Commemoration of the Faithful Departed by Steve Pease Ask any established businessman to list his chief bugbears. Chances, are he’ll include accounting, invoicing, and logistics. The devil, of course, is in the details. How do you calculate and …
Good Eatin’ by Gregg Chamberlain Hey there, folks! Mad Melford here with another steal of deal. I guarantee there’s lots of good eatin’ waiting here for you. Now Thanksgiving is just around the corner. And we all know …
Fog by Stephen Sottong The 6:00 a.m. traffic report blared from the clock radio. Yet another wreck at the intersection of the Harbor and San Diego Freeways. Jeff sat up in bed, and he squinted at the milky …
Manifest Error by Gary Cuba Diogenes rediscovered the wayward bio-stasis chamber while struggling with the ship’s balky cargo transfer lorry. The chamber, tucked inside a machinery plenum behind the lorry’s docking nest, evoked a distant memory that now …
When It Was Ripe by Evan Dicken Trina was listening to the radio when the stars disappeared. She was out of her cabin in a flash, the dew-covered grass cool on her bare feet as she sprinted past …
The Last Botnet by Vaughan Stanger Perhaps it was inevitable that our robotic proxies would start sending us spam. Even so, for the Interplanetary Internet to succumb to a virus just as civilization received a coup-de-grâce of the …
For Old Times’ Sake by Geoff Gander Sarah studied the balding, broad-shouldered man dipping a biscotti into his coffee and smiled. “Facebook didn’t lie. You don’t look bad after 30 years,” she said. Frank looked up and straightened. …
Nativity by Frances Silversmith “Meow.” Kris ignored the cat and continued to stare at her cup of Wassail. A tear dropped into the drink. Her divorce had gone through yesterday. After two years of separation, it shouldn’t hurt …
Midnight Midnight by Aliya Whiteley I kiss his photo, like a line in a song, and put it back under the cash register. The door is pushed open, and the small brass bell above it tinkles; “How quaint!” …
Price of Allegiance by Alex Shvartsman “Mr. Tobin, there is a Cicada here to see you.” Alastair Tobin, Earth’s ambassador to the Galactic Union, was more than a little surprised. In his eight years of service, he could …
