Orinoco II

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer The three scientists stood over a fully clothed skeleton. “I told Jill not to wander off by herself,” said Anthony Caroni, the mission commander. “Damn. What could have done this?” “I don’t see any animal footprints, and there’s ...

Feelings of Remorse

Author : Roi R. Czechvala, Staff Writer The drop from orbit was as uneventful as they ever are, and if they’re not you usually don’t live long enough for it to bother you. Grounding was pretty hard though. After I gathered my senses I saw that somebody’s leg had snapped off ...

Fear no more the heat o’ the sun

Author : Richard Watt They don’t know that I can think. I’ve slowly come to understand that they don’t know much, period. For example, they don’t know about the misalignment on my shields. It’s a matter of a few microns, and it is difficult to detect, but it means I’m ...

My Robot Boyfriend

Author : Adena Brons I didn’t know he was a robot when he asked me out. It wasn’t exactly first-date kind of news. As it turned out, it wasn’t so bad dating a robot. My friends accepted it with the careful approval reserved for choices you support in others but aren’t sure ...

Chronomechanic

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer I’m a mechanic. I work on time machines. It’s tricky work. Having done this for a while, I’m developing a theory that some people can sense when they’re in the wrong reality. Reality bifurcates and splinters every second and ...

The Little Queen

Author : J.R. Blackwell, Staff Writer The royal family is property of The People, and it is The People who determine our fate. When I was eight The People voted to marry brother off to the King of an ore rich moon. He sits now, on a throne of onyx, beside his silent King. ...

There is No Accounting for Taste

Author : Jason Frank Satisfied that the "open" side of his small sign was indeed facing outward, Harrison parted the dusty blinds and nervously looked outside. The once crowded downtown sidewalks were empty, as they had been since the Tald-Mart had opened outside of town. The ...

Marshoppers and Birds

Author : L.Hall Robert Lynch kicked the treads of the small field tractor, clots of dried mud falling off and busting on the ground. He took off his ball cap, looked up in the air and ignored the old man, Paul Gilbert, standing behind him quietly. Bobby, his five year old ...

Simulation

Author : Omkar Wagh "How many days of funding do I have left?", I asked. "Well your thesis has been accepted and you have already been given a Ph.D. degree. So the college is willing to support you for about three more months at least." "Damn It! I would have never expected ...

Impact

Author : Gavin Raine It's ironic, but I'd been having having such a good day. The children all had their heads down, working on their numbers, and I even had a little time to daydream for once. Then, I had that strange feeling that my chair had just sunk six inches into the ...

Null Geodesic

Author : Jim Wisniewski She smiles and tilts her head to push a lock of brown hair behind her ear. I run the image back a few seconds and watch it again, entranced as always by the fluidity of the motion. The machines can show me any moment of her life, but this is the one ...

Artificial Claus

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer Kathryn opened the door to let her fiancée in. He brushed passed her and parked in front of the hall mirror. Carefully, he fluffed the snow off of his hair. Satisfied, he turned to kiss her, but stopped short when he noticed that she ...

Codename Winter

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer The body was huge. Seven feet tall, at least, and heavy. X-Rays had shown a delicate tracery of machinery throughout, strengthening the huge frame to allow it to move quickly. Its bright, neon-blue hair glowed in the dark. It was the ...

Inside Joke

Author : Roi R. Czechvala, Staff Writer Purple waves gently lap at an azure beach. Our footprints quickly wash away in the encroaching tide. The setting twin suns of Rijos, the red giant aptly named Rojo, and her blue companion Danube cast an eerily beautiful violet light ...

Flipped to the Sky

Author : J.R. Blackwell, Staff Writer The last thing I remember before I hit the jagged edge of mountain rock was falling backwards, my feet flipped up, shoes dark against the snowy gray sky. Perhaps that's a way our bodies and minds conspire to protect us, screening out the ...

EmalE

Author : C. S. McClendon I stepped out of the lobby just in time to watch the last metro transport of the day speed past and turn the corner without so much as slowing down. Great, that meant I had to walk home, and these heels were already killing me, wonderful. Still, no ...

Orange

Author : Glenn Song Jeanette hated Dr. Kogen's waiting room. It screamed blue at her – the cushions, the walls, and even the magazine covers were coordinated in a fan of azure. Nestled in a wicker basket, on a round table in the center of the room, sat a red delicious apple, ...

45 Feet Over Ninevah

Author : Glenn Blakeslee Forty-five feet over Ninevah, Phillip is enclosed in a spherically symmetric potential. He's feeling somewhat philosophical. Below, on the steps leading to the courtyard of the Library, Ashurbanipal, the last of the great Assyrian kings, faces his ...

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