Mary sat in the dark in her home office beside the living room. She quietly shimmied open the desk draw and removed an Augmentium headset. She slipped it on, leaving one earpiece off. She was still in her office, but a parallel version of it. A version she couldn't have in reality, but one which… Continue reading Mary’s Other World
Author: D. Roe Shocky
I’m an author of short stories and novels. I primarily write science fiction, though I occasionally visit other corners of the speculative fiction map.
Let’s Do This Again Real Soon
The night was black and starless. Even the moon dared not sail that darkened sky. But below, New Manzhouli's neon glow dazzled, cold and bright. Yuxi stood in the in-between. She could be a phoenix rising from electric ashes, or the angel of death descending from the heavens into the City of Dis. Tonight, she… Continue reading Let’s Do This Again Real Soon
Was It Something I Said?
Ambassador Neph sat in the partitioned meeting room aboard the Diplomacy II, bouncing her heels off the floor. She wiped off her sweaty palms on her pant legs. Every time she realized her legs were bouncing she would stop, only to soon realize they'd started again. The door on the other side of the transparent partition… Continue reading Was It Something I Said?
We’re Not Alone in Here
Dallas was awake. The projection clock on the ceiling said it was 4:13. Too early to get up, but late enough that if she went back to sleep she'd be groggy all morning. She wasn't going back to sleep though. Something else was in the room with her. A fly. She could hear the buzzing… Continue reading We’re Not Alone in Here
Bury the Truth at the Lunhili Graveyard
The red-eyed double suns glared down on the scrap planet Lunhili. An acidic rain drizzled down from diffuse clouds, turning to steam upon the scorched bodies of dead starships and reenacting memories of their glory days when they'd navigated the likes of the Omega Nebula in the name of humanity. But those days were over.… Continue reading Bury the Truth at the Lunhili Graveyard
Moving the Milky Way
By the time she was recorporealized, Zoya's detractors were all dead for generations and forgotten in the sheer volume of the forward thrust of history. Still, the fact that she'd made it was a victory. Witnesses weren't necessary for her to savor its sweetness. People lived small lives. They thought more of today than of… Continue reading Moving the Milky Way
Adventure Awaits
The posters in the recruitment offices on Earth were brightly colored, depicting psychedelic landscapes and brandishing phrases like Adventure Awaits and See the Unseen! Abe couldn't wait to sign up. Then they sent him to oversee the auto-mines scraping niningerite from the regolith on DCKX1023. He was all alone, from one dark dead horizon to the other.… Continue reading Adventure Awaits
Neverwhere Nomorrow
When Wynter came to the world was painfully bright. She didn't believe in a heaven, and she knew she couldn't be in hell; she'd just left there. White walls, white floor, everything glassy smooth and radiating golden white light. She rubbed her nose and her hand came away blood streaked. Some of it dripped to… Continue reading Neverwhere Nomorrow
Something in the Machine
Xyrl dipped the little twin-engine skimmer below the landing pads of Tower LN-T6. The air was thick with smog. Fullerenes doped with xenon and argon made for a wild violet dawn. Xyrl was just pleased that the pollutants provided some lift and saved fuel. It kept the skimmer near the spiring arresters of the lightning… Continue reading Something in the Machine
Lawn
The garage had bays for three rovers. Tsumugi had a hard time imagining a private citizen needing one rover, let alone three. She gently tossed her bot into the pressurized, purified, triple-filtered triple-scrubbed and triple-treated air. It floated gently through the space, its thrusters puffing lightly as its spherical eyes mapped the garage from every… Continue reading Lawn
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