Are These Truths Not Self-Evident?

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer

The USS Manila-Galleon was returning to Earth from the Quaoar Mining Station in the Kuiper Belt. The massive cargo vessel was carrying 250 million tons of ore, and 118 miners rotating back to Earth. As the ship crossed the orbit of Neptune, ...

Fortune Bay

Author : Sam Clough, Staff Writer

In the far distance Sahar could see the barest hint of a glimmer: sunlight on water. The ocean. In the other direction, the city stood rose up from the scrubland, as if challenging the world. It looked for all the world like a cluster of termite ...

Small Unit Action

Author : Michael Varian Daly Tzisoc knew they were about fifteen miles south of Zhytomir, but until they saw the rail line and the village just to the east – Vertokyivka she believed – they had no map fix. Artillery 'crumped' to the north, fellow Black Guard units fighting ...

Triangulation

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer I deserved the black eye. John stood there, lip quivering, blood on his fist, fiercely willing his tears to stay in his eyes. He looked at me with shining hatred. I couldn’t blame him. I picked myself up off of the floor. We were in one ...

Clouds In Her Coffee

Author : Greg Ashworth The weather was terrible. It always was these days. The fluctuating temperatures, the driving rain, the harsh winds – all this was to be expected. Sarah sat alone in the corner of the coffee shop, her eyes somehow distant, as she browsed the Net, aided ...

Say It Ain't So

Author : J.R.D. Skinner

“So, are ya?” He’s maybe twelve, wearing blue shorts and a Mexico City Raptors t-shirt, a leg up on the wrought iron patio fence. My lobster is getting cold.

“What?” I ask.

I realize he’s holding up a thin rectangle the size of a credit card, ...

Nano Gods

Author : Peter Carenza

The rain poured relentlessly outside. The micro-God was wistful this morning.

I turned down the shade, walking back to the recliner with stealthy footsteps. You never knew when one might hear, and perhaps deduce the wrong intentions… to them, intentions ...

Ephemeral

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer

Ephemeral. That’s a word I like. It means fleeting. It means transient. There used to be a whole genus of insects called Ephemeroptera. They were called that because they lived for less than a day. The word is also used poetically to ...

Lt. Ray

Author : Roi R. Czechvala

"You're sure these ships are safe?" Admiral Chekov asked, as he cautiously approached the tiny matte black fighters. They reminded the Admiral of the ancient projectile points used by the aboriginal people of the Siberian steppes.

"Of course Sir," ...

The Nullusvir Virus

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer

Mitera was a beautiful semi-tropical world orbiting Alpha Koritsi in the constellation Virgo. Mitera was the first known parthenogenic planet; that is, all species on the planet were exclusively female. Although this asexual form of ...

Of Icarus and Politics

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer It had started as a series of simple disagreements, but it was clear before too long that at the heart of the matter was a fundamental difference in driving principles. James had spent his life in aeronautics, building anything that flew. He simply ...

Nerve Sensors

Author : Pavelle Wesser

“I’m through with you, Taylor,” Geena said as she stomped down the street. She looked beside her; he wasn’t there. She turned to see he had fallen behind: “Taylor, did you hear me?”

He stared through her: “I want not your identity.”

“What is ...

>Search For Life

Author : Glenn Blakeslee

I was in the flight center when the first probe went out. The heavy lifter rose on the obligatory pillar of flame, tracked across the south sea, ejected its boosters, and achieved orbit.


I was still in the flight center when the probe left ...

The Exhibit

Author : Summer Batton

“Oh look! They have grass 'n water ’n little huts, too!” squealed the little girl as she ran to press her face against the glass and get a closer look.

“Milly, get back here!” demanded the Nurturer with a click of her tongue. “Don’t scare them. They ...

Children

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer

I hate my children.

They are the culmination of a lifetime of hard labour. I started out as a bright-eyed 18-year-old genius picked by the government for my brilliance. I’m 68 now. Fifty years. It all gets a little blurry. My entire life ...

In Space

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Carter had watched the glittering mass approach his ship with a strange kind of indifference, simply stared as it washed over his bow view port and coated his freighter without ever considering the possibility it may be hostile. As he stood by ...

Prisoner

Author : Guy Leaver For days I was kept there. Held prisoner within a tailored cage, unable to move a muscle. Incarcerated into solitary confinement, with only my thoughts and emotions for company. No food did they give me; I knew not how I was sustained. I knew only that ...

You Might Be A Green-neck If…

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer

The Martian comedian had the audience at the Olympus Mons Laugh Factory rolling in the isles. They roared approvingly at his popular “green-neck” humor. Well, everybody in the audience was laughing but Martin. Martin was an astrophysics ...

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