Havok Publishing

Science Fiction

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The Stardust Smugglers

Planet Kraken’s space port was one of the busiest in the galaxy—the perfect place for smugglers to sneak goods out right from under the government’s nose.
Leaning against my leg, Rigel whined, his ears pricked forward. I knelt beside him, rubbing his head. His coat looked a little shaggy; my best mate

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Tale of the Spectral Kite

“In the tales of them that came before, there’s talk of the otherworldly, spectral kite.” Pop’s cybernetic eye stared down the empty barrel of his gun. The rest of the parts stretched across his lap. “The settlers said you could see clean through the bird’s skin, past its bones, straight to its beating heart.

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For the Love of Watermelon

On all the nine planets, there exists no creature more majestic than the mighty water buffalo. Resilient. Unflappable. And unpardonably cute when presented with a juicy slice of watermelon.
“Aren’t you the most darling girl? Yes.” Amelia cooed as she scratched the coarse hair between Mrs. Bates’s big dark eyes.
Bates paid

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Open Communication

“Thanks so much for watching Zeus on such short notice! You’re a lifesaver!”
Mark shrugged. “Well, you said I only had to sit and, like, watch TV with him, so…”
“Yeah, he won’t be any trouble.” Becca bent toward the cream-colored Himalayan curled up on the couch. She lifted his face between her palms

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Super Gus Gets Name Checked

“When Super Guy is busy, call Super Gus!”
My purple-and-orange logo fades into a montage of my greatest work set to a dramatic score. To be fair, most of the guys I’m pummeling in the amateur cell phone videos are not actual villains but Justice Lounge drunks hoping to look tough by beating up

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Peaches ‘N Cream

It was a running joke between Doddy and me throughout our marriage that he’d fallen in love with the missing half of my leg first—and then he fell in love with the rest of me.
Inventors! More excited by what’s missing rather than what’s there.
I open the panel in my prosthetic leg

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To Fight and Fly

I landed face down in the dirt. Again. I spat dirt and scowled. “Would you stop that?”
Raddick shook his silvery mane. “To ride in the Sky War, young Myron, you must learn to ride.”
I wiped blood from my palm. “But you’re trying to throw me.”
“In a barrage of blaster fire,

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A Lonely World

“What happened to this world?” Jake whispered, peering through the gateway.
Lila pulled a gizmo from her pack and stepped through. “That’s what we’re here to find out.”
Jake followed hesitantly, clutching his tranq gun. “It looks so… normal.”
Lila shot him a quizzical look. “Every world looks normal, more or less

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The Good Boy

When Rosco opened his eyes for the first time and saw the old man smiling back at him, all operational parameters pointed to one thing: it was going to be a happy life.
His performance diodes peaked under the kindly gaze and the feedback-response loop set his chain-link tail thumping uncontrollably against

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Slow Burn on Costmo 6

Radiation bathes my rig, titanium panels and tungsten ribs shimmering like molten metal. Apart from the aura of impending death, it reminds me of my childhood, when I’d squeeze my eyelids shut while staring into the sun. Despite my best efforts, sunlight always leaked through the thin membrane of skin in a warm, blood-red glow.

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Closure

Closure.
Ha.
I’m here by doctor’s orders. The last place I want to see is Death’s Curve. I despise every stick, every inch of pavement, every pebble along this road. You’d hate seeing where your daughter died too.
This is the sort of place teenagers used to go to neck when I was younger.

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Run

Malther is lucky I have a family to avenge. Otherwise, I’d have left his squad long ago.
He leers at me through the drizzling rain. I meet his gaze with a stony stare. Malther may wear a sergeant’s stripes, but the notches in my gun barrel speak louder than any rank. I’m more than a match for you.

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