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Only the Good Die Young

By submission | March 7, 2009
Author : Gavin Raine A small child came up to me while I waited in the park. Came right up to me, touched my colourless hair and ran his fat little fingers over the wrinkles on my face. When he asked me what they were, I told him that old father time had carved them with his ...
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The Geothermic Siphon (An Ideal Solution)

By Patricia Stewart | March 6, 2009
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer Although born of desperation, it certainly seemed to be an ideal solution. Volcanologists had concluded that a devastating eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera would occur within ten years; fifteen at the most. To make matters worse, ...
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The Tally

By submission | March 5, 2009
Author : Todd Hammrich The first thing to hit him upon waking was the metallic taste in his mouth. Every morning it was the same taste. It told him the machines inside his body had been working again; cleaning, scrubbing, scraping and sterilizing. It was the symbol of his ...
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Talkstink

By Duncan Shields | March 4, 2009
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer It was refreshing in a way, this whole ‘not having to talk’ thing. The blue Radocephamoeba across from me ‘listened’ patiently to the string of questions embedded in the constant flow of my pheromones and body odor. There were ...
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Humanitarian, not Vegetarian

By submission | March 3, 2009
Author : Eric L. Sofer Humanitarian, Not Vegetarian We were assembled for the yearly Meal of Thanks, and we had imported food, delicacies from Earth. Dad gets it through his job; he works for a corporation that does space exploration. About forty years back, they found this ...
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Blink 542

By Sam Clough | March 2, 2009
Author : Sam Clough, Staff Writer We stole the blinkpacks from the research facilities at Ceti Alpha. Stable displacement technology, suitable for individual use. We sealed the holes in our assault armour and slapped on the packs: suddenly we could step through walls and down ...
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Stars Fall At His Command

By submission | March 1, 2009
Author : Benjamin Fischer “I want to talk to the shaman.” Borhani’s words drew blank looks from the Lakota braves. A few raised their eyebrows and the surliest of the lot paused his cigarette long enough to spit. “The medicine man,” said Borhani. “What the hell are you ...
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Unity Dome

By submission | February 28, 2009
Author : Dr. Alexanders Hundreds of years of exploration, trillions of dollars into research on space travel, all culminating in the single most astounding and miraculous discovery in all of human history, and the only tangible result of that effort was the Unity Dome. Gerald ...
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At Night We Slept

By submission | February 27, 2009
Author : Ken McGrath The days were beyond hot. The unforgiving, bitter red sun dominated the sky, pulsing waves of heat flowed downwards onto the battered, scorched earth. We walked, trying to keep in the thin shadows cast by withered, torched trees. Their branches, like ...
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Larva

By submission | February 26, 2009
Author : Matthew Banks “It's starting to hurt again,” said Kevin. Myrna stood in the doorway watching him with red-rimmed eyes. She pressed her lips together. “It's probably moving around.” Kevin clutched his stomach. “It's getting worse! Jesus!” He let out a long, low ...
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Disconnect Before Removing Device

By submission | February 25, 2009
Author : Douglas Woods :::Hash total error:::Download failed::: Panic. The floor sloped away to a dark abyss, rolling me inexorably forward. Oblivion. Heads around me turned, slow, dumb, cow-like eyes passing over me without recognition. Dull orbs blinked in unison. ...
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Fifteen

By submission | February 24, 2009
Author : Scott Alexander Rader I wake with gunk in my eyes. Not sleep, or whatever the scientific term is. This is worse. Shoot. Pink eye, I think to myself. Damn kids. But this is thicker and gummier than the mucous created during pink eye. It’s more like, well, gum. Damn ...
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Caesar's Secret Weapon

By submission | February 23, 2009
Author : Greg R. Fishbone Three Roman legions swept into the valley from the south. The defenders launched a flight of arrows while a line of pikemen prepared for an onslaught of armored men. The battle raged through the afternoon, but the outcome was never in doubt. The ...
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Zipper Night

By submission | February 22, 2009
Author : Dave Johnson I have become a zipper. The fad started out harmless enough. A person scheduled a visit to the zipper specialists. A few hours later the same person (for the true insides cannot be zipped) walked out a different gender. Some time later it got easier: a ...
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Serial Redundancy

By Stephen R. Smith | February 21, 2009
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Detective Staind waited in the darkness of an empty doorway. He watched as the man, head down, hands stuffed deep in his pockets, crossed the street fifty meters away. Waiting until the man turned down an alley, he unholstered his weapon ...
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The SS Indomitable

By Patricia Stewart | February 20, 2009
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer I was heading toward the Bridge along Deck 12 just aft of the Station 114 Bulkhead when I heard, sorry, felt, the explosion. The shock wave knocked me into the starboard hullplate, but I managed to remain standing. I felt a rush of ...
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Sentence

By Duncan Shields | February 19, 2009
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer This is the opposite of solitary confinement. It’s called ‘tearing down the firewalls’. They’ve removed my filters. I am plugged into the raw datafeed now for the entire world. The receivers in our heads are tuned to accept the ...
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Company

By submission | February 18, 2009
Author : Rob Burton There’s that tapping again. I’ve been listening to peeling bass music, as loud as my ears can stand it, but it doesn’t shut out that quiet, metallic tap. Perhaps this capsule is resonating, magnifying the tapping. Perhaps it’s just my mind, feeding the ...
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