Author: D Mackey I’m setting up as the Pleiades come on shift. Like a lighthouse, their beams cut through the dark and cast long shadows over the forecourt as they turn slowly towards the Sun. Orion cycles out, and switches off one by one until it’s just the galaxy on the ...

Author: Connor D Trulock The Captain of the deep orbital station opened their eyes as they came back to life. They shivered, but not from cold, the artificial thaw ensuring the entire body was nearly instantaneously and uniformly raised out of the cold near absolute ...

Author: Joseph Hurtgen In his F16, Judson Steel bore down on the speedy bulwark, the alien flying fortress that had focused its heat rays on what used to be downtown Chicago and was now within range of New York City. “Missiles away!” cried Steel. The tank’s armor ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The room is spotless. There are clusters of four chairs, divided from each other by transparent acrylic screens. The walls are covered in posters, white letters stark against black backgrounds. The grey-haired woman in the chunky-knit ...

Author: Andrew Dunn My grandfather writes me letters. They are the old-fashioned kind, written on small sheets of paper with blue lines his calligraphy ignores. I imagine it takes him hours, maybe days, to write each one with lettering so perfect it seems a shame he only ...

Author: Alan Moskowitz Other than a bottle of curdled milk, there was nothing in the refrigerator. Desperate, she grabbed the bottle with a skeletal hand and drank the brutally smelling mess down, hoping for a least some nutrition. It only took a few moments for her stomach ...

Author: Dave Ludford I’d just entered the orbit of the planet Obran when the form of Senator Drex materialized; a not very welcome visit. I set the controls to manual and prepared myself for whatever was to come; Drex and I had crossed swords on several previous occasions. ...

Author: Patricia Miller It was an odd commission, but no one but Grimbello Brothers had the wherewithal to pull it off. The client was quite specific as to the size and shape of a cask to hold the finest jewel in the kingdom. It had to be a masterpiece, she insisted, but ...

Author: David Henson I hold my breath as Dr. Wocker studies the results of my full body scan. “Well, Stan,” he says, “it’s fortunate we included the FutureScope diagnostic in your physical this year.” I sit straighter as if that will influence what the doctor’s about to ...

Author: Gorilla Sapiens Well, spit it out boy, what did you find down there? Machines, sir, self replicating machines. I see, what were they doing? As near as we can figure, sir, they're consuming enormous amounts of power and generating vast amounts of waste heat ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The room is unadorned. No evidence of tooling; not even a scuff mark mars the bare rock. No dust, no insects. Nothing moves. This place is still. It’s uncanny. Unnerving for some. Jeffrey Palist found it fascinating. He wiped himself down ...

Author: Josie Gowler “What do you see?” The last bandage came off and I opened my eyes, blinking hard. Even in the low lighting, everything was stark and clear. And astonishing, vibrant, like I could taste and hear the colours. But I wasn’t going to say that. That just ...

Author: I.W.Ray Lullabies are for the air Poets are of water Remember this well Do not mistake one for the other And then my dream state abandoned me to have me face my cruel fate. I was doing repairs on my spaceship and then a ...

Author: Alzo David-West ​Hujen awoke. He could remember little, only the flames. His eyes adjusted to the straggling light that filtered through a charred silken curtain. He saw another survivor of the night: a standing door frame, its elongated shadow cast right-ways on ...

Author: Ross Clare “What exactly have you been doing all this time?” the alien demanded. The scientists of the Legacy Project stood in a loose group before it, shuffling awkwardly from one foot to another. Many were desperately attempting to avoid eye contact by ...

Author: Philip Carrigan Jordan didn't leave a note before he jumped off that bridge. All he left was a brief voicemail: "It was just a fantasy, man, I didn't want to hurt anybody. Turn Jonni on, you'll see why I couldn't stay. Just… just don't tell my ma about her." ...

Author: Tina Ruiz "Sometimes I want to die," she said. "Your soul is tired," he replied. Oh, how right he was. Her soul was tired. She had spent her life fighting to be normal in a world that wasn't. She struggled to fit in with people who refused to understand her and ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The little AIbot skitters across the floor, legs not quite obeying it’s eager command to leap onto Rhonda and pester her until she gives in and plays with it. “Slow down, Saffy. You’ll break a leg again.” “Shan’t.” The tiny terror skids ...