Author: Hillary Lyon “Few have been allowed access to our compound,” Vara said, motioning to the assembly line churning before them. Yoff marveled at the glorious machinations of this factory. The choreographed sweep of the robot arms, the perfectly regimented twist and ...

Author: Anirudh Chamarthi The King demanded an envoy when he made his conquest. It was Martin’s fault, and he volunteered for it. It was penitence, for that man ten years ago, the man who had created the King with two lines and a keystroke, created he who promised them ...

Author: R. J. Erbacher The perspective from her floor-to-ceiling office windows, in the seventy-fifth tallest building in Manhattan, gave Van a stately view of the snow, which started rather innocently around noon on Friday. She picked at her salad in the plastic clam shell ...

Author: Majoki Planetfall was only parsecs away when TwoNine asked permission to speak to One. A request that was within fleet parameters, barely. TwoNine observed all the proper protocols in One’s presence, so One opened a node. As was understood, TwoNine’s useful ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Oldun Peters takes a sip from his goblet, then raises it to the heavens. “First for the body, second for the soul.” People nod, but fewer and fewer copy him like I do. He gives everyone a gap-toothed smile. “What shall I tell of ...

Author: Bill Cox Dearest Miriam, I have a few minutes and am using them to write this letter to you. We are all standing on this sweltering beach in the Algarve and it’s crazy to think that a mere four years ago it would’ve been thronged with tourists. Now there’s only a ...

Author: Mark Renney For Tanner, each name as it appeared on his list was merely a statistic, albeit one it was his job to render obsolete. He was all too aware that there were levels and some of them had sunk deeper into the quagmire than others. But he had always believed ...

Author: David Barber Mr Wells having already written a popular scientific romance about time travel, publishers seemed to think my own literary efforts on the subject suffered by comparison. They also warned my title would be a hindrance to commercial success. One editor ...

Author: Daniel Rogers I'm to be sacrificed tomorrow. I knew I wasn't going to like this planet, but when your fighter decides to crash, it doesn't ask how you feel about it. Gline-doth is a class C Primitive. I'm a little rusty on my planet classifications, but I believe ...

Author: Majoki Some swear by King James. Some will only settle for King Lear. But give me The Prince. Machiavelli all the way. His flavor. Assertive. Unrelenting. Unforgiving. Unapologetic. That’s the power we seek in this day when all is utopic and bland. A fine cut of ...

Author: Emily Kinsey I pull the string from my son’s arm. It’s long—seven inches, at least—and shimmers like spun silver. Exhaling slowly, I put down my tweezers and rub my eyes. That last string took too long; the tail almost got away. If nothing else, pulling strings is ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer He’s going to watch it again. Unbelievable. “Any chance of a coffee?” The stare is a definite ‘no’ with an attempt at being hard. “You can ask for details. I was there.” Plus I have complete recall thanks to my action audit unit. I got ...

Author: Alastair Millar I should have said something. Today, I know that—but back then, I was still young and stupid. So I’m recording this now that I’m old and hopefully wiser, for all the good it will do. I was desperate when I signed up for the Settler Corps, with ...

Author: K.T. Frasier When my sister dies, she leaves a nebula in my brain. An upside-down Pillars of Creation right where my temporal lobe used to be. They discover it when my fiancé brings me in for an MRI, worried when I seem to know where all the elements in the universe ...

Author: Dart Humeston “The last time I felt like this, I woke up in the year 1981.” I explained to the attractive woman after I appeared out of thin air in her kitchen. “I sensed static electricity in my body and materialized in a video game arcade in Miami,” I ...

Author: GW LeCroy Tokyo lay far below, smothered in a century-old, neon-streaked smog. A constant wail rose into Asami’s room from somewhere in the haze, sharp and setting her on edge. But above, a thousand shooting stars blazed orange-yellow trails across the navy sky. ...

Author: Daniela Tabrea The soft roar of the circulation pumps bid her a warm welcome. Maybe not warm, but sterile. Exactly what she’d been looking for. Jaimee hoped this would be the last time she ever moved apartments. Her previous place was substandard, to say the ...

Author: Majoki Still puzzled, Mya Kirin fixated on the sign: Last Casket Company. The moniker didn’t make much sense, but she’d always felt a calling to look into the unexplained. To push for answers. She wished it could’ve been a real job. A job she was paid to do. A ...