A Game of Chess

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer The white Silracan clicked its chest-legs together and reared back in what was the human equivalent of a bored sigh. Between it and the hologram of the Earth forces commander lay a chess board made of light. Admiral Grimwald gazed sternly at the ...

The Machine

Author : Kellie Warren We never thought we would be the ones. We weren’t smart enough. To discover new worlds, new planes of existence, new life. You had to be intelligent for that. Some might have been arrogant enough to call themselves intelligent but they were only fools. The ...

Who We Think We Are

Author : Glen Luke Flanagan “These monstrosities are a threat to national security, to morality as we know it, and to our very sense of self.” Senator Ethan Calhoun punctuated the last statement by pounding his fist onto the podium. The fiery Texan was the face of the anti-cloning ...

Identity Crisis

Author : Desmond Hussey, Staff Writer I needed to disappear. Fast. I never wanted a criminal life. It’s not like I killed anybody, or stole the nation’s pension plans, unlike some governments which shall go unmentioned. No. It was much more banal than that. I ...

Siren

Author : Thomas Keene Every metal surface inside the cabin sang, and the readouts flickered. A steady, pure note that Charles called "the Banshee". Evan clenched the crew telemetry readout so hard that waves of color flowed across the display. He was the only crew member with a ...

Resurrection

Author : Scott Shipp Ian was cornered. He had run straight into a dead end alley. Right on his heels were two cyborg cops, and he had the money credits hacked from the bank all over his data stores. There was no escape. Lucky for him, he was augmented with an eye implant that drew his ...

Caveat Emptor

Author : Clint Wilson, Staff Writer I’d always wanted my own planet, and now my dreams were about to come true. Sure it was my entire life savings plus everything of value I had. But what a deal! It was remote, but my very own world? With lush jungles, sandy beaches, plentiful ...

Silent Partner

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer The cigar from the dead guard’s pocket has a red and gold band that says it’s from Havana, the first pleasant surprise of tonight. “Ricky. Help me.” I look across to where Estevez lies in a pool of his own blood, his eyes over-bright with ...

Love Conquers All

Author : Dina Leacock I sat at the table for two and waited for my date to arrive. We’d been emailing since we first “met” on “Find-True-Love.com and now we were finally going to meet. Taking the mirror from my purse I nervously adjusted my face. Would he like me? Would I like him? ...

Life Itself

Author : Richard Halcomb Life Itself… The electrostatic bubble crackled to life around the travellers; two scientists, a politician and a pair of media photographers. Dr. Tim Bilcks, Team Leader of Project Tempus, held the controls of the Temporal Transport Platform, as the sphere of ...

The Master's Truth

Author : Desmond Hussey, Staff Writer He was sitting in his chair exactly where I’d left him six hours ago, looking out the window of the impeccably reconstructed early 16th Century workshop. His plate of fruit, bread and cheese remained untouched. I glanced at the blank canvas ...

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Author : Glen Luke Flanagan Scarlet wings aflutter, painted faces twisted into masks of hate, the pixies descend. Their prey writhes on the ground, eyes bulging in terror as the tiny carnivores begin their feast. Fluorescent light filters through golden pixie dust, casting an eerie ...

Feature Presentation

Author : David Kavanaugh The projectionist’s nimble hands slid the reel into the side of the old machine. The switch was flipped and a cone of illuminated dust particles appeared in the theater outside the tiny window. In the seats below, the scattered audience members settled back, ...

Free to a Good Home

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer YOUNG DOMESTICATED HAND-RAISED HUMAN BEINGS FREE TO A GOOD HOME I have 5 young (13 Earth Years) DOMESTICATED pet humans that are looking for loving nest hives. These humans have been handled since birth, have no problem with tentacles, and love ...

Gather Unto Me

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer The sea of faces looks like a spattering of pale raindrops against the dark pastiche of their clothing. This demonstration promised to be ‘a spectacular denial of President Lacorn’s policies’ and it is. The estimates place the heaving crowd at over ...

Yearning for Humanity

Author : James McGrath He would arrive soon. My partner, DA09-V65, was sure of that. "The programming of your 'emotion' is conflicting with your logic," he replied when I questioned his certainty, "With the information we have that is easy to deduce." I sighed, "Ok Dave, no need to ...

For Everything Else

Author : Phillip Riviezzo -Raw materials for construction of labor habitat modules: Sixty million stellar credits. -Neutronium fuel for supply ship transit: Eighty-five million stellar credits. -Third-generation hostile environment mining equipment: Five hundred million stellar ...

The Swamp Moon King

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer A gas giant named Zeus in the Organa cluster is so big that even its moons have moons. These mini-moons are called moonlets. There are 45 moons and over three hundred moonlets. It makes for very complicated diplomacy. Resources were too scarce for ...

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