Topic
Future Societies
New colonies. Alternate Earths. Parallel universes. All is fair game.
A Win For Time Poor People Everywhere
The District Court has ruled in favor of a Florida woman today who is suing a customer service center for wasting her time. Zamazon kept Jill Thwaites, 38, on hold for six hours before telling her that the VR set up she wanted was no longer in stock, when the website said they…
Blueshift
In this, the best of all possible universes, we have the Heisenberg certainty principle. In the Heisenberg certainty principle, one predicts exactly how the measurement of the position of a particle will change its velocity and how the measurement of the velocity of a particle…
Speaking for Those With Obsidian Tongues
Time passes slowly for those made of stone. Each day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day. At least that's what they tell us. Donal rushes into the tent where I'm eating cold oats and slides his tablet across my makeshift-table crate. "Just got the…
Knitting Weather
"First Phoenix. Then Albuquerque. Grand Canyon. Flagstaff. Each time those fools switch on a new weather regulator, the storms here grow worse. Winds forced where they'd never gone before, rain flooding rocky earth. Sure, they're comfortable now, with their perfect tourist…
Ninety-Nine Percent Support
"A mouth-piece?" Kalia said. "Seriously?" "It's not that bad," I said. "Besides, the perks are fab." And they were. The VIP+ lounge of the Starbucks-Subway was all you can eat, golden crunchy pain ordinaire stuffed with slices of printed turkey and salami proteins, olive paste…
The Small Shop of Me
Olaf sold his left eye. He unplugged it from its socket and laid it over the counter. It fizzled for a second, staring at the buyer with a dead gleam. The buyer, a blind man in his eighties, scanned his thumb on the pay-reader and respectfully bowed his head. Olaf dropped the…
Cryopreservation Archaeology
It had obviously been a facility for cryopreservation. That much we could decipher: we knew enough Middle Anglish to read the 22th-century signs and labels, and the freezing chambers deep below the ground, amazingly, not only were clearly marked as such but were still in…
Banquet
Because I lived in a public garden, I spent most daylight hours hiding. The conifer section was the best place for that--thick-needled trees with branches down to the ground. I found one pretty far from the gravel paths, because people could smell that I was dead, and dogs could…
Gold and Memory
Gold is enduring. We find it occasionally, sometimes in the form of great hoards of rectangular bars or circular disks buried under crushed brick and stone. More often as odd bits, a bent ring here, a mangled shape there. All worked by hands that clearly cared about their craft…
The Cities Rise Up on Legs of Lead
We, the citizenry of the city Letura, form up our lines in the amber grass while our home shakes itself free of its foundations. It's real, what the old books say. Had we thought the claims of streets becoming legs some primitive misunderstanding? Had we thought the lines about…
Help Her Fit In
She says her name is Msisiki so we call her Missy. She already looks so different. We don't know if she's a changeling or a fairy or some sort of alien. It doesn't matter, Mum says, because she's my sister now. We have to help her fit in. Her hair is deep green, like leaves in…
Nuclear Fireworks
To appreciate a good apocalypse you need a front-row seat. The last thing you want is someone's silly head blocking the view. That's how my friend Phil explained his insistence on buying tickets for the nuclear fireworks festival a full year in advance. And he would settle for…
A note on dating conventions
Throughout the following text we will use the notation FIT to indicate our currently accepted calendar convention. FIT stands for "Friday Is Thursday" and supersedes the previously accepted CE calendar (the so called "common era"). The historical circumstances that led to the…
Swappers
The air was sticky with humidity, hot on my skin. I blinked awake into an unfocused world of colored shapes. Unfamiliarity fed cold panic that shot me awake until I blinked again and remembered. In Chrissy's profile picture, she'd been wearing spectacles. My fault, for not…
Bounty
James came out through his flimsy front door and was halfway to his car when Ned from the next home over got him flush in the back with a .38 slug. The shot likely sufficiently killed James, but to be sure Ned walked over and placed two more rounds into him. James's wife came to…
In Good Taste
I arrived at the station sweating profusely and trying unsuccessfully to both undo my top button and go spelunking for my ticket in amongst my belongings. I leapt onto the shuttle with seconds to spare and picked my way over the outstretched feet of my fellow passengers, folding…
Eat you Up
Bree's knife sliced through the chicken cordon bleu as smoothly as if it were dipping into water. As she cut a piece, she speared chicken, swiss cheese, and ham all onto her fork,, making sure her first bite had a little bit of everything. She paused, letting her camtracts get a…
Total Lockdown
You heard the governments' announcements. "Coronavirus-22 is more dangerous than Coronavirus-19 back in 2020! Stay indoors! Don't go to work! Keep your distance! Wear masks. We'll get them to you as soon as we can." Yeah, stay indoors. Easy to say. Easy for us to do. In…
What Togetherness Day Means To Me
What Togetherness Day Means To Me Sara Greenberg: 7th Grade Togetherness Day is important to me because once it's over, it will be a whole year before I have to go through Togetherness Day again. Just kidding, Mr. Paterson. Not because I don't mean it, but because if I don't get…
Welcome to the Block
Lisa: "What if we say Native Americans discovered the Americas? They didn't, but it is closer to the truth than saying that Columbus did it." Lisa is new to the Lion Academy. She was born outside the Block, but somehow ended up living inside of it. The authorities discovered her…
The Sea Became a Diamond Sheet
It seemed to us he came from the other side of the planet; from somewhere beyond our buried cities; from even deeper in the impoverished burrows than our narrow ghetto capillaries; from below the hydroponic caves; the chthonic fish farms; the leaking concrete power plants. From…
The Epicaricacians
Hannah Kleinmann took another long draught of her Paulaner, put the stein down on the beer garden table, stifled a small burp, and grabbed a doughy pretzel from the basket. The Munich sun highlighted the short, stocky, dark-haired woman with tightly cropped hair and a face lined…
Scars
It isn't that we blind people get superpowers to compensate; it's that we pay attention. Cliquot '21 really does taste different from '20; a Stradivarius sounds different from an Amati; and when someone I know walks into the Heart of Darkness, I recognize them, and by the number…
A Beautiful Whimper
This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper --T.S. Elliot, The Hollow Men We never thought they'd be able to do it, but by 2096 AI had more than proved us wrong. Humans had, for as long as I can…
You Will Find Yourself Buried Beneath Rubble
Welcome to the world of the living, baby. I've come with a heads up: You should know that at some point you will find yourself buried beneath rubble. You will fall in love eleven times. You will accidentally find a new thing in math and will be given far too much credit for it.…
The War Was Over--
The war was over, at least for the afternoon, and the streets were jammed with rowdy undergraduates, doing their best to get as drunk as possible as fast as possible, and doing a good job at it, staggering from bar to bar in the rain, singing and fighting and feeling each other…
Teenage Neurogenesis
It was 17:45 on a Friday, and Abby-Gale and Lucy were finishing their second shift in the cleanroom at Earth's First Aerospace, Inc. The brightly-lit room smelled strongly of 70% ethanol, and hummed with the whir of the HEPA filtration system that wove intricately through the…
A Kept Species
It was a bloodless conquering, as they went. The aliens ships deployed missiles the size of roses' thorns, and sleeted down over our cities. They interfaced with the internet, uploaded themselves into our computers and phones, and seized control. We spoke to them, in our…
Reduce, Reuse...
