Peace, in Quiet
I sat alone in my little hovel, fifty kilometers beneath the surface of Tarsian Secundus. Vidfeeds circled me, keeping a close watch on the complex web of pipes that funneled…
Out of Fear
'Don’t go.'Elam froze in the doorway of their meagre hab-apartment. He looked back at the wreckage of his wife. Her skin was grey, her hair lank and unwashed, her cheeks…
Conflicting Duties
It hurt to wear her smile.She wore it every second of every day. It was like a mask she could not remove, bolted permanently into place. Yet sometimes – right…
Mine
It was a long way down from the spires of the hive. Alena shifted her skirt over the curve of her hip: not an enticement but a warning, a declaration…
Blue, Black, Blue
'I wish to be a great Captain like you, father.' His father rustled his hair. 'I think you will be.' His father picked him up. 'Look how tall and strong you are,…
The Bureau of Administrative & Bureaucratic Administration
The sound of scratching on paper, the dull hiss of burning candle wick, and the stale breath of hundreds of adepts working away in the darkness filled the air within…
Tasty
Tasty Taavo yelled: 'Meat wraps!' Pheromone ejectors on the cart wheezed and pumped out a blast. 'Meatsticks!' Something must have been off with the mixture, or the ejectors were overheating again because Taavo’s guts…
Those Who Remain
A few days ago the trap might have worked. It was simple, well hidden, and completely lethal. But Tanii had learntfast since she’d fled into these woods. She scoured the…
The Gutter Pearl
Pyrrho woke on the cobbles, the cool mud a balm for his blistered face. Cracking weary eyes, he watched the second-shift workers pass like shadows on a sundial, unmoved by…
The Last Hours of Merrick Dahler
The cell door opened with a squeal of rusty hinges, and the prisoner looked up, squinting into the light after endless days of darkness. A voice barked from the blinding…