A Practical Trip

Author : Robert White “Wait. I don't get it. I thought transit was supposed to be instant” “It was. It is.” The scientists are always so snarky. “We did all the tests, sent animals and clocks back to the beyond and everything was instant. So this here cannot be ...

They Stole My Soul!

Author : David Barber "Welcome back to the Stirling Surprise Show, with me, Haydon Stirling. Later, we'll be talking to fash sensation, Jess Marlboro, but first, They Stole My Soul." His earpiece murmured and Stirling turned smoothly to camera three. "Yes, my next guest, ...

Gamberol's Clock

Author : Alex Grover He breathes in with speckled time undivided, and he breathes out with golden dust. His body is bulbous, a multicolored neon affair, reds and greens and blacks all in lines like that of a heated circuit board, charred from overuse. His beard is human flaw ...

A Chance

Author : Clint Wilson, Staff Writer For a person thrust into such bleak and hopeless beginnings David had done well for himself. His parents, murdered by a slum gang when he was but a boy of five, and he himself taken into slavery, he had spent over a decade in their chains, ...

Flying Things

Author : Skyler Heathwaite The moonlight bled through thick overhead leaves and massive drosera. Lokshin blinked away sweat, peering up into the seething body of the forest. Sarant was up a tree nearby, much too long in coming down. The fighting of the flying things had ...

Chelonia

Author : Rachel Verkade The killer told me he'd had a turtle in his head. He seemed perfectly calm and reasonable about it. A turtle, living nestled in his brain. I asked him if the turtle was what had made him kill. He didn't know. If it did, he didn't hold any ill will ...

The Alchemist

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer The elegant décor did nothing to lift the atmosphere in the room as the small group of officers and dignitaries parted to let Inspector Carbeth through. He strode up to the sprawled body and rapped his cane on the parquet flooring to prompt ...

Nostalgia

Author : Thomas Desrochers Thomas began remembering in the middle of the first week of May. There wasn't a particular reason for it, no epiphany, no aching longing. It was just that Thomas had spent so long trying to forget that the only thing left to do was remember. Before ...

Kids

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer The pulsing orb set down in my farmhouse’s back yard in the middle of the night. The corn swayed in the breeze, completely unaffected by the alien craft. It silently came to a stop on the grass just outside the cornfield, shifting in ...

The Neodymium Accord

Author : Desmond Hussey “Greetings, friend and foe. I humbly thank you all for temporarily putting aside our differences and attending this unprecedented, historic peace conference.” Twenty-three translators echo my words into twenty three different alien languages for the ...

Cold War

Author : Bob Newbell Antonio pitched forward onto the ice, the exit wound in his left upper back clearly visible. He was dead. I finished reloading my rifle and took cover behind what remained of the wall of the dome. It was almost entirely a ground war now. Between our ...

Thank you

Author : Debra Lim When the call finally came, I just stared at the phone. The answering machine picked it up, and Dr. Wainwright's voice echoed throughout my small room. “I'm afraid the implants didn't take. I'm terribly sorry to tell you that she didn't-” I shut off the ...

Free Minded

Author : Ian Florida Metal grates against stone as my cell door shrieks open. They shout as they slam their rifle stocks into my ribs. I laugh. They pause. They think I should be afraid. They think the metal mask they’ve strapped around my head keeps them safe. I know better; ...

Little House on Thuprair-E

Author : Desmond Hussey When John Allen wakes, two suns, one red, one blue, peek through the line of smoking atmosphere generators fencing the horizon. He glances at his snoring wife as he shifts his weight to the edge of the bed. With luck he can get out of the house before ...

Maintainer Of The Machine

Author : Clint Wilson, Staff Writer I descend deeper into the heart of semi-quadrant 26F, my maneuvasuit’s floodlights guiding me all the way. Massive gears and cogs riding on giant turbine shafts dwarf me, rotating silently on their bearings as layers of viscosium, barely a ...

The Accidental Godling

Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer George stood on the fused glass at the edge of the crater. It had taken him a while to climb out of the hole, but at least it allowed the forces arrayed against him to reassemble. He watched them advance, flicking his eyes between reality ...

Humans Don't Belong in Space

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer The robot pirates picked The Royal Flush because it had humans onboard. The ships warped into realspace like darts coming to an abrupt stop, surrounding The Royal Flush in a sudden and precise pincushion ambush. Onboard The Royal Flush, ...

Parallel Quantum Universe

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer “Uh oh, I think we ended up in a parallel universe,” said Senior Technical Specialist Jim Wright. “What are you talking about,” replied Ensign Vince Saccomandi. “We teleported to exactly where we were supposed to, the lobby of the ...

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