Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer “Here goes nothing.” I always thought being stuck in a time loop would be fun. It’s what started me on the scientific path that led to my current state: Professor Emeritus Epa Shadel, prodigy and teen superstar turned hardworking genius ...

Author: Mary-Wren Ritchie My gut alerts me with a plague of insects in my head and a whirlpool cascading waves through my phalanges. But I’m already on the spacepod and I feel the shape of Gemini projected onto my scales. I meet the constellation arrangement of the ...

Author: Ruby Zehnder "So, Irvin says to me, Martha, you know there's still a few bites of chocolate cake with the cool whip frosting you love in the fridge." "Are you sure it was Irvin speaking to you?" the doc asked. "Of course it was. Who else would be speaking to me in ...

Author: Riley Meachem 1. A bloodstained crib. While ambiguity is one of the strengths of this portrait, the small, doll-like leg with a protrusion of bone removes all chance of a misunderstanding, or some sizable coincidence. The child is dead. Vaguely humanoid shadows play ...

Author: Alzo David-West The Polygonz, a mineral-based sentience out around Rigel, were conducting an observation. Their deep probes had detected a planet, distant and liquid, with a peculiar life form composed of electricity and plasma, though the Polygonz could not discern ...

Author: Emma Edling Müller We are a few lightyears beyond Mars when I first hear the rumble. It’s a subtle thing, the faintest of thunders, more an absence of silence than any particular sound. The kind of noise that’s hardly there, but once you notice it, it’s all you can ...

Author: John Chadwick Jeisen rolled out of his bunk and stumbled to the viewscreen where the rest of his crew was gathered. From orbit, it looked like a white marble with some blue swirled in it. They tracked the fabled energy source to its origin on a small city-planet, ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The streetlights have been off for an hour. The rain has been constant for three. Through the sodden darkness comes a stranger, clad in earthy hues and righteousness. I listen to him coming in. A mind is usually a noisy place, except in ...

Author: Ruby Zehnder "Eight…Nine…Ten... Ready or not, here I come," Elaina called out. The five-year-old started her search and destroy mission in the bedroom. She explored the closet. She looked under the bed. She even emptied the sock drawer. I held my breath as she ...

Author: Glenn Leung Nylar saw it at the river, staring up from under the water. Warped by ripples, it looked confused and ugly. At least that’s what Nylar thought. Having lived in darkness all her life, she wasn’t sure how to connect the dots between appearance and concept. ...

Author: Helen De Cruz Happy thirty-first birthday, Krish! I miss you. I often dream you’re still alive. There’s been a mistake. We merely broke up. I scold you for being away so long. “Sorry Sudha, I’ve been busy,” you say, “How’s our City project ...

Author: David C. Nutt “Whoa! I can’t believe I am actually sitting with Carter John, famous author, inventor, rock guitar god, and former vice-president of the USA!” Carter John shifted in his chair uneasily. “Umm… yeah that’s me.” Carter John read the woman’s ID. “Vonni” ...

Author: Joseph Rosa The old enchanter’s body dripped tangerine as black spots floated on his liquid skin like water lilies. The Leopard Warlock had long forgotten why he’d cast this appearance onto himself, morphing his body into a walking neon pond. His arm rippled as he ...

Author: Alzo David-West Marcus had witnessed several incarnations of himself in the course of his forty-one years—a guarded child, a romantic teenager, a tired tutor, and a tolerant husband of Madeline. She barged into his study, upset about their quartet of preadolescents ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer “The Atrox is a perfect blend of artificially grown organics and 3D-printed cerametal. Able to withstand impacts that would crush a man to pulp, regardless of whether he is in body armour or not.” General Navores looks back down into the ...

Author: Kathleen Bryson You had been murmuring in your sleep about a particular breed of polygon for weeks, but – you being you – you never wanted to talk about it over breakfast. Isoceles, I wondered, woken beside you and your apnea machine, sirens sliding like butter ...

Author: Paul Colby Hirvath led the way down a narrow valley in the highlands of Euclid. As he approached the foot of a cliff, he looked up into the white sky, threaded with bands of purple cirrus. The Archivist trailed him by five or six meters, taking his way more slowly ...

Author: Josh Jennings Wood So Johnny settled into the diurnal mechanics of this place: the slip of water down the bathroom drain, a little like the roaring strain of boosters heard from inside the cockpit’s vacuum; the music of birds, in and out of earshot as they rode the ...