by submission | Feb 4, 2012 | Story |
Author : Mark Ehler
Lt. Bernard sat, arms crossed, in a 15,000,000 credit coffin. The nuclear battery shorted out and now, without engine power, his ship was just another object in space. Interceptor Pilot Protocol dictated that he stay with his vessel and wait for a patrol to pick him up. That might have worked for downed pilots centuries ago, back on that sandbox called Earth; but here, in the vastness of space – rescue was slim to nil. Bernard slammed the fists of his environment suit into the control panel and called it a “…lousy floating space cow.”
Those who knew him, well, didn’t. Bernard never went out while at the academy because he had seen what happens to students caught drinking, similar reasons kept him from going out with the other pilots when his ship was docked. His whole life was spent with strict adherence to the rules; rules were important, they were the standard and criteria by which he was judged by his superiors. Certainly not superfluous things like flair or creativity. If it weren’t for his strict observance of the rules he might never have been chosen for flight school, might never have been granted the honor of serving at his station, might never have been selected for this mission. Now the rules told him to sit and wait.
The more he thought, the less sense it made. His whole life had built up to this day, this mission; but now, like a novel with a great back story that only fizzled as it progressed, it was over. At least he had a good view of the cosmos… Bernard chuckled to himself. You see, there is this saying that claims some people don’t truly live until they are on their death bed and Bernard finally understood what it meant. Now that his rules had been shattered he remembered why he chose to be an interceptor pilot. All the things his wealth and pedigree could have given him and he chose the life of a soldier, for it was the best way to follow his dream. Every night as a kid in his luxury apartment he dreamt of the stars. The void of the cosmos and the universe’s array of colors in subtle pinhole form was such a stark contrast to the orbital colonies of Mars. With his hand on the surface of the inactive display he pushed himself forward until the dome of his helmet connected with the glass of his cockpit, then he sat and stared in bewilderment. It was indeed ironic to him; all this time he spent reaching for the stars and this was the first time he had really stopped to admire their beauty.
He lifted the emergency eject and the cockpit sprung right open, the atmosphere in his ship rushed out and he was now the closest he had ever been to the stars. Here he lingered clinging to the wing of his downed bird, not a thought for the rules as he found the brightest star in sight. It was a nearby red giant and it too was close to the end of its life where it would explode into a brilliant super nova; such an explosion of vividly colored gas simply makes it the most powerful act of nature in the universe. He had let go of the ship and started drifting towards the giant. He could stretch out as big as possible without fear of touching another human and he could finally look all around him without the walls of mankind.
Bernard curled up as the cold seeped through his suit, taking one long look at his star. As he closed his eyes and drifted into one last sleep a smile crossed his face; satisfaction that he had finally achieved peace swelled from his heart like a tiny explosion in space.
by submission | Feb 3, 2012 | Story |
Author : Chad C. Burns
My gorget chafes as I sit in the dark, listening to my world hum. I can feel the distant thrum of engines, and the creak of cables. Steam and pressure hiss and burble, vacuum engines thump and click, shunting force thru the veins of the ship. Some of the other troopers think I am a bit daft, but I swear I can sometimes hear the electricity coursing thru the wires from the topside collectors to the batteries amidships. Of course, I’ve been on the ship longer than most of them, including the skipper. I even got to vote on her name prior to her maiden voyage — The Cloudcutter was the name that won. Wasn’t the name I voted for, but it’s a goodish name and it’s grown on me.
Of course, I am barely aboard the ‘Cutter at present, to say elsewise would be disingenuous. I am deep below in the drop deck — there are sounds much closer and clearer. I can hear the clink-clack of ratchets as straps are tightened. I hear the heaving of a bellows pump as the belay crew shoves air into the impact bladders all around me.
My breastplate sits tight against me, more comfortable than my own skin is most of the time. The corundum plate is covered with layers of silk and gesso, which helps make it proof against most small arms fire. Well, at least the first shot or two.
But this gorget, it irks me like all nine hells. The greaves and helmet are forgotten they are so much a part of me; but this damn gorget! Maybe if it actually was to keep my throat from being slashed, if it was really armor, I could learn to deal with it. It’s not though, its sole purpose if to mark me as someone who is supposed to know what they’re doing. Someone to be heeded in the thick of it when they tell you to do the dumbest things, like climbing over the top of a trench’or dropping out the bottom of an airship. This is the second drop I’ve had to make with everyone’s fate hung around my neck disguised as a big polished brass collar.
There are three quick bangs on the side of the drop bucket — the belay crew letting us know they are done and retreating back above and away from this insanity. I sit in the dark for what seems like days, trying not to go mad. Suddenly light blooms behind me as the drop hatches spring open. With a huge jolt and a thump, we are away.
