Red Shift

Author : Ben Spivey 10:25am, on the wall hung an old analog clock. The second hand ticked once forward then once back; the battery was close to dead. Josh sat in front of his pc; its glow illuminated his sharp face. Behind him his fiancé slept under a neon blue blanket. Her ...

Conspiracy Theory

Author : William Tracy The president leaned back into the couch on Air Force One with a smile and a sigh. She had been in office for only a month, but she was already getting used to the perks. The secretary of defense cleared his throat. “Mrs. President, we need to ...

Dust Bowl, Day 704

Author : Josh Zingg Ariston crunched his way along Access-01 toward what was left of the capitol, keeping his head down and goggles tight over his eyes. The wind surged at him, and he felt its coarse touch wearing away his spirit. Wasn't much left to wear, these days. He ...

Human

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer It seemed a little silly to admit but I had gotten quite attached to the program that I was loading. I had it start in full surround. Suddenly, I stood at the top of a steep hill. He appeared before me. Doug was his name. The ...

Windows to the Soul

Author : JY Saville "Iridescent," she said without looking. "Aren't they?" Henry Deaton shook his head, exasperated that his wife still couldn't remember the colour of his eyes. "Never mind," he replied. He raced up on deck and peered through the reinforced bubble covering ...

Airplane

Author : William Tracy I am an airplane. The wind whistles down my fuselage as I soar in the bright sky, the earth spread beneath me. I pull a barrel roll for the sheer joy of it, weave through an invisible slalom course in the sky. A voice crackles in my mind. “You aren’t ...

Romeo Uniform November

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Claire cleared the fire-doors just moments before they sealed the lab. She knew they would hold for a while, but still ran down the corridor dragging the unconscious Doctor behind her. He out-massed her by a wide margin, but she severely ...

Good Help is Hard to Find

Author : Chrysta Lea Baker “Good help is so hard to find these days,” Roberta said as she sat back in the chair and watched as the technician painted on a metallic finish to her toenails. “I mean I’ve really had a terrible time finding a reliable and hardworking servant ever ...

The Nerd Harvest

Author : Ryan Somma "You're angry." "I’m not angry, I’m frustrated." "If you're frustrated, that usually means you’re about to learn something." "Don’t quote Philo to me. You know I hate it when you quote Philo." "I'm just trying to think this through like he would do. ...

Portrait of an Android Hunter as a Child

Author : Leslie Smith I did just what Mommy always told me to do. I got off the bus, said goodbye to the plastic person driver, and walked straight home. I wanted to get home as soon as I could 'cause Mommy said she was gonna bring me a surprise from the ice cream store. I ...

The Terraforming Equation

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer (Concept by Moebius) “You can’t abandon the project now,” protested Williamson, the Senior Planetary Engineer for the Chacopa Terraforming Project. “We created those life forms. They’ll die if we abandon them.” “Perhaps,” replied ...

Little Blue Pills

Author : Lokon Richard was forty, paunchy and balding when he came home early and found Susan on the bed they shared. The thing on her and in her was a vibrating mass of warm rubberized orgasm; moving in and out of-across her, her eyes and ears were hidden behind the goggles ...

Space Muffin

Author : Nik Gregory

The mess hall bustled around Harris; it was like a flock of vultures who had just found an overturned meat truck. Possession yields not only extended onto property but onto food too, woe betide anyone who gets the last muffin.

“All I’m saying ...

Malice Aforethough

Author : Sam Clough, Staff Writer "Elass, check your drones. I think they're goofing off." "Thanks, Laurie. They're on target now." The fleet was deep in the 'gravel' region of the asteroid belt. Elass was dragging in the larger chunks for processing, Laurie was filtering ...

Time and Space

Author : Rayne Adams I stole a lightspeed cruiser today. Went flying. Found Ancient Egypt. You learn in school that time and space are the same interchangeable abstract, but no one really believes it. You walk three steps, you move forward in space and in time, but if you ...

Biological Backup

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer

The test drill had gone horribly wrong.

The bipedal meat structure wasn’t breathing. Emergency!

There were specific instructions tattooed on the outside of the biological’s skin for repair procedures.

The yellow and black ...

She'll Be Waiting In Istanbul

Author : Ian Rennie

I met a girl the other night while hopping. It was in some bar somewhere, and she must have been a local, because she was fascinated by my bracelet. It must have been a relatively close hop, because she spoke english in an accent that wasn't too weird, but I was ...

Mercy

Author : J.R. Blackwell, Staff Writer Unlike the rest of humanity, I had an intelligent designer. My designer had thought enough to make me compatible. I can attach myself to almost any machine; external computers, appliances and yes, even weapons. Today, I've attached ...

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  • Heavens Above

    Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer The radiation levels following …