Hell is where your home used to be. Hell isn't death, but it is your anti-life. It's your neighbor's body in the street near the mailboxes where he used to let his dog defecate without cleaning it up. You used to loathe him for it. You'd smile and wave spitefully when you saw him in… Continue reading Meaningless Numbers
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.
Not a Creature Was Stirring
Terran floated down the empty main corridor—two kilometers long—occasionally bumping against the walls. He laughed as he flailed his arms. He laughed at the fat liquid bubbles in the air as he slurped them up. He laughed at his own ridiculous name. Terran. Ha! He was drunk, but not unhappy. Alcohol was prohibited for on-duty… Continue reading Not a Creature Was Stirring
Life Ensurance
Janice tried to set down her wine glass and steady herself against the countertop at the same time. The result was a glittering galaxy of imported handblown glass shards across the pristine granite floor and an expanding pool of aged cabernet. But at least she hadn't fallen and injured herself. That was suddenly of paramount… Continue reading Life Ensurance
What They Say About Us
Major Poppy Seaver exited the airlock and used her MMU to propel herself smoothly toward the Well. "Command, I'm on approach." Earthside, Command could see everything she was doing. More than 100 technicians filled the massive control room and crowded around monitors and control stations on countertops, on wheel carts, and occasionally on the floor. They… Continue reading What They Say About Us
Remember to Wave
Lenny felt the warmth of the sun on his face. It felt good. He could see the fuzzy strands of the veins in his eyelids. He yawned, and then remembered the fun he'd had last night. He'd stayed up well past bedtime—not even trying to keep quiet—playing with Legos and swapping secrets with his best… Continue reading Remember to Wave
Waking the Clockmakers
I had that fever dream again. I'm walking around the habitat. My feet make hard clicking sounds against the floor, but I can't look down to see why. I'm too busy looking at all the corpses. It's the rest of the team: Wilkens, Kang, Singh, Tenderman, and Din. They're all going about their jobs, cleaning,… Continue reading Waking the Clockmakers
Abandonist Massacre
The flames in the night lit the right half of Mercia's blood-splattered face, mirroring the gibbous moon that shined above, disinterested in the plights of lesser humans. The ground shook mightily as another rocket exploded on its launchpad on the other side of the complex. Mercia picked herself up, pumped the charging primer on her… Continue reading Abandonist Massacre
Noblest of Endeavors
Giants of light and hellfire swirled around Blair like lightning bugs caught in a twister. She couldn't rely on her vision at these speeds; relativity caused the universe to warp and flux around her little cocoon of spacetime in ways that weren't only unnatural to her earthborn eyes, but unnatural even to nature. Outside of… Continue reading Noblest of Endeavors
Walk Away Happy
Red leaves, red bark, red soil. A red jungle beneath a red sky. The pure red sunlight above. Zenn was gray. It was a trick of the light; everything that wasn't red appeared in grayscale to the human eye beneath this unusual sun. No one called Mars the red planet anymore; Rosenhold had taken the… Continue reading Walk Away Happy
Contact
Ryden sloshed through the toxic muck that sucked at his boots beneath the tangled thorn grass. It wasn't grass, of course—that was terracentric thinking—but on strange planets the mind tries to force things into familiar shapes. His unit was twelve days into its march with no obvious end. Twelve days of orange fog and swatting… Continue reading Contact
