Savings

"Do you love me?" asked Josephine. "Of course I love you." said Arthur "You know that." Josephine looked suddenly distraught. "Okay." Arthur took her hand. "What is it? Why are you upset?" Josephine looked him in the eyes, her whole body tense. "I want you to meet my daughter ...

Sure Shot

Everything was wrong. Jasey hadn’t planned this heist to go this way. Yet, here he was with a shaking hand trembling before a live audience of hostages at the bank. Sweat reigned supreme on his brow and he dared not wipe it to acknowledge its existence. His grey eyes slipped left and right ...

Perfectly Logical Explanation

I'll try to explain this as simp--Yes, I know what time it is. It all makes sense, okay? It's perfectly logical. This is how Navah explained to me: Radiowaves, okay? Radios use' em, so do televisions and cell phones. Navah said everyone knew this, but whatever. You know the static, right? On ...

Static Cling

"I thought it was supposed to be bigger." "Well how should I know? This is what the guy at the shop gave me. It's not like I ever saw one before." The two boys stared down at the black rectangle on the table, breathing in musty basement air. Marty, the older one, was twelve; Chester, his ...

The Price of a Steak Dinner

"See," said Don, as he tapped on the screen, "I told you. Even if I prevent Velocivich from inventing the warp drive, someone else does it within a year, and we still colonize Tao Ceti before the end of the century. You can't change history. History has a way with things." Behind the ...

Flight Of The Majestic

Caleb's hand reached for the rope one more time to hoist himself up onto another ledge. The icy winds howled around him as he hit the heat-release button on the ice-pick to pull it back easily from the sheer face he'd just managed to climb. A breath-taking view of the blue sky melding with the ...

In A Teapot

"There's a storm coming," Leaphorn said, and moved to close the shutters. Zhang removed his ear-buds and glanced up from his monitor, looking out the window. Beijing looked as clear as ever. He dismissed Leaphorn's prediction with a wave of his hand, rose, and proceeded to make tea. Zhang ...

Prevention

“What’s your business?” yelled Marie from the gate tower, pointing her rifle at the small caravan below. A man emerged from the covered wagon holding a wool hat in his hand. He was gaunt, his bones pulling hard against his leather skin. “Ma’m we were hoping we might have a word ...

Simpler Times

Sammy, don’t stray too far now.” Alice had a firm grip on her six year olds hand as they walked through the courtyard of the Faire. A woman stood near the front gates and handed out what was supposed to be paper. For only a thousand credit entry fee, however, Alice knew it was imitation. ...

Seizure

"Dan, please, calm down." Daniel had only been home for a few moments, but the slammed door and Daniel's flashing eyes told Gabe that the results of the subpoena had been poor. "How can you say that? How can you say 'calm down'?" Gabe pressed his lips together but didn't protest when Daniel ...

Newsworthy

By the time he was seven, Oman knew he wanted to be a pony. It wasn't the pay. It wasn't even the glory. He didn't want to be a common pony either, the kind that tourists rent for a few weeks. No, Oman had a plan. He wanted to be a journalist. He wanted to change the world. Oman underwent the ...

Real Girls

"I just don't see what's stopping you, Raylan." Piper adjusted her thick-framed glasses before jamming her fist back into the pocket of her hoodie. Raylan's show at The Xanadu Carousel had been over for awhile, but the rain outside had only now just stopped. Piper and Raylan didn't own cars, ...

Exchange

Annabelle could have gotten stapled, pumped, sucked and tucked, but she had always been a bit of a herbhead, and she wanted to do it the natural way. It was more expensive, to be sure, but in the end, the results would be cleaner. She had looked for the hostess carefully, studying ...

The Anachronists

"They'll find you," the chronomancer told me. "They always do. One day you'll be sitting around sipping tea, playing Mah-Jongg, and BAM!" He slammed his fist on the rickety card table, nearly upsetting his coffee and definitely upsetting Sib. She moaned loudly and ran for the corner, then ...

Earth Belongs To No One

"Diggs! C'mon man, we gotta keep this moving or we won't find squat for real dirt by the end of the day!" 'That had to be Brennan yelling over the drill tube. He'd been at work on that machine, trying to suck up the dry mud and debris, hoping for a better chance at the pure stuff. Diggs ...

How Much Will You Take?

With each stroke of the knife, I knew he loved me. It started with my nipples, him telling me how much he loved me and how sexy I would look without them. He touched my face as he did it, cooing and kissing my forehead and telling me how much he loved me. He kissed away every one of my tears ...

Pierre

Peter did not remember the first time he used the displacement generator. That was how it should be, of course. When used properly, the generator always erased the traces of itself. If it didn't, a person could get tangled up in time, strangled by tethers of conflicting memory. So when he woke ...

Villia

Outside the dome, the earth was sealed with cement; the towers of processed plastic, retrieved from the treasure chests of ancient dumps, grew, broke and branched like mad metal trees. The glimmering city sang in a constant low thrum, tiny machines building additions, remodeling for the new ...

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