Author: Brooks C. Mendell “Where is she?” asked Dr. Nemur, holding her glasses in place while looking under a chair. “Relax, Doc,” said Burt. “It’s only a mouse. We’ll find her.” “Only a mouse?” said Nemur. “Her frontal cortex packs more punch than your bird ...

Author: Mark Renney The island is getting smaller, but those who reside in the Tower are in denial. Hiding behind the steel rafters and columns and the reinforced sheets of glass that comprise the walls of their homes, they won’t accept that a very real danger lurks beyond ...

Author: David Barber This was back in 1937, in Wheaton, Illinois, where Grote Reber built a radio telescope to track down persistent background noise that was annoying Bell Telephone Labs. The Depression still lingered and Bell wouldn’t employ him, but in his spare time ...

Author: Stuart Wilson The Art of Learning a Language ̈Japanese must be easy. ̈ I had to shout over the traffic. And the person to whom I was shouting was quite far below now. ̈ ̈There are not so many unusual sounds, ̈ I continued, trying to twist my neck into the sort of ...

Author: Majoki Silence Wildgoose was lost. Not an uncommon occurrence in the weighty mists that formed on the fells. Getting turned around on the moor was not something that ever put her on edge, but she sensed something else had descended to earth with the mists as well, ...

Author: Justin Anderson [Begin transcript] I wear different shoes and take a different route every time I come down here. The last thing I need is to be tracked by the cameras and the drones hiding all over this sector. On the way here, I kept my mind empty. Didn’t ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer “Did you see that?” I look at Lopaka. “What?” He indicates with the muzzle of his laser. “Over there. To the left of the big blue rock that’s right of the black cube.” “Between the dark monolith and the blue boulder?” He gives me the ...

Author: Jade T. Woodridge Cogito ergo sum… The crater Hathor is 107.5 miles in diameter. I stand in its center and am lost to the constant firings of my mental cortex. Flashes of pictures, texts, and movies blur my vision. I am blinded and deafened by recordings of ...

Author: Rick Tobin Boswan Raz screamed with limited breath as he raced into the Earth Alliance council chambers. “They are here, Eric!” He paused, stopping finally, panting in excitement. “All of them. They’re landing their ships around the capital.” Eric Hamilton tried ...

Author: Haley DiRenzo The seven bodies that you could come back as stare back at you after your death. Four men and three woman whose vessels are still capable of withstanding the Earth’s elements. You’ve been selected to inhabit one of them, not knowing how your soul and ...

Author: John Szamosi It was the old Irishman’s stories that would bring scores of people to his table every time he sat down for lunch. Sometimes humorous, sometimes sad, sometimes scary, other times just plain provocative, they had one thing in common: they were all made ...

Author: Alastair Millar The Company had refused Karl’s request to have his wife join him on Mars again, he explained; this time because “the dependents’ travel budget was cut, and it’s run out for this budget cycle.” As usual, Accounts had the final say, and being just a ...

Author: Majoki They stared right through me. It used to bother me. Now, it’s essential. I uncoupled the mag-links while Symplex’s security personnel looked past me. I didn’t fit their profiles, didn’t merit a glance. That’s what it is to be me. I live by a pair of ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The squad’s sitting there having breakfast when Tommo’s head explodes. Just like that, we’re all on the deck. Except Bert. He’s still sat there noshing his way through a bacon butty. “Bert! What the frack?” He swallows before ...

Author: David Tam McDonald Colin gave a polite cough to start the meeting. As team leader he sat at the head of the table. Brian, the secretary, sat to his left, perusing the agenda, which was blank and absolutely not taking any minutes. Tony, Richard and Lyndsey sat facing ...

Author: Martin Clyde-Wilkie There’s an angel outside town, if you know where to look. Push through the gorse and scramble along the river bed, keeping your gaze away from the branch of lightning frozen over the gully, until you reach the edge and can peer down at it. It ...

Author: Laura Jarosz “Whaddya mean, gone? Like, dead?” Dante shrugged. “The safehouse was totally empty. Door hanging open, no Homer inside. No stories, either.” I pressed my hand against my pocket and felt the reassuring crinkle of paper. At least I still had last ...

Author: Bridger Cummings Scanning the reels of family videos gave LF495 some odd sensation of warmth. Was it like eating? LF495 didn’t eat, but it did need power. It was connected to a multi-layer variate array of servers across the entire planet. It didn’t really matter ...