Amethyst, like most planets discovered in the 23rd century, had a name as one-dimensional as it was misleading. There's no quartz here. The first ship to attempt a landing nearly combusted when its hull started oxidizing from the iodine in the atmosphere. That's what gives it its rich violet palette: the iodine vents. Its scorching… Continue reading Amethyst
Category: Science Fiction
The Advocate
"I'm Harley. I'll be your advocate." She waited while the creature on the other side of the translucent partition interpreted her message and responded. Integrated translators turned its color-shifting into text that scrolled across the partition. Many of the pixels were dead, especially for such a short response. "My what?" She sighed and crossed one… Continue reading The Advocate
Before the Storm
Lamb calmly crossed the long entryway of the lobby, the wooden heels of his thousand-dollar authentic leather oxfords—from genetically unique cattle, not those clone farm abominations—clicked with each step upon the quartz floor like a metronome, a prelude to the requiem. Though, the impressive space was designed such that the sounds of the lobby lived… Continue reading Before the Storm
In Sight of the Spirits
Mukaru reached Spirit Palace late, just as the sky went golden at the hour of sundown. He hopped silently from his uleox—one of the few animals native to this planet, something akin to a camel-elephant hybrid—and let it wander down to a nearby spring to rehydrate while he got his bearings. The spirits would soon… Continue reading In Sight of the Spirits
Linear Function
"Yes. It's true. It was me." "I don't believe you." Clint reached into his pack. "Then how do you explain this?" He pulled out a small silver cube. It distorted his reflection like a funhouse mirror. "Tell me that's not what I think it is." Clint didn't respond, turning the object over in his hands.… Continue reading Linear Function
Some Deal
Brin Dimanche was not the type of person you wanted to make angry. In fact, you were better off if she didn’t know you at all. Any orbit around her was a decaying one. You could tell just by looking at her senior advisors; none of them were seniors. Minutes with Brin could take decades… Continue reading Some Deal
Sunrise at the Precinct
Kyler waited in the hangar absently holding his pistol at his side. The gash above his eye had stopped bleeding, but the half-dried splatter pulled at the scruff on his cheek as he clenched and unclenched his jaw out of habit. He needed another hit an hour ago, and he could feel it in the… Continue reading Sunrise at the Precinct
Guilt in the Age of Indifference
Py-S'tem Station grew closer like a giant squid at sunset, backlit by the crimson gases of the nebula, its bulbous head surrounded by long tentacles of docking runways. They were about to be swallowed up. Not Tul, but his passengers, of course. He'd been working the prison transport route from the Alcona system to Py-S'tem… Continue reading Guilt in the Age of Indifference
New Wellspring
The crumpled remains of their dropship, Six Degrees From Earth, stuck out of the swamp water like a series of lightning-split tree trunks. Beyond were the derelict structures of the New Wellspring colony on Kappa Lyrae D. There was no doubt this is where the mayday signal came from, but Cooper and Westhalter didn't see a… Continue reading New Wellspring
Me? Scared?
Cassidy relived himself as he walked to the edge of the shore. The sun was close to drowning beneath the horizon and it skipped its last rays across the liquid methane sea like weather beaten stones. The evening fog was forming. His heavy boots kicked up rust-colored regolith as he dragged his feet. When he… Continue reading Me? Scared?
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