The Oort Cloud Turnaround
The colonization vessel SS Godspeed was the first super-sleeper ship to leave the solar system. The 1032 human passengers, and 4000 or so assorted farm animals, were destined for the Gagarin settlement on Rigil Kentaurus II. The Godspeed was ...
Trust Your Doctor
Hurley sat on the examination table, naked to the waist, and sneezed for the umpteenth time. He reached for yet another tissue, his eyes watering, as he watched Dr. Mills flipping through charts and scribbled notes and rather pointedly ignored him. ...
Employee of the Year
After a couple of weeks, Alan didn't even notice the feeding tube. It took him a bit longer to stop trying to control his bladder and his bowels and just let the tubes do their work.
He'd used to get stiff, sore from hours of non-stop work, but the new ...
Cupcake and the Sherlock
Meta Man Who Wasn't There
Battle Moves
The housing of my pilot node rang with impact. I snapped out of my reverie and watched the six targets arc away from either side of my display. Missiles away. My helmet was crooked but I didn’t dare let go of the sticks for a second until I ...
Birthday Present
The small man with the strange hands passed thru the smashed opening and moved into the large room. It was dimly lit from the holes in the roof and there was a door at the other end. He retracted his claws and clenched his fists.
“Be careful ...
Dance While The Sky Crashes Down
They met each other on the high wall that surrounded the empty city. It was truly empty now: even the soldiers had left, abandoning the surface, chasing the population underground, into bunkers or into the big groundstations in the desert.
He ...
The 10:04
"This is nuts!" Kitty whispered harshly to her companion, "Why did you bring me here?" He remained silent, framed by the subway's exit, waiting as she surveyed the scene before her. Am I nuts? She thought. Tall glass buildings rose around her with aluminum ...
The Yellow Room
“Mr. Jones, is it?â€
“Yep.â€
“Hello. I’m Doctor Jack Worth, head of the research team. Do you have any questions you’d like to ask?â€
“So how much ‘compensation’ will I receive for this?â€
“Enough to last ...
Laziness
Lola heard shuffling footsteps behind her and cursed her laziness. Lingering at shops she could no longer afford, dreaming of days long gone. Now she was out after dark in a bad neighborhood. She was only a few minutes from home, but it only took a few ...
Bio Bill
"I guess you found me. I just wonder what's keeping you from cutting me open to find out how I do it."
The doctor sitting in front of him adjusted his glasses and smiled, trying to remain reasonable with the locked up felon before him. The white ...
Good Help
“So you’re a butler.â€
Xero repressed the urge to roll his eyes and sigh. The woman across the aisle on the maglev had seen his replicant’s sigil, a broad tattoo of the symbol for Gemini on the back of his left hand. She’d also seen his ...
Fiat Undo
“It's not a scam,†Robin explains as he plugs the cloning tank into the wall. “It just grows in there for a few hours and, when it's ready, just hop right in. They proved it, man, they proved it with science and we're gonna be rich.â€
Picture a ...
Meteorological Engineering
Oedi's Opus
The black is total.
Oedi’s life is devoid of light and endlessly deep.
Only stars prick the canvas. He stares at them, each in turn, for entire shifts. He finds it odd to realize that what he is looking at has moved from that spot eons before ...
After Dark
Awful News
Mike was nervous, you could tell by the stains at the armpits of his shirt, and the way he kept shifting, causing that awful gown to rustle. He coughed, if only to make the little man with his chart speak up.
“It is hard to put this,†he started, in a ...
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