[Illustration: New illustration created for the archive; the original artwork, “X-Stove” © 2004 by Andrew G. McCann, has been lost.] Thurman stood and walked over to Jeffries, eyes wide, mouth convoluted in a warped smile. "I am reality!" he screamed into Jeffries' indifferent face. "I am being!" Richard cowered behind Barker, the largest of the … Continue reading “Entity” by James I. Wasserman
"Don’t pay the ferryman Don’t even fix a price Don’t pay the ferryman Until he gets you to the other side" - popular song, Second Millennium * I was climbing the mountain to be closer to the stars. It was nearly dark when I came upon the hidden cabin and the old woman. She said … Continue reading “Searching for the Ferryman” by Derek Smith
Abstract: From the Proceedings of the 49th Convention of the American Datatician Society Meeting, Akron Hilton, Akron, Ohio. November 1994. Excerpt from author's remarks, Professor Bingham S. Tewksbury: "We of the ADS are pleased to announce that the mystery of where lost socks go has been quantitatively pinpointed subsequent to a lengthy and rigorous double-blind … Continue reading 10 Years Ago in Planet… “The Meaning of Lost Socks” by Biedermeier X. Leeuwenhoek
My code name is Iron Feather, and I am writing this to honor an old request from my father, the former Earth Ambassador to the Confederation, the recently departed and much-admired Langford Joh. I refer to a conversation we had once in which he chided me on my poor ability to select a proper mate. … Continue reading “Malorchia (part of The Langford Joh Saga)” by William Alan Rieser
[Illustration: New illustration created for the archive; the original artwork, “Rat” © 2004 by Miranda Aschenbrenner, has been lost.] “And that’s when Asyan understood that he not only lost his wealth. He lost his family, his reputation, and his dignity. Left with nothing, he spent the rest of his years seeking, obsessed with the treasure … Continue reading “A Threadbare Tailor” by Sean Hower
JOURNAL ENTRY #3138 Date: 11/04/2199 Time: 1046 This is Cory Dealth, captain and pilot of the cargo freighter, Alexa. I’ve just chartered the final leg of our course for Delta Centauri, but I’m certain that I won’t reach journey’s end alive. I am in the grip of “the Sorrow”, “the Loneliness”, “the Pilot’s Despair”; it … Continue reading “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Star Pilot” by Lee Moan
"No longer are laser guns the stuff of Hollywood and Strategic Defense Initiative fantasy. The Pentagon inside of a decade could be armed with such a beam weapon...." -- Oakland Tribune, October 19, 2003 "You are the one, Neo." -- The Matrix 1. Professor Paula J. Lynch plopped her duffel bag on the steel deck … Continue reading “Light Source” (a Prof. Paula J. Lynch story) by E.S. Strout
I sensed no movement in the air and heard no sounds except my bare feet slowly padding along. I felt exposed walking down the deserted long hallway, so I kept as much to the side of the corridor as I could, though diffuse white light from the ceiling lit the ash-white walls and made hiding … Continue reading “Expetais” by Jeff Hemsley
“What is it?” Over-General Ulat demanded, in tones of nitrogen with an overlay of imperious oxygen. “You’re ruining my contemplation of our glorious victory. ” He angled a stalked eye at the glowing remains of the humans’ small advance base on the horizon. The strange creatures with their superior technology had fallen to a surprise … Continue reading “Failure to Communicate” by Ed McKeown
[Illustration: New illustration created for the archive; the original artwork, “Maroon Bells” © 2004 by Robert Sorensen, has been lost.] under three moons a rush of nanofireflies -- October wind leafless trees -- in the rocket’s wake a swirl of blue banana-persimmons Veterans’ cemetery -- at the markers of the space buoy nanites planting memories … Continue reading “Autumn Haiku in the Year 2278” by Anjali Chandi