The freshly assembled caterpillar inched its carbon fiber segments along a twist of rebar until it got to the ragged end where it began to chew. Its jaws made shiny little divots in the rust. Programmed hunger gnawed as insistent as the real thing but the metronymic beat of tiny…
Planet Earth Just Blew And There's Nothing I Can Do
Speckled darkness where the Earth used to be. Such a privilege, to watch from the deck of the Titanium Elite Royalty Lounge. There are only twenty-three of us permitted to walk these marble floors. We are the elites of the global elites, the monarchs, moguls, and…
The Awards
My silent alarm alerts me to the time and I get up to leave. Mabel sees me and says, "Work's not finished." I know her game all too well. She works slow and then wants me to work over to help her finish, bur company policy gives me an out. "Records show I finished my last…
Lump Sum Love
You used to say I overcomplicate things, but this will not be one of them. I forgive you, and I love you, and I hope you are happy. I hope they pass this last letter on, and I hope it makes you feel better to receive it. When you signed the form, your finger trembling on that…
Tornillo Memorial
As soon as Mike walked into the Tornillo camp, he felt the immensity of it bear down upon him. He had to hold his copy of Tornillo Means Screw tighter to himself to withstand it. The sheer force of history here. How his grandparents had been kept here, how his mother had been…
Troubleshooting your smart fridge
Thank you for calling the smart appliance helpline. Please answer the following questions to help us put you through to the right department: 1. Do you require a technician or a counsellor? Is it that your fridge can't cool food, or that it won't cool food? 2. How smart is your…
Virtue is its Own Reward
"For those of us living in the modern era, it's hard to imagine a time when people's crimes were judged without recourse to their former good deeds. A decent person could commit one illegal act and be condemned for it. One mistake could wipe away a lifetime of kindness and…
Everyone's Doing It
Max and Sheila did it last night. It's pretty obvious. They tried to be all coy about it sitting with different friend groups at dinner, but then we saw them peel off together on the way back to the dorms. And this morning when we saw them at breakfast something had clearly…
Observations Made in the Science Fiction Section at the Local Bookstore
1. In the future, all women are beautiful and have large breasts. 2. In the future, all men appear to have everything under control, even when facing down a monstrous alien creature or careening through an interdimensional wormhole. 3. In the future, things are way more colorful…
MemeGrid
The gang's decker, Ralsei, was plugged in and slashing through cybersecurity at TokugawaCorp when Shintaro called for backup. Using his suitcase phone he said, "Steve, where are you? The 'borgs are closing in on our hideout!" Steve yawned into his phone. "What? Did they declare…
Bot and Paid For
The noonday desert sun beat down on Berkowitz, reflections from the GoebBot's shiny carapace blinding him temporarily. Berkowitz lifted his arm to shield his eyes. "Greetings," said the GoebBot. "Are you a member of the Master Race?" "I'm from Kiev," said Berkowitz. "Originally.…
Toxic People
"What are you doing here?" She looks at me with watery, toad eyes. She is gray. I don't mean her skin. I mean everything else. Gray slacks. Gray sweater. Gray hair. Only her words carry the bite of a sharper pigment. She is the first contact I've had with a live person in over…
Virror, Virror
She blinked three times to boot her contacts, and braced herself for her double vision to clear, the real and the virtual images to coalesce, but the lag was a fraction of a second this time, much less disorienting than before. "Oh, I love this new upgrade!" she said and watched…
Bridges
The lieutenant is swallowing. "So, sir. You know The Wall." The Wall is a ten-foot-high, two-foot-thick slab of iron-spiked, barbed-wire-topped concrete, spanning the jagged border between the nations of Grattland and Niai. The Grattish built it, and the Commander, a proud Gratt…
The Zombies Can't Be Killed With Selfie-Sticks
My dead girlfriend's face greets me in the kitchen, holo-projected above my burbling coffee pot. "Your memories from seven years ago!" Alexis-5 chirps. My heart cracks a little. "Stop reminders," I say. It hurts too much to see her. We broke up long before her cancer, but still.…
Loser
Tad managed, barely, to restrain himself from punching the wall. He punched air instead, anger and frustration on his face. Then he looked at his phone again. The red flashing letters had not changed. Would not change. They would come for him before the morning. The way they…
Body and Soul
Gail chose body. I never expected her to, we'd been so adamant about our minds, how the soul is worth more than the flesh. And yet she chose body. The treatment took her back to her early twenties, physically. Her hair, that she'd started coloring before her fifty-ninth…
The Hard Knock of Freedom
Thirty years to the day after the death of The Government, Abel reports to his shift at the VariaCorp Tire Factory. His job is to inspect the tires the machines make to ensure that they are fit to put on VariaCorp cars, cars that he can choose to buy because without The…
The Colossus Stops
When the Colossus stops moving, the silence hits the island like a thunderclap. The creak and screech of its enormous limbs have been a constant companion to each of us since birth, a lovingly cooed lullaby, now so suddenly, so violently, absent. As far back as anyone can…
Search and Rescue
We tried to stop them. We could see where they were headed. But they had a tendency to hear only what they wanted to hear. To not see what was obvious to everyone else. Not that they were completely flawed. They did have some redeeming qualities. Which is why we search for those…
A La Carte
I usually don't hug my ex-husband's girlfriends, but she's sobbing in the restaurant's bathroom, screaming "ghost babies" and "children are burning!" A tumble of ladies encircle us. And Stephanie, this woman-child he's dating, with honey-blond braids and wide blue eyes says,…
Angel Unplugged
The Cyborg was positively throbbing. I could feel the bass in my chest and my bones rattled so heavily with the beat that I felt I was going to fly apart any minute now. Who would miss me if I did? Flixers wouldn't care, and the Trappets sure as hell wouldn't notice. Besides,…
How Much is too Much?
