Perforce Performance

Author : Adam Zabell In the darkness of my private soul, I still can’t believe I get away with it. In the light of my studio, I focus on titles. Honestly, the title is usually the hard part. “SunderS” was brutal and well-received, but too abstract for my personal tastes. ...

The Blue Weed

Author : George Galuschak The end of the world: we expected mad cows, Y2K, global warming, asteroids, nukes, tidal waves, flu-stricken chickens and angels descending from Starship Christ. What we got was The Blue Weed. We don’t know the delivery method – meteor strike, ...

Version 5.10

Author : John Logan Drill Sergeant Harvey K. Buicks watched the line of soldiers as they stood taut and strong. Their backs concave, chests out, muscles rippling. He turned to a small man in a white lab coat who twitched nervously next to him. “Things were good until about a ...

The Peacock's Tail

Author : Ryan Somma "Watch this," Alea smirked at Trin and turned to the four-legged creature dumbly munching on some flamegrass nearby. "Oti," Alea chirped to the thing, and a few dozen eyes opened to look at her. "Oti, what is pi?" A half-dozen orifices sprinkled amidst ...

Dead Man Breathing

Author : S. Clough, Staff Writer "Tash, stop right there." Kal barked, raising his rifle, and aiming it squarely at his team-mate. Tash froze, and lifted her hands. She'd known this was coming, but it always caught her off-guard. The rest of the team had gone back to the ...

Monday

Author : Hilary B. Bisenieks The last time I saw the surface of the moon, it was pristine save for a few sets of footprints. I had been struck dumb at the majesty of the black—an eternity of stars from horizon to horizon—while the others filled my ears with the chatter of ...

Caught

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer Caught. I’m stuck to this wall with thick maglets encasing my glowing hands. My eyes are weeping constantly and I can’t stop my long tongue from flopping down to my chest and tracing lazy circles in the sweat-matted hair there. It’s so ...

Engaged

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Revy leaned heavy against the bathroom sink, his reflection in the streaked mirror staring back battered and bruised. Stitches poked through pink flesh behind his jaw and beneath his hairline, bloodshot eyes sunken and dark. How long since ...

Black Space

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer The Deep Space Explorer held its position one kilometer from the anomaly. “What do you make of it, Cortez,” asked the commander? “If it didn’t sound so stupid, Commander, I’d say it was a massless black hole. It’s spherical, about ...

Worship

Author : William Tracy Eighteen thousand meters up in the sky, two aircraft dance. The larger tanker hovers above the other, and the two vehicles mate. The space plane drinks thirstily, then releases. The tanker banks to the right, leaving the space plane free to climb. It ...

Count of Three

Author : Ivy Tyson They meet in the ruins of New York City, rather by accident, right in the middle of what used to be Times Square, back when people actually lived there. They are both armed: she with a pistol strapped to her hip, while he supports a rifle on his shoulder. ...

Patience in a Handful of Dust

Author : James C. Clar “Shit,” Corporal Sean Collins thought out loud. “I’ve got to calm down. My oxygen will be gone in twenty minutes if I don’t. I need to stay low. If I raise my head above the dunes to take a shot, that Martian bastard will vaporize me.” Collins had ...

Ability

Author : Ian Rennie People sometimes look at me weirdly when they first see me, and after all this time I can't really blame them that much. I'm disabled. They see me with the goggles and the earpieces and they wonder what's going on. Then they check the nets to see what ...

The Last

Author : Sikko Boersma I made the rounds like a sergeant – tapping a dozing sentry here, putting out a cigarette there. Greetings were muttered, barely understandable. The men were caked in mud. Some had blood on their trench coats. I joked with a young corporal in ...

Mind-Surfing

Author : Skyler Heathwaite Its illegal, but I love mind-surfing. I don't even bother with TV anymore. I just go for a walk around town, see what I can find. Its a real gas to pick out the hidden truths in polite conversation. For example, I sat a booth down from a really ...

Rare Cheese

Author : Kile Marshall As soon as the package popped down into the gravity sink I pulled out a saber and slashed through the heavy framing. For the most part it came away and dissolved into the recycle chutes quickly, so I slowed and steadied my hand. There were only a few ...

Rocket Attack on FOB Procyon

Author : Benjamin Fischer The alert came abruptly. “INCOMING INCOMING INCOMING!” blared the base PA speakers. Laeta was face-first in the damp, rich earth of the outpost’s central parade ground before the echoes of the announcement had died. The speakers squawked again, but ...

Poison Pill

Author : Patrick Kennedy Preston walked into Avery's office and dropped a stack of paper on the desk with a flourish. Avery looked up and asked, "Preston, what's this?" Preston dropped into a chair, savored the moment, and explained, "It's a lawsuit, Avery. My backers and I ...

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