One Body Problem
Author: Alastair Millar
It’s the same whenever I wake up – floating free for those first few seconds of consciousness, aware of sounds but nothing else before the light coalesces into something meaningful. This morning, it’s the noises floating up from the street and ...
Useful
Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer
The panoramic window that occupies the longest wall of the executive office at the top of the Vimentane Tower shows a breathtaking view of the nighttime traffic in LEO over London. Against the curved inner wall, a buffet has been laid out ...
Bad Samaritan
Author: T.A. Gruver
The rolling thunder of pulse cannons fell silent as the setting sun hid behind the clouds dancing over Eleos Basin. Not a sound could be heard from the firing lines as a crying Orion trooper grasped his leg with one hand and pulled himself up with the ...
The Secret is in Perception
Author: Brian C. Mahon
"How hopes and dreams vanish when the Maker decides to lower the curtain," Clarissa Dochenal, Countess of the Third Tier, chided herself. Even the confines of a Zakiche war-corsair failed to guarantee safety when the gods warred. The Maker, the False ...
Colder Ways
Author: Majoki
The toy soldier guarded the corner of the commander’s makeshift field desk. The faded tin sentry with chipped red jacket, high peaked cap and bent bayonet stood upon the order.
Especially in the age of cyberwar, such an order was on paper. Hand written. ...
The Most Vicious Cycle
Author: Philip G Hostetler
The project began as deep space exploration. All that was found was uninhabitable, far flung planetoids and asteroids, space, and more space. And finally, the edge of space, that was the most salient discovery we made and a puzzling phenomena. We ...
I remember the shadow
Author: Bryan Pastor
Sitting there in a car waiting for my date to come out, it had caught my eye, standing still like the sail of a ship in a dead calm sea, trying to blend with a hedgerow in the dying light of dusk. My eyes were fixed on it, made out the details, like how ...
Hope of Green
Author: E. S. Foster
The weeds along the pathway clung to my IMRA uniform. The High Witch glared at me as I stumbled over diamond-patterned sticks. “We have no cause for your people here,” she repeated. Her staff—a branch braided with moss and who knew what else—swung ...
Ships in the Night
Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer
The room used to be part of a well-appointed apartment. Under the ravages of damp and neglect, it looks like it was abandoned hurriedly. If you peer through the grimy windows and look down, you’ll see waves breaking against ruined ...
Doubting Peter
Author: Don Nigroni
I was in my study writing verse when this big fellow with a long grey beard and shaggy grey hair inexplicably appeared in front of me. He handed me a sheet of paper.
The paper read:
***
This morning, I was sitting in my living room reading Moby Dick ...
Time
Author: Pete Smith
I come to with a start. There’s a bell ringing. That’s not good. That’s never good.
Raising my head from the bar, I try to focus. Oh yes – it’s the… landlord chap. Land. Lord. I giggle like a child. He’s ringing time. I look at the clock, and indeed, ...
Sand Sailor
Author: Tobias Hope Young
There are moments when the sand looks sturdy. When it isn't rising and falling, when it's just completely motionless. It's in those moments that you might think it's solid but don't be fooled. That sand may look firm but if you step on it you will ...
Meet CoBrain
Author: Nick Jessee
The TV is blaring, but I don’t have the energy to turn down the volume. All around, I can tell others are in the same predicament: their TVs blast and rumble muffled shouts, explosions, and laughs through thin apartment walls.
My stomach grumbles. ...
Rebound
Author: Ethan J. Hatchett
"We need to talk.” Katie’s words were firm, but her bright blue eyes betrayed her.
"Not this time." Michael leaned in to kiss Katie.
"Michael, stop. It's..." He couldn't wait for her to finish. He pressed the button and vanished back to his ...
So The Sherpas Say
Author: Majoki
The children played in mud while parents worried. The rains had not stopped. They had never lasted this long in spring, never been this heavy.
Twice they had moved their families farther from the river, but the entire valley was in danger due to ...
We All Get Tired Sometimes
Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer
The door opens slowly. Lawgiver James comes in, helmet in hand. He’s got a look on his face that tells Maddy everything she doesn’t want to know.
“They found him, didn’t they?”
James nods.
“He’s dead, isn’t he?”
Deputy Evans nods as he ...
Nice Guys Finish Last
Author: Don Nigroni
A scholar I know read this Latin passage in an ancient manuscript containing a complex formula for presumably transforming lead into gold. Yet the formula looked peculiar and unlikely to accomplish its goal. I once worked in a research lab studying the ...
With Fresh Eyes
Author: C.R. Kiegle
“You’ll need to initial here, here, annnnnd, here,” the man at the check-in counter told Estella as he flipped through the pages of the form. The room was lit with white, sterile lights that had a slight blink.
“Mmm. Okay,” she replied quietly, marking ...
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