Author: Amanda Leon I live a life by a thousand cuts. I’ve died too many times to count. I always feel it towards the end, the straining of my old self on new muscles, my bone edging out, ripping slowly through flesh. Some humans never change. They occupy the same body ...

Author: Majoki Once there was and there was not a place. a time. a man. a woman. a child. a robot. The medina was a maze of alleyways and shops largely unchanged for centuries. Until this one. Saad, Buchra, Abbas and Rafik sidled through the dark, narrow footways lit ...

Author: David Barber "There's the official version," said Lev. "Where First Contact was that signal from the Jirt ship out in the Oort. Then there's what really happened." The old hands round the bar had heard all this before, but it was Lev's birthday and he was footing ...

Author: Georgia Scalise It's common knowledge that eyesight is a thing of the ancient past. Ask any kid and they'll be more than happy to tell you the stories about how millions of years ago, humanity supposedly lived above the surface, basking in sunlight and using their ...

Author: Majoki What do you think we hit, Captain? Can’t say. We went through the critters pretty fast. I’ve never seen anything quite like that flock: multicolored, almost metallic, circling in a protective formation. Very strange. We’ll have to wait until the techs ...

Author: Angela Acosta Juru steadied the nozzle skyward, working his way up the curvature of the inner dome. It was tricky work sealing in the pleasant mixture of breathable air for the new inhabitants. The locals christened their new home Stoda, short for Standard Dry Air, ...

Author: Fatemah Albader “You look beautiful today, Maggie,” said Barry Chambers, of Barry Chambers & Associates. “Thank you, Master Chambers. But I am obligated to answer that I always look the same.” Maggie wore the same yellow dress every day. It complimented her ...

Author: Lewis Richards A rumble from deep in the ship jolted me back to my senses, mechanical protests from the air scrubbers up-ship as they struggle to compensate for the rapidly expanding population on board I guessed, all but confirmed by the light-headedness that had ...

Author: Rick Tobin Choxthonzu wandered towards ghastly yellow glows of a huge, throbbing sign disrupting grim darkness, below which shadowy figures scurried from a cement block, like ant farm residents, hoisting grains to distant abodes. Choxthonzu was drawn below the ...

Author: Carla Ra There was a slight chance her name would be Little Bun. Most likely, though, she would be named Suzanna. Her mother kept cycling names in her head at the moment of birth. She would stop when the baby arrived, and the last name would be the chosen ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer A quiet Thursday night, working away on the laptop. Actually doing nothing of any substance. Too many opinions to agree with, laugh at, or marvel over. So many people being misguided. So many of them seemingly wanting to be, as an ...

Author: E. O'Neill Cyrus Bellini handed a deposit receipt and club membership card to the teller and watched as she punched in the numbers. "There you are, Mr. Bellini", she said, sliding the card across the counter. "Your new total is fifteen thousand and sixty ...

Author: K. A. Williams It was hunting season on Kreegat. Beasts were imported from neighboring planets to designated areas on this small world. My section now had a furry, yellow hindosen. The animal had been released hours ago, but the shuttle was late. The rain ...

Author: Carew Bartley After the dusty, scorching heat of the Via Flaminia, I looked forward to the cool silence of the tomb I had read so much about before my trip. Originally buried in a Central Italian necropolis, the tomb had been assiduously reconstructed in the ...

Author: Stuart Watson Overtime became mandatory. The “client” (no one knew who, whether nation or corporation or social medium) had insisted that they move their original deadline forward. Something about a solution to climate change. Ben told Phil and the others about the ...

Author: Bill Cox “And so, we commit their earthly remains to the vastness of space and we ask and pray that their brave souls be granted the peace and tranquillity that they so richly deserve. Amen.” The two astronauts, standing in the open airlock, pushed the sealed ...

Author: Chana Kohl With my blade’s edge poised and a steady hand, I watched a decade of locs fall into the sink. A military uniform, once diligently maintained, hung lifeless in a closet. A soft tunic slid across my clean-shaven head, worn over jute trousers, and cinched, ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer “Read for me the writing on the wall.” We bow our heads and recite the words writ high above, engraved deep into unyielding stone. We have no need to see them, having recited the Second Law every morning and evening since the first day we ...