Author: Jim Anderson A bell rang and the finding room fell silent. The finder — a small, silver-haired woman in a lavender robe — turned to Ulrich and said, “A simple question, Citizen. Do you believe in one objective, mechanistic reality governed by the laws of Newtonian ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer This is where we end. Tucked so neatly under the aftermath. I stare at my now long dead cat as its fur fuses and its stench fills the sill upon which it lays. I see its flesh sag and melt and my mind shifts to the meat in my moribund ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The tennis-court sized office is lit like a summer afternoon. Everything within is red, but each item is a different shade. “You must tell me who makes those soft ownership collars for you. I’ve only seen that shade of purple once ...

Author: Majoki “A synaptic map of the brain.” “Social media pathways on the Internet.” “A spider web. If the spider had taken acid.” The program director waited as each volunteer gave their interpretation of the sprawling diagram being displayed in the research ...

Author: Andrew Dunn They come every seventeenth year. Momma says they are evil, each one a little piece of hell called forth by her ex-husband to torment springtime before summer’s heat dries our corner of Georgia to a crisp. “Cicadas.” Molly said. “They’re just ...

Author: Calum Strachan It was an overwhelmingly unlikely occurrence. Somewhere at the end of time, as the universe approached uniformity, a localised phenomenon sprung out of the thin and fragile space. Purely by chance, the particles that had drifted alone for so long ...

Author: Mark Renney Tanner’s job was to remove the evidence, to wipe away the traces. He considered this task as necessary, that he was an essential part of the system and for more than forty years Tanner’s belief in the system hadn’t wavered. He had remained resolute, ...

Author: Letícia Piroutek Hayden slams the door of his underground metal shoebox. Technology my ass. Everything is cramped and he can hear his neighbors yelling as if they’re inside his “apartment”. It consists of a sink with artificial water that tastes like plastic no ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer Silicon ash flutes through ink and glints as ascending blackened leaves in my wake. I can hear my vertebrae as they torque. I hear them and the chatter shatters as they arch. I hear them even as my ears sear from my head and the torque ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer How were we to know How far this war would go? We weren’t ready, We’re never ready, To be over. Bombs rained down without warning. The Keloden landed on the planet the next day, while we huddled in a shattered basement. Clinging to ...

Author: Moh Afdhaal Bile singed Vesper Krel’s throat as he squirmed at the dark shapes that haunted his periphery. The curious ailment that wreaked havoc on his gastric system, had been diagnosed as a probable symptom of expedited re-acclimatization to Earth’s atmosphere ...

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 ...