Illustration: “Newsbot” © 2007 by Carl Goodman "Dr. Fudiki, can you help us?" asked Mr. Yakito from the Advanced Robotics Laboratory in Japan. "I'm not sure. I have never observed emergent behaviour like this before. You say that you have already rebooted the machines and uploaded the original programs?" Yakito nodded. "We tried three times. … Continue reading “404 Error” by David Such →

Dan Constantine had steeled himself and thus was not at all surprised. When Lucian Renoir’s small hand came out in greeting as they stood at a side entrance of the magazine of Dan’s employ, Dan knew not to evaluate what his eyes saw. Here was a fellow, hardly a man yet, with fair eyes and … Continue reading “Nothing Like a Ghost” by Wen Henagan →

Illustration: “Self-Portrait” © 2007 by Robert Sorensen The sun was sinking beyond the grotesque spires. There were times when Jacob wanted to topple them. In a few years, maybe the Venus sands will have corroded them enough that a good loud shout would fell them. Somehow, though, he doubted that. No matter how far he … Continue reading “The Crystal Tower” by Owen Crawford →

Illustration: “Crop” © 2005 by D'Wayne Murphy Its endless, dreamy half-sleep was broken. It sensed movement in the firm, cool substance that it lay in. The substance shifted around it. A new thing, cold and sharp, that it had never felt before, touched its outer skin. The familiar closeness of the substance that had always … Continue reading “Crop” by William Wilde →

Illustration: “Powercell” © 2006 by Patrick Stacy The black security car slipped through the armored gates of the Areadni embassy like a cat sneaking out for a snack. Roger Desprey sighed, got out of his own car at the curb, and waved an arm. The limo slowed to a stop centimeters from his toes. He … Continue reading “Power Cell” by John M. Cowan →

  “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay. The Shadow knows.” Maniacal laughter echoed into the emptiness of outer space, and for the next twenty minutes Valerie and Maria were transported to an alien world where men in black fedoras and … Continue reading “Echoes from Radioland” by David Wright →

"Look, if you'll just inspect the implant in the back molar on the left side of my mouth, you'll know I'm telling you the truth." Dr. Karrow looked at the disheveled man in ragged clothing who was sitting in the dental chair. They were now behind the partitions and the door, and the hearing of … Continue reading “The Qual” by Neil Burlington →

On Bishop-34’s southern hemisphere the wind started to pick up. I could already tell, experience being the best sensor, that this was what I considered a "Classic" storm and as the first of the hydrogen-sleet began to sever land sensors and pelted what remained of my belt armor, I just shut down. No sense in … Continue reading “Last: an Eventuality Tale” by Brad Andrews →

[Illustration: “Space Alien” © 2006 by R. Lloyd rrobot34@aol.com.] Eleanor Wolfsson had a rather bleak outlook on the fate of the world, but for now she was concerned only with taming her unkempt hair. Strands of brown hair escaped from between her fingers as she tried to pull them back and tame the tangle with … Continue reading “Death by Strangulation” by Ian Muneshwar →

[Illustration: “Nuke Moon” © 2006 by Tracy Dilorenzo.] Maxwell was in the middle of the first steak he had seen in almost a year when the communicator holstered at his waist began to beep. Maxwell sighed and closed the lid of his magnetized plate so the medium-rare ribeye wouldn't float away, and answered the call. … Continue reading “Garbage Men” by Andrew Hellard →