Gutterspace
Author: Majoki
I’m the biggest real estate mogul you’ve never heard of, and I like to keep it that way. I own over three thousand parcels in the greatest cities on earth: Beijing, Jakarta, Tokyo, New York, Rio, Paris, Mumbai, Cape Town, London, Istanbul, Karachi, Lima, ...
Teleportation
Author: James Moran
“So tell me,” Damien says, “how are things goin?”
We’re having our monthly coffee at Naima’s Café. I want to cruise through my part quickly so Damien can vent. Last month was a tough one. He and Charmaine moved in together and he pushed her too hard while they were ...
Lousy Pilot
Author: Aubrey Williams
I’m such a lousy pilot— I really shouldn’t be given the responsibility of flying a ship ever again. And don’t for one minute think I’m kidding, because I’ve had a few scrapes before, and I know the big one’s coming. I’m not exactly sure what the ...
Thought and Action
Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer
They say this city never sleeps. I disagree. It rests while the hordes that infest its pelt are absent. At 4AM, it's just me and the flock.
"Father Bones, what came first: the thought or the action?"
I look down to see a silver-blue ...
Jump
Author: Bill Cox
I surf on a sea of Hawking radiation, my being as light as gossamer and as dense as neutronium. In an attempt to resolve a choice, I turn the idea of ‘me’ around in my mind, examining it from a multitude of angles and perspectives. It glitters like a ...
Crack in the glass
Author: Jeremy Nathan Marks
I am convinced that I am a “fish,” i.e., an artificial human being.
I came to this conclusion because the terrific pain I feel is not physical. I do not remember having had a body ache.
My pain comes from a “systems malfunction,” also ...
Answers
Author: David Barber
1. Pauli Neutrino Telescope, Antarctica, 22nd July, 15.05 GMT
Elusive particles flash through the array buried deep in the Ross Ice Shelf. Outside, at 50 below, the wind howls like a ghost in the machine.
The latest plan is to run the PNT ...
Situation Ship
Author: Rick Tobin
“Thanks, and repeat whatever the lady is having.” Telman directed by lifting his shot of premiere whiskey towards a striking redhead in a tight chartreuse dress with a revealing leg slit sitting on the last stool at the end of the ritzy hotel ...
Simulacrum
Author: Evan MacKay
The holographic simulacrum was a perfect image of her mother. Same long flowing black hair that framed her heart shaped face. It was almost like seeing her in person. Maddi fought back the urge to reach out and grasp for her mother’s hand, knowing she ...
Bechevinka
Author: Majoki
If you believe in monsters, you believe in Bechevinka.
As child refugees growing up in New Beijing on the southern tip of the subarctic Kamchatka Peninsula, we’d heard all the stories. Tales of fire and ice, volcanoes and glaciers, radiation and ...
Originals
Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer
"Nine hundred ordinary people have experienced portal transit to Nambinull with the help of a Candamar grant. Nine hundred lives transformed thanks to the generosity of our donors, many of whom come from impoverished zones ...
Creation Myth
Author: Matthew Wollin
In the beginning, everything was everything, and nothing was nothing. This lasted for an infinite period, which was no time at all, because time did not yet exist.
Then the everything split into something, and something else. The something was called ...
A View from Andromeda
Author: Condallas Snokoanovich
I lie awake in the darkness, staring at an exceptionally clear star-filled sky. Two moons in crescent phase are peering from the horizon like the eyes of a black cat watching from the distance.
The quietness around me would have been ...
Not Like the Other Girls
Author: Melissa Kobrin
Dear Kayley,
I have no idea when you’ll read this. I guess it depends on what planets your parents decide to trade with before coming back to Provident. But I need to vent to someone, and you’re the only one I can talk to about this. Just please ...
Tanner
Author: Mark Renney
Tanner had always managed to navigate his way through life unnoticed. He became acutely aware of this when he first began his work as an Eraser. Ordinary looking and extremely reserved, even as a young man Tanner realised that this did not fully account ...
Compensation Issues
Author: David C. Nutt
Nystrom 6 is a heavily altered planet- by what or whom was why we were there. On its surface is a 100-meter-wide glass smooth band of an unknown substance. It circumnavigates the globe at the equator and pole to pole. We had dozens of scientific survey ...
In Absentia
Author: Steve Smith, Staff Writer
Rachel scrolled through what passed for news on her phone, coffee slowly cooling on the kitchen table. Malcolm would already be at work, leaving her in peace for this precious little time before she herself had to get dressed and head to ...
She’s Gonna Reply
Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer
I’m about to tear the end off another sachet when a voice sounds in my mind.
“Go easy on the sugar. Too much of it makes me ache.”
I look about. There’s nobody else except for the two staff. It’s not a busy period: early in the morning ...
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