Author: Hillary Lyon In a far corner of the town’s public dog park, K’wren took out a small soft cloth from her designer back-pack purse and began polishing her gold-plated robodog. “I love how you shine in the sun,” she gloated out loud. It wagged it’s tail. “Now, ...

Author: Rick Tobin The starship Seeker One’s domed Hall of Wisdom sweltered below its scintillating chandeliers. High Commander Razzra’s lavender skin glistened against his white majestic draping required for Priestess Masotulama’s Task of Finding for the Achaeans. She ...

Author: Rachel Sievers The old man sat with the shotgun in his lap. He sat in the wooden rocker facing the door. He had survived on this earth for eighty-seven years and when death came he would face it as he had lived, eyes open and hands full. The wooden cabin had been ...

Author: Jenna Hanan Moore What began as an ordinary morning walk with the dog did not remain ordinary for long. As usual, Thomas was oblivious to his surroundings. He didn’t notice the coolness of the breeze, the birds chirping, the pink and gold hue of the eastern sky, or ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer The most beautiful things I’d ever heard entered through the ducts in the corners of my eyes and wound my mind in threads of sweat-tinged rapture: “I am so alone. Please, Captain of captains, please pass the order so that my withered ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The room is full. The courtyard is too. They’ve put up holoscreens in the grounds for those who couldn’t get in. General Perkiss gestures for me to come up front. “Warriors, I can’t end this memorial. It wouldn’t be right. Major Cyo ...

Author: Alastair Millar It should have been paradise; a warm, azure sea lapped the shore, separated from a verdant pseudoforest by a broad expanse of golden sand. When it came to xenobotany, this was as good as field trips got, and Maggie still couldn't believe the grants ...

Author: David Penn As with many worlds in the Small Megallanic Cloud, Ah! presents intriguingly aberrant evolutionary features. The dominant species, dubbed “exploders” by early missions, has, over several million years, developed a unique response to danger. Each ...

Author: Armand Diab The inattentive student stared at his phone in the middle of the lecture. The professor was none too pleased. “Mr. Reddit, no phones during class”, the professor said. “Sorry”, replied the student. The hand device minced no words in letting him know ...

Author: Steven French “They came out of nowhere” is what survivors of battles always say. But it’s true, they did. Somehow the enemy managed to open up warpgates without the usual tell-tale emissions and we barely had time to register their presence, before they were upon ...

Author: David Barber "I'm not asking you," cried the small grey. "I'm telling you!" The other, droopingly tall and thin, as befitted one of its great age, made a not while I'm eating gesture. "No, listen. They bury them in the ground. Or set fire to them." Greys ...

Author: Marcus Nielson The rain thrummed a little tune on her helmet before turning into a cacophony of sound. Each time the rain changed the tempo, she wondered if this was the time that it would finally stop raining. Then, without fail, the pitter-patter would become a ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer She’s down by the landing gear, waiting for the moment when the dockhands retreat before launch. There’s about forty seconds when a determined stowaway can get into the ventral landing leg housing and climb inside the survival shelter ...

Author: Kye Shamblin The first human being to set foot on Mars. That was all I’d ever wanted to be. Even at a young age, when the other children shared equally impossible dreams, this was mine. Other children eventually were sobered by reality and would settle for far more ...

Author: Majoki Not long after a distant star suddenly brightened a thousand-fold and gamma rays gobsmacked life on earth, a prairie dog emerged from its burrow in a deep narrow canyon in what was once southern Utah. Ever wary of predators, it fed quickly and returned to ...

Author: Rick Tobin “I’m thrilled to share our Mars challenge solution.” A bespectacled 30-year-old twittered before the tech wizard's Spartan Texas office. “Sure…thrilled…sit. Skip the small talk. Make your elevator pitch—five minutes.” The ruffled-haired billionaire ...

Author: Samuel Edney He’d wandered too far. He'd wasn’t paying attention and had wandered too far and now it was darkening as the storm had descended upon them. Mother was going to shout at him. She was going to be so angry. ‘Darling, where are you?’ If he turned back ...

Author: D. I. Dean Room 2248 was quiet, save for the distant hum of the starship engines. She held Sarai’s good fingers in her hand, unsure if he even knew that she was there, but this was the least she could do; take up space next to him, watching the stuttering rise and ...