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
Category: Science Fiction
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
Sunset on Immaculous
Sutter awoke for the last time feeling calm. He had a twinge of anticipation in his stomach, but no remorse. His respect for the Council was impregnable, and when they sentenced him to the sunset he accepted it fully, embraced it even. The stories say it's beautiful. The garden world of Immaculous had been spared… Continue reading Sunset on Immaculous
Undercity Revolution
Everything was sore. Elenore wiped the grit from her eyes and stretched her long arms and legs like a modern take on the Vitruvian Man. The space she encompassed was her own, but only that and nothing more. She slid one of the empty ten-liter plastic cartons out from under her bed and squatted over… Continue reading Undercity Revolution
Confinement
Grayson was thankful to be home. For the soft clothes, and the fresh warm air, and the alcohol's affect on his brain. He was thankful for all the things he didn't smell. Before the meal was over, his family would make a toast in his honor and then point their eyes at him like the… Continue reading Confinement
A Good Find
Unontu skipped barefoot down the dusty alley, enjoying the shelter the buildings and banners offered from the sun. He'd had a growth spurt this year and his mind hadn't adapted to his body yet. His feet thwacked loudly against the hard ground with each step. Though he looked older now, he was still on the… Continue reading A Good Find
Or Worse
Haruto jumped up off the floor and ran his hands over his face and chest. That was one hell of a shock. He cursed at himself for his carelessness; he could have been seriously injured, or worse. He bent over and picked up his glasses, and only then did it occur to him that he… Continue reading Or Worse
The Length of a Moment
"You know, if you were to add up all of the cells in your body that contain your DNA, and then compare it to the number of cells without your DNA—gut bacteria, microbes on your skin and in your mouth, that sort of thing—the cells with your DNA would be outnumbered two to one." Lillian… Continue reading The Length of a Moment
Warmup Pages 