Five. The harness digs into his shoulder. Mission control keeps a stream of chatter in his ear, but Gagarin can hardly hear them over his pounding heart. The rocket shudders around him. Four. Humanity has always been entranced by the… Continue Reading
It crashed with incredible violence, clouds of pink sand blossoming as it imbedded itself into the seafloor. An Iron Oyster. On the reef, schools of technicolored fish fled, helter-skelter. Crabs and eels and sharks took cover. But the octopus was… Continue Reading
Take a Credit and place your PocketBank™ back into its magnetic placeholder on the left side of your belt, then take off your tie. Let it float to the ground slowly before shattering into a miasma of colors on the… Continue Reading
Ten years ago, everyone thought A.I. Richtree was just an eccentric tech trillionaire with a hidden identity. These days, everybody is aware that A.I. Richtree is a rogue supercomputer that is somehow responsible for “creating” around 2 billion people. The… Continue Reading
Through the windshield, Dr. Nakamura watched a red blood cell race past. “Can’t this thing go any faster?” Arthur, the submarine pilot, chanced a glance at the speedometer. “We’re already redlining.” Nakamura forced himself to sit back, to steady his… Continue Reading
The ocean here is wrong. When I complain about it, they tell me it’s because the atmosphere is different. Thinner, with an exotic composition that carries soundwaves differently from back home. I think it’s more than that. For one thing,… Continue Reading
Something hit the hull and it was loud. Just moments ago, we were on a routine flight around the station. Now we’ve stopped. The stirring started immediately, a quaking sensation rattling through the length of the ship. Systems were working… Continue Reading
Chester couldn’t help being a Peeping Tom. This impulse would come over him and swoosh: up into a tree he went. He had never been caught, so he never had to answer for seeing Sara Beth’s bare shoulders, or Parker… Continue Reading
“Leave me alone, freak. I’m not breaking any laws.” The man in the formidable-looking space suit was manipulating a disc of flexible black material the size of Rhode Island. “Technically, no. Maybe littering. What exactly do you think you’re doing… Continue Reading
“It’s ruined my garden,” Cheryl complained to her sister, Barbara, while replanting what she could salvage. “This was my only spot in full sun,” she said, the two of them bent on their knees in the shadow of the phallus.… Continue Reading