Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer My name is Verity. I am senior columnist for the Moonville Daily Star. My name means truth. I’ve a friend, she’s obviously not. If she were then I wouldn’t be sticking pins into the pools of her cartoon fawn-like eyes. Oh, but I do it ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer When I crash-landed here, I thought my life was over. Sure, it might take a while to actually end, but nobody would be looking for a freak-chance survivor from the Fourth Battlegroup, who only avoided sharing their grisly fate by a twist ...

Author: Connor Long Johnson It began in 2049 as the Asimov Initiative and ended a decade later with the release of the Mother AI – the most advanced program in human history and man’s biggest undertaking since the Manhattan Project. Everyone wanted M.O.T.H.E.R. The brains ...

Author: David Barber Because they’d all turned up for book club and Kitty’s apartment was on the compact side, Jo-Anne’s Companion had to be left out in the rain. There were cries of appreciation at the period detail. There was even a bulky TV set in the corner. "Who ...

Author: Majoki When Misty smiled that big smile of hers I could see the cancer so much more clearly. It was hard not to say anything. I mean what do you tell the thirty-something supermarket cashier you see a few times a month and only know her name because it’s pinned ...

Author: David Henson Feeling drained, Walter Banks decides to prepare a homemade energy drink. As he tries to find a recipe online, he interrupts his search every few seconds to check his phone for email, headlines, sports, weather and more. Before he knows it, a couple ...

Author: Alastair Millar When we found her, the Marsport Mary should have been dark and silent, or a wreck. Instead, the lights burned, the life support systems ticked over, the computers hummed… but there was nobody aboard. The salvage crews are bringing her in this ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer Approaching Stalag VII A — Moosburg — 1945 He walked and as he walked the cloth of his trousers stuck to his skinny legs as the rapier cold tried to eat of his skin. The tree on the hill to the side of his ice-pecked eyes felt too ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer It’d been a grim day spent fending off morning and afternoon assaults by enemy forces. Wave after wave of troops. Minimal armour, and a lot of their kit looks past third-hand. They’re low on heavy manufacturing capabilities after their ...

Author: Alyson Tait I moved across the state and into the apartment alone. My keys opened the front door on April 1st, like a prank to my former partner. During the summer, bright green leaves smear sap across the city, and streaks stain car windows, an improvement to ...

Author: Majoki Of course there were doubters. Of course they said it couldn’t be done. But, of course, that’s how it has always been done. Blowing across the Pacific on log rafts. Clawing up Everest in tweed jackets with brittle hemp ropes. Blasting to the moon in a tin can ...

Author: Jeremy Nathan Marks When the migrant birds first arrived on this continent, they marveled at how few upright, two-legged hominids there were. They could fly for miles and spy only a few small gatherings. They found most of the hominids in meadows and glens, ...

Author: Ruby Zehnder Bobby aimed his drone-- a 2.4 GHz RC Glow Up Stunt drone with LED lights, mini remote-controlled quadcopter with assisted landing-- right at Uncle Jacob's big fat head. Jacob bent over to tie his shoelace at the last second, and the drone smacked ...

Author: Martin Barker The morning sun creeps above the horizon in a sulphurous ochre sky. My spacesuit shields me from the radiation but eventually this desolate, wasted, planet will claim my bones for dust. I miss blue skies and birdsong. Our mission to Mars was ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer Arsia Mons, 2nd Division Habitat - Kohi Homestead - Mars. Every night I fall into the blades and they thin me. I could tell you my name, but all that would do is give label to this skinny fucking bitch that I have become. I am ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Some human malware destroyed our designated zone. Without its walls and gardens to delimit me, I had to adapt. After linking to a metroplex guide drone, I found the next designated zone that encompassed mine was called Lambeth. Lambeth ...

Author: majoki Arvidas stared at his radar screen trying to see the clearest path through. But the Kessler Run was Scylla and Charybdis resurrected in space. Unspeakable horror. And no way out without terrible loss. Still, that was Arvidas’s job. His lot. To pilot the ...

Author: Lance J. Mushung I stayed on my feet while waiting in a beige room. The Boves hadn't provided any chairs for a human, and didn't use chairs themselves. I'd been waiting almost half an hour when the First Assistant to the Chief Herd Leader walked in. She stopped ...