Turning of Attention
Ella bristled, if only for a moment before slinking to the table. The cup of offered tea was in her hands before Clemens could make sense of the whole scene…
Dessert
You’ve been very patient here with me; doubtless this is one of the stranger stories you’ve ever heard. The universe is full of weird and wonderful stories…
Last Meal
I carefully heated the soup over the ancient hot plate, fearful that the painfully backward technology would set the room on fire. My friend lay on his bed…
Legacy
Humans, being mortals, grow old and die, and Hao Shue was no exception. It was a wonder he’d lasted as long as he did—many moons had he passed inhaling rocket…
The Battles Always Choose
Tendrils of light were what made up his wings; tongues of flame that snaked outwards, a brilliant display. Their brightness increased as his baritone voice…
The Nutmeg Bazaar
It was Zenith, the hour when Estoria’s twin suns glared down like the eyes of Rah. Vicky wiped her brow as she pushed through the bustling afternoon bazaar, a…
Simple Request Regarding Natural Production
Jose leads the solemn procession of three out of the saloon, down a dusty street, and into the inferno of the desert. Though the sun dips low, the heat…
The Twilight of Our Years
The dropship perched upon one of the smaller floating mountains. I climbed down, fists thick with flowering vine. The going was precarious but my old bones…
Midori
For a while, life was great. I was retired, with a cushy pension. We travelled, though never off planet. When my wife died, everything changed. My friends were…
As Many Wontons As There Are Stars
Hao Shue rode the rockets into destiny, paying for the tickets by working ports or small jobs in cities. He hitchhiked the dynaflow freights or the FTL…
The Beginning of the Beginning
The greatest of journeys start with the smallest of steps. And so it came to pass, as we sat underneath the plastic canopy of the noodle cart permanently…
To Seek That Which Was Lost
The battered old car sweeps up to the door and an old man, presumably the owner of the property, emerges and pulls an overcoat from the back. He nods at me…
Violence, Blood, and Money
Thus ushered in, Ryan and Peter followed the lumbering hulk of a figure down a narrow, dimly lit corridor, approaching ever closer to the glowing source of…
The Terrible Quest
Death has his scythe. As for Fear, she throws snowballs. She has many guises, but suppose you are in a forest at dusk, and you see a young girl, perhaps eight…
The MacGuffin
Blondes. My weakness. There she was standing over me, with her sword at my throat. Not that I didn’t deserve to be in this position, not after what I had done…
Heroic Theft
I collapsed into my chair, exhausted from searching for my wife who went missing in the forest a week ago. I was fast losing hope. Then my front door opened…