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 ...

The Dead Done Gone

The walls of Maria Gracia Plana’s prison had long since fallen, the building having crumbled along with the Empire that constructed it. The planet’s wealth and populace have gone, leaving it boundless and bare, a relic of times long past. Maria Gracia Plana’s guards have left her, after ...

The High, Hot Summer

The thousand babies slept in the high, dry grass as late summer breezes caressed their cradles. Local farmers, paid by the government not to grow food, had abandoned the field and left their farm equipment to rust. The summer had been blazing and the ground cracked under the oppressive sun. ...

Enlightenment

“So you see,” Bigsby slurred, “So you see, that’s why we’re better than you.” “No,” Jack replied, “I don’t see at all.” “Okay. Okay. I’ll explain it again. It’s like this. The beer, see--” He held up his own glass for demonstration. “The beer is the Earthmen. ...

The Europa Colony

Seventeen years ago, when I returned from the Europa colony, I was asked to give a speech at a middle school assembly. For two hours I talked about recycling. Recycled air, recycled food, recycled water. We throw things away here, but there, everything is recycled. This kid comes up to me ...

Invaded

We think large. We may be small creatures to you, but our lives extend far beyond the miniscule moments you possess. We think large, and we think long. Have you ever looked at a mosquito, closely? It's a strange shape, all hunched over and crooked. Even by your insect standards, it is a ...

Postcard

The back of the postcard says "please don't give up." She lives on the seven hundred and thirtieth floor. The elevator takes nineteen minutes to reach the livingfloor, when there is no one else getting on it, which has only happened twice. Otherwise, it takes an extra twenty four seconds at ...

Autumn

The way she lets her hair flow in the wind keeps me breathless. She twists and turns as the leaves blow past; an endless dance to an endless life. They say it’s the season for wisdom, heralding a season of death to come. That season has long since past and I’m watching her dance in her ...

Selection

“Sex complicates things.” Professor Dawkins looked at Joe, whose broad shoulders nearly touched the sides of his tiny book-lined office. Joe was from one of the Midwestern public schools that concentrated on test scores, leaving students with a broad range of knowledge, but little depth. ...

Mercy Mission

“They say there is no God in the outer planets! Those who say this clearly do not have any understanding of the Lord and his teachings! They clearly have not been here!” From deep within in the control deck of “The Laz’rus,” high in standard orbit, Anastasia allowed herself a grin. ...

Tibambinum

The dream: Jennie Smith woke up in a desert, standing in the center of an endless, cracked sheet of dirt so hard you could scrape your knees on it if you fell down. Above her, the sky was even blacker than her grandmother's skin, and the moon seemed like a hole carved into its clay. Several ...

Will To Live

I’m floating. Well, it seems like I’m more submerged at the moment. It takes me a moment to realize where I am and that still doesn’t make sense. Everything is dark, my body feels weightless but it is not peaceful. My lungs begin to realize; I’m not breathing. Suddenly, it’s panic. ...

Equinox

The snow falls on my smile like that old fairy tale—you know, the one about the dwarves and the cannibal queen, the one with the apple. The tableau would be better if it was sunset, because I always liked sunsets best, but you take what you can get. I’m drinking in the buildings, the ...

Infatuation

“I don’t want to come home.” Reggie’s wife began to cry, tears sliding around her cheeks. Reggie smiled beatifically. “Don’t cry Carol, its alright, really. You’re young and awfully perky. You’ll find another husband in no time.” “But I’m in love with you!” Looking ...

In The Belly Of The Desert

Jack Strap didn’t bother burying the men. Buzzards’ gotta eat, he thought. Same as worms. A man makes his own funeral. You wander in the Desert, you’ll go the same way all Desert creatures do. In the belly of something else. Buzzards weren’t gonna do a thing with the corpse’s ...

Post-Biological Clock

Sometimes I pretend I have a metawomb inside me. Things would grow there. Children, I mean. Dozens at a time. Girls and boys. I might not be able to stop. I’d populate my entire livingspace with pudgy pinkfaced versions of myself, and when I went to the recreation floor, strangers would ...

Random Story :

  • The Mission

    Angel was used to doors shutting in his face, the …