Failed Mission
The air scrubbers were failing. Generators were running at less than fifteen percent. Only one large bio dome and four of the sixty life support shelters remained of the mission complex.
Father Nandres died a week ago and there was no one left who ...
37 Hands
37 hands. Zed shook his head. The 84 candidates running for President were asked if they believed in Sixism, and only 37 raised their hands.
He couldn’t believe this debate was still going on. For years they had assumed that the Manhattan ...
Displacement
Crumpled Space
“How’s this thing work?†asked Dean O’Banion, the man Alan Mitchell had reluctantly asked to come to Seattle to bankroll his invention that could provide the world with unlimited, cheap, green energy. Although O’Banion ...
Left
"I'd like to order an arm, please. Left, if you have them. I've always liked left arms."
"Certainly, sir. Have a seat while -- oh, my apologies, that was quite rude of me."
"Think nothing of it. It's by choice, not by circumstance; ...
Getting Old
When new Aunt Sally arrived, David had just one question burning in his brain. He managed to make it all the way through her visit before it came out.
“What happened to old Aunt Sally?†he asked.
“She’s gone on to a wonderful ...
The Oceans of Jupiter
The USS Jovian Explorer skimmed above the turbulent cloud tops of Jupiter’s upper atmosphere. The large clamshell doors on its underbelly slowly opened and locked into position. Moments later, the restraining clamps released ...
Explaining the unexplained
"But what is it?" asked Brian. He was examining the softly humming sphere on the table with skepticism.
"I told you, it's an explanitarium. I invented it!" I said again with more than a little pride and just a little impatience.
"And what, exactly, ...
Beyond Beliefs
It was always the same, Bojorn counted on it, and he was never disappointed. He had fine tuned the process over time, but the basics were still the same. Part of this tuning had been to add an anthropologist to his crew, and it had made the selection go ...
The Portal
“Well, Tom, what do you think?â€
“Joe, if you made me hike 50 miles through the jungle, climb a freakin’ 10,000 foot mountain, and craw through a cave for half a mile on my hands and knees, just so you could show me another cave…†Tom ...
Task Force
“I’ll take two,†said Joe Ferry, the rookie member of the Preemptive Anti-Criminal Activities Task Force. It was traditional for the elite four-man teams to play poker prior to the start of the shift. It was a way to ...
Nailed
My cell door opened, revealing a woman dressed all in grey. I was dead. With an ordinary interrogator/judge, I would have had a chance. Not with one of the Grey Ladies.
"United States Time Court Interrogation/Trial 66017002," she said in a ...
The Wilderness
There’s always going to be a few things I can’t get used to here. The green sky, for instance, and the fact that the animals are mimics. All of the animals have the same abilities as Earth parrots, no matter what they look like. Every animal that comes ...
USS Dreadnought
Captain Leonard Thompson stood at attention as Admiral Richards’ shuttlecraft docked to the Dreadnought. Moments after the shuttle was secure, the hatch opened, and Admiral Richards stepped over the threshold. “Leonard. ...
Alternate 7453DO
Jon Stack # 1 crept towards himself, fairly panting with eagerness. He was hungry again. So hungry. Reality stretched and rippled around him as he approached his doppelganger. Jon Stack # 59 according to the Prime-Time Organic Advocacy Bureau. It ...
Welcome newborn
A shape floats silhouetted against the background of the nearby gas giant. I can make out four limbs and one smaller structure atop the central structure, a light blinked out from it, red and small. It meant something. A moment’s concentration ...
Crutch
Joey walked through the carnival gate and stood mouth agape as he surveyed the vast array of amusements before him. Billy grabbed his arm and started towing him through the islands of people clumped around the main thoroughfare.
"I want to ride ...
Unexpected Consequences
Roy O'Donnell was working his way down the pre-launch checklist when I decided to make sure the cargo was secure. Normally, we only haul equipment and supplies back and forth between the Vinogradov mining facility on Mars and ...
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