Stretch your brain
"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
Jules stood alone in the Proteus desert on Empyrean. He'd never been first before, not in any of the trillions of light cones. Good. He was at the front then, making a real change. He wouldn't be alone for long. But as the seconds dragged on he didn't know what to do with himself. Always… Continue reading Something to Fight For
He appeared from the desert like a mirage, as conspicuous as a rain cloud. He wore a Colonial officer's uniform, but he was no officer. Didn't have the swagger. Lyric knew; she'd been an officer herself not so long ago. "You lost?" She stood slowly, wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of one… Continue reading Chance Encounter
When the sound of her flatcamel's hooves changed from a shifting of sand to a clopping of stone, Perla allowed herself to grow hopeful. She'd heard many stories about the rocket lands, but this was the first evidence that they'd borne any truth. The fiery breaths of a thousand human-made engines upon the sand had… Continue reading Hopes and Dreams
Nira tore through the desert night on her '72 Appaloosa single-cycle, the silent lightning in the distance painting shadow-Nira's at varying angles across the cinnamon-colored sand. She didn't need the predictive analytics or the visual enhancements from her visor's HUD—she knew this desert road well. It was straight and flat and rarely used, and the… Continue reading Night Ride
It was the wind that woke him. He kept his eyes closed and listened to his cape flapping in the air like a banner to a kingdom long forgotten. If he concentrated, he could trick himself into thinking the swirling, breezy, whooshing sounds were waves crashing upon an endless shoreline, the water almost close enough… Continue reading The Wall
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