“This is a mistake,” 733 beeped, its camera whirring as the focus zoomed out to train on the figure standing in the snow beside it.
The woman wore a thick fur-trimmed parka frosted with ice flecks from her long trek up the hill to the outpost. The climb had left the subject
Yousef’s vision went black as he returned to the delivery skimmer.
“What the frag?” This wasn’t like his prior blackouts. He was fully conscious, but blind. His grasping fingers found the cold mesh shrouding the skimmer’s rear thrust fan. From there, he followed the vehicle’s smooth side forward to the lockpad.
“It’s amazing,” I breathe, kneeling on the pavement. “Looks so real.”
“Adorable, isn’t he?” Mrs. Dawson smiles down at her hologram dog. “When Jack died, I didn’t know what to do with myself. But now…” Holo-Jack stands on his back legs and barks at me. I can almost feel the warmth
“I don’t see why we need to have it around, Paulson,” Merrik grumbled. “Damn bug gives me the crawls.”
The sergeant stomped his boot hard against the tunnel floor. The wet thud echoed up and down the cavernous hollow, touching off ripples along the scattered patches of bioluminescent algae.
“Shut it. You want
Green light emanates from my skin, illuminating the deep-sea darkness. Flicking my scuba fins, I swim deeper into the underwater cave and scan the walls for any hint of scarlet.
“Can’t make that light any brighter, can you?” Gino’s voice echoes in my comm.
I scowl. “You know I can’t control it.”
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A glowing array of dashboard lights illuminated the cockpit. Halpin summoned the viewscreen, swinging the decaying majesty of the dying star into sharp focus. Withered and blue, it shuddered in its death-throes, belching red rings of cosmic flame into the inky void.
“Hello at last.”
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“Dad! Dad? You have to come see this. It’s like the Northern Lights but better.” Deedee ran into the bunker, snow spilling behind her as she whipped off her hat.
Cyclopes raised his head and wiggled his nose as he took in her lilac scent. The only flowers this side of the galaxy.
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The sulfurous stench of rotting vegetation stung Zach’s sinuses as he ran through the marshland of the planet Hecate. With each stride, the mud slurped around his boots.
Gonna sink if I pause for even a second.
“The powersuits were a good call, Z.” Tetsuo’s voice was calm and steady, despite the exertion.
With each vacuous word the Duchess uttered, another bit of Kaori’s hope evaporated into a bitter almond scent. Was this entire planet ungraced with a family worthy of a Tisshe’s services?
Months of agonizing and futile interviews had exposed the inadequacy of the royals and bureaucrats. Today, the babbling Duchess kneeling at
“Alice, are you sure you properly calculated the accelerant?” Alpha set the custom incendiary at the base of the wall. “These were meant for breaching reinforced alloys. They’ll vaporize this wood.”
His AI’s smooth voice answered. “I performed a thorough study of the combustibility of wooden structures. The combustion should be appropriate
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“Don’t worry,” Ben whispered to himself. “Nothing bad is going to happen.”
He crept down the path beside his childhood home, breathing a heady, floral scent into his lungs. He stopped under an arbor covered with the red blooms of a climbing rose.
The backyard was packed. Dozens of relatives and friends gathered
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The signal was weak but unmistakable: the rebel waypoint. They had made it!
Staggering through thick forest undergrowth, Sam and Tony picked up their pace as much as Sam’s mangled leg would allow. Even though Tony helped support Sam’s weight, every step sent a spear of pain shooting up his hastily bandaged leg,
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