Time Assassin

Author : Daniel Rosenblum

“This wasn’t what I expected the past to be like.”

I looked around warily, absorbing the unfamiliar sights. I was alone in a rotund, palatial chamber, standing at the center beneath a sweeping ceiling supported by ornate columns. Yellow ...

Amateur Historian

Author : Robert Niescier

“Why do you keep writing in there?”

He looked up and into her eyes, through steam shaded orange from the bonfire’s glow, and smiled. “It’s so people, future people, remember everything we went through. So we don’t get lost as just two ...

Chameleon

Author : Debbie Mac Rory

My knee is still bleeding from the last time I fell and my trousers keep sticking to them, bringing forth fresh darts of pain. But I’m too scared to use my torch here. I’ve already been stopped by two division patrols on my way here; I guess my research ...

Level Seven

Author : Todd Keisling, featured writer Dr. Watson and Dr. Blair watched as the orderlies interned the patient in observation room three. Dr. Blair scratched absently at the back of his hand. "So," Dr. Watson said, "what's his story?" He gestured to the nameless patient in the ...

Let Him Dangle

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer It's a strange thing, knowing exactly when you're going to die. Luther had become accustomed to the idea; the arrest, the charge of treason. He knew it was a death sentence the moment they'd kicked down his door. He was surprised only at how easily ...

Jarima

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer

It was always slightly embarrassing for me to watch Jarima try to pick up a guy.

She had a bodybuilder’s physique. She had a wide rubbery mouth and a strong jaw. She had bright red hair kept short. A little spray of freckles danced ...

The Mad Man

Author : Todd Keisling, featured writer Colt was a block from his apartment when the curfew alarms went off. The firing klaxon startled him, and he dropped his smokes. Heart pounding, he retrieved them and ducked into a nearby alley. It wasn't long before the first patrol sped by, ...

Lives

Author : Michael Varian Daly

Paln gently cupped the small green vegetable in the attachment designed for its harvesting. The steel segmented orb closed – a soft 'snick' - cutting the stem. Paln carefully placed the hard round vegetable among its brethren in the bin strapped to ...

Physical Therapy

Author : Grady Hendrix

Danny Leeds really wanted to punch his wife in the mouth. Over the last two years she had managed to cast their relationship as one where he was constantly the oppressor and she was eternally the victim. If he said anything she didn’t like, it was an ...

Pocket Change

Author : B.York, Staff Writer Kale made a habit of playing only in his backyard. The public display of toying with small action figures in the park or at a friends house made Kale a shy boy indeed. Instead, he would enjoy the comfort of solitary imagination in his backyard. The young ...

Joyride

Author : Todd Keisling, featured writer From: Mason, Ed Sent: Saturday, August 22, 2154 8:02 AM To: Mason, Brandy Subject: RE: When are you coming home? Dear Brandy, I told them this was a bad idea. After over a hundred years of planning, the eggheads in Houston finally sent us ...

Fishing for Disasters

Author : Sam Clough aka "Hrekka", Staff Writer "What are you doing?" "Fishing for disasters." Proc looked up from his console and gestured towards the giant radio telescope that dominated the view from his window. 'The 'R-PSD' logo was stamped across the base of the dish. ...

Disqualified

Author : JT Heyman

“Name?”

“Archimedes Goldblatt Jastrembski Akune,” the applicant replied.

The immigration official looked at the application on his holoscreen and nodded. He studied the screen.

Akune studied the office. Behind the official's chair, ...

Channel Zero

Author : Todd Keisling, featured writer 12:16 A killer enters the room. No one notices, and the show goes on. I switch on the receiver and catch a glimpse of tenant #62 in grid four. He's cooking a late dinner. On the street, in the hallway, I might call him Jim, or even Mr. ...

Battle

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer

The green circle of power irised open on the wall, filling the reception chamber with a medicinal glow. A body flipped through, smoking and wounded, over the ledge of the portal and landed wetly on the pads with a thud. The sickly green ...

Executive Bonus

Author : Viktor Kuprin

Labor Supervisor SCE-1124 knew there would be extra costs and difficulties keeping the project plans on schedule without the human contingent. Though the Earth mammals were fragile and easily damaged, they had, indeed, proven to be good workers both on the ...

The Sisters of Light

Author : J.R.Blackwell, Staff Writer The Sisters of Light arrived for my mother when I was eleven years old. Their robes flashed like light in a storm, shifting and unexpected. My mother welcomed them into our home. She knew why they were there but she acted like it was just a social ...

Meeting Vanya

Author : Viktor Kuprin

October 30, 1961 - Five aircraft rose into the arctic sky from the Olyena airbase, headed northeast over the Barents Sea, towards the frozen wastes of Novaya Zemlya Island. The largest plane, a roaring turboprop Bear bomber, carried Vanya. The most beautiful, ...

Random Story :

  • My Broken Star

    Author: Frederick Charles Melancon Only at night could we have …