David spent all day in his media center, reading the news. In this sense he was no different than every other middle class person in the country. Every day he sat, and absorbed new information. He had just finished reading an article about the war. The article said that war was…
A True Utopia
The ground is quiet. The cities that used to hustle have crumbled with gardens overgrown and suburbs rotted. They are mere ruins that are easy to glance over. Covered in wear and tear from thousands of years. The plants grow thick over the old broken buildings and dirt has…
The Garbage Flotilla in the Pacific Ocean Is Not Your Problem
Lewis had gotten into the habit of wandering the decompression halls to pass the time before work. Eyes down and shuffling, he looked like any other dizzy employee regaining his balance. Lewis breathed deeply, patiently waiting for his bracelet to flash yellow, alerting him to…
World War 2.8.41 Release Notes
The Silicon Valley Military Contracting Consortium proudly announces that World War 2.8.41 is our biggest and best war ever, bringing hundreds of new features to your favorite battlegrounds across the globe. KABLOOI SVMCC continues to disrupt the weapons industry with our latest…
The Ones Who Made The Cage
It had not yet become a city of legend when I was born. There were festivals and clamoring bells and bright towers by the sea, but we also had poverty and hunger and grief. Our city was still real then, and we bore happiness and misery in equal measure in the time before the…
A Retrospective on the Third Millennium
Exhibit 1: Homo Sapiens. In the long-ago, humans shared the same basic shape and lived in the same basic place. They had four limbs, two eyes that could distinguish neither ultraviolet nor infrared, one orifice where food entered, two where it exited, and they were all confined…
Hannah Asks about the War, Although she Does Not Know She is Asking about the War
Hannah's mother lived a few streets over because Hannah's father didn't like Hannah's mother and Hannah's father liked Hannah and Hannah's father knew Judge Drayton, so Hannah's father paid Judge Drayton to give him Hannah and now Hannah's father has Hannah. Hannah's father…
Objects in the Nobel Museum, 2075
Welcome to the Nobel Museum! We're so glad that you've made us part of your day. Since the beginning, we've been asking Nobel Prize winners to donate an object that says something about their Nobel journey: their research, receiving the prize itself, or themselves as people. Our…
Two-Legged Race
It's pandemonium as we dig into the starting blocks, a hundred three-legged abominations. Our calves tug painfully, grafted to those of our counterparts. The track--a nightmare of gravel trenches and barbed turf--stretches to the arena's terminal edge. The crowd seethes in…
Cobalt Revolt
Devoid, empty, and dull. A love of life is now a lust for hate. Only anger keeps at bay the innate desire to close one's eyes and sleep forever. Day after day; rock after rock. Manganese. Iridium. Copper. Iron. Gold. Wealth. Food for greed. Slowly, with each passing of the…
These Fine Vistas
"You were programmed to take these pictures," Professor Meiling said. "I'm not a rob--" Feng didn't finish. More than any other faculty, this professor often spoke to provoke. High above, bright images floated on the classroom widescreens. Jupiter's red eye, vibrant and churning…
True Enough Believers
I read the news. I didn't want to, but they'd see if I didn't. Then they'd find a new way to get to me. The headline said United World Software's surveillance network had helped the government capture Deacon, the leader of the radical Luddite terrorists. I didn't know if it was…
takotsubo cardiomyopathy
I lived with Tom for six years and we were what I thought of as a "true couple." I felt a zing at the sight of him, at the sound of his voice I tasted caramel. We met at a pitch. I pitched my data and he pitched his data. Neither of us got the job. We left together to grab a…
Flyover Country
Grandma used to say it was all a joke until it wasn't funny anymore. That man running for President was a joke, until he got elected. The Wall was a joke, until it was built. California leaving the Union was a joke, until they did. The grandson of a Dreamer taking a job with ICE…
A Bedtime Story
"'And they rode away into the sunset...'" "What's a sunset?" "Well, I don't know, but my granddad saw one once." "Then what is it?" "It's when the sun goes behind a planet." "Dad, that's an eclipse." "You have to be on the planet's surface." The child rolled his eyes. "The…
The Steady State
"So, how does a nice girl like you become a faceless jackboot?" The prisoner managed to look comfortable despite her handcuffs. Her name was Kori Melsung. She was a high level Disruptor, I was a low-level Steady. The two of us were sitting in the back of the armored automated…
The Perfidy of Cats
It was decided at the last and final meeting of the Feline and Canine Human Advisory Council. The minutes show that the decision was carried by the majority with only two dissenting votes, but since the Siamese always disagreed, they were customarily ignored. Most of their…
Britannica in Dust
Grandma kept her set of dusty old Encyclopedia Britannicas locked up in the heavy oak china cabinet in the parlor. They sat there, concealed from view behind her diplomas and the fading photograph of her as a young woman in a business suit, shaking hands with the last of the Old…
Requiem
In the scarred and broken landscape that once was a city, stood the remains of an ancient church. It was one of the few buildings to have escaped the ravages of the war. Those left behind had considered it a sign. On the anniversary of the war, they gathered in the church, the…
For Your Own Good
They start giving you the pills when you're young. Studies showed that most missing children were under six years old, but of course younger than two years get the standard VaxxTrack Series 2083. Once you're old enough to understand how to swallow pills, they put you on the…
Dances With Snoglafanians
The earthman arrived on a holy Nineday, when the wet winds blew out of the jungle. In the boiling-hot breeze from the rocket's engines, the ribbons tied to the spiraling Tower of Prayers snapped and shook--until the ship landed directly atop the Tower and crushed it into sacred…
The Weatherman
