Author: David C. Nutt “What’s the emergency Lieutenant?” “Sir, the alien device in locker 433 has activated itself.” “Contact protocols?” “In place. The Contact team is in the staging area waiting for you sir.” “Excellent. Security?” “In place.” “Chamber ...

Author: J. P. Roquard The city stretches out below me; a sweeping view, buildings pressed close, the old city being devoured by the new. This is my home. This is where I have always lived. This is the view I’ve sold my soul to see, sip, sip. “Your friends are out there, ...

Author: Morrow Brady "What do you see?" She whispered into the darkness. He widened his eyes and held his breath. "Nothing. Just pitch black" Her next lesson would be her last. "Not black. Eigengrau. A dark, dark grey. Perfect for...." And then it all kicked ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Nine years ago today, I think, is when my fervent wish came true: my mundane life was transformed into a thing of wonder. Wonder... Plus confusion, pain, fear, grief, longing and, right now: abject terror. The cause of that is crouching ...

Author: Warren Benedetto When I was eleven years old, I told my dad I wanted to invent a time machine. He told me he already had one. I asked him where it was. “Right here,” he said. He tapped his forehead and smiled. “All I have to do is close my eyes, and I can travel ...

Author: George Morales I woke up early to make breakfast for my daughter and my wife. It was going to be a grinding day at work. Even though everybody denied it, it sure felt like there were quotas to fill up the cells. The immigrants had been in those cells before the ...

Author: Ken Poyner We used to eat whole herds of ballan, letting them first graze a while to get used to the slightly thinner atmosphere, adjust to the new gravity. Company issued, company raised, they were better having fed a few cycles on the native grass, taken in some ...

Author : Mark Renney Despite the confines, we are encouraged to want things. Although we can only achieve so much, it is instilled into us, from birth, how important it is to be successful. Successful means a house and the ability to fill it with all that we need plus a ...

Author: Mina - Daddy, tell me the story of how we were saved. - OK, love. Have you got your bear Benji? - Yes, he wants to hear the story too. - Then let’s start… In the final days of an ancient planet, four ships were sent out to the four corners of the universe to ...

Author: Roger Ley This is the story of two fairly skinny white men on a planet that was dying fast. Of course, the men were men only in their own eyes, in the eyes of other species they would have looked quite different. Oh, and it wasn't the planet that was dying it was ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer A thousand droplets of unseen dread. The sudden transition from person to pariah. You see me wipe my eyes and tear the mask from my face with that same tissue, crumpling the lot and sending them with sure aim into a nearby bin. Without ...

Author: Anjan Chatterjee ROVID-87 decimated dogs. That was over 700 years ago. For my research, I was combing through old books in Central Archive. Only a few books survived the disasters. I was trying to understand dogs and what happened to them. A terrorists’ virus ...

Author: H.B. Varley She held the baby close. One hand nuzzled his head, the other laid upon his mouth. They laid curled in the back of the car, below the seat and the windows. She didn’t let him see, and kept him close to her chest, so that her heartbeat might calm him. He ...

Author: David K Scholes “It’s the third time this week I’ve tried to put through holographic calls via the real-time galactic link,” Mary sounded frustrated. “Nor have I done any better using instantaneous or delayed messages on the Universe Net. I can’t run a business this ...

Author: Craig Finlay You’ve kept a list of firsts ever since you were six and learned you were the first generation of humans to be born on a generational space ship. You knew this earlier, but for some reason six is when it clicked, what first really meant. While reading a ...

Author: Marvin Thiele It was 2050 and the clocks were striking thirteen. Technological addiction was widespread. Everyone sat on their couch, headset on, enjoying artificial utopia. VR was about five years old, and everyone was already bending over backward for it. The ...

Author: Gerard Mulligan As she requested, he had retrieved the red blanket from the bed upstairs and thrown it over her feet as she lay stretched out on the sofa. She had murmured thanks and was soon falling asleep with her hands instinctively covering her stomach. He ...

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 ...