Listen For The Tone
Author : Carol Reid
Is there a sign over Gina's head that reads, "Vacancy"? She imagines it in neon, that peculiar orange pink reserved for a certain class of motel-- and apparently for her, a certain class of fucked up female, who had a reasonable, ordinary life before the ...
Syndrome
Author : Q. B. Fox
The members of Juliet Patrol, 29 Group, Royal Engineers hunkered down in a squat two-story, stone building balanced on the hillside. Lt. Harry Banford watched through the unglazed window as a UN superiority denial aircraft painted a con-trail far, far ...
Strapped To The Chair
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer
It’s a reasoning process. There are seconds left. The cold leather of the chair is warming up beneath my manacled wrists. The restraints are tight on my arms. I’m wide awake and dreaming.
I can’t decide if it’s a syringe or a snake ...
Fear and Loathing in Monochrome
Author : K. Pittman
Sometime before midday's full blaze, Susan threw down her skein and stopped walking. Georgia broke pace steps later and trod back, face flattened, hat shadowing her glare.
"What."
"I want milk. I'm tired of water." Susan half-turned and looked from ...
The Digital Age
Author : Nick Gonzales
"You heard they finally nailed teleportation?"
"No."
"Yeah, just yesterday."
"For real?"
"Fo rizzle."
I turn to look at Billiam, his eyes lit up expectantly as he leans towards me across the table. His face is twisted into his characteristic grin ...
The Shipmaster's Widow
Author : Michael Merriam
"We never had much," she said. "The freighter was our life. Now it’s all lost, ripped apart by a neutron star."
I sat next to her. I couldn’t answer. My mind was dazzled, my eyes locked on her naked body stretched out on the bed we shared. She ...
Falling Stars
Author : Roi R. Czechvala, Staff Writer
I had heard the news only a short few minutes ago. I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it.
I walked out the back door onto the deck and looked up and down the beach. Like mine, all the other houses were darkened as well. Like that ...
The Vesta 600
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer
“Dammit Joe, it’s freakin’ freezing in here,” complained Thomas Sampati as he checked the spaceship’s thermostat.”
“We’re eight hours behind the Phoenix,” replied Joe. “We need to make a non-traditional course adjustment if we hope to ...
Constance Vyke visits the Archangel – HOLOVID
Author : Sean Wallace
“Now, we all look forward to entering the Archangel when we retire, but what about those people who go there before then? Constance Vyke reports on the people who keep Archangel running...”
Constance, pretty in a thin, blonde sort of way, starts her ...
Good Humor
Author : Eric Kimball
It starts as the faintest quiver of sound, a slight singsong beat carried by the wind. The few stray notes that reach my ears instantly spring to the forefront of my consciousness.
“Mother, he’s here!”
“Hmm?” Mother replies flatly.
The mechanical ...
Life Partner
Author : Bill Lombardi
Troy sat by his bedside. Watching.
Hours past and then Jon’s eyes slowly opened. “I’m thirsty.” His voice wavered, his strength beginning to ebb.
Troy poured him a glass of water and stood by him holding the straw. He took several sips. Coughed. ...
Pleuriopotent
Author : Matthew Banks
“It thinks,” said the emaciated man, blinking up at the doctor with red-rimmed eyes. The doctor looked down at him for a moment, then turned to the display mounted on the wall. The multiscan of the man's brain was mostly normal, except for the bright ...
Mood Ring
Author : Richard "Zig" Zagorski
Amanda awoke from a deep slumber and saw that her alarm clock would be going off in ten minutes. Not pressing enough to climb out of bed to turn it off just yet, but unfortunately also too little time left to fall back asleep.
However it only ...
I Was Born on a Pirate Ship
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer
I got pretty good at morse code after a while.
My co-pilot had a beak. The only way we could figure out how to communicate was if he clicked his beak at me in morse code. He was a pretty impatient dude so he did it really fast. He was ...
Daedalus
Author : Cesium
Each clutching the other's hand, they waited atop the Green Building.
They weren't supposed to be here. No one was. But the tallest building in Cambridge, Massachusetts would soon depart the soil on which it had stood for so long, and they couldn't have ...
Duckling
Author : Ian Rennie
When the doctor asked Lacey what he could do for her, she explained everything. She told him about growing up plain, being ignored by boys and teased by girls every day of her school life. She told him about Joey LeMartin's hypnotic blue eyes that never ...
Happy Times
Author : Rob Burton
I sip champagne, and snatch a truffle from the waiter’s tray. A flush of excitement rushes through me as a handsome man catches my eye from across the room. A moment to politely disengage himself from his group, and he moves towards me like I am the only ...
Gifts From a Grateful Nation…
Author : Roi R. Czechvala, Staff Writer
“Another fuckin’ night at the VFW,” Jerry Pesetski thought gloomily to himself. His arm hummed loudly as he raised the glass to his mouth. Halfway to his lips the movement stopped with a sharp grinding sound. “Damn government piece of ...
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