"What do you think, Spaulderski? Still feeling lucky?" "Oh yeah. There's money in the river. I can already feel those coins weighing down my pockets." "Nah, you're just feeling the double portion of dessert you had last night." Specialist Spaulderski rolled his eyes and smiled sheepishly. "That's right; I saw that shit." "Just deal it,… Continue reading 52 Pickup
Out of Body
There were a lot of bodies. They were neatly laying on stainless countertops spaced evenly throughout the windowless room, amidst a labyrinth of push carts with gleaming tools and monitors that blinked stupidly in the silence like dead-eyed cattle. None of the bodies were Kent, though. I picked my way through the laboratory under the… Continue reading Out of Body
Ruby, From Earth
Ruby tilted her head back until she thought she might tip over, but she widened her stance and redoubled her resolve. She was out of breath. Her clamped eyes grew salty and her nose tingled and burned, but she would not quit. Not until she heard the roar climb to the pitch of victory. And… Continue reading Ruby, From Earth
Hell Could Be Many Things
The cargo hold door hissed as the locking cylinders depressurized, and then it swung silently open. A rush of stale air blew back Faulkner's coal-black mane. There was an electric light inside. "Please, let me go now," said the technician. Faulkner had already forgotten about him; pity. He faced the tech, placed his hands atop… Continue reading Hell Could Be Many Things
Sugar Rush
Ruth picked up the emptied plates from around the galley table, trying to remember each woman's name as she gathered utensils and cups: Cherry had the red hair, and Tootsie had a gap between her big front teeth and had an accent from the outer colonies, Kat was a tank made out of muscle and… Continue reading Sugar Rush
The Oracle Sisters
The Oracle Sisters sat quietly before the slate hearth in their keep, Auber lost in her ever-expanding patchwork quilt while her twin, Illian, idly counted her own salty tears as she stared out the window. Vioria had passed only the day before yesterday. The Oracle Sisters were triplets no more. Without speech or sign or… Continue reading The Oracle Sisters
Absentia
Cade awoke beneath the clear dome of the transport. It was nighttime, but the blizzard held its own soft luminescence, vaguely purple. It felt like the storm was on the wrong side of a snow globe. He shifted in his seat, his leg sore from the prolonged nap in a strange position. "We're almost there,"… Continue reading Absentia
A Dozen Starlings
It was her eyes that unnerved him so. Two uncaring beads of a deep blue that he had never seen in another, like holes punched in the ocean floor, without any hint of light or recognition. She sat now across a long glass table, framed in the predawn dimness by her silky golden-white hair, holding… Continue reading A Dozen Starlings
Prepared for Anything
The Cada's crescent outline still faintly glowed violet in the skies above Nova Aparanta as the lingering exotic matter decayed and fell away from the ship's shielded hull. Omari was among the survivors, looking down at unnamed continents and murky freshwater oceans, knowing their fates were chained to this unknown world as sure as the stars… Continue reading Prepared for Anything
Fate of the Denali
"Commander, this is Spatha Six." Horace stood alone on a grassy outcrop overlooking a calm river that curved to the south through brilliant grasslands. But there was tragedy here. "Go ahead, Six." "I've got something you'll want to see, ma'am. I think I found the main drive system." The quiet hum of radio noise shushed… Continue reading Fate of the Denali
Warmup Pages 