I sat at Roy and Emmy’s kitchen table, three cups of coffee between us, and mentally cursed my editor. Alien sighting. That’s what he’d said with a twinkle in his eye. That story’s all yours, kid. I choked on my coffee. “Karda —? Wait. via Pocket

I should kill them all … What? We’re transmitting? Greetings, fellow researchers, wherever you are. Important news! In my laboratory earlier this week. I — Really? Oh, very well. via Pocket

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What apocalypse am I creating today? I feed two blank sheets of onionskin, carbon paper sandwiched between, through my typewriter’s platen. I stop a moment, remembering this joke. This guy gets on a bus, it starts, but I don’t write that. via Pocket

As May walked back through the time zones of her company town for the last time, she stared at the hands of her watch. She could feel her mind adjusting to its tiny motions, its auto-syncing movements slowing down as she passed through each border. …

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The two thieves stood before the giant vault, fresh out of ideas. “Well?” Braygin prodded, “what do you think?” Tesca shrugged. “I think the Regent’s not going to be pleased.” via Pocket

The doorbell rang, a rarity these days. Harold didn’t hurry to the door. Someone in sales most likely. His heart sped a little anyway. “We don’t want any —” There she was, standing in the morning mist. Not exactly as he remembered but that lopsided …

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I’ve been super-still in a tree for hours as I practise observation. I’m going to be a scientist, so learning to observe is very important. My corder hangs from my neck but I keep a hand near it all the time in case I spy something new. I already sa…

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Grave robbery. If you think it’s a relic of gothic novels, think again. Now that the first generation of body-modified tech-bros and computer-implanted one-percenters sleep under tombstones, there’s a ton of gear in the ground. via Pocket

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As a physics graduate student at a great technical university, my life was full. One of the things it was most full of was trying to find a parking space. I was not important enough to get a university sticker and not rich enough to afford a pay lot…

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They say that when you go to the sky-reflected ocean and strip yourself as bare as the day you were born, the water will take you in. It will hurt—don’t fool yourself. The transition between one life and the next is never without pain or grief. via … Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Speak Easy, Suicide Selkies by E. Catherine Tobler via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2w8zqe0

The slender jawbone lies in the palm of his hand like a crown. Raising it, an offering to the night, stretched starlight gleams on milk teeth. via Pocket Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Scrimshander by Damien Krsteski via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2MDgPkw