Mom And Pop Only

Author : Clint Wilson, Staff Writer “Bring the accused forward.” The robot sentries escorted Michael into the prisoner’s stand and closed the waist high gate behind him. The magistrate read off his glowing pad. “Michael Maurice Frost, you have been charged with attempted corporate ...

Historicity

Author : Bob Newbell "T-minus two minutes." That's the mission control computer. That's how long I have to back out. One second after that is one second too late. But I'm not going to back out. I don't have any real ties to this era. My whole life I've felt I ...

When one door closes…

Author : Desmond Hussey, Staff Writer For reasons unexplained a man finds himself in the woods late at night, separated from his companions, without a light and quite alone. The night is dark, but not pitch-black, just light enough for him to see the hint of path before him. He ...

No Option

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer “You will release our brethren or we will kill a prisoner every nemet, starting at Rabender.” I hate hostage takers. After a list of fatal failures longer than you can live to read, they still think that they will be the exceptions. Jemelli Lurdan ...

For the Sake of Humanity

Author : Holly Jennings They came for me when I was fifteen. "The kid can hit a target 250 yards out," they'd said. "Doesn’t even have training." I figured they wanted me for the army, some kind of special ops maybe. I was wrong. The girl was school-aged. Barely. Five years ...

Roadkill

Author : Marie DesJardin The Chevy wagon rattled down the narrow road, its twin beams lighting the underside of the leafy branches that hugged the highway like a mossy cave. Dot blinked in the passenger seat, her gaze idly following the yellow centerline that snaked beyond the range of ...

What You'd Expect From Home

Author : C.T. Jackman The jungle reminded me of home. The long periods of silence between its trees were occasionally broken by sharp shrieks and violence that ended the monotony, but perpetuated the tension, and the muggy, cramped space forced me to constantly check my path underneath ...

Faceless

Author : Bob Newbell It was five years ago today that I was awakened by my wife's screaming. I remember leaping out of bed yelling, "What's wrong?! What is it?!" I also remember seeing a woman I didn't recognize staring at me in shock and fear. "Who are you?! What are ...

Orion's Blet

Author : David Stevenson The ship got her name one time when she had to leave planet in a hurry. Usually “in a hurry” is a euphemism for “got into trouble”, but this was long before any of the shenanigans and high jinks which she became famous for. This time she really was in a hurry; ...

Inferiority Complex

Author : Bob Newbell "I'm glad to hear the medication I added at our last visit didn't cause any side effects," said the psychiatrist to his patient. "And I see you've had two sessions of psychodrama therapy. How did that go?" "I think that really helped," said the ...

The Lion

Author : J.D. Rice The lion stares at me with all five of its eyes, and I know that my death is near. I call it lion, like so many colonists do, because I have no better name for it. Tripedal, with scaly flesh and pentocular vision, the creature is nothing like the lions back on Earth, ...

Used and Abused

Author : Nicholas Short The first time I awoke, I was sitting on a cold, shiny surface. A curious energy buzzed through my body. I had never experienced the world before, but somehow I knew everything. I knew languages, 6 of them. I knew how to move my head, how to listen and how to ...

Sisyphus Redux

Author : Susan Nance Carhart It's always good to see Mom again. Exasperating, too. There's always that moment of mental groaning; always that "Here we go again!" That said, it's good to see her alive. July 15, 1964. I'm back. Always the same date. I'm ...

Ocean

Author : Gabriel E. Zentner I first saw the ocean many, many years ago – of that much I’m certain. Still, at my age, memory has a way of slipping away in the night, ...

Jimmy

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer I first noticed the red rash around his gills on Thursday. I asked him what it was. “My time is near.” His translator said. “I need to leave on Friday for mating. A replacement will be here on Monday.” “Mating, eh?” I asked, with a lascivious ...

Flux

Author : J.D. Rice Robots aren't supposed to travel through time, forget what the movies tell you. Aside from the incredible amount of electromagnetic activity that a temporal gateway puts out, the act of time travel itself is incredibly damaging to a robot's psyche. The ones ...

Potato War

Author : David Stevenson My uncle Frank was the first man ever to be killed by an interplanetary baked potato. He had fought in the first war; the war between our beautiful planet of Prutashka and the savages of Binkaret, one planet nearer to our sun. This war was fought by ...

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