Hale slid the blade between the man's ribs, feeling the soft tension of his lungs as they first resisted, and then, with a sickening squelch, burst open. Air escaped, blowing bubbles into the blood that ran down the blade and onto her hand. The man struggled, and she instinctively applied more force to the hand that covered his mouth, pulling his head back towards hers, bringing his ear level with her mouth. He tried to scream, but it was a futile effort, what little air was left in his lungs...

Cadarence slipped the controls into manual and plunged the craft towards the boiling mass below. The great red, orange and yellow bands grew larger, closer, and as they did, they lost their forms. Colours became inter-mingled, overlapping, merging; new patterns were evident and then, in a fleeting instant gone, moving on, as both his sense of scale changed, and the great forces that dominated them pulled them into new contortions. Vast winds shaped this planet, the currents of which where the...

*15* A small blue led began to flash on the console. The room was otherwise completely dark. A second, green led illuminated, next to the first. This seemed to trigger some deep automatic system, which in turn brought the room into operation. Panels began to emit soft glows in order to distinguish them from the surrounding blackness of the consoles they were embedded in. Displays became backlit. The sound of fluid coursing back and forth through various systems began to rise. As the activity ...

*8* “Those aren’t exactly the basis of a healthy diet. I’d have thought you of all people would know that, Doc.” “Malloy. Shouldn’t you be in the mess hall with the rest of your company?” I said, pushing back the panel to get at the nutrition bar. “Hey, don’t be like that, Doc, I thought maybe you ‘n’ me could have lunch together. Y’know I don’t ever recall having seen you in the mess- I wonder why that could possibly be?” His tone was more than slightly accusatory, but I ignored him. In the ...

*1* The wound exploded in a fountain of gore. “Nyaaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhh! Mother Fucker!” The Captain’s scream was so loud I could feel my ears ringing. “Sorry...” I said. I wiped the mucus, blood and puss from her arm- and my face. “Jesus... So how is it?” She looked at the wound. “It’s not good,” I picked up the scalpel again, and sliced off the last of the loose tendrils, causing it to squirm. “I can get it out, but it’s going to hurt like a mother fucker.” “So, how much of her arm is our be...

Harmin slipped back into wakefulness. It was light outside, brilliant sunshine streaming in through the holes in the ragged curtains, brightly illuminating the dust particles that drifted weightlessly in the random eddies and imperceptible air currents. He could feel the shafts of light, warm on his exposed skin, the sheets kicked off in the throws of last night’s passion. Harmin cracked open an eyelid and examined his bleary surroundings. Stale, dry, warm air; deep shadows, caused by the har...

“My dear, do sit, please.” Elsa eyed the old man suspiciously. The most striking thing about him, and it was also the thing Elsa liked the least, was his incredibly thin frame. It was unsettling – she felt like that at any moment he may knock his leg against the chair and it would just break off. She sat in the tall, plush chair opposite his own. The man attended to a pot of tea on the small table to his left; a thick, oily aroma filling the air as he poured the dark red-brown liquid into two...

Tick. Tock. The beat went on. Tick. Tock. My heart metered by the rhythm. My breathing measured by the volume. My mind cosseted by the drugs. My feelings amplified by the time. Tick tock went the clock. So here I lay, never moving, never growing, never changing. If only they could see the world through my eyes. Then they’d know. They’d know to switch me off. I can hear them, but they cannot hear me. If only I could speak to them, let them know I don’t want to go on. If only I could tell them ...