Sense Chair
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer
I had all of the animals in the dome jacked and miked.
I issued an edict. Collect every puppy, kitten, or chick for a small reward. It was popular game with the children. They’d go out ‘hunting’ in the engineered woods in the western ...
Expiration Date
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer
Arkus had come in from the mining field with less than a day before termination. He'd slipped unnoticed through the security fences and into an airlock in the biotech wing where he now sat, unable to enter and unable to leave.
Marc ...
Kayak Angst
Author : Stephen Ira
Owen was standing on the side of a boy's driveway. They were both smoking long thin joints, which made Owen's face pink and his eyes telescopic slivers. The other boy, his round face capped by a black beanie, called Owen "precious." Beyond the ...
Bedtime Stories
Author : W. Robinson
I had thought after my last assignment on Epsilon that I was done with the military.
Quite obviously the young woman in front of me with the large blue-gray eyes had not received that memo. Stock-built, but short, she stood with her arms crossed as I ran ...
Camping
Author : Jacqueline Rochow
We're going camping.
Mum finishes packing my bag as Dad prepares a celebratory stew. I packed the bags already, but Mum insisted on pulling everything out again to make sure that I didn't forget anything. Food, clothes, gun, bandages, antibiotics – ...
Love at First Sip
Author : Jacqueline Rochow
We decided to take the draught.
My parents didn't like it. A lot of people didn't. It was unnatural, people said. It wasn't the real thing. It was empty. It was selfish.
So we didn't tell them.
Stupid? Reckless? That's what my mother would have ...
Deep in the Heart of Texas
Author : Roi R. Czechvala, Staff Writer
Somewhere south of Toadsuck, Texas, along a washboard gravel road, a middle aged man was walking his dog, enjoying the cool night air and the effects of cheap grain alcohol. Looking up, he witnessed a glowing object streak across the ...
Prison Break
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer
The alarm of the Olympia Undae Penitentiary snapped warden Jacobs from a deep sleep. He hurried down to the den to access his computer terminal, only to be greeted by a dozen escaped convicts. Jacobs recognized them as members of the ...
Shuffler
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer
On my 67th birthday, my research finally reached fruition and I invented a portable matter transporter. By wearing it, I could transport anywhere in the world at will.
If I grabbed someone, that person came with me.
I didn’t need to ...
Are Two Heads Better Than One?
Author : John Williams
Gas and Sag had clear orders to destroy all life on the planet. Their leader, The Gnik, was concerned that the violence portrayed on its radio and television was setting a very bad example to the rest of the Universe. The exact manner of destruction was ...
Career Advising and Planning Services
Author : D. Wang
His wings were polyaramid leather woven over carbon bones and monofilament tendon, his gaze the piercing thousand-yard stare of a man who could see through stone, his talons X-ray lasers so powerful their waste heat violated Second Kyoto with every shot. In ...
The Mission
Author : Roi R. Czechvala, Staff Writer
I didn’t want to think about it. Just do it. Get it over with. It’s a mission like any other. You can do it man.
With a snap, I secured the gloves over my hands. They seemed such flimsy protection. I quickly pulled the mask over my ...
Talk To Me
Author : K Clarke
As if crashing on this stupid planet wasn’t enough. Pad paced the cell, glaring through the one transparent wall at the creatures on the other side. As if having to survive for three months on this stupid planet wasn’t enough. I just had to ...
The Truth Will Out
Author : Jacqueline Rochow
Den paced outside the library, the swaying of her tail betraying her unease. Gil merely stood silently, eyes tracking his boss' movement.
“He'll come out soon,” Den said. Gil nodded in reply; he knew his input wouldn't affect her musing much. ...
Torso
Author : Glenn Blakeslee
I first saw the torso during my commute down the interhighway. It lay against the concrete median, looking so much like trash that at first I didn't recognize it. The car was going fast enough that later I thought I'd imagined the outstretched arms ...
Love
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer
They gave us love to control us.
He was the bodyguard unit of the human in charge of Prolotek offshore finance. I was the pleasure unit of the same human.
The makers found that instilling aspects of human love in our chips made us ...
A Wasted Invasion
Author : C. Clayton Chandler
They came out of the sky like plumes of fire, these green-skinned sickos with their saucers and their death rays shearing the air, burning atmosphere, coasting smooth and cool out of the everlasting vacuum beyond the bounds of gravity, of reality, ...
Sunrise
Author : Steffen Koenig
The ice from last night was melting on the rocky plateau that lay before him. It had been a cold night. Colder than the previous night, and certainly warmer than the nights to come. His limbs were numb and each movement was a source of pain. The ...
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