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Hanging Around

By submission | July 18, 2009
Author : Q. B. Fox At night, when everything’s finally fallen quiet, the terraces sing; or maybe moan, I’m not sure which. The water where it laps over the first floor windowsills seems calm, except when a boat stirs it up. But deep underwater, by the front steps and in the ...
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The UESS Hermes

By Collaboration | July 17, 2009
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer, and Steven Odhner The crew took their positions in Earth’s first faster than light spaceship, The UESS Hermes, named for the Greek god of flight. Its maiden voyage was planned to be a short three light-minute jump from the Naval ...
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The Last Time

By submission | July 16, 2009
Author : Thomas Desrochers There was a warm glow as the Core began to wake up, followed by a spiraling light that worked its way around the room. After a moment a thousand pairs of eyes opened, and a thousand magnetic locks released. Like a routine play nine hundred and ...
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Blind Invaders

By Duncan Shields | July 15, 2009
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer The soundwaves are so short that they actually shatter meat. Bones shudder but remain intact. Cloth turns to ash. Skin goes translucent and turns into a fragile carapace that break like ice on a puddle. Then gravity takes over. When ...
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Grey Matter

By submission | July 14, 2009
Author : Peter Lavelle 'I think it looks just wonderful on the mantelpiece, don't you?' Mrs. Smithey asked cheerfully. Mrs. Everett leisurely stirred the contents of her teacup. The tinkling of the spoon against the fine china was an eerie peal that unsettled the very ...
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Space

By Stephen R. Smith | July 13, 2009
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer The orbiter had touched down at Vandenberg, and Lewis and a dozen others had flown cargo the thirty minutes to San Francisco airport. They trudged in from the tarmac in loose formation out of habit, unprepared for the crowds in the ...
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P is for…

By submission | July 12, 2009
Author : Steven Odhner Ah, Mr. Knight! Thank you for coming, sir. Doctor Dave Ewing is going to be calling you at some point to tender his resignation, and - oh, has he? Well, after this meeting you'll want to call him and get him back, tell him the charges are dropped - ...
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Reunion

By submission | July 11, 2009
Author : Brian Armitage The field sputtered light, a cloud of particles flashing in waves and sparkles. Edward was surprised, and a little disturbed, at how bright and colorful it was. He looked over at Sandra, the company liaison, with her carefully neutral expression. ...
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Productivity

By submission | July 10, 2009
Author : Steven Odhner I'm staring at the clock. Just staring at it, waiting for it to tick off a minute at which point I will have exactly one hour left of this hell. My brother the crazy artist says I'm not living my life. He says that I've sold my soul. If he knew my ...
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The Long Journey Home

By Patricia Stewart | July 9, 2009
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer “Are you telling me a spaceship really did crash in Roswell in 1947?” asked Dr. Ambien as he panned the badly damaged spaceship that had been laid out in the spacious hangar. “Yes, Doctor. The spaceship contained three aliens, but ...
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Unimagined Fears

By submission | July 8, 2009
Author : M. Tyler Gillett We should have known it was a foolish hope. None of us knew each other, but we recognized each other as members of the same faith. We had all signed up with various cryonics companies, preserving our bodies – or more often, just our post-mortem, ...
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Prima Notte

By Duncan Shields | July 7, 2009
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer Aside from the “more-arms-than-us” thing and the blue colour of their skin, they weren’t as alien as they could have been. They didn’t look like insects or floating blobs, for instance. At first contact, we all conceitedly thought it ...
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Passage

By Stephen R. Smith | July 6, 2009
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Tucker went through the drills with the rest of the squad in a state of meditative indifference. It took focused effort to keep his mech and chem systems in check while still performing well enough to earn one of the dozen seats on the Mars ...
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The End

By submission | July 5, 2009
Author : Todd Hammrich I never thought I’d live to see The End. In fact, the way I figured it, no one should see The End, I mean, that’s why it’s called The End, there is nothing after that, and certainly no one to see it. And yet, here I was. Floating gently in the shuttle. ...
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Dead Men Died For Your Freedom

By submission | July 4, 2009
Author : Lillian Cohen-Moore I died for this country. Then.. ...I came back. Mock me all you want. Say, no, what I mean to say is, "I would have died for this country." Or, "I nearly died for this country." You weren't there, were you? With the grit in your eyes and the ...
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The Amazing Transported Man

By submission | July 3, 2009
Author : David Bradshaw I always believed that magic was simply what science had yet to explain or tame. When Ashford’s empty frame crashed to the ground, the wild forces at work became far more significant. “It’s going to be one of mankind’s defining moments!” Ashford ...
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Morning Rounds

By submission | July 2, 2009
Author : Gavin Raine When he entered the room, Olivia was sitting on the edge of her bed and looking out of the window. He allowed the door to close noisily behind him and waited to see if she would notice, but it was hopeless. She was looking at the gardens without seeing ...
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Close Encounters

By submission | July 1, 2009
Author : Stephen Graham Jones It came like a Buick from the sky but it was on fire or close enough, hot anyway, blistering white and maybe even velour in places, its rocket engine disturbing the neighborhood at a molecular level, at an emotional level, the individual blades ...
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