American Golem

Author : Joshua Reynolds

They were tearing him apart. Muscle by muscle, tendon by tendon. Unraveling him like a ball of string. He screamed but he had no tongue and no sound came out as something cold and hard cut into his throat, spreading the edges of his flesh back like the ...

Seven Seconds

Author : Aelanna Cessara

Seven.

He only had seconds left to live. Despite all the augmentations and training that the soldier had received, the result of countless centuries of evolution and refinement in the art of war, technology could not truly ease the limit of ...

Winter

Author : B.York, Staff Writer Everyone deserves another chance. Sometimes when I look out amongst the white blankets I can conceive of forgiveness, or even a world where people could make mistakes before they were judged. I try to believe in my excess chances that go on further than ...

Dear John

Author : Duncan Shields

I woke up from the deep cryosleep with a bleary head and a taste in my mouth like I’d licked a battery. The gel washed off cleanly and I was standing in the hall with the other colonists in my underwear with the HR monitors still stuck to us like faithless ...

Guilt by Association (Youthful Indiscretion)

Author : Jinque

Eoin dropped his bag in the hallway, and turned into his living room. His computer was nowhere to be seen.

"Caprice, I'm home. Where are you?" Eoin's computer poked her head over the top of his favourite chair.

"I'm right here, Master Eoin! Welcome ...

Ghosts of Earth

Author : Curtis C. Chen

The first crystal fell on Los Angeles in the middle of rush hour, killing thirty-two people. Caltrans spent an hour trying to move the enormous mass before it drilled itself into the ground and disappeared.

Two hours later, another crystal splashed ...

Historical Writing

Author : David Zhou

"My card," he said, bowing gracefully to the client from Tarqon, the fifth planet in the Tostis system out in the deep reaches of the Spiraling Galaxy.

"I want to thank you," the client said. "Thank you for taking on this job. They said you were the only ...

Pride In Chains

Author : J.R.Blackwell, Staff Writer "Are we slaves?" said Marixix, sliding out of Lilria's slick bed. "Or do we freely choose our lives?" Lilria rolled over onto her side, admiring her lovers muscular naked back. "Ooooo…Such deep inquiry directly after our 'little ...

Coincidental Probability

Author : B. York, Staff Writer Being in a think tank wasn't easy. Dev never saw it as easy but he lived it because of his pursuit for the perfect equation. Life in pursuit of such a grand dream was not without its quirks however. No one could have predicted the probability of Dev's ...

Persistence of Vision

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer The human eye is made up of two different types of photoreceptive elements known as rods and cones. These elements convert the light from everything you look at into information that is passed electrochemically to the brain for interpretation. An ...

In Remembrance

The Lethe was plastic, white. It bore the black logo of Mnemoprises and a large yellow caution sticker that warned ebayers and Chinatown chopshop owners that it was illegal to use without proper company-granted certification. None of them listened, of course. The list of warnings was ...

Flight Test

Author : James Mallek

It was with a running leap that he finally brought himself to do it. John hurled himself off the top of the eighty-story Hertz Building.

5 seconds of free fall before he righted himself, face down, parallel to the ground.

Terminal velocity ...

Once in a Lifetime

Author : Matt Brubeck

We're in the Starbucks next to the club, hanging out after a show. Aaron looks up and gives a brief snort. "Check it out," he says, nodding toward the door. I see a trio of young kids, studying the menu and trying to look cool. I recognize them from the crowd ...

Children's Programming

Author : Kevin Byrne

The adults were all sitting down, watching the children interact with one another; to a soul, they all said the same thing to me: "I cannot believe how well-behaved your son is. We try so hard just to get our child to even listen to what we're saying, much less ...

Best Friends

Author : Alex Meggitt

I shift around on the couch, flipping through the channels and trying to make myself comfortable. Tim is sitting on the other end, watching the television cycle through sounds and images. The complacent look in his eye clears for a second as he sits upright ...

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer The two of them sat facing each other in the living room, the father and the fidgeting male his daughter had brought home to meet him.  From the kitchen came snatches of conversation, the talk in excited giggles of things only a mother and daughter ...

The Skein Tree

Author : Michael "Freeman" Herbaugh

“Sit down Philip,” the old man sighed, “I’m going to tell you a unique story.”

Philip had never seen the Old Man look his age, yet today he looked every day of his 94 years. He’d only been working for him for five years now but ...

Jump Start

Author : J.R.Blackwell, Staff Writer Georgie threw the best parties, mostly because he had a carpet he didn't care about. Heather and Ralph used the monthly parties as an excuse to play drinking games and challenge each other to contests. The winner was usually responsible for dragging ...

Random Story :

  • Root Cause

    Author: Rick Tobin Pressing slick walls within Perri’s briefing center …