Robot the Clever Robot

Author : Jason Frank Reconsidering old things, as she was that week, Marlene unpacked the first robot she had built, the robot named Robot. She had not so much as thought of the robot in years and, seeing it again, was surprised to find it not so shoddy as she remembered. It ...

The Daily Commute

Author : J. Rohr “I’m not taking the job.” Melissa sighed. Rubbing her temples, not relishing the impending migraine, she said, “You have to.” “I’ll find something.” “It’s been six months.” “We can wait a little longer.” “No, we can’t.” Bob opened his mouth, rebuttal ...

La Longue Carabine

Author : Eric Poch "When legend becomes fact, print the legend" -The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance I've learned that if you put a man in a hole long enough, he'll think of everything you could ever imagine. Put a dozen men in there long enough, and they'll create the stuff ...

ExaByte

Author : Aradhana Choudhuri “John, I’m done. I’m getting rid of all of them.” “Go for it. You don’t need to ask me.” “Do you want something? There’s lots of vid, from when mom was little.” “Where would I put it? Just…just flush it, ok?” “Tomorrow. Federal Data ...

Indiana Girl

Author : Roi R. Czechvala, Staff Writer Virginia “Jen” Taylor was a good soldier. She had the quiet good looks of the girl next door. She had the spirit typical of an Indiana farm girl. She could be sweet and feminine; she could mix it up with the boys. She could carry water. ...

Come On Out

Author : Jason Frank I sure don't mean to say that the pods they sent us here in aren't nice. There is a chance that they might be too nice, though. I'd be the first to admit that's a strange problem to have, but we have it. I'm not trying to say that I'm better than anyone ...

Plaque

Author : Marlan Smith Tark stared at the diagram. It was a golden square, clearly valuable, more valuable than the machine it came off of. He honestly didn’t think he would ever have found salvage this far outside of the galactic rim. “What are they?” asked Pim. He was ...

Silicon Valley

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer The humans have been gone for decades but we try to keep the traditions alive. All of us review humanity’s output. We see the movies. We watch the comedies. We review fashion shows. We witness the elections. We fashion ourselves to ...

The Vendetta

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer To say that my head hurt, is to say Canis Majoris is just a big star. My probing hand felt a large knot on my forehead, and a substantial amount of warm sticky blood. Despite the pain, I managed to force open my eyes. The first thing ...

Flare

Author : Asher Wismer Words cannot describe the light, the heat, the impossible closeness of a star. In this place, even with the best shields science could build, the sheer intense pressure of solar power is more than I can even attempt to explain. Of course, it was worse ...

Librarians

Author : Noah Katz “Where were you when you first opened your eyes?” “I don’t know. I can’t remember.” “Ah, but you can,” Falero insisted. “The instant should be fresh, as near to you as the ground beneath your feet.” Antigone slackened her pace, beginning to study the ...

Death Dance

Author : John Eric Vona You didn’t see them with planets anymore. After the first billion years of Andromeda crashing into our galaxy, all the planets had been torn away from their stars, lost in the flurry of criss-crossing suns as the two galaxies collided and spun back ...

Birthday Suit

Author : Ryan Swiers James hoped the battery would run out soon. The manual had said it was only good for three hours moving, double that when not. He had been looking for Alex almost five now. There was only one more place to look. The woods were wet and dark, almost as ...

The Value of Archaeology

Author : Juliette Harrisson ‘I don’t know why you still bother with this,’ Sam said, looking down at me as I crawled along, knee-deep in mud. ‘There’s no funding for it, no one wants it, no one’s interested in it. Why do you do it?’ ‘That’s not true,’ I answered testily, ...

Unleaded

Author : Garrett Harriman The dockyard was fragmentary; it reeked of grease and seal. Jetties devoid of craft sprawled like shattered ribcages, and two figures perched atop a decommissioned cruise liner. This murky scene had backdropped thousands of Proto-Mob ...

Pilgrimage

Author : Roi R. Czechvala, Staff Writer “Who are they,” the chief officer of the starliner, Raumfahrer, asked Captain Kurtzmann. “They’re a group of fanatic pilgrims,” he replied through a tight smile as he nodded perfunctorily at a small mass of red cloaked figures ...

Date 2.0

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer I could tell from the way she softly clicked her teeth together twice while keeping her mouth closed, flicked her eyes to the top left and grunted once subvocally that she'd just adjusted me to be more handsome. She would probably pass ...

Command Decisions

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer “This is Captain Thomas Rider of the Starship Dunkirk. What’s the nature of the emergency?” “This is Governor Wingfield of the Constant. We had a core breach, and had to jettison the reactor. We’re operating on minimum life ...

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