Stretch your brain
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
"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
The heavy door lock clicks open, and in stumbles Raphael de Visviri, leading his consort by the buttocks. He tells her to make him a drink as he shoves her toward the liquor cabinet, and then he shuts the door and reengages the lock. He flicks on the light switch, but nothing happens. He flicks… Continue reading Money Is Not the Only Power
"Captain Itsu to the cockpit, please." There was no acknowledgement, but moments later there were two klanks against the hatch. I buzzed him in. "Problem, Aviator?" I looked back over my shoulder, past the captain, at the squadron seated in the cabin, and then nodded at the co-pilot's chair. He made his aggravation known but… Continue reading Professional Courtesy
Roscoe Bard jogged to the landing pad, his utility vest bouncing heavily against his scrawny chest. In his haste to greet the pilot he'd grabbed his jacket but hadn't put it on. The small scout ship—only 30 meters from tip to tail—was only a dragonfly-shaped silhouette against the gargantuan disk of the late evening sun.… Continue reading Tempers and Timers
The dust got into everything; wrinkles in the rubber gaskets, the edges between a helmet and a visor, under the plastic joints around an elbow or between the proximal and distal phalanges of a thumb. Everything. It doesn't matter how much compressed air you got blasted with in the airlock or if you were diligent… Continue reading Multigenesis
The copter drew slow, low-altitude arcs through the thick air around Akkarfor Arco on Rypfe. Heavy storms pummeled the hills to the north but hadn't yet reached here. The copter piloted itself autonomously with only occasional interruptions by Governor Dalen, who would nudge the stick this way or that to point out some mundane feature,… Continue reading Pipes
The ancient texts tell us the moon was a symbol of beauty—with its many phases and their various attributions, its single face, its mythology, its mystical threat of eclipse—and there was great opposition to its dismantling. But to look upon its remains, that glinting ribbon in permanent embrace with Earth, I am overcome by the… Continue reading A Moon Now Fuller
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
I stood gawking like a tourist at the inverted skyscrapers that hung down from the sky of stone and ice and iron. But I wasn't a tourist. This was my home now. The hollowed out asteroid was thick with the stench of people who all showered in the same few gallons of precious recycled water.… Continue reading Too Little Willpower
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