Stories

Author : Jae Miles, Staff Writer This precious space used to be an overgrown park, rarely visited by day and a haven for crime by night. Now it sits as a spot of verdant life amidst ruined towers a…

Author : Beck Dacus Azova, Girgin, and Rastat floated through a hole blasted in the alien ship’s hull. Inside, everything was trashed. Whatever had destroyed this ship had been thorough. The comput…

Author : Samuel Stapleton “Your Excellency. We can’t move on this. The Intelligence Protection Community is watching too closely. Humans have made their move, their motion for an open debate court …

Author : Uri Kurlianchik She didn’t have a throat to sing or speakers to talk. Her only means of vocalization were small devices that vibrated and gyrated as she drilled and scraped barren soil in …

Author : David Henson “Honey, are you going to use the DreamMaster tonight?” Sally says to her husband. “You bet. I’ve scripted a football match,” Jim says, laying the…

Author : M. Irene Hill September 8, 2040, Special Area Babylon, Planet Earth: Control center: “We are offline and shield is down. Initiate cataclysm.” The last vestiges of rosy light disappeared be…

Author : Madison McSweeney It was 9:30 AM on a Friday when the Martians landed on Dave McQuilty’s farm. The ship, which was more spherical than saucer-shaped, touched down in the midst of som…

Author : Trevor Doyle Sex droids don’t do it for me, but I’ve never had a problem with clones. My most recent Romeo, for instance. The last time I saw him, he was standing on my gold plated balcony…

Author : Jae Miles, Staff Writer It’s another tediously quiet evening in Watchpost 113 at the western edge of the Sonoran Borderlands. Fred is making waffles while Adey idly flicks through the long…

Author : M. Irene Hill Today’s sunrise is a Chinese watercolor painting, with inky tree branches in the foreground of an ombre sky. Below a band of monochrome cloud, a thin line of cinnabar melts i…

Author : Russell Bert Waters The moon stares down as I stand on the beach next to what once was the ocean. Powerless to control the tide, or anything at all, the moon seems sad. This is conjecture …

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer June looked up as the diner door opened. There was Jack, ten-fifteen every morning like clockwork. Same dark, carefully pressed single-breasted suit, always with …

Author : Tim McDaniel The ceiling opened and the Priest Judge Arbitrator descended into the Control Center. Tloygruu bobbed his head up and down the correct number of times, but one hand snuck down…

Author : Philip Berry “Is it surprising, really? After what they did to you, that you can’t feel a thing.” But I could feel. Too much. My skin was on fire. “No Lana, I mean really feel. Perceive em…

Author : Jae Miles, Staff Writer Dead-pirate-flying slams past me in silent majesty, drives blazing, weapon ports opening. I kick the pedals to accelerate port and ahead, then split the sticks: lef…

Author : Olivia Black, Staff Writer “How are you still alive?” “What are you talking about?” Mearene is staring at me like I’m the second coming and I swear I’ve never seen her eyes bug out like th…

Author : Alana Pasternak Hello out there! Congratulations for surviving this long! If you’re reading this, it means you’ve found a device with this app on it – either one of the d…

Author : Irene Montaner He had known of his fate since the day he was born. He had been designed to complete an outstanding, yet suicidal, mission. He would be cruising the Solar System for years b…

Author : Beck Dacus Once everyone in the auditorium was seated, Professor Gildritch wheeled his invention forth. On top of the rolling table was a small, modest-looking device. Gildritch didn’t car…

Author : Joachim Heijndermans The floor is so damn cold. I wish they’d turn the heat up or at least let me keep my socks and shoes. What are these floors made of? Some kind of metal, maybe? F…

Author : Rollin T. Gentry “Argh! You…you hammerhead-shark-looking son of a bitch!” I yelled aloud for the first time since I’d started playing this alien’s stupid game…

Author : Neil Floyd We don’t like to use that word. It sounds negative, don’t you think? The whole procedure is much safer now. Please, try the caviar. It’s real. No, I insist. Ou…

Author : Jae Miles, Staff Writer Just another day at the office, sitting on my ladybird, chatting with my blue owl friend. I named him Percy, and he’s smarter than your average owl. Which he should…

Author : Russell Bert Waters Road-weary we pulled in and parked outside the motel office. This was our first time in the North East, and we weren’t even sure exactly where we were. Somewhere …

Author : J.D. Rice My hand shakes as I desperately try to keep myself from pulling the trigger. I stare at the man who wears my husband’s face, my eyes filled with tears. He looks hurt. Concerned. …

Author : Beck Dacus The week was ending. I was typing up my summary report, excited to enter the weekend and chill at the house with my girlfriend for a couple days. My spreadsheet was half-done wh…

Author : Philip Berry My music teacher, Miss Herenka, gesticulated through the blue-tinged, sound-proofed glass. I watched her thin hands glide. Her voice came down from speakers in the circular ce…

Author : Michael Jagunic There was an asteroid belt made of bones on the other side of the quasar. I saw it, long ago. It is all that I remember of the last place. Of the place that came before tha…

Author : Steven Carver One last tremor ran through the pod as it passed into the atmosphere of the small blue planet. The heat shield retracted from the viewport and the pilot got his first view of…

Author : Elle B Sullivan “I’d like to file a complaint.” The teller looks back over the counter at me, and sighs audibly. “You will have to fill out form 3C,” he repli…