Silence at first, and flares of light and shadow as we drop through clouds. Then the rising whine of the belay cable growing taut. The pitch deepens, and I know we are getting close. The banging impact with the ground is almost drowned out by the sputtering of the impact bladders under me. As the bladders deflate, the whole bucket opens like a rose, disgorging myself and nine other troopers right to the gates of Tartarus. Ten Rifles snap up, and 20 eyes scan the terrain. A voice booms “Let’s go apes! Ya plan to live forever?” and I realize it’s mine. So I do the only thing I know to do — run doggedly into the teeth of the fight raging on the near ridge as the ‘Cutter reels the bucket back up. The damn fools fall in and follow me. Damn, this thing chafes.
How did the world come to this?
by submission | Feb 2, 2012 | Story |
Author : John Conway
Grant pushed through the crowd, ignoring the direction indicator. He longed for elbow room and privacy, luxuries of a forgotten past. But rumor had it there were still places–distant, underpopulated islands. He only dreamed of reaching their shores … until today.
He shoved and nudged through the ebbing crush until he found Cali at 5th and Main–brown hair, golden eyes–now she would finally take him seriously.
“You again?”
“We need to talk.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Alone,” he whispered.
She laughed and gestured to the throngs around them.
Grant scanned the nearby faces. No one paid attention. It would have to do. “I have a way out of here!”
“Of where?”
“The crowd.”
“Oh, please …”
Grant yanked a device from his pocket. “With this!”
He turned it in his hand.
“What is it?”
He leaned into her ear. “A teleport.”
“Teleport?” she said.
“Shhh!”
Several passers slowed, glancing at them. Grant’s face flushed. He shoved the gadget into his jacket. “Move along,” he said. “This doesn’t concern you.”
He waited for the throngs to shift and change. With new faces finally around them, he returned his attention to Cali. “It’ll take us away.”
She seemed doubtful. “Where’d you get it?”
Grant smiled. “I was minding my own business. The crowd I was in wandered through a science building of sorts. We passed this tight clutch of government people and a technician. They had this and they were tense. As the crowd shifted, I lingered. I finally heard the technician explain it. Then, as I’m standing there listening, without looking like I’m listening, some pack of chaos–parents trying to coral their children–the technician was bumped — and it dropped.”
“That still doesn’t–”
“There was commotion. It got kicked. They dove at the floor. I stepped away … and it got kicked right to me!”
“They’ll come get you.”
“They didn’t notice.”
She glanced around. She regarded him. It was more attention than she’d ever given him before. “Let me see it again.”
He gulped. “Sure.”
“It’s kinda complicated.” She touched the Instruction Manual button. An 80-page holographic tome appeared. She whistled. “I don’t know. I’ve seen you stumped by vending machines.”
Grant canceled the display. “Never mind that. I listened. He explained. We don’t need those.”
They heard a disturbance up the street.
“It’s them,” said Cali.
Grant tried, but couldn’t see the source of the approaching uproar. His heart pounded. “We haven’t much time. Will you come with me?”
She scrutinized him. People were tossed aside in the distance. It was the government people.
He could not wait for Cali to make up her mind. “Now or never,” he said, twisting the dial. Finally, she slipped her hand around the crook of his arm.
“You won’t be sorry,” he said.
The government people closed, throwing pedestrians like sticks. “There it is!” one shouted.
“Prepare for peaceful surf.”
Grant and Cali smiled and waved.
Arms reached. “Don’t!”
The machine hummed … and vanished from Grant’s hand.
In an instant, Grant found himself off the ground, lifted by the lapel.
“Where did you send it?” shouted the strong woman holding Grant.
“But?”
“He didn’t set the proximity,” groaned another.
The woman shook him. “Where?”
“K-Kiribati ?”
The woman threw Grant to the ground. He saw that Cali received a similar treatment.
“I don’t understand,” he said.
Cali brushed herself. “Directions,” she said in disgust. “You need to read directions.”
by submission | Jan 31, 2012 | Story |
Author : Jarrod Chestney-Law
Sapphire, threaded with white and then a diamond studded blackness. Sapphire and white fill my vision again. They remain now. Chirps and static bursts chatter in my ears. Emerald threads begin to fill my vision, cascading down, faster and faster until a fine web blossoms across my vision, overlaying the sapphire and white before me. I suddenly twist to the left and to the right, but it’s outside of my control. It stops and I stare forward at the vast swell of blue and white.
