“Ahh, we really screwed the pooch this time, Xylee,” said Xestls from the living room, where it was staring at the television. Which was off at the moment. Xylee joined its companion in the living room. Rather, its host body did. Xylee and Xestls were both Xalian, a parasitic and symbiotic lifeform that couldn’t live long outside of a host body. Xlyee’s current host was a human female named...
I had a dog, a parakeet, and a cat. All of which I didn’t appreciate. My job was to walk the dog, feed the parakeet, and clean the cats’ litter box. Still, today was bring your pet to school day, and I’d opted to bring Sylvester, the parakeet. He was in his cage by the merry-go-round, ignored by all except Mark Wynn’s cat, who was suspiciously eyeing the bird. We were all waiting for the class...
“Don’t worry,” said George to Cleetus as he stepped onto the organic metal plank that had oozed from the spaceship. “I’ll be back by mornin’. I always am.” — Z’tX1 extended a visipod to examine the new specimen as it lumbered on two ungainly legs into the cargo bay. How it stayed upright was beyond the Klamarian, who considered four legs the bare minimum necessary for proper locomotion. Six...
“You can’t tell anyone,” said Teesha for the tenth time today as they approached the settlement. Her hands were on her hips and she thrust her chin out the way she always did when she was giving orders. “Promise.” Davon frowned and repeated the same argument they always had at this point, “Why not? This is kind of a big deal.” “No,” said his sister, “If the adults find out they’ll take it away...
“Don’t bend over yet, George,” I said, speaking between my teeth while I smiled at the alien on my lawn, “It may not be that kind of probe.” The metal arm that extended from the alien’s floating robot was distressingly large, with way too many whirring lights and sharp edges. I couldn’t imagine how it could be a probe. Then again, this was my second abduction. George had had a dozen. Our cows...
Rel’lika looked at his new slave and wondered. Unlike slaves from the other ninety-three races the Yralen had subjugated, this particular slave refused to be broken. He was the hardest-working slave Rel’lika had ever owned – of that there was no doubt. Yet the slave defied him in subtle ways. He moved just a little too slow when responding to orders. He often forced Rel’lika to summon him twice...
“Damned savages,” snarled Gregory, one white-knuckled hand clutching the arrow in his shoulder as he fled into the undergrowth. The forest was unforgiving, the brambles and thorns piercing his standard issue authentic period garb. The natives pursuing him suffered none of the cuts and scrapes with their superior leathers. In modern, civilized, times this forest would be called “old growth.”...
“My fellow Namericans; if elected President I will make it my top priority to refreeze the icecaps and push back oceans to pre-century levels. I will increase funding for aquatic clone nurseries and revitalize the life in our seas. I will push for more algae farms on the oceans, reducing their acidity.” Senator Juan Martinez looked at his cue cards and frowned. With a whip-arm...
The inside of the Orion Nebula was little different than normal space. Padraic was disappointed. He wasn’t sure exactly what he had expected, but this wasn’t it. He couldn’t even see the nebula from his vantage point deep inside it. He had an easy view out of the nebula and there were no visible clouds of interstellar dust casting shadows, even though his...
The Earth exploded again. Barkley scratched an itch under his nose and pretended he was outside, running through the grass, and not watching yet another holovideo of a two-hundred-year-old tragedy. Memorial Week was not an event he looked forward too. From the rapt looks on the faces of his classmates, Barkley knew he was the only on who felt that way. There was always something...
Ron Sparks is a technology professional, science fiction and fantasy author and poet living in Munich, Bavaria. His latest book "ONI: Satellite Earth Series Book 1" is available on Amazon.com.