Popsicle
Author: Kevin Eric Paul
“Hey. Mister,” a melodious voice called to me. I kept my eyes closed for a moment and did not respond. Confusion. Anxiety. Dread.
And a gentle, warm breeze. Bright light penetrating my eyelids. Where am I? I thought. What the devil is going ...
Donor
Author: Jørn Arnold Jensen
“Do you know who I am?”
The question was left hanging in the air. The tiny girl struggled to understand what loomed in front of her; taller than the grown-ups in the kindergarten, and the height accentuated by feet hovering several centimetres ...
That Explains Everything
Author: Mary Lynne Schuster
“I’m stuck.”
“You’re not stuck. Just get up,” Dylan said, disgusted.
“I feel like I’m stuck,” Sara muttered. She knew she could just – get up. Stand up, get a shower, get dressed, get something to eat. Or do a dish. Just do it! she thought. ...
The Aftermath
Author: Karen Schauber
The massive harvest table swelled with Soylent, Guinea Fowl, Sicilian oranges, Pule cheese, pandemain, honey, cloves, and black cardamon for the wedding. The dead bride propped in the cathedra. Her garland of Delphiniums shrivelling. A suckling pig, ...
Cyrano Duet
Author: Colm O'Shea
He types: I see you around. I’m too shy to say hi, so I’m hiding in this avatar. Hope that’s not creepy.
Cyrano-Premium converts: Salutations! One cannot miss your radiance as it sweeps the environment, much as the sun rises and obliterates the stars. ...
Awaken
Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer
Carlo looks about suspiciously, looking for those he knows are watching his every move. Turning his gaze back to Doug, he takes a drag on his vape before continuing, talking through a cloud of strawberry-scented fog.
“You see it’s all an ...
Whale Fall
Author: Adele Evershed
Revelation 21:1 “ and there is no longer any sea”
Fifty miles from what used to be shore, Jonah found a whale still inky black and awesome. He said it was an omen. Of course, Jonah meant it was a sign from God, but he was kind like that, knowing ...
Once More Into The Breach
Author: R. J. Erbacher
He was armed to the teeth. A pulse rifle in his right hand, extra power cartridges on his hips. In his left, a bolt gun, a drum magazine of ammunition plugged in, able to fire one-hundred-forty-four rounds of piercing, fifty-caliber bullets, two spare ...
Gridlocked
Author: Mark Renney
Jackson needed to decompress. The Hyperion delegation had lingered over their coffee and his afternoon schedule had been so tight he hadn’t managed to grab as much as five minutes alone. And now Jackson was parked in a side street, a kilometer or so from ...
Timing
Author: David Barber
This was after the calendar was changed, sometime in the binary centuries, when space exploration became popular once more, flitting from star to star in the blink of an eye.
The acausal drive itself was fashioned by silicon, though the rest of the ...
Unweaving
Author: Arwen Spicer and Haley Black
Entangled voice comm to NLS Convoy Ship 27
By Hasumi, Harmony Outpost, Planet Blue Jungle
Walkabout Log 34 – Update on the Untree Colonial Organism
I wish you could see them. The plumes of these towering Untrees are pulsing like ...
Earth 2.0
Author: Bill Cox
“They’re spraying again out there.”
I look out the window. On the horizon I can see a sickly yellow fog, with small black dots flying languidly overhead. Behind that there is an orange haze, otherworldly, not quite right.
“Do you think we’ll have to ...
The Waiting Cold
Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer
Sally peers from under the racking, checks both ways, then hisses at me.
“You think they’ve gone?”
I shake my head, then put a finger to my lips. Clichéd it may be, but our unwanted visitors are attracted to sound.
But how did they get ...
Passing Through the Arc
Author: Dave Ludford
“Lin Chi, it is the time of your twentieth solar cycle. You are no doubt aware of the significance of that fact.”
Xemon’s words, spoken to all citizens upon reaching this age, sent a shiver through my body even though I’d heard them spoken many times ...
It’s More Efficient This Way
Author: Dean Ward
Prisons take up so much room, that's the problem. We're not denying the need for them, but we would like to see the space used for something... more beneficial. Like a park. Or a school. Or a community centre. Or a library. or, well, you get the idea. ...
The Lonely Flower Seller
Author: Anndria Smuk
The field does not sit within the bounds of time. It is eternal while at the same time deceased.
Do not try to search for a deeper meaning in this field. The only other way one could put it is as a meadow but not much more. A meadow with overgrown ...
Alexandria Perditus
Author: Michael Anthony Dioguardi
Leonard slid his finger too quickly across the creases of the library’s map, snagging a thread of the papyrus beneath his fingernail. He fiddled with his mistake, trying in vain to reattach the ancient fibers. Leonard was the world’s ...
Google’s Earth
Author: Majoki
“I’d like to believe you, but you can see very clearly that you don’t exist.”
“I’m not on your fucking map, but I’m right here, right damn now.”
“Not as verifiable data.”
“You’ve got eyes. You’ve got ears. You can fucking punch me to verify my ...
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