Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The walls are clad in something cheap that’s meant to look like metal. The table I’m attached to has one leg bolted to the floor. Likewise the chair, but I’m not tethered to that. The door looks like it might actually be metal, but the ...

Author: Brian Maycock Peter's hand was cold as she led him down to the beach. She was unsettled so wanted to talk but they had run out of conversation weeks ago. Peter can talk on more than two hundred topics. She had read that somewhere. But she had not focused on the ...

Author: Oisin Hurley Nailah stopped to catch her breath in the shadow at the base of the pyramid. One time her ancestors would have been buried here, surrounded by items they could bring to the afterlife. They had food from the chill lands to the north arrayed around their ...

Author: David Henson Richard teeters to his pig. Made of a hard, shiny material, it's pink, sports a green tux, and is about two feet tall and five feet long. Steve scoops the pot into his pile of poker chips. “You OK, Richard?” "Not OK,” Richard slurs. "Wife left me. ...

Author: David Barber This species is very wary of us. Skittish. Paranoid even. And all because of the reckless behaviour of the Adversary in times past. Though doubtless that is what the Adversary says of us, so neither can pretend the Accord was an act of benevolence. ...

Author: Beck Dacus He lowered the faceplate of his emergency spacesuit’s helmet, sealing it under his chin. In his ear, a voice suddenly said, “Hello, Commander. I’ve set your suit to play this recording approximately when you’ve crossed the event horizon of your life.” He ...

Author: Sara Jordan-Heintz I found myself gasping for air, awakening on the loveseat in the sitting room of my rented beach house, my heart thumping in my chest, with the same sensation drumming a discordant beat in my ears. I could hear the waves thrashing against the ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer “Good morning. What a glorious day to be chugging through the cosmos in a scow named Cameron.” “Fuck off, Mike.” “No need for that, my esteemed colleague. We should revel in the sinecure we’ve been given.” “Are you high?” “Merely full ...

Author: Ken Poyner Stoyan looks down at the broken glass. “You would be this awkward if you had six legs,” he says. And I probably would be. No matter what else, this host-an-alien program is proving a way to expand perceptions. I am learning oh so much. Stoyan is ...

Author: Nick Carter Blackness. Brilliant light. Twinkling suns. It was beautiful. He had never seen anything like it. Even from the starship, it wasn’t like this. There, he was held back by man-made metals and alloys. “Barriers,” he thought. Barriers holding him back from ...

Author: Brian Maycock Free drinks for life. I was nineteen when I said yes. The machine announces its intentions with a gentle hum. A can is dispensed. I feel dizzy, nauseous. I've hardly slept for the last week. We're going to lose the Mitchell account and it's ...

Author: David K Scholes Through the Unified Mind I perceived the vastness of this Einstein-Newton Gap. One of the tracts of interstellar space where neither true teleportation nor even hyperspace travel were possible. You just had to crawl across these “gaps” at just ...

Author: Mina Karo-Pik landed the one-man shuttle in a clearing, high in the mountain chain that crossed the largest continent on Kymera but below the tree line. He exited the craft as the sun rose, casting an orange glow to his golden eyes. Eyes that could spot a beetle in ...

Author: David Henson “Roger, I know you like vegetable soup, but I can’t stand that slurping,” Rhonda says. “Aw, let me enjoy my lunch. You do things that bother me, too.” Rhonda clicks her tongue. “Things like that. So ...” Roger exaggerates a slurp. “Have it ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer | After the old nations fell, the survivors formed tribes. They argued, fought, and reformed into smaller tribes, always defined by ever-shrinking differences and increased fanaticism. When a tribe reached stability, it promptly set off ...

Author: Elizabeth Hoyle “Come on, Calla! The meteor is almost here! We need to get to the shelter!” I thought my door would last at least five more minutes of Paul’s battering. He grabs my arm, attempts to wrench me away from my telescope. I push him away. I keep my eyes, ...

Author: William Torphy “You’re messing with nature.” Dean’s tone is vehement. His green eyes flash. “Haven’t we done enough of that already?” “Of course I’m messing with nature,” she replies. “Nature is screwed. Only intelligent interference can rescue it.” “Someday, ...

Author: Thomas Andrew Fitzgerald McCarthy Charday Dee Williams’ entire body froze in mid-step on the sidewalk at the intersection. That thing happened which she’d heard stories about all of her life. All thirty-five of her years had begun to flash before her eyes. Memories ...