The Lotus Operator

by Gull Ditta The villagers called her Mehnaz, a name borrowed from the river that refused to keep her. She knew herself as a sequence of sensations: the prickle of dry earth between her toes, the pressure of a monsoon cloud, the shimmer of starlight caught in a still pond.

ART of the Solar System #10

by Cody Schell

Glass Coffins

by Andrew Kozma I did not want to be attending the living memorial service for my mother, but there I was, the spiritual officer’s voice droning on like a TV left on in another room. My mother was in a coma, kept on life support for only pennies on

Error: Visual Database Defying Analysis

by Jetse de Vries Research nano-swarm employed: spread evenly across the globe;  Finding: uttermost majority of civilization’s remnants are on land (remnants at sea bottom are mainly transport vessels);  Second nano-swarm employed: aimed at most promising remnant sites;  Check: tools, appendages, and similar appliances;  Filter out: those used for

Family Fight for the Point of View Right

by Larry Hodges SCENE 1  “Honey, should we kill the children today?” Frieda asks.   “Sure,” I say. “Why not?” My lovely wife is so cute when she talks murder.  “Please don’t kill us!” cries Little Sammy. He cowers on the sofa with Baby Tammy, who slobbers like a broken

Dybot of Sol

by Jayde Holmes Now all the People of Earth were connected and prosperous, so they said to each other, “Come, let us send out probes and map the heavens.” They built the fastest ever propulsion systems and entwined-particle instantaneous communication devices, so they could uncover wonders within the lifetime of

ART of the Solar System #9

by Cody Schell

The Content of This Piece Has Been Removed

by Alistair Robinson The content of this piece has been removed and cannot be recovered.  The Government’s Advanced Countermeasures system requires all forms of content, whether electronic or physical, to conform with our counter-extremism strategy—including content originally produced in areas outside of the Government’s jurisdiction. Content refers

Cajones

by Floyd Largent You'd think a superhero wouldn't have any trouble making a living, but since my Breakthrough, I've barely been getting by. My folks, who are proud of my new status, are happy to lend me money between bounties, which is how I

The Missing Variable

by Steven Mathes It may seem like an obvious detail, but nobody on our team caught it.   We planned. We imagined uncertainties about pathogens, toxins, hostile predators, and historical facts of human violence. We knew it would require unspeakable amounts of energy. Therefore, I was armored in something halfway between

What Counts as a Heart in a Bicycle

by Jennifer Lesh Fleck Circus-striped streamers dazzle my handlebars. My leatherette seat wears printed roses and flourishes, like a Western saddle. I’m pretty, parked alongside my brothers and sisters. My factory paint has glitter in the pink, swirling like cosmic dust.   The village outside hunkers under June gloom, the

ART of the Solar System #8

by Cody Schell