"What does 'MEMENTO Undelete 256 City Park East' mean?" I asked Acrylic, holding the paper in front of him.

He rocked in his chair. My heart broke to see him tied to it, but we couldn't risk him panicking or breaking free before we restored his memory. "…

I could only watch as Hard Drive jury-rigged the defibrillator to serve as a power source. The old red tool chest in the garage was full of both automotive tools and computer parts—cables, chips, drives, discs. He grabbed a few cables and opened up anothe…

The smoke is making you a bit dizzy, but you manage to stick the landing. You resist the somewhat manic urge to do a flourish and bow to the gymnastics judges' panel. You carefully grip the edge of the window frame and look down to see what is beneath you…

You let loose a wild yell of fear and bravado, hurtling through the air as if in slow motion. You can hear your the crackling flames, the sound of what might be a collapsing wall, and ... what is that? Your scream sounds as if it's in harmony. It startles…

In fairness to them, the shot was quite a technically demanding one. Both the origin and the destination were moving platforms, and there were wind currents between the ships that made the opening shot a coin-toss for a hit and a miss.

Once I had the hit…

Lamar took a chocolate drumstick out of the waist high freezer and spun out the door, leading with his shoulder.

“Be back on Friday.” he called back to Ashish.

The Indian man didn't say anything, returning only a long suffering look. As Lamar turned awa…

We are all travelers, drifting through the cosmic sea, floating between the stars.

Some of us fly through dense galaxies, basking in the light of a hundred stars. Others dwell in deep space, gazing longingly at the distant pinpricks of light. But still …

When I look around me, the world is sunny, despite the real weather. When I think about you, my heart is content in the knowledge that you are right where you are supposed to be.

I am balanced, centered, and able to accept things as they are.

The best…

Wish you were here

In my shoes

In my heart

.

Wish you could feel

All the love

All the pain

.

Wish you understood

How I feel

How I ache

.

Wish you felt it, too.

Never have

Never will

I was sitting on a bench. It was cold. The weather, not the bench. Though because the bench was made of a thick, stone slab, it too was cold, not that it is worth noting.

This was a strange place. Lights, people, strange writing that I had never seen bef…

Story is marked as mature

The Core Systems Alliance was not a great military power.

It was the only power, which is not quite the same thing. We did not have seasoned veterans, brilliant generals, or ambitious young officers. That had all been outsourced to private security com…

An hour later, we were in the air, strapped into the cabin of a supersonic transport plane. The engine howl was eerily muted at these speeds, and we could almost talk normally.

"What are we doing, Lieutenant?" Boris asked quietly, eying the pair of mar…

What followed was not so much a mission briefing but a series of pronouncements from the little computer.

"You have both been granted code word access to ELECTRIC RAVEN, and may not discuss information under this classification with anyone except…" the P…

Pyretta! Dear Pyretta, Sapphic Fire!

Of all the souls I've known, I love yours best--

Affection and compassion fill my breast

Whene'er we are together. I admire

.

Your courage, perseverance, and your power;

Your gentle reassurance when I'm stressed

And in…

Lenn struggled against currents of howling wind and driving rain so strong they felt like the spirits of speeding buses. Keeping the cat protected was almost too much for him. He tucked the arm cradling the cat further back like an American football playe…

Story is marked as mature

I will figure it out. I'm applying my best thoughts to it every day.

It happened three days ago. By the end of the week, I'll have it.

I need to take this opportunity to set my thoughts down now, while the house is quiet and the cicadas are thrumming th…

Hi, Skylar! There's something I've always wanted to ask you, ever since I was a guppy. Is it really nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of life than to teach a horse how to water? Your opinion matters so much to me!

Also, do you like hugs? I'll send y…

“Goddamned cat, you're like a living jump scare.” Lenn muttered.

The cat meowed plaintively, tail up in the air. Matted fur clung flatly to its body outlining a starved frame.

“Yeah, I don't like this weather much either.”

Cautiously, the cat padded fo…

He thumbed the keys upward so that they sprouted beyond his knuckles like metal spikes. Should he retread his steps back into the driving rain and try a different cross street or move through the alley that might house something in it? Straining his sense…

Smoothing away soil, I caressed it; the eye followed me, studied me, compelled me faster.

As it slithered, triggering Ferris's mesmeric command, I gripped the spear hidden within my coat.

Hours later, the space was enough for it to climb past me into the dusk.

Shadows drew into Astarlane like the finest of cloaks, draping her form and reducing her blade to a sliver of the deepest dusk. Each massive, raining blow from the khopesh rung against a edge that was no longer wholly in this universe, or even the next.

…