Three things happened when Arztak Jr. announced that he would be joining the University of Primitive Sciences in the fall. The mug his mother was holding slipped through her fingers and broke into two even pieces upon hitting the floor. The dinner set on the table bounced once,…
The Next Formula
"I know that this whole project is very uncomfortable for you, William," Haalax said, "but I would like you to know that I have enjoyed working with you these past few years." "Is that right?" Will asked without turning from his work. They were at a critical stage in the…
Dear LZ-75-53b
From: Department of Social Correction, Whitehall, London. 20th May, 2099. Dear Daniel Marchmont, To inform you: this is the third and final letter on the subject. According to government surveys conducted during the course of the last year, you have failed to meet your Minimum…
The Matchmaker
"Would you have chosen her?" Tephy asks, turning in her seat. "I mean, if it had been up to you." I keep my eyes on the night sky teeming with traffic, the walls of hovercrafts around us blanketed in pulsing starlight. No words come. "Altest, are you listening?" she whines. "I'm…
Yesterdayland
The door of the Machine hissed, and the girl came out at a run, eager, fists clenched and legs pumping, as if the door had opened on ice cream and roller coasters and every last birthday wish. She skidded, then, to a stop, her sneakers sliding in ash and grit. So this was it.…
The Lies I've Told to Keep You Safe
I'm sure they're not a threat. Their ships probably need to be that big to travel so far across the stars and the spaces between. They don't mean them to look so dangerous. They must be friendly. You wouldn't be able to build such things if you couldn't work together as a…
Bits of Flesh
***Editor's Warning: Disturbing*** They say it's the most straightforward job in the world. You mark your wares, with the expense color-coded. You go to the cobblestone alley, and convince strangers to buy little bits of yourself. You also buy and consume to seep other flavors…
When He Saw Her
A boy of 17, who hadn't had a boyfriend yet, moved through life with eager youth. His friends always thought he didn't get any guys because of his awkwardness, but he didn't care for relationship drama. The world was his, and he wasn't going to let a boy hold him back. Then she…
MAD Men
"Gosh, well this is awkward." Alan slowly moved his index finger away from the red button below him, his forehead glistening slightly from a cool sweat. The button of the NanoNuke box gleamed in the sunlight, as smooth and shiny as candy, it was simply begging to be pushed. He…
We Always Remember, Come Spring
"You know," Erd says, sipping cautiously from his cup, "I heard this may be the last year for the races." I roll my eyes. "They say that every year." I glance down at my own cup but don't drink. Not yet. I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to the races, preferring to…
Thank You for Your Service
So I drag myself to this ALL-NIGHT store, one I don't usually go to, and the guy behind the glass wants to thank me and all. "Thank me for what?" He checks the monitor above him. "You know. Your service." All I wanted was to zip in here and pick up an emergency pack of Nightend,…
Border
The first time my brother Jack was arrested for eating, it was a sting operation. The video footage looped on the news for days. It was hard to watch. Jack was in a warehouse basement along with several others. He was seated on an old stained sofa. A chunky red substance dripped…
15 Things You Should Know Before You Say Yes
1. Technically, you don't have to. The Special Ambassador program is for people who can embrace the future in a spirit of friendship and harmony, and our Allies do realize not everyone is ready to do that yet. So they'll understand if you say no, although it will upset them. 2.…
New Year's Resolutions 2087
1. Get in shape! The holiday season can be hell for the old waistline. Same story every year: too many curried rats and caramelized turnips. Crazy Pete is looking great since he switched to an all beetle and dirt diet. 2. Be more active! Must get out of my lazy ways. Some days…
Snail Mail
There's a letter in his pocket. I feel it as I lift his body up out of the mud and onto the transport. Above my head, the sky is still burning--the afterglow of EMPs and plasma cannons lingering like snowflakes--but down here in the dirt, the fighting's been over for days, and…
Voices
[email protected] stood outside SunGrinds morning beverage shop, surreptitiously holding a leaflet that had been distributed through the offline community. (The elders had access to something from the Reagan era called a copy machine, which allowed them to mass produce…
My Bologna Has a First Name
Audrey Winters rummaged through the fridge. "Honey? We're out of lunchmeat! Can you go kill us a neighbor?" Ron Winters set down his newspaper and groaned. "The rate we go through food around here!" Audrey smiled. "Three growing boys!" Ron chuckled. "Be right back!" Ron donned…
One Game to the Next
Michael sat at his desk staring at his computer, casually clicking through the puzzle on the screen. The garish colors filling his gaze flashed and reorganized as he finished the level. A small, unsatisfied smile briefly crossed his lips as his score blinked and grew. Twelve…
Shut Up
Someone at the party says we're lucky to get such good seats and someone tells them to shut up. The rock is almost as big as the Moon now, bright white in the sky, surrounded by stars. They're all out, because we're as far from the cities as possible. Too much light in the city,…
A Bottle of the Good Stuff
When it was Abigail's birthday, I bought her a full bottle of the good stuff. It was a blue glass bottle, of a tepid color, with the yellow stuff full to the top inside. I wrapped it in red paper to mask the gentle yellow glow. She didn't notice at first, it was just another…
The First Crayon was Free
Jenna took the chocolate milk from the lunch line and moved forward. Truth was, she didn't like chocolate, but the Crayon Kid did, and she had an appointment with him in ten minutes. Jenna grabbed a seat nearest the cafeteria exit and scarfed down the tasteless algae grown pizza…
Last Day of the Universe
Tours of the Pillars of Creation will end at 11:00 AM. Help wanted packing suns away; hydrogen-handling experience preferred. All spaceships please return to port of origin. All lost spaceships, we'll turn on the house lights so you can find your way home again. Gravity will be…
