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 bunch. The three men looked over at their ranting comrade with growing unrest. "I must find an outlet," Thurman said, … 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 … Continue reading “Searching for the Ferryman” by Derek Smith →

  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 … Continue reading “Malorchia (part of The Langford Joh Saga)” by William Alan Rieser →

  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”; … 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 … 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 … 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 … Continue reading “Failure to Communicate” by Ed McKeown →

  I am a bounty hunter. I had never been and never wanted to be anything different, until now. I have chased Sally "Twinkle Toes" Barnett for over six months. She took me to Ganymede, Titan, and finally Moon Shadow, where I caught up with and arrested her. Sally got her nickname when she a … Continue reading “Memoirs of a Bounty Hunter” by Frederick G. Soper →

  If she’d sprouted a third head at that moment it would have been less of a shock. The two sets of yellow eyes were staring into mine. "I’m having a baby," her voices said in unison. I remember a shiver running through me and wondering what I’d got myself into. We were extremely fond … Continue reading “Heads” by Brian Wright →

  "Emma!" Mike yelled. Emma's body spun slowly, with one hand stretched out as though reaching for something. The other hand clutched the node of controls at her chest. She did not answer. There were yellow lights blinking along the side of her pressure suit. The telltale on Mike's control panel blinked a failure light … Continue reading “The Third Law” by Keith P. Graham →