by Garrett Kirby Two small, horrendously gaunt forms waited with building anticipation as their father climbed the ancient, rusted ladder leading from the underground tunnels to the ruins above. Both of their mouths were twisted up into large, crooked grins which clearly showcased their avid excitement. When their father assured them it was safe to…
Read moreOffload
by Michael Just It’s just that at night I have to offload, is all. If I don’t offload, I’ll get real sick by morning. Some days, I just call in sick because I haven’t done a complete wipe by the a.m. I appear normally enough. Normally? Is that a word? I have a job, an…
Read moreWelcome Home
by Dan Yokum He’s eighteen now, graduated, and ready to leave the bay. Ready to leave his father who fishes for scraps in the dirty water, and his mother who sells bread on the docks. He’s struggled enough, the misfit, the weirdo. As everyone and everything around him falls apart, he’s still always the kid…
Read moreA Whole New Form of Warfare
by James Moran It was hard to locate the scent of our exact meeting spot against the barometric pressure fluctuations. Clouds wandered overhead. The landscape was desert as far as the eye could see. Terrain such as this were common enough for our showdowns. No perceptive species around to witness the flashes, smell the ozone,…
Read moreLight as Air
by Peter Medeiros Lauren Chen didn’t think the crinoline would cause any trouble. It seemed innocuous enough when her stepdaughter Delwyn, almost fifteen now, pointed to a shop window and said, “That’s what I was telling you about! It’s from France. They used to make them with horsehair, but now they’re all supported with a…
Read moreHow to Kill an Electric Man
by Glenn Dungan He is wiry and nude, sprawled between a tumbleweed of wires from a gutted EMP and a pond of lichen which repopulated this once full and vibrant place. Wisps of smoke rise from the crater and disappears into the air. Jack goes into the crater to check on the man. He puts…
Read moreThe Honeymoon
by T.L. Beeding “Can’t you see I’m working on it?” Phylissa threw herself against the side of the ARC-52, pressing herself flat. Bullets whizzed by, thudding into the foul-smelling mud pile their terrain rover had gotten trapped in. She gave him a nasty look. “Well, if you haven’t noticed, they’ve got us pinned. And they…
Read moreUnder Distant Skies
by Andrew Albritton “This has to be it,” Ambrose said, taking a bite of beans in the firelight. “Tomorrow, we’ll find the treasure.” “I hope you’re right,” Garrison said. “Otherwise, we’re going to have to find jobs.” Ambrose laughed. “We can’t have that.” Ambrose and Garrison were camped at the top of a shallow canyon,…
Read moreConversations in Space
by Paul Stansbury The Kūaka hurtled through space, its New Hope colonists slumbering in suspended animation. Inside, all was still in the darkness except for its passengers’ thoughts coalescing in a reality beyond the bounds of the conscious and subconscious. “They say before the sixth ice age, Earth was mostly green and great oceans,…
Read morePaid to Remember
By Emad El-Din Aysha This Union you want With the earth and sky, This union we all need with love, A golden wing from God’s heart just Touched the ground, Now Step upon it With your brave sun-vows And help our eyes To Dance! — Hafiz “Is this not a bit too much,” Al-Jahiz said,…
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