"What's it feel like?" Marvin put his finger to his chin and looked to the ceiling. "You ever laugh so hard you pissed yourself?" he asked. "Yeah..." "Well it ain't nothing like that." He went back to strapping down my arms. "That's kind of messed up, man. You shouldn't ever admit that. Don't tell anyone… Continue reading Architecta
Cornered
"Put it on the ground and back away." I had that rat SOB by the throat, now. Stupid bastard had no idea what was coming. The rain turned to fog as it fell upon the roof, still sun scorched even at this late hour. The spot lamps on the sky skimmers bathed us in so… Continue reading Cornered
Relative Cost
Lacerta IV dropped out of negspace about an hour ago, from my perspective, anyway. Everyone on board was long dead by now, dead for millennia. Relativity was a funny thing. I like to think that there was a critical failure and the whole ship blew to bits in an instant, but the sensor data recordings… Continue reading Relative Cost
Silent Night
She was mute. Her vocal chords didn't develop right. If she'd been born 1,000 years earlier or 1,000 years later it would have been better, but she had no choice in the matter. Her parents thought she was a witch, or cursed by a witch—they were inconsistent on this point—and they left her at the… Continue reading Silent Night
Without Warning
Declan hit the water without so much as a splash. The radiation increased the viscosity and surface tension. He waited for his heavy armor to pull him downward, holding still to avoid creating bubbles. He soon reached the metallic floor, below the reach of the spotlights high above, and he army crawled his way to… Continue reading Without Warning
Lying for Sport
"Where are you from?" "Amber Lake." I wasn't. "Oh, it's lovely there in the fall, isn't it? I used to drive from Carverton all the way up to Blue Hill every Sunday to visit my grandparents—before they moved down to Cedar Grove—and it was so beautiful passing through Amber Lake. I never stopped there though."… Continue reading Lying for Sport
Orla and the Elm
When Orla was nine, her teacher took her class to the Museum of Environmental History to see a real tree. It was an elm. The museum's atrium was built around it, with the roots and soil just inches below visitors' feet under double paned glass. When Orla saw the tree she was overcome by an… Continue reading Orla and the Elm
Rookie Move
It wasn't the blood that disturbed him. It was the footprints. Red imprints of the bottoms of shoes circling around and on top of each other. Red circles, and red wavy lines, and red swooshes. Blood was natural, organic, the stuff of life, but the footprints along the surgical room floor were the most unnatural… Continue reading Rookie Move
The Lifters
I'll keep this brief. In cosmic terms, our species was here but for a short time, and as individuals our time was shorter still; too short to measure from such a perspective. This is the way it was meant to be. As the last of us, I can say that with certainty. The Lifters, as… Continue reading The Lifters
Happy Surrender Day
They weren't much to look at—like big slugs with a dozen spindly legs—and they usually elicited a gag reflex if they were looked at at all. But the Krell had chemistry on their side. They, too, came from an ocean world, but theirs was of a thicker, more gel-like quality; this, due to its concentrations… Continue reading Happy Surrender Day
Warmup Pages 