Author: Moriah Geer-Hardwick “What a mess.” Cabot wearily scans what’s left of the room. “Damn ATU didn’t leave us much to work with.” Spattered with blood and bits of debris, the ATU stands to one side, patiently awaiting its next objective. Stokes nudges a severed arm ...

Author: David C. Nutt It was a beautiful VR construction. Potted dwarf apricot trees, soaring arches, piles of ornate cushions and silk settees, thick oriental carpets. It was, by all accounts, the most perfect steampunk zeppelin grand salon the Adjustor had ever seen. ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Dawn is like a neon tube: a strip of too-bright light. Above it are the clouds that hang across the city all the time, below are the outer walls. From this far inside, the watch towers and turrets look like the bits that soldiers hid ...

Author: Michael Anthony Dioguardi The pianist pounded on the ivory keys and produced such sound that dust trickled from the ceiling. The shadows of his hands collided with the flicker of candle light, orchestrating a waltz of chiaroscuro. The trills and follies manipulated ...

Author: Shannon O'Connor I got the chip in my head so I could go faster and discover things nobody else knows, but I’m not supposed to tell anyone because my enemies could use the facts against me. I have to travel to search for new ideas to steal from scientists to find ...

Author: Guy Preston We were at Evan’s house when he asked me if I wanted an old record player. I told him I didn’t. He picked it up and made for the door. 'Where are you taking it?' I asked. 'To the curb,' he replied. 'Why?' 'It will disappear,’ he said. He walked out ...

Author: Katlina Sommerberg Kye rolled an unlit joint between her fingers. Miserably pining for a long-gone sky in the middle of Golden Gate Park, she couldn’t relax with tomorrow looming on the horizon. Next morning, she’d wake up to the same monotonous life. The world ...

Author: Debra Cazalet That’ll be you out there floating free in the crush of space, the sea of stars between thought and the heaviness of absence when all here spins, insentient and weightless objects collected by Pater_on, the one who commissioned your thoughts, who ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer There’s a fat bloke in the corner sitting on some woman’s body. I do hope she’s dead, because he’s not a small mammal. From another view, knowing he crushed a woman to death might help offset the shock when they tell him that isn’t claret ...

Author: Helen Merrick Cigarette smoke. No doubt about it. What idiot was smoking in the cinema? I take the steps two at a time determined to find the culprit before the smoke alarms go off. Bursting through the door, I intend to head for the toilets – the usual hiding place ...

Author: Hillary Lyon Clarissa shuffled into the kitchen, grumbling. Her new boss was a perfectionist and demanded all those under her were too, and with all the road construction, her drive home was so tense even her favorite songs on repeat didn’t help. Her stress level ...

Author: James Sallis “The sound of cicadas in the trees. Sunsets that look as though they’ll never end. Unexpected laughter. The way shallow pools of water look when sunlight breaks through again after a shower. The smell of fresh coffee.” Our litany of lost things ...

Author: David K Scholes Federal Houses of Parliament Canberra Australia Early 2096 “Let’s run over those policy proposals again,” said the dominant AI “we have to get the Federal budget into surplus.” It was only referring to the human part of the budget of course. ...

Author: Roger Ley ‘Cadmus,’ his codename for the purposes of this mission, lay motionless on top of the dune. His ghillie skin made him indistinguishable from a clump of the scrubby local vegetation, which wasn’t surprising considering the amount of it he’d incorporated ...

Author: Steve Smith, Staff Writer "What is it doing?" Cerulean shimmered into the environment, overlapping the space Fuscia already occupied, though they didn't seem to mind. "It's dancing," Fuscia replied, moving to fully envelop Cerulean, their resulting colour an ...

Author: Morrow Brady For years, the travellers, with their grimy little lives, laboured their way up through the pillar engine, in a vain hope of reaching the great power chamber. Long lives of suffering through industrial tunnel networks, chain powered lift corporations ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The net curtains in the window are blowing free today. You used to sit there, batting them aside whenever they came between you and whatever you were reading. Camille whispers: “What about these?” It’s like she’s scared to disturb the ...

Author: David Barber The man in the armchair by the window is Frank Chappel. He’s been widowed for some years now; he walks a little stiffly because of his knee but is determined not to use a stick; his hair may be white but at least he’s not gone bald like some men his ...