Cognito, Ergo Sum
...so what do you think of that? The six other girls at the table began moving their heads, the individual thoughts blending into a river: It's crazy! Why would she do that--he's kind of a--don't forget about her last--how could they--does that mean he's available? That last…
Exquisite Corpse
Have you ever played that game--exquisite corpse--where someone draws a head, a second person adds a torso, and the last person draws the legs? Well, I took an art class at the community college and one of our assignments was like that. We were supposed to draw half a…
God State
On the way out of the gig, I stop at the merchandise stall to get a t-shirt. I find one in my size and pull out my wallet, then hesitate. It looks good quality, but the color--almost exactly the same blue as a scanner booth--puts me off. I read somewhere that they call that…
Black Friday
There was a banging on the service door behind me, and I fumbled for my shotgun. Laughter grated. "First time, kid?" Leaning on the door was a smirking soldier in body armor, shotgun hanging in one hand. It was Big Ben, head of security for the ground floor. Ben was a hardened…
The Poet with Fishhook Eyes
"You have no heart." Surrounded by politicos at the governor's party, the poet with fishhook eyes glared at me. I did not remember her. Had I been a patron? A critic? An enemy? When I said nothing, she strode away, her eyes snaring sycophants and lechers in her wake, till they…
The Spider
Razabad is a city of white stone and straight lines. This wasn't always true: for a time, migrants tried to put up wavy shanties in empty lots and build huts of corrugated tin that leaned against the stone pylons of underpasses. They tried to live inside cement cylinders and…
The Air is Always Greener
"You'll be jealous of your own life!" said the vid-board. I kicked another can as I walked down the cramped street, snorting at the vacuous smiles and cheap promises of the blaring advert. Only the Uppers had anything worth being jealous of--the rest of us were left tending…
Let There Be Light
Let there be light, Mimi thought. She was the leader of the waste people--the despised, possession-less, barely human workers fit only to pick through the electronic wasteland walled off from civilization to extract what could be reused, each bit of rare earth metal more…
A Cure Over Coffee
The church across the street looks busy for a Thursday. People shuffle in and out. I count the cars as they drag along the wet streets of town. The steam from the pavement and car exhausts rise and blend seamlessly into the morning mist. I sit at a little table outside a cafe,…
Being Yellow
As a child, you can change your color as often as you'd like. If you fancy pink, you take the pink pill. The pretty girls always choose pink. For Independence Day, most of us take the green pill. It's the only time we have green skin. It doesn't wear well, uneven around the…
Once More with Feeling
You are dead. Not literally dead, no, but you might as well be. You don't smile; you don't frown. You don't laugh or sob. But the thing is, nobody does anymore. Three years ago, the world died. There was no warning. No one submitted a memo. One morning, everyone woke up and…
Ten Things You'll Only Get if You Were a 50's Kid
1) Upload Glitches Remember these? Back in 2052, when people were first starting to upload themselves, you'd get glitches in the process. These days, of course, malformed data is a fashion statement, and people deliberately disable their checksums in order to produce that cool…
Originality Report
"2% originality." The robotic voice clanged out through the headphones as a thin receipt printed out of the wall. The boy frowned heavily, pulled the headset off, and then hung it hurriedly behind him. He jumped out of the seat, and rushed towards the exit, his cheeks flaming…
Well Regulated
The hurricane lamp we hung overhead shed a bright and unforgiving glare over the entire garage. My shaking hands made the light shimmer on the scalpel. "Just do it," Jamie ordered through gritted teeth. His Regulator was curbing the worst of his fear, but the exposed back of his…
The Circle of Life
My older sister, Carol, is selfish. When we were little she'd always make everyone late, hog the bathroom, and take the biggest piece of cake. This time she took the whole selfish cake, announcing she's pregnant. She didn't even ask first or discuss it with us, and we had to…
Road Test
Six months before her sixteenth birthday, my sister started training for her road test. She was more serious about it than most--morning runs, afternoon swims, evenings spent at the roller-rink or racquetball court. Karlee would surely run her mile in under seven minutes. Mom…
Yellowed
(excerpts from a business & services directory last updated 2 April 2187 11:47:31.01523) Susan E. Smith & Daughter Social Contractors Building fine families & respected institutions since 2087 Dave's Devirtualizers We offer the best recent model biochassis. Reconnect with the…
Democratic Weather
Report: Waves of drought and flood threaten harvest, may cause nationwide famine. Wow. Who could have possibly seen that coming? (/sarcasm) Posted two minutes ago. Lost a friend today because he found out I was Temperate Party. Posted seven hours ago. . Political cartoon in the…
Galactic Band-aid
Don't get me wrong. They came in peace, bringing it in their multiple six-fingered hands. But looking back, we should have known better. The Aralax are travelers, just like any alien race you hear about in campfire tales, only these don't shoot the first things they see crawling…
Tall Tales about Today My Great-great-granddaughter Will Tell
Once upon a time, people used to fly about in Air-O-Planes. One day the people driving the Air-O-Plane fell asleep, and it crashed into a mountain. Everyone died. When my great-great-grandma was young, people worked in places called "factories." They built things with their…
Lost Art
They love the chess clock; it practically screams sophistication and nation-states. I put it down on the bulkhead, where it will look especially incongruous; polished maple and brass on top of carbon fiber dyed an obnoxious shade of blue. "45 mins, rite?," she texts to my phone.…
FemCloud Inc.
