No Pressure – Gustavo Bondoni

“It’s too far away to go by myself. I’m begging you.”

Aida Firenze stood before him, and even in Europa’s tiny gravity, slightly less than that of the Earth’s moon, there was no question of pushing her aside. Her expression gave a good clue as to how the quiet-looking ESA exobiologist had gotten herself a ticket on the first ship to explore the Jovian system at a cost of some several billion dollars, despite the fact that it wasn’t a European mission. Speculation was rife among the crew as to who had actually absorbed the cost of schlepping her added mass – and that of her lab equipment – all the way out here.

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August 15, 2019 0

Election Day – Greg Fiddament

CHAPTER 1: SARDINES

Gordon’s eyebrows are far too big for his face, for any face in fact – big bushy things that leer out over the hollows of his beady eyes and tax-collector spectacles. She’d always thought so, you can tell, but now they’re close, far too close, almost touching her, as he tries to squeeze his way into a corner of the already overcrowded lift that she is trying to occupy herself. She shudders at the thought of how they’d tickle against her skin.

‘Up, yes, all the way, thank you.’ he declares to no one in particular – he means he’s going to the top – before nodding a lascivious, ‘Miss Reid’ with a grim snaggle-toothed smile.

She shrinks away instinctively, trying to conceal her physical repulsion and disgust.

‘Gordon’ she splutters, then resumes holding her breath.

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August 8, 2019 0

Whyte City – Samuel Clark

Jordan Vesper toyed with the olive in her martini glass, gazing solemnly into the clear liquid feeling its coolness against her fingertip. Soft piano music played in the background of the café/bar, known as The Violet Hour. Picking up the toothpick laid next to her drink she sensed something and glanced behind her, searching through the smoky hue of the café and its dim light. Nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual sneering looks of disapproval from the patrons at her very presence. Jilted lovers and one-night stands all wanting more and frustrated in not getting any. Jordan pierced the olive with the toothpick slowly, then placed it on her tongue and closed her red lips around it, then sensually pulled out the toothpick between her teeth and chewed the olive. Letting out a heavy sigh, she threw back the drink, the cool sting slipped down her throat.

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August 1, 2019 0

The Siege – David Arnold

Rain crashed down onto the muddy field, swimming downhill through ranks of men. Ove looked up, iron helm heavy on his skull. He scratched his neck under a thick auburn beard and ducked his head down, trying to keep the rain out of his eyes.

A thick heat swelled deep in his stomach, when he finally saw the approaching castle. Four long beams towered in misty clouds with a square keep standing strong in the center.

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July 25, 2019 0

The Bio-Kam Technique – Sam Hall

They say your life flashes in front of your eyes before you die. I had been suffering with a chest infection for a few weeks and had been feeling very peculiar. Antiobiotics hadn’t shifted it. Lying in bed one night I found my memories cycling before my closed eyes. I sat bolt upright, my heart beating fast; 00:59 glowed softly on our alarm clock. My husband was snoring next to me. My cat, sleeping at the bottom of the bed, awoke, stared at me and mirruped.

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July 18, 2019 0

The Hike – Paul Weil

Erik has sewn a thousand tabs of LSD into the seam of the strap in his backpack. A sheet of Purple Ohms neatly cut into long strips of fifty-by-two and carefully wrapped in clear cellophane. He has kept fifty for the journey and has them stowed under the tight skin of his African drum.

“We’re going to walk to Glasto, mate,” he announces one morning, wide eyes above a face cracking grin as if he’s had the idea of the century. He is referring to The Glastonbury Music Festival in Somerset that starts in two weeks. I gape at him and experience that free-fall sensation I often feel when Erik has that look. I know I’m going to get talked into something outrageously stupid and dangerous.

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July 11, 2019 0

In The Same Place – Matt Hobbs

‘Pull yourself together,’ Messalina said to Henri Delacourt, as they sat in the Limehouse Water Bar. The ancient poet in the tatty blue corduroy jacket stared down into his vodka club soda. She could only see bushy grey brows where eyes should be. So irritating, she thought; if you’re going to ask my opinion at least have the courtesy to look at me. He looks like an elderly dog catching its reflection in a puddle and trying to solve the never-ending mystery of the mirror image.

‘I only said that we don’t need human artists now that computers can produce all the content we need.’ She absently clicked her long fuchsia nails. Henri flinched. Messalina shrugged. ‘I repost artificially created motivational phrases all the time on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr – you know? People give me bundles of likes. There’s this great artificial poet called Ibid and…’

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July 4, 2019 0

Leave Them Be – Thomas Wood

A clock hung as guardian above the locked steel door. Each ticking second was a sledgehammer, shattering the darkened silence, slamming against the concrete slabs of the enclosure. He rolled in his bunk toward the wall, away from the contraption at the far end of the room. The metal frame groaned; each sight and sound a reminder of his plight.

21-306 slept furthest from the door, in the bottom bunk. An honor he earned through longevity and nothing more. As more experienced men lost their way, he moved away from the cold steel, and the clock, one bunk at a time.

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June 27, 2019 0

Pilgrimage of the Black Shepherd – Jack Barry

The dew had settled on the grass. Fog, dense, is the pressed cheek of the sky flush against the earth. The heavy water in the air fills the lungs. There are shapes in the mist, the great swelling figures cast shadows as they are born from the water, traverse the dewdrop grass, and dissolve again into the primordial mass. Lying still for a long time, lakes form on the skin, a film that thins and deepens over the rolling dips and hills of the body. The water presses down heavy, it becomes harder to lift yourself.

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June 20, 2019 0

Laborotics – Degen Hill

Electricity coursed through the concrete bunker that housed Unit 11, bringing the 30 androids to life. Green lights atop each mechanical worker flickered on while their gears clicked, unlocking them from their charge stations.

C-17 clenched his black mechanical hand into a fist and then slowly flexed each of his five, tri-jointed metal fingers until they were fully extended, repeating the process twice on each hand. He stepped out from his charging station and turned to see the other bots going through their own morning ritual, understanding that it was moments like these that helped them maintain their sanity.

What day is it today? More importantly, what year is it? Does it even matter?

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June 13, 2019 0