Tear the Wall
On the surface, everything is smooth. On the edges, the shiny plastic cracks, dirt comes out of nowhere, and doorknobs pinch the skin. Tear at the wall a little, underneath is not solid, it is a metal matrix, mostly air. We live in a kind of illusion, frayed at the edges.
In the middle, ...
Mirror, Mirror
Stevie glanced over his shoulder, tiptoeing barefoot through the deepest corridors of the Barnum. The ship was huge, as ponderous and lumbering as a garbage barge, but Stevie had lived here all his life. He knew the corridors like the back of his hand—even the ones where he wasn't allowed.
...
Replica
After four months of backed up deadlines, CD came to the hard conclusion he already knew was coming. He needed one more of himself.
CD had to present his application in person, which he felt was a ridiculous waste of time. He wondered why the psychologist couldn’t just see him on video over ...
Trimming Back The Growth
“I see you’ve done some pruning,†Margaret’s therapist said. “I like what you’ve done with the branches around your sternum.â€
“Thank you,†Margaret choked out. It had been a trial learning how to talk with roots entwined around her larnyx, but she had muddled through. “I ...
The Education of Legs McGee
"Swimming's easy," Aaron said as he tightened the foam ring beneath her shoulders. "There's only one rule: keep breathing. If you can't find a way to breathe, that's when you're in trouble."
Leah nodded as her brother gathered her into his arms, lifted her from the chair, and placed her ...
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE AWESOME
Chuck surveyed the landing pad with a nod, his proprietary self-satisfied grin encompassing all he could see. It felt good, he reflected, to be a champion of the most powerful force in the universe: awesome.
Chuck was a Space Ranger and proud of it. They weren't universally liked, but then, ...
A Misunderstanding
Marshall Weisman didn't bother perusing the files. He'd been tracking this maniac down for years now. The poor looking gent in the outer rings had no excuse, no recourse. It was clear to him and any other officer of the Outer Planetary Patrol. Weisman barged into the room watching the humble ...
My Angel Gabriel
"I don't understand." wrote Becky. Why did you ban Gabriel?" Becky had been on the forum for almost a year, and she was one of the most frequent posters. Rachel thought Becky was a bit like her when she was thirteen, nattering on about internet stars and how she had found the meaning of life ...
A Lighthouse Through Time
No one knew how long Catherine Malone had been missing. Her absence was reported to the police after three weeks of unpaid rent, but neighbors admitted they hadn't known that the apartment was occupied. "She kept to herself," said the landlord.
The universe does not think in hours, ...
The Wall Street Cathedral
To Martin J. Weaver:
Dear Spiritual Investor,
This letter is a gift in the form of advanced notice concerning the change in management of your Temple in Manchester. Our organization, the American Church of God, has taken notice of the success of your Temple's missionary programs, and after ...
The Things She Carried
When Lieutenant Carol Door stepped off the space ship she was carrying her laser knife, her unloaded rifle and the broken micro-cam that held the pictures of her family. She carried her starched grey uniform, and though it had never seen her home, it reacted to the change in climate as it ...
Antennae Don't Blink
The robot was no bigger than a diner roll, and had a tendency to shift on of its many stiff legs when it was processing. It was on the kitchen table now, and Megan lowered herself so that she was eye-level with it. It's forward-motion sensor quivered when her face came close. One antenna ...
Feeling Lucky
Lucian's body had been cleansed to near perfection and his head shaved to remove any thread that might disrupt the process. Everything had to be perfect, or else the project might fail. They placed him in Dorm 12, a white-walled comfortable living space. He sat there looking through the ...
We Commit their Bodies to the Deep
Captain Ariella Claymore floated in the center of the cargo bay as Chief Bill Roberts manipulated the tractor beams to guide the lifeless spacecraft through the bay doors. "She's an antique," the captain's voice crackled over the intercom. "There's an American flag on the port nacelle. It's ...
The Hype
Whoa, that was a long jump. What was that, a fifty foot drop? I don't feel it right now, and that's fine by me. This fucker running from me is going to taste my pain.
My boots hit the floor and ignorance runs thirty miles an hour. My heart is producing what was already injected but the ...
The Immortal
The Immortal danced.
The colony world smelled like new spring, and the night air was cool on the Immortals skin. He whirled around the bonfire the settlers had made to rejoice in the spring and celebrate the barn raising. The immortal flung his feet in a wild and practiced dance and thought ...
Snakes On A Spaceship
The cryocrate rested unobtrusively in the corner of Sanitation Engineer Edward Holmes's broom closet. It was metal, like most cryocrates, and marked only by the blinking temperature meter and a yellow sticker declaring CAUTION: MAN-EATING SNAKES to those who cared to read it.
Most of the ...
The Public Air
I have a fine grandson named Lorenzo, and he and his mother and father came down to visit me. He brought his wonderful burnished helmet and beautiful, shiny aeroboard with him when they came. I felt very proud, and I thought at last I would be able to interest him in what I did professionally. ...
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