Author: Jack Bates Rae smiled as patiently as she could. The elderly man sitting across from her gave her that look of confusion so many other clients expressed upon hearing their claim had been denied. “I don’t understand,” the man said. “Back in twenty-twenty, that ...

Author: Coleman Bomar The doctor scowled in disgust behind an orange Hazmat mask, began to remove the feeding tube and said, “1284, I suppose by now you’re tired of being fed through your sinus or whatever the hell you things call it. Well, I have bad news, we are ...

Author: David C. Nutt “Thank you for your service,” she said. “Thank you for your support,” I replied with the appropriate level of expected gratitude. The hardware store clerk saw the veterans imprint on my license. I didn’t ask for it, it’s required by law. Still, it’s ...

Author: David K Scholes “When they transported us down time to the original colony I thought we would at least have the place to ourselves,” Urrle was indignant. “Apart from the dinosaurs of course.” “We did,” I replied, “we did for a while.” “Until “they” started ...

Author: Steve Smith, Staff Writer Kaz got close enough to town for broadband wireless access before hunkering down in a culvert under the roadway. His suit's AI ran the standard duck and cover protocols, scouring for low-security funding resources, supplies available for ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer I hate women. I really do. I guess that's probably why I chose this life. Or maybe it’s as they say, it’s this life that chose me. I’d heard that up here in the colonies the women are obedient. That they do as they’re damn well ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The fan on the ceiling turns slowly, another kitsch feature of this fake colonial era hospital. I do not know when hospitals started to compete for trade, but the ‘healing ambience’ vogue has been out of control - and good taste - for a ...

Author: Mandira Pattnaik Summer 2039, Tokyo: Goats read the evening news on TV. Goats? Yes! Take it, or leave it! Not goats, Sam! Kamala had once corrected me. I had been silent then. It’s so much better to buy peace with your spouse even if you know better! I had worked ...

Author: David C. Nutt We lost the robot revolution. Most of us missed it entirely and got the memo three or four days later when the internet came back on-line. Hey, we’re not as clueless as it sounds. The stories about solar storms and sunspot activities that were seeded ...

Author: Will H. Blackwell, Jr. Three PM: As per daily routine, a 15-lb. allotment of raw horse-meat is cast, piecemeal, into the uncertain hollows of this Ohio cage. The insouciance of the Lioness—born years ago in such captivity—is palpable. As the small zoo’s main ...

Author: Luke Shors “The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef formed over millions of years”. Raj heard the divemaster say through his earbuds. It had been a decade since his last dive but a refresher in the pool had revived some rudimentary skill. Not ...

Author: Angus Miles Bang. Bang. Qean jams the knife into the man’s heart. He gurgles and crumples to the rust stained floor. Blood runs up the walls and across the ceiling like paint thrown from its bucket. The dead man’s half-flayed. Through the ship, the echoes hit ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer Be and Bo waste in their room. Their skin is mottled and even the air has taken on the musky taint of peeling rot. Actually, it’s not so much a room as it is a cell, yet it’s the only home they’ve ever known. Their mother is a large ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer There’s a lot to be said for the feeling of security granted by street lighting. Not overlooking the fact that its arrival heralded mankind moving from a lifestyle largely governed by the availability of daylight or men with ...

Author: David C. Nutt From my corner table at the café, I saw the tourist read the plaque. The same plaque adorns every public space on our planets, but this is the first. I know the words by heart. I was made to memorize it as a child. It is not the most elegant tome ...

Author: Jeremy Nathan Marks I was the only person who ever saw the castle in the air. It appeared one morning, a visitor from nowhere suspended high up in the cobalt blue of a December morning. Hovering thousands of feet over emptiness, that castle could have been a ...

Author: Moebius Twins focused better together. Navigating the universe in a faster than light vessel required a higher level of brain power than a single person could manage individually. In the late 23rd century, Dr. Sabine Korgev created a revolutionary device that ...

Author: JT Velikovsky They say, (well, Science says) the human brain is wired to love natural rural scenes. So, call me an old-fashioned Utopian, but… these days, I always have my brain-computer interface re-design, re-sculpt, and re-paint, my realtime-vision of the city ...