A tiny green envelope emerges from the web of light and bobs gently in my vision. I imagine it unfolding, and it does. An emerald mist overlays the sapphire beneath and white letters emerge. Look right. I smile and turn. It could have been anyone. Thousands of white dots are floating around us, shimmering and exploding with flashes of brilliance in the untamed sun. Scarlet lines begin to stretch out across my vision and I dismiss them.
Is it how you imagined?
The words flowed from my mind and were made real. With a sad pop, they shrink and collapse to a tiny point that crosses the distance between us.
I never imagined at all.
Of course.
Live forever?
Not now.
There are flecks of brown and green among the sapphire now. Tiny specks that taint what had been pure. I sigh and will myself to move to the right, but nothing happens. Only more of the scarlet lines, which I dismiss again.
Come to me?
I watch and wait. The other hesitates and then gently closes the distance. White arms extend and wrap around me. Long legs follow and the black plane of glass which shows only my reflection gently nudges against mine with a soft thud. I sigh and the sounds of the sigh blink away so quickly I barely see them. There are more scarlet lines than emerald now, and I leave them, watching as they gather and knot together, obscuring the scene in front of me.
Always and forever. These words trickle through, held and released with regret. Watch with me?
Always, comes the reply. My vision warps and doubles, looking down an infinite series of mirrors.
We turn our masks, our bodies still twined together and I push the red lines away one last time. The specks of green and brown consume our vision, swallowing the space around them rapaciously. I grip, and am gripped tighter as the doubled image flickers and vanishes. White flashes past us, again and again. The sapphire is gone. The white flashes one last time and then there is only green and the twisting scarlet lines.
And forever.
The last words having struggled through, shimmer and fade.
by submission | Jan 30, 2012 | Story |
Author : Salli Shepherd
Ant,
You’re not going to believe this. Unzip the folder and check out image 14, number 227. Yes, that’s a jugger you’re looking at, only ten times the regulation embryo mass. And yes, that is an illegal frontal lobe.
Look at those EEG printouts. That says sentient-level brain activity, or I am a monkey’s nutsack. And get this – according the dates, he’s two and a half years old? Still in prenatal phase. Oh yeah, and zoom in on that dark spot on the left. #227 also seems to have grown himself an eyeball.
Our whole agenda here just took one giant leap into workable human rights territory. So let Jim know the plan’s changed. Getting this jugger out alive will achieve a lot more than just sabotaging another lab.
Security’s tight. I’ll mail you when I can.
– B
____________________
Ant,
They excised the eye for biopsy. Makes me wonder if 227 is all about the next big WHO summit, pushing for retina harvests, organ factories, etc. But then, what’s with the frontal lobe? I have no clue what’s up with that.
– B
____________________
Jesus H. Christ. No. Not happening.
Tell Jim he cannot – I repeat, cannot – trash this facility before I figure this out. I want at least a week. Flash your titties at him if you have to.
As for 227, he’s doing okay. Grabbing you a biopsy sample of that eye tonight, maybe.
Wish me luck.
– B
____________________
Four days is just not enough. Flash him again, let me know if it works.
Good news: I got your sample on ice, will send ASAP but it could take some time.
Bad news: they moved 227 up to Level 3, major lockdown. My guess is, they store the other ‘anomalies’ up there, too. Getting him out won’t be easy. I expect things might get messy so I’ll need the whole crew, and the truck geared up and ready to roll.
Miss you too, can’t wait to be home.
– B
____________________
Hey,
With what I found up there, we could feasibly take this whole company down – and maybe the jugger legislature with it. Admit it: I am Superman.
I’ll have eight specimens all up: three ‘special editions’ in formaldehyde, four regular juggers, alive and well, and 227. That makes five travel packs. We can tank that many at the lab, right? Our gear’s pretty rustic compared to what’s here, but better than nothing.
Do not even think about being in that truck. You know how it is. These guards are paid to shoot, not ask questions.
Smile, Lois. Looks like we’re going to have a baby.
– B
____________________
Antoinette,
I must say how sorry I am about Ben. Let me know if there’s anything you need.
Forgive me for talking business at a time like this, but I’m quite eager to know what happened to that delivery he promised.
Sincerely,
Jim
____________________
Jim,
My husband is quadruplegic, not dead. I don’t need your condolences.
This is to inform you that we no longer wish to support your organisation. As I have said to you before, there’s better ways to deal with this. Ways that don’t get people shot.
I’m keeping 227. The files, too, all of it. Think what you will, but I need those jugger stem cells to make Ben whole again. Once he’s healed, we’ll decide together what to do next.
227 is developing quickly without the growth retardants. He even has real fingers and toes now. I think we’ll name him Nelson.
Don’t bother looking for us. God willing, we’ll be in touch.
– Antoinette
