Click

Author : Paul Cosca The sedatives were beginning to wear off. She breathed in deeply and was met with the smell of sawdust. It triggered a memory (playground?), but it was just a flash. Immediately, she felt a *click* in her head, and her thoughts were back to neutral. It was dark. ...

Boy or Bot?

Author : Sam Davis I think I'm a robot. Hi. I'm Arthur. My parents, well I guess I should say the people that own me, they like to call me Artie. All my friends here at school call me Arthur though. They say I seem more grown up that way, and that makes sense to them since I was in my ...

Contempt

Author : Aaron Koelker Most said I was crazy, some wished me luck and only one said, “I love you”. Though I was strapped to a flaming arrow that the archer had no intention of ever retrieving, I had yet to question my own sanity. In fact, I thought I was the sanest ...

No Rest For The Weary

Author : S. Tyrel Murray Its cold all the time. I don't mean cold, as in frozen. More like uncomfortable, chilly. Its still cold enough to die from hypothermia. I was one of the first volunteers selected. They said we would travel. See the sights. They lied. They had us in cold ...

Midnight

Author : Mae Thann Rounds of heavy artillery sent the bunker shuddering. The dim desk lamp flickered. The deteriorating energy shields outside crackled. The only constant was the scraping of metal on metal. Sera shivered and padded toward the light. “Daddy? Will you tell me a ...

Oni

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer We were getting pasted in a dogfight off Agnos IV when Team Havoc dropped out of subspace and chewed up the Havna interceptors that had been giving us grief. The thirty-two of us left were damn happy to see the cavalry. “Marduk Leader to Havoc ...

Memory of a Morning Broken

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Shadow coloured stones crush and scatter under boot heels. Their passage unheard, two figures have slipped silently across the rooftop expanse to its eastern face. Lumbering mechanicals presenting themselves at intervals, drinking heat from ...

Computer Wizard ™

Author : David Barber “You might have seen my paper in Thaumaturgy," the sorcerer was saying. He'd introduced himself, but the name hadn't stuck. Maxine complained that Jeff just didn’t try. "So you're Maxine's husband? Maxine's father and I met in England." Jeff was sitting in his ...

Sowing Seeds

Author : JD Kennedy It is interesting how seemingly unrelated technologies become connected together to create new and unexpected capabilities. First, there was the successful development of cryogenic ‘sleep’ systems. The goal was to freeze someone who had a terminal illness until a ...

The Accidental Tower

Author : Stephen S. Power Despite the miners' diligence, a fleck of intellimetal again drifts away during transfer from the supply ship to the adit. Wherever it lands on the trojan an accidental tower will grow, and any tower is soon full of squatters, so the mine promptly deploys ...

Suicide is Painless?

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Sergeant Gains got the call at four am; lone white male out on the Golden Gate Bridge about mid-span. He spent the twenty minutes on the Harley with the throttle pinned, the lights up and the siren silent wondering what he’d find when he got ...

Mind Over Matter

Author : Bob Newbell "Next on our program, an interview with Dr. John Zellinski, author of the bestselling book 'The Sapience Bomb: Understanding Cognitive Cascade Syndrome'. Dr. Zellinski, welcome to the show." "Thank you." "So, it's been 20 years since the containment breach at the ...

Head in the Cloud

Author : Cosmo Smith I am knee-deep in snow, holding tight to a dying man. His name is Arkan and he is one of our best fighters. He has stayed alive for an unbelievable two hundred and forty days. Besides that, I know nothing about him. “Hold tight, we’re close,” a voice whispers into ...

We're Bored

Author : M. J. Cooper “We’re bored.” It was the first message humans had ever received from a higher intelligence. The simple statement was met with cheers and applause from the crowd of scientists at San Diego’s Microsoft Cybernetics Lab. Two dozen of the leading scientists in the ...

One For The Road

Author : Antowan Rajacel injected the cold neural serum deep into his spinal port. The chemical agent coursed through his nerves, sending a frigid surge throughout his body. “Assimilation complete, neural countdown commenced.” The mechanical voiced chimed flipping on a countdown ...

From Our Correspondent

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer “There’s a lot to be said for old technology. Mainly: ‘ooh looky, spares’. Me and the old bus are both getting long in the tooth. But as she’s got six hundred years and I’m only approaching fifty, we’ll not embarrass the lady with ageist stuff. ...

Condemned to the Void

Author : Bob Newbell "And let all men and women present be witnesses," the Legate was saying, "that what we now do we do without hatred and with a heavy heart. We act in the name of retribution, not revenge. We act in the name of justice..." The Legate's voice droned on. It was the ...

Deathman

Author : George R. Shirer Jav wakes and the name of his latest assignment is waiting for him on the bedside screen. Simeon Fenchaw. There’s a file attached, giving particulars. Appearance, personality, preferences, patterns. It’s a workday and Fenchaw will be arriving at the transit ...

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  • Stranded

    Author : David J.Wing Glen sat there, silently and watched …