Chloe lay on the table in the doctor's office, wearing a paper sheet over her legs and one of those weird gowns that opened in the back. She didn't want to be pregnant, but she didn't want to need an abortion. She couldn't help thinking about David--it had to be David--and what…
Dear Conqueror
I did everything you asked me to. When the leaders of the Three Remaining Nations League came over for coffee and trade agreements, I was the one who put the rat poison in their creamer, making sure to spoon in the exact proportion that you wrote down in your grandmother's…
"I'm lonely": Immune to Apraxia, Toronto doctor refuses to give up on a cure
Nov. 4, 2016 Lily Abello thought she would lose her ability to speak in April, just as everyone else she knew did. "I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop," she says in her clear alto voice. "I watched my husband, my mother, all my friends, have difficulty forming words,…
Maximize Revenue
Em wakes to darkness. She thumbs the switch beside her bed but nothing happens. Not again. Her credit's run out overnight. In theory this means she'll have to do some work today to get the electricity back on, but in the meantime daylight will have to do. She flings the thin…
The Latest Fashion
Every time the caf� door opened, allowing in a cool draft, the woman at the table next to Maggie turned blue. Then after the door closed, melted back to a warm red. She leaned across the cafe aisle toward Maggie. "Thermodynamic body sleeve," she explained. "It's the latest." She…
Canaries
LYSCom is recruiting on your campus. You're one of two dozen students sweating in a seminar room, agonizing over an application form. Working with those less fortunate you spy on the forms of the people near you. Not interested in a big salary as long as I have a job I care…
Strange Attractors
The first time, we stayed together for fifty years. The divorce was my doing. I fell apart a few months after we received our permanent extensions, at a hotel on Nassau, the same one where we'd taken our honeymoon. We were sitting side by side on a balcony, basking in the sun…
Nine Dishes on the Cusp of Love
Her: passing through to new horizons, slumming my station's crowded bar. Me: just off a line-cook shift, eating my free meal. Her teeth flashed, her eyes gleamed, her dress sparkled. I smelled of fish and spice. "Each desired other," she said later. The bar's glass and mirrors…
Off The Map
The car idled in the driveway. On the dashboard, the navbox waited patiently, its screen lit with a list of common destinations. There was a keypad for typing in a whole address, but it was easier just to narrow down from the pre-set options. Oren tapped the navbox. "Evantown,"…
Luna City, At Night
Every night before I hit the bars, I push the mattress off my bed and pick out one of the expensive watches. In my house, under the mattress is the safest hiding spot. I select a watch, like I do every Friday night, and put it on. Real leather wallets keep the watches company; I…
Grand Kitsch
***Editor's Note: Adult language, adult story*** I always knew that I wanted to try it at least once. It was one of those things everyone talked about like it was all spec and grand and kitsch, and I was at the GameHead with Maressa and Gen and Hole and Jex, and it all felt…
When You Want Another Man's Girl
There were only three pieces left to the storm-pizza, fourteen mouths to feed, and at least a hundred empty beer bottles when the guard raided the celebration. Davin, the son of the Captain, hosted the event, which made at least me laugh; his father's boys arresting his own boy.…
Followers
I saw the court through Athena Washington's eyes. I felt a quiver in her lungs with each intake of breath. Her muscles ached for rest, but training and adrenaline kept them going. Her palms sweated as she bounced the ball. The score was 101-99, with the Blue Birds trailing. The…
Wolf, or Faith in the Future
I wish it would rain. I mean, it does rain, obviously. Every Tuesday at midnight, every Friday at noon. It's not a bad arrangement. Everybody's asleep on Tuesday, and ducking inside for an early lunch on a Friday is never a bad thing. But if you do get caught in it, it's okay.…
One
I knew something wasn't right the morning I heard my mother crying in the bathroom. The thin walls of our seventieth-floor apartment did little to muffle the noise, and it sounded wrong enough to make me pause, mid-stretch. I'd never known her to cry before, not even when it had…
Crisis on Titan
"Thanks for that report, Joan. I'm sure Jack and Jackie will find a good home." [Lower-Third Caption: Fade out, "Furry Friends Forever;" Fade in, "BREAKING NEWS: Crisis on Titan"] "Now we want to update you on the situation on Titan, and for that we join our science…
The Perfect Coordinates to Raise a Child
Stacie Mitchell moved as fast as her pregnant lady waddle would allow, determined to keep up with Geraldine and the woman's twelve-year-old daughter, Anne. Stacie had a not-so-sneaking suspicion that Geraldine was pushing her this hard on purpose. It would certainly be in…
Space Mama
Dear Space Mama, I joined an exploratory company about ten years ago, and have been traveling ever since. Lately, I met a being on Celsia 9 who exists midway between a corporeal and non-corporeal state. That is, he/she/it (undetermined) feels more like liquid than solid and is…
For Your Protection
Joseph has an appointment with a brain scanner. On the appointed day, he trims his hair, as well as the nails on his hands and his toes. He wears new underwear. Freshly pressed pants and shirt. Casual but decent shoes. He aims to look ordinary but needs to be clean. He aims to…
On The Big-fisted Circuit
Jane counted them again to make sure: twelve. Twelve signatures on the back panel, most jerky with haste, a couple deliberate and firm, one with a little flower above the i, for god's sake. The pen in her hand ready to add the thirteenth. How blatant were they going to be? This…
The Flight Stone
***Editor's Note: Disturbing. For adult readers.*** "Never forget, ladies, how lucky you are," says Miss Reeper all the time. "You could have died in an alley from plague or starvation, or grown up to become disgusting harlots. But The Harkish Crown, in its wisdom and mercy, has…
Curing Day
Every year, a few more kids from my elementary school vanish from people's memories. Today, we've arranged our desks in a circle and Mrs. Witherspoon is explaining that Tracy Peters has gone to a better place. Tracy was struck by a car while riding her bike. She will be…
The Ships That Stir Upon The Shore
***Editor's Note: Disturbing, and a smattering of adult language*** The refugees drove west in a creaking convoy. Most of the cars were almost out of fuel. Many were on the verge of breaking down. The shoulders of the highway were littered with stopped and wrecked cars. Only a…
Nitpick
