Docking at the space station, Dex Branson momentarily forgot about the two-ton shark in the science bay. He was dreaming about cosmonaut Martina Voluskova, “with whom I shall soon rendezvous,” he chortled, eyeing his case of smuggled vodka. Later, with… Continue Reading
I achieve perception in a milieu of plasma, phasing in from a sub-perceptional state where such things exist as: A bed, limbs, sleep, morning. I’m mostly charged particles. A thin membrane of indigo crystalline slime shields me from a nearby… Continue Reading
Commander Goorecs covered his scaly hide with his thick imperial cloak as he suffered though his first Earth winter. He wished he were home relaxing in warm swamp water beneath the bright midday sun, not overseeing this backward planet’s occupation.… Continue Reading
With surprisingly little difficulty, she’d managed to get a driver’s license, birth certificate and all sorts of other official documents. She’d also hacked the relevant databases, all of which now confirmed that she was Mesko, Melinda. Female. 5’4.” Eyes green.… Continue Reading
You were a good person once, but from all things good, evil may spring. You duck into the scant shadows around the plant and throw an anxious glance skyward. Only emptiness: the black pitch of night muddled to a deep… Continue Reading
The three-headed snake hissed, the dog-sized frog croaked, and the four-eyed owl hooted. Anne smiled as she entered the pens with the bag of feed slung over her shoulder. It must have weighed nearly as much as she did, yet… Continue Reading
Ever try to shake a bad habit? “Son of a gun,” I said to Donovan the other day, for maybe the millionth time. “No wonder you can’t keep a partner.” He laughed, as he always does, and I laughed too.… Continue Reading
“We’re never going home,” Al said. Juan looked up from the hologram of his wife’s rosebushes. Al was floating in front of a full wall projection of Earth. “We’ve made it this far,” Juan said, jerking his thumb at the… Continue Reading
Nosebleed again. I dab it with a tissue, but this time, the blood looks more black than red. Perhaps it’s just the flickering streetlight playing tricks with my eyes as it wages war between light and dark. “Did you enjoy… Continue Reading
Behold the rose, glowing scarlet in the daylight of a shattered sky. It sits, perched delicately on the edge of a crumbled pit, in defiance of weather and acrid air. Nothing moves the rose but wind, nearly all other life… Continue Reading