The small freighter fell out of FTL after what felt like only a heartbeat to the two-man crew. "That's it?" "That's it," said Gilderson. Technically he was a pilot, but the onboard AIs did all of the real flying. This left him with a lot of down time, which suited him fine. Under the neon… Continue reading Io
Tag: Space Ships
Spacejacked
The Phorcys 72-72 was unremarkable for a passenger spaceliner as far as most people could tell. However, a handful of engineers at Beryl Manufacturing could point out that it was the only commercial spaceliner with a cargo hold that had a dedicated pressurization system and seals. The design was a marketing tactic that failed to… Continue reading Spacejacked
Best-laid Plans
Even through the filters, the air reeked of sulfur. Yellow starlight punched swirling holes through the cloud cover and baked the gases out of the strange crystalized rocks that covered the region—a product of the crash, surely. Tavish watched the ship's entrance from his perch atop a stone column across the steam-filled gorge. Three days… Continue reading Best-laid Plans
Risks and Rewards
"It's a star; a black dwarf." "I already told you, that's impossible." She reminded him that for a white dwarf to cool to the cosmic background radiation temperature it would take a quadrillion years—70,000 times the current age of the universe. "You can recite numbers all you like, but I'm telling you it's a black dwarf."… Continue reading Risks and Rewards
Sidelined
"Damnit, Snooze, watch the spread. What are you doing back there?" Lt. Bram "Twofer" Vuurtoren fought his hardest to keep his heartrate level. The flashes of starburst beams scattered broken prisms of light through the cockpit of his missile corvette like firecrackers going off on his lap. He dogged his target as they spiraled dangerously… Continue reading Sidelined
Done Playing Nice
"If you had nothing to hide, why did you fire off all the escape pods and try to scuttle the ship?" The lanky captain looked like a wax manikin who'd spent a little time in an oven, his features drawn and sullen. His bottom lip quivered uncontrollably and his pink, swollen eyes sat atop gaunt,… Continue reading Done Playing Nice
Existential Risk Management
What is an acceptable level of risk when tempting existential threats; the very future of humanity, or the universe itself? How's a fifty-fifty chance of obliteration sound? Seems high. One in a hundred? Astronomically high, no question. How about one in a billion? This is where the average person begins to feel reasonably safe, but… Continue reading Existential Risk Management
Countdowns
Ten. Nine. Lydia remembered carnival rides that shot her into the air like a slingshot. She white-knuckled the restraints and screamed at the top of her little eight-year-old lungs, but she kept her eyes open, and her smile broadened. Eight. Seven. She remembered the leader numbers on old film strips—actual cellulose, before they were digital—circling… Continue reading Countdowns
Ice Bath
What idiot called this thing an ice bath? Floyd had never been in cryosleep before, and he was starting to wonder if he'd made a mistake. He'd had a hard enough time putting in his breathing tube and sealing it over his face—it felt like using a snorkel while his head was in a plastic… Continue reading Ice Bath
Freeze Tag
Sana jolted awake. Where was Sora? He was it. It. As in tag. There were six of them under the age of twelve—Sana, Sora, Kanna, Kaito, Niko, and Itsuki—and every hundred years, when they thawed out and the grown ups ran tank diagnostics, they played tag. And Sora had been it when they went down for… Continue reading Freeze Tag
Warmup Pages 