Lawman

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer The metro swishes past while I tap my fingers in frustration on the dashboard. I may have priority, but nothing out-prioritises fifty tons of autotram. “Where are you, Lime?” “Watching the metro. The collision avoidance system in my car ...

Pears

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer Pears. I wish to never seen one again in my life. The colony on Arcadia had soil that would let us grow trees from Earth. We sowed an orchard outside of our newly printed house. The fibrous growths that sprouted fat and tall from the ground ...

Exit Interview

Author : Sarah Vernetti “Am I comfortable? No, Amelia, not particularly. I feel like I’ve washed out to sea. Maybe I’ll return. Or maybe I’ll end up in some far off land fifty years from now, only to be discovered by a child and be featured on the evening news. So, no, I’m not ...

Birds

Author : Roger Dale Trexler Loku heard them before he saw them. The strange sound came to him as he slept beneath the Aynt tree. He and Sheka had eaten their fill of the ripe, rich fruit and fallen asleep beneath its teal-colored leaves. He was not one to fear things he did not ...

To Be Human

Author : Gerard Hutchings When they arrived, they offered to restore the earth's atmosphere, removing pollutants, reducing greenhouse gases, restoring ozone. In exchange they just wanted to settle on Mars. How could we refuse? After three years they had terraformed Mars and built many ...

Opportunity

Author : John Plunkett The girls were dressed in simple skirts and blouses of homespun wool from their father's sheep. They spoke brightly to one another, rejoicing in a day of swimming and play at the small pond just over the hill from their father's house. A young, naked boy darted ...

TIME

Author : Roger Dale Trexler Tom Jacobs awoke. It was 9 o’clock. It was always 9 o’clock. His mind swam through an ocean of grogginess. He did not know where he was. It was dark and, in a moment, he realized he was floating in some sort of liquid. He tried to turn his head, but ...

Family First

Author : Cameron Filas It’s about a five year process, the whole prison-rehab formula. Since the introduction of Memwipe, crime rates have plummeted. The idea is to take a dangerous criminal, wipe their memory, then give them a basic education and return them to society. Still, I’m ...

Heaven Needs an Upgrade

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer Heaven needs an upgrade. It’s too full of people and the hardware is stagnating due to obsolescence. New storage systems and access devices are pushing Heaven into the past. Soon, it will be like the mythical Betamax or the ancient Zip disk. ...

Outcasts

Author : Roger Dale Trexler “You really should try this,” Liz said. Her voice was distant and gentle, like someone talking to me from the end of a tunnel. I turned and looked at her. She lay on the vacuum formed couch, her naked body sucked in perfectly, every curve, every contour ...

Henry

Author : Colm Scully When Henry hit the curb he knew it was over. The sun had got in his eyes. He had bent his left wish bone badly and knew he could not walk straight. He called the recovery service and they lifted him into the van. He tried to keep upbeat, chatting with the ...

Letter to All S. Mundi Network Users

Author : K. J. Russell The moment of transition was 7:34 AM today, July 17th, and this one was unique in that nobody saw it coming. Haverforth Diedeli finally stirred awake thirty-four minutes after his alarm clock began to buzz at him, and at the moment his eyes popped open and his ...

HTTP ERROR

Author : Tamara Rogers They gave me a million eyes. Well, not a million, more like a terra-billion, a bajillionzillion. All x to the power z equals I want it I see it. Excuse me if I’m not too precise, there’s buzzes coming in and network trails running through. Dope data ...

Rocketbike

Author : Jackson Fitzjames Anonymous trespassing isn’t very easy in a surveillance state. Or, at least, that’s what they want you to think. The rocketbike is juddering along between my legs in a way that’s going to chafe soon. If I get any more growth spurts, I’m not going to fit on ...

Black Rider

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer “What the hell is he riding – or is that piloting?” “Riding. Even though the round bits front and rear aren’t wheels: they’re gravtac repulsor loops.” Blake turned to stare at Neville: “Nice. So what the frack is it?” Neville smiled: ...

Virus

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer The flickering neon promise was the same as always, 'Rooms by the Hour' and underneath 'Vacancy'. I knew what I would find inside. The locks on the double front doors were burned away completely leaving a metre wide hole in the surrounding ...

I Would Know

Author : RM Dooley The rogue tampons rolling across the trunk floor and abandoned high heel tell me it’s a girl’s car. Probably this girl’s car. I can’t move much. Duct tape binds her hands, feet, and stretches over her mouth. The taillight is kicked out and the flashlight next to her ...

Tandem Passenger

Author : Peter R Jennings “It’s not going to work, is it”? Gentry gasped out between huge, sucking breaths. He was right next to me so I was getting his panic in stereo through my earphones. The bright, tight lines of lasers and crumping explosions flashed and strobed the night sky ...

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