Batboy Pregnant! Is the President Actually a Midget? This Summer's Greatest Bikini Mistakes! Ugh. I crumple the paper and toss it onto the pile on the floor. I've been trying to write a poem based on late twentieth-century tabloid headlines, but I can't get the tone. And I have…
Paradise Left
Rob was feeding the dog when Ashley came home from the rebellion. It took less than a second for the front door to recognize her and slide open, but it still wasn't fast enough. She kicked the jam with a muffled curse and stalked into the room, five and a half feet of wiry,…
Paradise Left
Rob was feeding the dog when Ashley came home from the rebellion. It took less than a second for the front door to recognize her and slide open, but it still wasn't fast enough. She kicked the jam with a muffled curse and stalked into the room, five and a half feet of wiry,…
Copper and Steel
She found him in the middle of an abandoned trash dump, rummaging through discarded radiator coils and old engine parts. For a while she simply watched him, picking slowly through the junk, examining a piece of something before tossing it over his shoulder. His left arm hung…
Crabapple
***Editor's Note: This is an adult story, featuring adult sexual situations and language*** Youssou dreamed that he was flying. There was no gravity in that place. Dimensions stretched and shifted. A ring in space, kilometers long, spinning. Only the center remained free of…
Wildness and Wet
Faint music stirs the night and trickles through the sheer curtains into Leah's room. She looks up from her book when the street outside explodes into sound. Heart pounding, she pushes up the open window to watch a wild dazzle of zebra-like dancers. She leans out to better see…
The Exterminator
***Editor's Note: Adult, violent story*** After the third knock, the door finally opened a crack. Jaren saw a scaled hand wrap around the door and a pair of narrow yellow eyes peek out suspiciously. "I've been waiting," his serpentine voice beckoned. He opened the door and led…
So Far Faithful
I walked to the patch of bare earth at the edge of the grounds and began the slow, fluid movements of the Yang long form, my body remembering its one hundred and eight precise actions, each flowing into the next. The full cycle takes nearly twenty minutes. I have no recollection…
The Merger
The black town car glided quietly through the midnight campus, past manicured lawns and empty parking lots, up to a cluster of tall, dark office buildings. The driver hopped out and opened Murdoch's door for him, letting in the cold night air. On the other side, Black let…
Since You Seem to Need a Certain Amount of Guidance
Thank you for your query. Violating the laws of physics in that way was quite enterprising, and we feel you deserve a reply. Just don't do it again. In the future our lives are way better than yours. We are better looking than you are. We are healthier. Our senses are more…
A Handful of Glass, a Sky without Stars
Saturday: Mia held her wrist up to the security panel outside the pharmaceutical club and waited while her identification and prescription were verified. A light on the panel flashed twice. The airlock doors opened. She closed her eyes as the doors slid shut behind her and the…
Shimmer
Bethany Chow is shimmering in the cafeteria like the disco ball they borrow from the seventies for every stupid school dance. Her hair is shifting through a dozen shades of black and brown, a dozen patterns of highlights and lowlights, and her eyes are changing shape so fast she…
The Whisper
Uncertainty is an eye shifting a fraction of an inch. It's a word that comes a second too late. Uncertainty is blood in the water; linger too long and out come the sharks. When voters look into your eyes and they see uncertainty you fill them with conviction. They become certain…
Reversals
The birds are all screwed up this morning, and for a minute I'm distracted by a swirling flock of swallows that climbs and dives around and around in a crazy loop outside the window. Then I shake my head and say to Njoki again, "I don't want you leaving the house after school."…
We Planted The Sad Child, And Watched
Though he would stand on overpasses and watch the sleek inhuman cars whirring past on the interstate underneath and wonder if there was a place on this earth more alone than surrounded by the tens of millions, the billions, of us, I was always with him. Long before he was born,…
The Hotel of the Suicides
"What'll it be?" asked the man at the reception desk. "An apocalyptic death for two? Poison perhaps? Or maybe you'd prefer to have us decide? It makes no difference in the price." "I'm not sure," said Eddie, staring at the discreet badge over the man's left pocket: Leo Verini,…
Sacred Artifacts
You stand in line outside the Federal Mandate building, shuffling towards the religious loyalty checkpoint. It is a gray day, but then, it seems like that's the only kind of day anymore. Between the regular smog and all the smoke from Vancouver, a constant shield of clouds hangs…
Angel Plantation
Five Angels sat around the outdoor table with its tall glasses of agave nectar, each with its aloe spear. It was a four-sided table, and Angel Jerome was the loser of the unconscious display of precedence, being stuck in a bulky armed chair that would not scoot into his allotted…
The Numbers
Seven minutes until the numbers unveiled. Danny slouched on a park bench and let the cold sleet sting his face. Tears tickled down the creases of his nose, and he tasted the salt on his lips. He knew he should be stronger; he knew he should be a lot of things. Danny had always…
The Rush of the Wind and the Roar of the Engines, and the Call of the Open Road
To Lauren "Starscream" Beukes Sssshhh... Listen. Can you hear it? Listen closely, now. There! Hear them come! It is the sweetest sound in the world. It is the sound of an internal combustion engine, firing up. Sssshhh... Hush now. Listen. Hear them roar. Hasbro-127 The planet…
Ella and The Man
Ella hit the brake as she reached a stop sign, and turned her head to check traffic. No cars were coming, but a man sat in front of an old bus shelter on the corner across the street. He'd had his head tilted back against dirty plastic, and raised it to look at her. From the…
Back In My Day
Ava palmed the pod open and started to unbuckle her baby from the auto. As she pulled the straps around the tiny shoulders she reached around and flicked the switch. Her baby opened his eyes and smiled at her. Her heart skipped a beat and she couldn't help but gaze back…
Good Taste
The connoisseurs milled and mingled from one end of the long, thin room to the other. There were seven different tasting stations set just far enough apart to allow conversation between tables. A nostalgic, almost retrospective feel had been chosen for the night's theme: soft…
