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Intra Machina Sine Deus

By submission | November 27, 2010
Author : Martin Berka Nothing about hell could be pleasant, and that included departure, but joy matched pain. Slowly, my consciousness was drifting through the wires. A thought or a memory would drift away from the others, accelerating, then slowing. More would follow, and ...
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The Worst Part

By submission | November 26, 2010
Author : J.D. Rice I twist my ankle as I land in the ditch. Mud spatters over my uniform, filthy water pooling in my socks. I ignore the stench, the reek of the jungle, the pain stabbing up my leg, and press on. If I can only make it another ten minutes, I’ll be free. Ten ...
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Caveat Emptor

By Patricia Stewart | November 25, 2010
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer Viisas signaled the plaintiff that it was ready to receive its opening statement. “Your Honor,” transmitted Rotalutsop, “Reus sold me a planet that is completely unusable, and I want a full refund.” Viisas processed the opening ...
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Kulbit Blindness

By Stephen R. Smith | November 24, 2010
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Nicola pushed the throttle further forward, feeling the massive airframe surge as he tripled the speed of sound. "There are now eight aircraft in pursuit, finger four formations, over under," Sev, the aircraft's control system, broke the ...
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Time To Think

By submission | November 23, 2010
Author : Clint Wilson It always felt lonely when the ship sailed off to tow more rocks. After all, being the only companions for eighteen light-years Jim didn’t want to see them wander too far. But somebody had to stay here in the processor and make sure things ran smoothly. ...
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C is for Light

By Duncan Shields | November 22, 2010
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer She was giving me a lecture and I didn’t like it. However she was the captain so I listened. “If you go any faster than 2C, you start to travel backwards as you travel forwards. You get to your destination before you leave. That is ...
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Transit

By submission | November 21, 2010
Author : Julian Miles We met at a parts fair. We simultaneously laid hands on opposite ends of an Emptor storage array. She smiled and brandished a handful of gigaflex at me. "Mine." She said. In one of those moments of prescient genius, I replied "Ours." It started for ...
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The Weaknesses of Revision

By submission | November 20, 2010
Author : Brian Bartolomeo Apparently I have a face that invites unsolicited advice. “Are you even listening to me now?” my brother asked from the driver’s seat of his semi-classic car. “Aren’t you supposed to be a genius or something? What you need to do is to get a job that ...
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Staples of Life

By Roi R. Czechvala | November 19, 2010
Author : Roi R. Czechvala, Staff Writer They watched him through a one way mirror. He sat in a corner of the room in a pool of his own excrement, legs pulled up to his chest, arms tightly wrapped around his knees. What was left of his clothing had been reduced to little more ...
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Leisure and Medication

By submission | November 18, 2010
Author : Cael Majin There was a spider on his ceiling. It hadn’t moved for as long as he’d been staring at it, which was… probably an hour now. Maybe two. He wasn’t knowledgeable in the acclimate taste of arachnidkind—were there brown recluses in this area? There’d been ...
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The Cupboard Was Bare

By submission | November 17, 2010
Author : Cesium When the food ran out, we all responded differently. The Cythalans engineered themselves into cold-blooded pygmies, with slow perception and quiet metabolism, tending their meager crops with careful patience. They lay on the hills and watched the sun wheel ...
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Outsmarted

By Patricia Stewart | November 16, 2010
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer Raising a pair of binoculars to his eyes, Captain Anderson peered out the warehouse window toward City Hall. “Any indication that our snipers have spotted Baskan?” “I am no longer receiving telemetry from Cooper,” replied the android, ...
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The Djinn Effect

By Duncan Shields | November 15, 2010
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer The boss was drunk and telling me a story. I didn’t mind. These long-range voyages could be boring and it was my first one. “It had been noticed for centuries that accidents on the longer-range ships increased over time. It had always ...
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The Longest Story Ever Told

By submission | November 14, 2010
Author : Hugh Downs Royce Millison requested cremation. He had got the idea in 1908, early in his long life. He was neat and efficient and said he didn't want his remains 'to take up space'. In 1991 he restated his desire, being a person who tends to repeat himself and ...
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The Love Drug

By submission | November 13, 2010
Author : Jacqueline Rochow Jones surveyed the carnage. Under the blood splatters lacing the bed and carpet, the young woman’s limbs were splayed at unnatural angles, her head twisted nearly backwards and her throat crushed. Bites had been taken out of her collarbone, and the ...
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Rocky

By Roi R. Czechvala | November 12, 2010
Author : Roi R. Czechvala, Staff Writer I began my journey out beyond the orbit of Mars and just before Jupiter. I was just hanging around. You know, just doing whatever. Occasionally I'd bump into one of my friends, but we'd quickly go our separate ways. That was just the ...
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Damage Control

By Patricia Stewart | November 11, 2010
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer Lieutenant McDonald floated in his EVA suit and directed the external repair efforts. The maintbots were currently welding a splice-plate over a large breach in the hull. From his vantage point, McDonald could see a dozen similar ...
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Father of His Country

By submission | November 10, 2010
Author : N. Thomas Parshall I have brought the ship into orbit above Destiny. Forty-eight of my eighty-one years have been spent maintaining the systems and checking the life-pods of the passengers. Now we are here and I can rejoin my reborn body and be a part of a ...
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