Weapons
In small German-occupied towns during WWII, if a local woman had a German soldier boyfriend during the occupation, she was hung when the war was over. People who had been seen talking to Germans and helping them had their heads shaved in the ...
Unconventional Warfare
General Elias Knox sat staring at the paperwork at his desk, utterly confounded. "Would you care to explain what happened, lieutenant?"
The lieutenant swallowed nervously, trying not to tremble noticeably. "Sir, we dropped the conventional bombs ...
Calling All Volunteers
I couldn’t get to NASA’s Office of Human Capital Management fast enough. The e-flyer said they were looking for 1000 healthy individuals, between the ages of 21 and 32, that would be willing to participate in the first manned colonization mission to a ...
Sotto Voce
The universal translator she wore around her neck always told me how she felt. When she sighed a series of clicks into my hair as my hands brushed the blue skin in between her 2nd and 3rd sets of arms, it was the translator that said, “Oh, ...
Threshold
Our research ship; the Threshold, hovered about 800,000 kilometers from the event horizon. We could've taken better readings by moving closer, but then even the most powerful engines ever designed wouldn't have been able to hold us back from the intense pull ...
Jack
Market Special
The butcher brought his cleaver down with a meaty “THUNK†and scraped another festipods head into the waste bin. He hung the shimmering body on a hook in line with a dozen or so just like it and grabbed another from the pile.
“These are as fresh as ...
Pickup
It was the numbers tattooed on the backs of their necks that always got me. Why couldn’t they have them in a more obvious place? Halfway through a conversation with them, I’d still be trying to catch a glimpse of their tattoos in ...
Oak Island
The last morning, we gathered on the beach. Someone made the inevitable Nevil Shute joke and too many people laughed. The noise was braying, desperate and I moved away from it, worried, somehow that I might get some on me.
‘Leigh?’
Vanya ...
Resuscitation
The neurosurgical tech Andrew Asher clutched his overcoat tight over his scrubs and tried to concentrate on the National Guardsman eying him across the barricade. Overhead the city’s kilometer-long support pylons reverberated like infernal gongs, torqued by ...
Dock Worker
I am a dock worker. I have an embarrassing case of Stalactiform Blister Rust forming on the backs of my support pistons. I still have the brute strength needed to perform the heavy lifting needed in my job but I am becoming obsolete.
I’ve had a ...
Reanimation
“What the hell happened out there, Corporal?â€
“General… General Dalton, Sir…†The young soldier stammered in surprise and tried to sit up at the same time.
“Easy, son. Lie back down.†Christ, the General thought to ...
Flash! Gordon
Finally starting to become clear. Granted, clarity was a fuzzy concept at best after all this time, but the flash was starting to wear thin. Like the man across the room, pushing his way through the milky white smoke that settled in the air like dust on a ...
Threat
"You're serious?" The Rear Admiral of the Arizona Fleet questions his superior for the first time in twelve years.
First Resident Menos stands with hands clasped behind his back, morosely watching the field of stars passing the windows of the command deck ...
Mega Flare
The ship had left Earth orbit 77 days ago. They just passed the halfway point on their supply mission to the Lowell Colony on Mars when the solar flare warning alarm began its variable whine. “Computer, deactivate the alarm,†instructed the captain. ...
Dig
The Inspirer
As Archimedes lowered himself into his bath, water lapped over the top edge and spilled onto the floor. “Damn it, you fool,†he cursed aloud, “You overfilled the tub again.â€
“Not necessarily, master,†I pointed out. “It’s not too ...
In Memory of Persistence
I’d like to remember her the way most ex-boyfriends remember their exes. That is to say, when I’m drunk and missing her, I want to remember that space right under her ear, her easy smile, and that way that she’d hiccup if she laughed too much. When ...
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