Saviors
After two days of space travel, I briefly considered suicide. It seemed the only way to save myself from Kael's crappy rations. The crappiest kind, the white pouches with token descriptions like "MEAT" and "VEGETABLE" stamped across the front in bold, black letters. "Almost…
Volition
T minus three and a half years: In two weeks, Karl Hoestler will graduate from the Akademie Der Zeitreise with an Untersturmf�hrer's commission in Temporal Operations. Karl does not know this yet. At the moment, he stands fidgeting in the chill white hall outside a classroom…
Modification or Mutation: 8 Ways a Parent Can Be Sure
As a responsible parent, you've chosen only a safe, beneficial slate of genetic modifications for your children. But once they go away to school, they face a bewildering variety of changes in their friends and classmates. How will you know which of their peers are acceptable for…
Spoons
Hers was a life of spoons. Their size, their shape, their ability to measure sugar. Maela lined them up in neat rows in front of the plain white ceramic cereal bowl filled with plain white porridge. Indecision tugged at her like the coy beckoning of a distant lover's finger,…
The Last Librarian: Or a Short Account of the End of the World
"Which is more important, books or people?" The question was posed in jest, but over the years I had come increasingly to believe that if the librarian's veins were opened, ink would flow from them rather than blood. Even so, I did not expect him to answer as he did. "Books."…
Trails
Clarke stood on the dunes, watching the party coalesce on the beach. Over the horizon, and the grey swell of the ocean, lay Africa. Beyond their borders. Outside. Lands of suffering. A knot formed in his stomach just at the thought. He shifted his focus, tried to relax, and…
Blessed are the Sowers
***This story features nudity and violence. It is intended for adult readers.*** I said, "Let me tell you a story." The Twil's eyes widened in surprise--the one expression its kind shared with ours--its face a gray mask. "Yes, I know your words... You have a lovely family." The…
Fall of the City
As Hevsen tied the new ladder together outside the workshop, his knot slipped on one rung, sliding over a tiny bulge in the wood. No big deal. No one who'd grown up in that city of ladders and clock towers would ever fall because of a loose rung. He finished the rest and secured…
His Brother was an Only Child
I clenched my eyelids, and my memories trickled in. John Ashley. Twenty-three years old. Terminal cancer. Crying parents. Cryogenic storage. The first cold moment. The last brief hope: they would awaken me when they had the cure. I tensed and shivered. "How long?" An old man…
Godless
On Centuri Primus, it's said one has only to set foot onto the planet to feel God's embrace. Ask a question, get His answer, think of a friend you once knew and you're talking to, feeling, their presence. Other planets have different protocols, but each has been linked into the…
Remember
Pay attention. This may be my only chance to communicate with you. Read carefully, and think--really think--about what I'm saying. Please. You believe you are in front of a primitive computer, reading text on its screen. You believe you are safe at home or at work, and likely in…
Remember
Pay attention. This may be my only chance to communicate with you. Read carefully, and think--really think--about what I'm saying. Please. You believe you are in front of a primitive computer, reading text on its screen. You believe you are safe at home or at work, and likely in…
Remember
Pay attention. This may be my only chance to communicate with you. Read carefully, and think--really think--about what I'm saying. Please. You believe you are in front of a primitive computer, reading text on its screen. You believe you are safe at home or at work, and likely in…
Facts About Gel, Gloop, and Other Semi-Viscous Substance You May Have Encountered Recently
The first thing you need to understand about gel, is that there is no reason, at this point, to assume it is in any way harmful. Certainly, if you were to slip in it, fall and injure yourself, that would be bad. So tread carefully. Avoid stepping in gel especially; it is the…
The School Counselor
Sophomore Megan Carroll marched into my office five minutes early. She carried a bulging backpack that threatened to consume her slight frame but that she pretended wasn't heavy. Her shoulder-length blond hair was perfect; she somehow escaped having the bedraggled look everyone…
The Elevator
Dry air settled quietly over an open expanse of sand, rustling furls and eddies into small, invisible tide pools. Some swept against the base of the Elevator, perhaps a bit hopelessly. The Elevator did not mind, for it had stood, eclipsing an ever-moving band of desert, for…
Surface
Joshua Hemmings and Beverly Amherst climbed up and up and up. They had spent weeks devising a plan to avoid the elders who would have kept them from venturing to the surface. In a thousand years, a lot could change. Whatever catastrophes had occurred in the past would have…
Vestigial Organs
"I'm afraid there's something wrong with your daughter, Your Lordship," the physician said. The lord's chair squeaked as he shifted. He cleared his throat and ground his teeth together. He didn't ask the obvious. He didn't say anything at all. "We were afraid of this," the lady…
A Matter of Time
Myles strolled over to my table in the lunchroom and said he'd die for me, just like that. I didn't know how to answer him or if I'd heard right. "What did you say?" I had to crane my neck back to meet his eyes. All these months we'd worked in the same carbon-fiber recycling…
Susan 3342 A.D.
In an overcrowded world, a high bar on reproduction was enforced. The odds were high, but after seven years came notification that we would be allowed one hemaphrodite offspring. Which of us would bear the child? You picked two of our fine black orchids and stripped their…
Zero Hour
The man had deep worry lines between his eyebrows, although he was only in his twenties. When he woke up after a restless sleep, he looked at the window. Mid-afternoon sun shone through cracks in the blinds. He checked his bedside clock: 5:51 a.m. The clocks were still wrong...…
Solitude
�Three thousand habitable planets in the known universe, and I'm stuck on the only one without solitude,� Ricky the kidder said. Of course the group laughed. �Oh, Ricky, you�re so funny,� said Jenna. �You�re the best kidder, and the best partner I�ve ever had in any group.� �But…
The Man who Said Good Morning
Louis McKalty had the drowning dream again that morning, the third time in a week. Annette, who had grown more upset with each occurrence, looked at him solemnly across the table. You called out my name again, she thought to him, the coffee cup in her hand trembling perceptibly.…