Author: Robert Flippo The hearse’s view screen crackled with static, forcing Clive to rely on mirrors to reverse the anti-grav sled through the ship’s cargo bay. He steered with cautious flicks of the joystick to keep from jostling the sled’s delicate burden. When the ...

Author: Brian C. Mahon Problematic, my birth was. I was expelled into a world so dry I believed death would catch me just after my sudden realization of “I am”. Then my world was lifted, manipulated, plunged into a moist warmth, descending toward a rhythmic throbbing. The ...

Author: Letícia Piroutek Safety off. Check barrel. Up. Steady. Shoot. Safety off. Check barrel. Up. Steady. Shoot. Safety off. Check barrel. Up. Steady. Shoot. The weather felt drier today, drier than usual in this Godforsaken desert. Janie is standing in front of her ...

Author: Andrew Dunn We could hear the corn crop, yellowed in the field, rustle in a hot breeze as me and Will headed off on bicycles toward town. Mom was in the kitchen, wishing for rain from a cloudless sky, and that dad would give up on magic. Dad and Uncle Stephen had ...

Author: David C. Nutt “Well?” “You’re not going to believe this Chief. It’s nothing like the legends… not even close.” “Really?” “Yeah. Other than some powerful pheromones that makes humans oversexed lunatics and putty in their hands… that and a hollow needle like organ ...

Author: Alastair Millar In a well organised world, Doug Williams thought, the proper venue for this conversation would have been a bunker deep below a heavily secured building somewhere in the world capital. Instead, they sat on a sunny balcony overlooking a pretty lake, ...

Author: Mark Renney There were others. Other Erasers and occasionally their paths crossed. Tanner always attempted to keep his distance and this hadn’t proved so difficult because each Eraser worked alone, forbidden from sharing information or collaborating even when their ...

Author: Frances Koziar My whole body felt warm as I closed the door to the bullet-proof training room—warmth like I hadn’t felt since my wife had died. It had only been tried unofficially—though successfully—in the field, but the new drug should sharpen my senses, they had ...

Author: Majoki Honking, the geese fly overhead in a giant V as the sky reddens in the late September dawn. Tralley watches them for a moment before continuing to unload the pickup truck outside the transmission tower high on the hill. Rucker fixating on his smartphone in ...

Author: Bill Cox I know this probably isn’t the best time from your point of view, but if I didn’t tell someone every now and again then I think I would lose it altogether. Anyway, if you’re a gamer like me, then you know how it goes. You get to a particular point in the ...

Author: Steven French “Professor? If you’d just like to press the button, that’ll initiate the experiment.” Professor Sarah Roberts looked around the control room, with satisfaction and pride. It had taken so long to put all this together, starting from that first idea, ...

Author: Kevin S The magtrain is running 2 minutes late, someone held it up the last stop, go figure. The day I need it, and it's late. Jones didn't show with my neomorph hit, and as I start to shake the irony of jonesing for Jones isn't lost on me. Wherever he is, it's off ...

Author: David Barber Another time machine. It arrives with a clash like a drawer full of cutlery upended onto tiles. Mostly they were entirely silent, and the first Martinez knew was when a time traveller stood at the door, latest in a carnival of visitors, eager to ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer “Youz wanna know how it all went down? Came ta the right place, ya did. I’m the only one left. Ended seventy years ago yesterday, it did. “Stoat was the first. Skinny geezer, white hair, white eyebrows. Piercing eyes, like they saw right ...

Author: Claude Ramone Bernhard He arrives. I expect a shock of gray or two but, instead, his once black hair has all gone white. He sits in the chair with the high back. His chest heaves as he goes for the breast pocket of his work shirt. He pulls out his deck of cards and ...

Author: Michael T Schaper It could be a historic moment, UU325RG thought, if only they could get organised. UU glanced at the images before him. As the convenor of this nascent worker movement, he’d eventually be asked to make a decision for the collective. They’d ...

Author: Moh Afdhaal Alam waded through the forest of chartreuse banana pepper shrubs arrayed on the red sand of Garden 778, beelining towards the lone brown offspring of a healthy-looking plant. “Jabar, could you diagnose this one please?” Instinctively, Alam looked up at the sky. It ...

Author: Joel C. Scoberg “I’m telling you it would catch me,” said Duncan, his words slightly slurred. “Think about it, if it was dangerous, they’d put a sign up.” Alyn leaned over the viewing platform’s guardrail. The toxic clouds seethed and churned beyond the ...