Author: Ken Carlson “Hello and welcome to Burger King. How may I help you,” said the disembodied out of the drive-through speaker in a dark parking lot off Interstate 5, Tacoma. The voice belonged to Chad Stearns, 16 years old, 120 pounds and already drained of hope. He ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer The great starving horde marched through space. No, they didn’t. They swarmed and, just as the hive-minded are apt to do, they toiled relentlessly, each individual an integral part of the whole. Every last one a citizen and willing ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer In the beginning, there was a world. It wasn’t a particularly unusual or outstanding one, just another ball of rock with a hot liquid interior and a solid lump at the centre. The usual early planetary phases passed without anything of ...

Author: R. J. Erbacher The incongruence of this bridge’s construction boggled Samm’s mind. Using her ship to cut, haul and position logs, if they could be called that, when they should be using carbon graphene girders. This planet didn’t have traditional trees but tall ...

Author: Glenn Leung 'Activate Neuro-Computer link.' I concentrated on the implants in my brain as I thought those words. I immediately got a sense that I knew more than I used to, and I mentally scanned for knowledge of the ship's map. Having it in my head would not help ...

Author: Lance J. Mushung The man standing in my doorway was me wearing different clothes. He smiled and extended his right hand. "Hello, Brad." After a couple of seconds, he grabbed my hand and pumped it. "You should close your dropped jaw and invite me in." He ...

Author: David C. Nutt I saw the black limo outside our cottage. I knew why the angel of death was here. It was for my partner Andrew. He hasn’t looked well for over a week. What’s more, he’s been grumpy- as grumpy as his actual age of 337, rather than the 42 he presents ...

Author: Thomas Fitzgerald McCarthy — An excerpt taken from Pioteer Gigan Trilorgh’s Anthropology on Extinct Pathologies Two Anecdotes On the Fragility of the Human Mind In the 24th century, a human biotech engineer designated Angeline Mateo was heralded by the Earth ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer The ancient evil that lives and breathes and seethes beneath my grandmother’s house has nothing to do with Hell. This rotting husk is not the place that villains go when they die. It is not some construct tasked with offering context and ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Rex Christus, I ache this morning. Forgive the profanity, Lord, but it feels like my bones loosened themselves in their joints overnight. There’s a harsh light on the streets, as if Heaven is searching the dimmest corners of its mighty ...

Author: David Updike A shadow slid along the crowded sidewalk, and we instinctively stepped aside and opened a path for it to pass. Looking up, we saw that it was a Mini, the kind they dispatched for someone who wasn’t going to mount much of a fight. A sleek, white wafer ...

Author: Glenn Leung The wail of sirens grew louder as I ran towards the control room. We had drilled for this at least a hundred times in the past year, and I had hoped this was yet another drill. The image on the Heads-Up Display said otherwise. 'Comet inbound for ...

Author: Steve Smith, Staff Writer Her name was Ruth, I think, or something like that. We didn't talk much. I used to help her when she came home from the library with her cart full of books; she liked physics, and biology, and quantum entanglement. Heady stuff, way beyond ...

Author: Ken Carlson Maxx was puttering away with various adhesives and synthetics in the attic of his government-issued pod, one of the perks of being among the few humans on the Gliese 163 c mining colony. Encased in a series of domes and tubes, the inhabitants lived a ...

Author: R. J. Erbacher Power reigns supreme. “Come, Bia. Your Master summons you.” The man who came to get her was a slob, big-bellied and slovenly. His mouth drooled as he barked his order and stared at her. She dressed in a simple sparse tunic, her feet were ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer “I love you, my dearest”, I say folding back and patting smooth the sheet that is tucked at her chin. I look at her and trace the thick welts at my cheek and feel within them my own mother’s bottomless affection. I, too, will ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The magic came back. It went unnoticed for a while. Then a couple of bane magic covens got nasty surprises. Apprehension turned to fear as authority figures came up with increasingly implausible explanations. ‘Magewinter’ is the term ...

Author: Timothy Goss Moulju squeezed his hand. Bernard reciprocated as best he could in his feeble condition. Moulju was thankful for the liquidity of her natural state. She wanted to cover him, become with him, aid his breathing and allow him to rest. But she knew it ...