Blood in the Water
Author: R. J. Erbacher He stood by the running stream, knees trembling, still panting, tears stinging his eyes, exhausted, wounded and numb with shock. And although the simple clear water was marvelous it wasn’t distracting enough. The weapon he held in his hand was…
read moreBattle on Skybreak Tower
Author: Glenn Leung This high up in the exosphere, sound is not a concept that exists. Even so, Savan could hear the clash of the fighters below as he projects an impression of the battle in his mind’s eye. This was his anchor into sanity. Savan had never done a job…
read moreThe Canal
Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer The craft shudders as it nears the centre of the universe and a plume of ice sheers from its skin, sparkling out and dissipating into the nothing. This place where all matter and, subsequently, all life had bawled into existence. The…
read moreThe Fall of Sturmcala
Author: Jae Miles, Staff Writer Unearthly music accompanies their shifting ranks through the trees. I watch as they somersault over bushes and vault between branches before landing to resume their rhythmic approach. Their movements pull the low mist into fantastical…
read moreWhat’s In a Name?
Author: David C. Nutt If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I would not have believed it. The Warmech Chieftains, their battle captains, corps commanders, generals, the entire human Warmech Collective leadership, backs bent in the fields harvesting what looked like…
read moreIgnorance was Bliss
Author: Samuel Stapleton My brain was working faster than my eyes as I took in the flood of information through my augment hud at my desk. I quickly began realizing that whoever this person was, they were completely serious. I spent maybe twenty minutes having…
read moreYou’re Back
Author: David B Anderson “And so you’re back from outer space.” She pulled him into her arms and hugged him tightly. Her former boyfriend smiled but didn’t say a word. “I knew you would return. People said you were crazy. Flying in a new spacecraft on a discount…
read moreThe Lamarckian Preservation
Author: Timothy Goss We are sitting awaiting the bus. It’s hot and we sweat beneath the binary dance of our stars stripping great swaths of burning energy from their brethren. The Bus Station is busier than usual, more and more use its cool shaded concrete floors and…
read moreThe Ticket – Species 85,679,421
Author: Thomas Fitzgerald McCarthy Exo-zoologist Dr. Khadga Bhandari died clutching the datapad containing her final Special Analysis, surrounded by dozens of mourning colleagues. It was only in the final weeks of her one-hundred and twenty-four-year existence that…
read moreA Different Kind of Sleep Experiment
Author: Elizabeth Hoyle “What is this?” A pill rests in a plastic cup. “It’s something to make you sleep. We have all the nodes attached so we can monitor your brain waves and your vitals throughout the night. Once we have tonight’s data, we can start a more…
read moreNature’s Candy
Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer Hook stemmed wild blackberry reaches up to pull me down into the barely visible ghost footprint of her home. It has been years since I’ve stood here. Years since we did what we did and cackled and spat as we did it. If I’m honest,…
read moreDeicide
Author: Steve Bellavia We huddled around, all the brothers and I, awaiting the big announcement. She stood before us in resplendent glory – Her Majesty – The All-Knowing – The Window – The Electric Web – The Efficient Omniscient. Her lights were aflutter. Her casing…
read moreThe Go-Away
Author: David Barber Imagine you were an alien visiting the world; what would you want to see? The Grand Canyon perhaps, or the famous Louvre in Paris, or a place where something terrible happened, like Hiroshima. Maybe the strange rituals of the World Series. The…
read moreThe Art of Detection
Author: David K Scholes The three of us pored over the various 3D mind image, life force energy, and bio patterns. The “B” team, consisting of robotic investigators stood ready to assist us. There were, of course, other “A” teams and many, many other robot led “B’…
read moreAwakening
Author: David K Scholes I awakened from the deep drug-induced sleep. The anti-nightmare medications had, at least to some extent, worked. Thank goodness for that. I couldn’t take another mind assault like last time. It would have broken me. I simply would never have…
read moreThe Organon of Arazan
Author: Alzo David-West Liquid metal waves flowed on the nighttide shore of the glaciated wasteland planet Korzan. A special meeting was in session. The Ministry of Planets, acting under the United Interstellar Territories, had hyper-shuttled three of its delegates to…
read moreDresden Doll
Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer Once on my way to school, I happened across the body of a newborn baby bird. I thought it badly made. Its cold flesh hanging too loose as it slid atop a fragile frame of barely formed bones. I felt it again. The kiss of bloodless…
read morePeternal
Author: Jae Miles, Staff Writer The fist aimed at my head connects. I hear his knuckles break. Before he can scream, I chop him across the throat and toss him off the walkway. His landing will raise some alarms, but it’s twenty floors down and I’m about to get…
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