Tag: Fall 2026

by Andrew K. Langley It started with death. My last day as a human on Earth was largely uneventful. Death, in its totality, was no surprise. My family gathered by my bedside as my belabored breathing ceased. My two daughters, their adequate husbands, even the one I always assumed was gay, were all crying their…

By Michael J. D’Alfonsi The Cobra VII’s control deck flickered like a dying heartbeat, bathing The Man and The Woman in waves of sickly amber light. Sweat beaded on The Man’s forehead as his fingers danced across the navigation console, each command met with an obstinate error message or, worse, no response at all. The…

by Lancelot Schaubert “Mert,” her boss called. Meredith muttered under her breath, pouted, and sulked as she peeled her eyes away from the screen. Lightyears from their homeworld, and still they depended on spreadsheets and spare parts bought from the lowest bidder. She absent-mindedly fidgeted through all of it on her quick keys. “Mert.” Her…

By Andrew James Woodyard The replicator sat next to the only window in the habitat. Outside was nothing but  a foggy orange haze and lifeless rocks, where freezing-cold carbon dioxide rain fell. Inside the replicator, a ceramic bowl was slowly filled with steaming-hot mechanically engineered chicken soup with matzo balls, manufactured by laser light. Ivan…