Sleepwalker
Marie-Christine looked into her mirror at her naked adolescent body, flat and slender. There were parts she was disappointed in and parts that pleased her. She was careful not to stare too long, her parents were sure to be watching her visual ...
Train City
We’re both standing on the rooftops of the train city. Two hundred and twenty-three tracks wide, slowly migrating polewards to more oil and frozen fresh water.
Metal groans as the temperature drops. Tenpenny nails shrink and loosen ...
15 Eunomia
David Erwin, the lone human inhabitant at the Eunomia mining station in the asteroid belt, was just suiting up to make his rounds when his door chime sounded. Erwin shook his head in mild frustration. Robots never seem to get it. He had ...
Catlike Tread
"Where am I?"
"A sub. We're in the middle of the Deneb main belt."
"Name and designation?"
"This is the Catlike Tread. Ess-ess-you-nine-seven-four."
Orig got to his feet. The inside of the sub was cramped: the ...
City Of Light
The sun sinks in the west like a heart as I row towards the city of lights.
I do not know what the city is called. I have been rowing for so long that names have become vulgar sounds, meaningless and wild; not just the names of places, but also my own. ...
A Mother's Love
Sally Baker considered herself a good mother. She grew her own baby and gave birth to a daughter, Jane, by natural means, barring the odd shot of hormones to hold off genetic defects. She refused sensory enhancements ...
Turing Test
“Where will you be when the world ends?†she asked.
“Right here,†he said.
“Will you be conscious?†she asked.
“I expect so,†he said, “though consciousness is hardly ...
Down the Tubes
Mrs. Taggart sat down at her desk and sipped her coffee while going over the day's lesson plan. When the clock struck eight, she set down her coffee, reached behind her ear and synced herself to the network. ...
Perchance to Dream
The folds of her flesh draped like curtains over the sides of the hover-chair—rich and smooth, like brocade, and his eyes traced their undulating curves and rolls like sand-dunes in a ...
All Gentleness And Its Enduring
People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us. ~Iris Murdoch
Pothilas set his briefcase down on the hallstand and paused to ...
Outback
Dust swirls past a naked lightbulb and out amongst the wire-brush scrub. There is an old man, mid sixties, seated on the verandah. In his lap lies a twelve gauge shotgun; it is broken open, showing two empty ...
Sick Leave
“Linda Kroen! 155013! Report for duty”
Linda didn’t exactly know why the crystalline voice of the ship AI was blaring her name but she wasn’t going to answer. It’s her day off.
“Linda Kroen! It is estimated you ...
Arwik Razy
Siliquestioning
With those sleek shoulders and sculpted faceplate features, I would have guessed her be a Russian model.
Hard to tell with the standard techniques. The criminals always had their own serial numbers sanded off and I2P addys scrambled. I ...
Angel of Time
A man lay limp in my arms. The body of a little boy was sprawled a few feet away from us, his young face motionless against the blood-stained earth.
"I will stay with you through this." I said, stroking the man's face very gently. "I won't leave ...
Smoke
Below level one-one, there have been several issues with the life support mechanisms. High temperatures, pressures, and an abundance of certain harmful chemical compounds have rendered these levels uninhabitable. You will require a blue keycard to ...
Dark Water
“When the Surface became too crowded, Man had already hollowed out great caves in the crust of the Earth, mined for metals with which to build his towers. It was simple for those who desired space to move downwards, found the first cities of ...
Go out with a Bang
“I thought you didn’t smoke,†she asked.
“I did, and I quit,†he replied through a bluish cloud, “but it seems an appropriate time to pick up the habit again.â€
“Really,†she drew the word out as if stretching it like ...
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