BODYSHOP • by Graham Brand
I went into the bodyshop to order new legs. The assistant had a screen projection in front of his face, but he burst it as I came up to the counter. Gleaming limbs hung from the wall behind him. He… Continue Reading
Science Fiction
ONE LAST SMOKE • by Alex Granados
Jandwat knew he was going to copulate tonight. No matter what his wife said. “If we aren’t home for the latest holo-episode of Galactic Crime Investigators, there’ll be no mating ritual,” she said. Jandwat rolled his eyes as he set… Continue Reading
CUT THE BLUE WIRE • by Patrick Mahon
“Say again, Control. Should I cut the red or the blue wire?” I wait, cutters poised in mid-air above both. Status reports scroll through my eyeline, but I ignore them. Every previous time I’ve dealt with an Improvised Explosive Device… Continue Reading
THYZZYL, HOLD THE PAP • by Gerald William Parks
The Traveler’s name was Renapath, it was Wastool… once Schloopy. He had answered to all these names. Quick jumps among a legion of hosts clouded the memory, and few Travelers could recall clearly their origins, hampered as they were by… Continue Reading
HEATING UP • by Daniel Wilmoth
The young man leaned closer to Dave and said with quiet menace, “Are you ready, David? I don’t want you making any more… mistakes. Follow the script I approved.” “I’ll do my job,” Dave answered, leaning away and avoiding eye… Continue Reading
LINES IN THE SKY • by Brandon Nolta
No matter who Jax asked about the old times, before his people made webs over the dead city, the answer was always similar. Nobody knows, the old stories don’t say. Under the shrugs, a signal almost too faint to hear:… Continue Reading
TERRA NULLIUS • by Alexander Burns
Iona, on duty at ten minutes to midnight, smiled over her cup of coffee. Everything was running smoothly. She closed her eyes and listened to the machine hum. Encased in rows of transparent tubes, volunteers slept while verisimilitude engines pumped… Continue Reading
DARK SHADOWS ON THE EARTH • by Cat Rambo
I loved Christmas lights till I knew better. Loved to look out my kitchen window, down the hill, and see the lights twinkling, sparkling, lines going off and on, leading the eye in complicated cuneiform, punctuated with glowing candles and… Continue Reading
ABSENT SANTA • by Dale Ivan Smith
Early Christmas morning aboard the Masters’ starship, and once again there was no Santa Claus. I stared at the stars streaming past on the display window. There was a quiet knock on our apartment’s door, a little rap-a-tap-tap given with… Continue Reading
WINTER BLUE • by Oonah V Joslin
It was winter and a blue snow fell again covering the plains of this insignificant planet in a fine cobalt dusting of fresh, deep powder. Janey liked to kick it around exposing the light blue layer beneath the darker surface;… Continue Reading