Between the dark rocky plain and the low gray cloud cover there was a narrow strip of light the color of tarnished silver. Ari adjusted his face mask as he walked between the modules of the remote base. Everyone wore the masks, even though the weren't strictly necessary. Imai II was classified as a shirtsleeves… Continue reading Blood in the Algae Garden
Category: Creative Writing
Artificial Fear
For most of human history—going back tens of thousands of years—murder was something that happened up close. The driving of a dagger into the heart of another meant feeling through the hilt the resistance of rib bones and sinew to the blade. If to die by the sword was a bloody and horrifying fate, it… Continue reading Artificial Fear
Turncoat
"I thought you said the place looked abandoned," said George. "It did." "You didn't notice the hundred-yard floating alien orb?!" "Keep your voice down!" Hannah whispered. "I'm more worried about the sentry." They peeked through the wind-blasted branches of some kind of desert shrub from the lip of the valley. Ahead was a cracked and… Continue reading Turncoat
Four Graves
The sun was just coming up over the foothills between the distant angular forms of the archologies. It tinged the sand and snow orange and pink. Marsha stood atop the smoking hull of the downed mech, listening to the screams from within. The bent cylinder of a hydraulic actuator prevented the escape hatch from opening… Continue reading Four Graves
Self-preservation at the Chop Shop
"Thanks for coming on such short notice." Sascha waved the nicety away. "Tell me who I'm looking at." The live security feed showed a lanky young man in the next room—mid-twenties—with disheveled black hair that pointed in every direction in a fashionable imitation of bed-head. His lumpy face was the color of a ripe plum.… Continue reading Self-preservation at the Chop Shop
Unscheduled Arrival at Delta Tropic
Lieutenant Brielle Barron stood on the concrete landing pad between the beach and Delta Tropic. Nightfall would come before she returned, but for now the red-tinged sun made the ocean look aflame. She removed a small lump of gray clay from a container labeled Prototype TKD15-3 and worked it between her gloved palms. This was… Continue reading Unscheduled Arrival at Delta Tropic
A Shot in the Dark
Gravity bombs sent ripples ripping through the battlefield, decimating friend and foe alike. Zoe pressed forward, unwavering and ever ready. Her battle armor's powered joints did most of the running for her, but it would stop if she faltered in her courage. The shallow hydrocarbon stream defaced beneath her boot tread boiled from the ambient… Continue reading A Shot in the Dark
Slip
Josie's arm was jammed into one of the Thresher's exterior maintenance ducts past her elbow, but she still hadn't found the ruptured cell. The attack had left the ship vulnerable—it was a miracle they'd managed to limp it away at all—but nothing made you feel quite as exposed as being out in the vacuum with… Continue reading Slip
Fossils
Tucker sat knee-to-knee across from Evelyn inside the cramped crawler. The cabin was three cubic meters, but most of that space was taken up by equipment crates, the contents of which he could only speculate about. Even so, it was better than being out in the elements just beyond the crawler's specially-built walls and redundant… Continue reading Fossils
Half Done
It started with a bar fight. I don’t remember what started the swinging, but I do know that I swung first, and I did it with a double rocks glass in my hand. Dark liquor and darker blood covered the big man’s droopy, drawn-out face and sharp little pebbles of glass scattered over the floorboards.… Continue reading Half Done
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