author : cchatfield I didn’t want to show up to work today. By the time my crew arrived for the usual day of loading and unloading, packing and unpacking, signing and releasing, I’d rehearsed a little speech about the importance of keeping our jobs. “This is a time of crisis and ...
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Plant Life

By Duncan Shields | October 23, 2014
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer Frouda Jeffries touched down on the soil of Binauer 4, smart boots neutralizing any toxins and spreading defoliant footsteps as she walked up to the leader of the plants. ‘His’ name was a gust of pheromones. They just called him Windy. Giant, ...
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Acceptance

By submission | October 22, 2014
Author : Suzanne Borchers Arnold, a four-foot bot, assists an elderly woman by holding her drink in one hand and supporting her upright with the other. He had been superseded so many times that today his job is tending the grannies and granddads at Ever Pleasant Retirement Home. ...
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Perimeter

By Julian Miles | October 21, 2014
Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer The night is slashed with beams of white light and the sky is spotted with technicolour detonations. “Who does that? I ask you. Who does that?” I don’t know how Mitchell can talk and run at this speed. I shrug in reply and keep going. We ...
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The Year Rounders

By Clint Wilson | October 20, 2014
Author : Clint Wilson, Staff Writer A stadium-sized vehicle crawled along on massive tracks to my right. I hadn’t been awarded a sleep cycle for ninety-eight kilometres and was well overdue when the klaxon finally sounded. Not slowing my pace an iota I looked up and saw a half-dozen ...
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Take Me Dancing

By submission | October 19, 2014
Author : Brent Benton Marsha leaned back and surveyed the sky from the park bench. “Johnny, will you take me dancing?” “Dancing? Marsha, how can you talk about dancing when things have gone to hell? They force us to sleep outside and barely feed us, and you talk about dancing? ...
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Inexplicable Reflector

By submission | October 18, 2014
Author : Jay Haytch Did they teach you in school why the Soviet Union broke up? The story everyone 'knew' was of internal strife and bureaucratic inefficiency, but really it was Space Science. In 1986 we discovered a... 'thing,' which stellar parallax put about 107 light-years away. ...
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Refugees From The Singularity

By submission | October 17, 2014
Author : Bob Newbell "Well, Sammy, they're all heading out." Sammy, the brown tabby cat sitting on my lap, is unconcerned by the slowly enlarging starburst on the holodisplay. Spacecraft tracks. Almost all outbound. Heading away from the dot at the center. Earth. Sammy's ears perk up ...
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Carroway

By Duncan Shields | October 16, 2014
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer I’m 43. A year on Carroway is fifty-six earth years long. Its long, lazy, almost-circular orbit kept it temperate for that whole time but the ecosystem had evolved to create 126 distinct ‘seasons’. I’d read of Earth’s four seasons of summer, ...
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A Strange Thing About Portals

By submission | October 15, 2014
Author : P. Djeli Clark An extra-dimensional portal has opened up in my grocer's freezer. Not a giant portal, that might send out shaggy mammoth blue beetles with a thousand legs--like what happened to poor Doyle McDonald out at the granary (no one's still quite certain where that ...
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Sleeper

By Julian Miles | October 14, 2014
Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer “Ten o’clock. Eight o’ clock. Nine. Left. Four. Tang dynasty.” The wavelength goes to static and I roll off the bed, lean back to kiss Tamara, then carry my clothes out of the bedroom and dress in the lounge. My daughter, Sarah, is a light ...
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The Archivist

By submission | October 13, 2014
Author : Roger Dale Trexler “It’s amazing,” Hennrich Gould said. He shook his head in disbelief. “A pristine live recording of Robert Johnson….and with songs that have never been released! Where’d you find it?” James Robinson smiled. He reached forward and clicked off the iPod on ...
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True Love

By submission | October 12, 2014
Author : Lesley Carhart I want a divorce. I might say it, but as usual, the only sound is the crisp autumn leaves scattering across the gravestones. I glance over to Stephen across the frost-singed grass, and I know he's thinking the same thing. On these cold days, we've both ...
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