Originally published in Planet Magazine No. 22 (June 1999). Illustration: “Laser Fire!” by Steve Munsinger Private Emilio Ortiz staggered through the curtains that served as a door to the recreation room, half a month's pay worth of black market hooch still burning in his throat. The glassy walls of the tunnel gleamed at him from … Continue reading Exterminator, First-Class, by Thomas P. Wagner
Originally published in Planet Magazine No. 22 (June 1999). Illustration: “Savior” by g.k. Senthil Kumar He was dying. He knew that. It made him happy. His ship was a floundering hulk, the air leaking out into the vacuum. He was too far from civilization to get help; the radio was a twisted wreck anyway. He … Continue reading Savior, by Michael Barnett
Originally published in Planet Magazine No. 22 (June 1999). Illustration: “Flying Fires” by Romeo Esparrago Parker Ngyen had never shot a man before. He'd never even considered it. He always thought the Academy's firearm training was vestigial. Data were the modern peace makers, cyberscapes the OK Corrals. Still, here he was, sweat filling the tiny … Continue reading Flittering Headstones, by Michael Martineck
Originally published in Planet Magazine No. 22 (June 1999). Illustration: “Moment of Conception” by Michael Beckett This was how he would think of it, of himself:He was an idealist gone bad. He could live with that. Once too good, now too bad... He had never done anything wrong before. He had never had anything turn … Continue reading Timing, by Will Sand
Originally published in Planet Magazine No. 22 (June 1999). Illustration by Andrew G. McCann I was making my assigned calls, part of my work at the Women's Center Hot Line, talking to Janeen Wilson, when I heard this light tapping on the door. Seemed like nothing more than the wind kicking up dirt against the … Continue reading Hot Line, by Bill Vernon
Originally published in Planet Magazine No. 22 (June 1999). Illustration: “Fabric” by Hugh Vogt Web fingers probed the furniture. The television looked out on its home and found it nice. It switched its own channels, each showing a different raucous miasma of insanity, things whirling and the color of living picture-tube blue. There were things … Continue reading Web Fingers, by s.c. virtes
Originally published in Planet Magazine No. 22 (June 1999). Illustration: “The Monk” by Kalazar A Report to The Holy See of an Investigation into the Reported Sabotage of the Digital Memory Arrays Holding the Sacred Archival Facsimiles Accumulated at St. Abelard's Monastery on the Planet of Erintara Respectfully Submitted byBrother Malachy, Ordo Benedictis, Inquisitor Praecipuus … Continue reading The Monk Who Hated Latin, by Frederick Rustam
Originally published in Planet Magazine No. 22 (June 1999). Illustration: “Mrs. Selby’s Galactic Bed” by Kalazar Mrs. Selby met T'uh-zar at the 110th Annual Thornton, Indiana Flower Show, held in the college gymnasium's parking lot. She heard a male voice say something clinical but poetic about grandiflora roses. She turned from the Shasta daisies toward … Continue reading Mrs. Selby Takes a Lover From Another Galaxy, by Kevin James Miller
Originally published in Planet Magazine No. 22 (June 1999). Illustration: “Industry” by Kelly McLarnon Janusz Voorklepp looked down at his hands, at the rust red that stained their cracks and wrinkles. Dao-Thien Rodriguez, Voorklepp's indentured, sat wide-eyed and anxious next to him on the bench, nervously turning her notepad in her hands. Occasionally, she ventured … Continue reading Negligence, by L. Theodore Ollier
Originally published in Planet Magazine No. 22 (June 1999). Illustration: “Read Up!” by Lee Ward "Is he insane?" LaFort emerged from his thoughts and looked up at the holographic image of the assistant district attorney floating towards him from across the courtroom. "Doctor, is he insane?" the image asked him again, this time more curtly. … Continue reading Reading Upstream, by Aidan O’Keefe
