Legacy

Author : George R. Shirer The room was bright and airy. One wall was transparent, revealing the crumbling Old World city, overgrown now by forest and vine. A flock of iridescent birds shot across the sky, their wings flashing green and gold in the late afternoon sunlight. There ...

Alive

Author : Scott Hatfield I killed someone today. Well, not today. But "I killed someone yesterday afternoon and I was just now released from jail" doesn't sound as dramatic. They let me go, so I walked home. No jacket, no gloves, dress shoes, hands stuffed in my pockets. The ...

Spacesuit

Author : David Stevenson “Once there was a ship, travelling through space. There was a terrible accident. The reason for this is not important. What is important is that one man got suited up in time and was able to survive the immediate aftermath of the ship’s destruction. Of course, ...

Borrowed Time

Author : Desmond Hussey, Staff Writer I spot one of Osiris’ Illegals amongst the shuffling throng of pedestrians as he exits an antique music store on 49th Ave. The face in my scope’s crosshairs is a dead ringer for the black and white snapshot I was given. His sandy hair is a ...

Last Dance

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer They came from heaven, or hell, or outer space, or under the sea. Earth has been invaded in every way imaginable, thanks to the imaginations of authors over the last three centuries. You would have thought, with such a rich base from which to draw ...

Ghosts of Christmas to Come

Author : Mark Gorton My new friends are all dead. But that doesn’t stop them giving me presents. Presents like words and understanding and sight and hearing. Thanks to them I can think in this language and theirs too and hear their voices all around me all the time like invisible ...

Never Fade Away

Author : Glen Luke Flanagan The soul shimmered softly as Vanessa tucked it into her briefcase with gentle hands. Blue, silver, blue again, like moonlight on water. Empty now, the body of a young man lay cold on the hospital bed. Vanessa closed the youth's eyes tenderly. Though she had ...

Perception

Author : Samuel Hymas They were in love. That much was obvious to even the most unperceptive. I've seen salesmen work a room before. They leave everyone feeling like they made a new friend and need to take a shower. But these two were different. Maybe because they had nothing to sell. ...

Reaping the Void

Author : Ian Hill The thin machination stood at the asteroid station’s balcony, leaning over the guardrail to peer off into the depths of space with her multi-faceted eyes. The two red points of light were a mere formality, vestigial figments from her creators intended to set those ...

The Recruit

Author : Adam Mac Wanna see a modern-day miracle, kid? Whatever. Well, just sit tight. Sure. It's not like I'm going anywhere. Here, take the binoculars. See that old guy on the bridge? Orange raincoat, red baseball cap, using a cane? Over there, to the left of the first tower. ...

Insubordinate Claus

Author : Bob Newbell Lieutenant Jvora shuffled down the corridor considerably slower than his four legs normally carried him. He was not looking forward to his meeting with Commander Skal. Jvora entered the commander's office and raised a pincer in salute. Skal returned the ...

Beauty is in the Sensory Apparatus of the Beholder

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer The thing about sleeping in zero g is that I have a lot of dreams about being in my mother’s womb except that in my dreams, my mother is sleeping in zero g as well. That’s impossible because my mother never went to space. She was sixty before the ...

Manual for Surrender

Author : Dominic Daley Sometimes, as I let the knowledge packets bleach out my old preconceptions and dull misapprehensions, I’d ponder, considering how sluggishly my brain operated whenever I indulged in this arthritic retail therapy, how boring it must have been to have had to read ...

Gift from the Heavens

Author : Suzanne Borchers Maybe in a dozen years I’ll forget you. Maybe I’ll forget your face and your feet and your fur, but not tomorrow or next week or next year. My nerve ends from optic to tactile quiver when I remember you. I loved you. Was it only last summer that I lay on the ...

It Could Happen Any Time

Author : Clint Wilson, Staff Writer “Xachnore you shouldn’t play with that it’s dangerous!” “Not to worry Tzhamlaa. I’ve got it pointed into the light matter zone. Nothing lives there.” “And just how do you know that Mr. smarty sheath? There are some academics who would disagree ...

Sanctuary

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer The lights reflect from the gleaming chrome and glossy Union Jacks on the lines of matt black all-terrain cars. Typical over-indulgence: four-wheel drive is hardly necessary to drive down a thirty-mile, two-lane strip of tarmac. They sent me ...

The Longest Distance

Author : Aaron Koelker The first note, neatly folded into squares, appeared a short ways off the park path where I enjoyed my evening walks. Had I not spotted the strange rippling effect, like a vertical pane of crystal clear water broken by a gentle leaf cast down from the tree of ...

Memories, Light the Corners of our Minds

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Lucas Three sat in the coffee shop long after she left, long after the people that had watched the scene play out had moved on. He sat for hours after she'd calmly, mercilessly ended their three year relationship with a calculated precision ...

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  • Salt

    Author : A. Katherine Black Sweetie sat rigid with revulsion. …