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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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The Planet

By submission | October 11, 2014
Author : Richard D. Deverell We all knew the story. Every child my age had grown up with it. Though the governmental space agencies had long since faded into obscurity and private companies began the exploration and plunder of the solar system, the governments continued long-range ...
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A Cello For Amadeus

By submission | October 10, 2014
Author : Damian Knoll The doorbell rang. “Welcome to the Emporium,” I shouted over my shoulder. Before the door closed, a gust of bone-splitting December wind sneaked inside and coiled around my ankles. I quickly shoved the stack of old vinyls aside and laid the refurbished ...
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Mayhem

By Stephen R. Smith | October 9, 2014
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer I found Gaze at the Drake right where I expected him to be; in the furthest corner from the entrance in a booth which no doubt had the cleanest sight-lines in the club. Between the wire-head and I lounged a crowd of slack-jawed men and ...
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Buoy

By submission | October 8, 2014
Author : Roger Dale Trexler We dropped out of warp near the wreckage. Navigator Needham did a fine job and I intended to recommend him for a commendation—if we came back from the assignment. I walked to the view screen and looked out. Ahead of us, less than a parsec away, I saw ...
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Drawing Hands

By submission | October 6, 2014
Author : Aaron Koelker The Mind was thrown into turmoil the day we created our creators. Some saw it as a Babel-esque misstep. Others thought it was akin to slitting our own lines and oiling out. All saw it leading to ruin. The Boy was called just that. Grown in a tank ...
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Perchance

By submission | October 5, 2014
Author : Leslie Bohem Kevin, in his early thirties, upwardly mobile, does not look like he belongs in this dank alley. He started coming down about six months ago. At first, maybe once every couple of weeks, then once a week, then every couple of days. Now, he comes every day. He ...
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AutoKnowMe

By submission | October 4, 2014
Author : Kevlin Henney Not sure what to do now. No, that's not true. I know precisely what to do, but I don't really feel like doing it. Sense of awareness is, as always, the first thing to come online. >>> Initializing sense of awareness... Done It's at that point you become, well, ...
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Returns Policy

By submission | October 3, 2014
Author : Rosalie Kempthorne The creature was hideous. It was lopsided for one thing, and where its left arm should be there was only a stump. To say nothing of the slimy green tentacles that hung off its shoulder where a right arm was meant to go. Its misshapen face had one good – ...
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Empire

By submission | October 2, 2014
Author : Bob Newbell "Your hot coffee, sir," says the Inteeri waiter as he places the beverage on the table in front of me. "Thanks. Here's--" The short alien that looks vaguely like an anthropomorphic armadillo shuffles away before I can offer him a tip. At no time while serving me ...
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I Am Battalion

By Julian Miles | October 1, 2014
Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer The terrain is ideal for them, and they will take every advantage of the variegated cover: tiered platforms that scatter this little roomscape. Plus they have the advantage of looking like the indigenes. It is a good thing that I was tasked to ...
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The Irony of Science

By Stephen R. Smith | September 30, 2014
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Time. I joked once with her that it was simply the thing that stopped everything from happening at once. When she asked me for space I laughed, and said "Of course you can have space, if you didn't, everything would be happening right ...
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