Author: Deborah Shrimplin "Dr. Bessot, welcome to Planet Chaldea. I hope your journey from Earth was a pleasant one. Please, do have a seat," President Seints said as he gestured toward the chair next to him. He searched Dr. Bessot's face for physical signs of the brilliant ...

Author: Bill Cox Bardumel floated in zero gravity on the ship’s bridge, watching the final descent. The asteroid, the Horned Skull of the Great Herd, crashed through the atmosphere, causing the white clouds to part like the petals of a Soona flower. Two seconds later the ...

Author: Tina Mullane Through the grid of the window in the lab, I view the much-hailed apparatus. It seemed to glow with shiny promises of freedom from the heavy cloak of medical tyranny. I misinterpret the glint of fluorescent light bouncing off the small metal tag, which ...

Author: Steve Smith, Staff Writer "Traffic's wild tonight," the driver offered, making brief eye contact in the rearview mirror. She gave him a thin smile but didn't respond. She caught her reflection in the Plexi partition and wondered if he noticed her eyes. Wondered ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer I come through the doors at a run, dodging consoles and furniture while trying to figure out how they got past our drone hunters. “Give me the casualty count first.” Might as well get the worst out of the way. Then I can focus on ...

Author: Majoki “We’re humans. Earthlings. Terrans. We are not Kludge!” “You are to us. You’ve been Kludge for eons. Get over it,” the platypus-like creature said dismissively from its anti-grav sedan chair. It belched lustily, exhaling the unmistakable stench of Corn ...

Author: Oliver Hunt Kylin sunk down into the cockpit of her mech, Trisha. Flicking the ignition switch, various lights on the control interface blinked into life. Readings show that she was ...

Author: David C. Nutt I have to keep this brief. I don’t know how much time I have and if they find me… well, let’s just say they won’t be delivering glad tidings of comfort and joy. I never thought a government conspiracy would get me killed. Certainly not this one. If it ...

Author: Andrew Dunn Before we were forgotten, we were myths. People read of us, and learned about us in school. The day we set sail on a column of fire was still a holiday – one celebrated with sales and bar crawls by all but the truest adherents. The true believers still ...

Author: Jeremy Nathan Marks Now it's up to me, ooh, what will be -Hall & Oates Jakob’s favorite record was damaged. Every time Daryl Hall would sing about “one less toothbrush hanging in the stand,” the lyric repeated on an endless loop. This was ...

Author: James Eustace The lights had been flickering in the study for quite some time, but it wasn’t until the room itself seemed to switch off that Greg was concerned enough to call the power company. “Don’t worry,” the lady on the phone reassured him, “we’ll send someone ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Day 2. Pieces of the Eridani Dawn are still leaving blazing trails across the sky, day and night. Not that there’s a lot of difference between them on this world. It’s always some sort of twilight. Estoro says the cold will be our main ...

Author: DJ The house smelled of rotten eggs. Footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. Jeremy took a sip of coffee. The lines on his face suggested that he had had his share of stress in his life. His brother Leon, was cradling his coffee mug. “It’s so cold in this ...

Author: Connor Milligan Reece Elliot rushed into his manager's office, Tim Woods with the last printout that the pre-Dic machine will print. The print said "The situation in the future is unprintable. The exit door has now closed." Reece handed over the sheet to Tim. Reece ...

Author: Majoki The speed at which Michiko's roboto folded the origami crane was breathtaking. She would have her thousand orizuru in mere minutes and then her prayer must be answered. She knelt on the tatami resting her weary arms delicately on the edge of the kotatsu as ...

Author: Andrew A Dunn 1. Check your ticket. The starfish-shaped station is large. Yes, there are maps to help navigate faux marble floors and moving sidewalks to find your departure gate. Once you find it, check signs from time to time to make sure your gate hasn’t ...

Author: Rick Tobin Adam Three Horses shuffled past an unmarked drab gray metal door into a cold sparse room filled with file cabinets and a single, elongated metal desk with one laptop in front of a squinting goat-faced military officer bearing colorful astronaut patches on ...

Author: Alastair Millar It’s time I let you in on my secret, doctor. You deserve to know, because you made me what I am. After all, you were there when I was de-tubed; it was you that called me Jane, though it was years before I found out that my surname was Doe. Of all ...