There's always a sense of danger with the unknown. Sometimes though, familiar things can stay unseen for so long that seen them again is no different from seeing them the first time. On earth, there was a flurry of activity as the ship touched down. All militaries were operating at threat level 1 meaning that…
Of Portals and Pride
Where is the inventor of an interdimensional portal treated as a joke? At a meeting of other interdimensional portal inventors. Who would have though that there were other dimensions with other versions of myself, all having achieved what I had in half the time. Every meeting was the prequel to a failure induced panic attack.…
From Earth…Back to Reality
The pain was only temporary, the death though, that would last forever. Jekande's heart stung both from the bullet he'd been shot with and watching his sister being burned alive. His wife huddled next to him. A small town was now a large pile of cinder and ash. When the Jaisnin rebel faction marched in,…
Life and Times of a Stream-Rider
Hi, I don't think we've met or will ever meet for that matter but allow me to introduce myself. I'm Zek and I'm a stream-rider. You've probably never heard of us. We're zipping through the universe at the speed of light eating photons for nutrition and shitting heat as waste. It's quite a fun existence.…
First Contact
Our fear of the unknown was at a major conflict with our desire to meet alien life but here we were. They had come through a wormhole they generated bypassing all of our satellites and monitoring equipment to appear within five kilometres of the planet's atmosphere. To say that they were friendly would be like…
Broken by Boundaries
Humans love to win. They don't all win because some are procrastinators, others are quitters; some are just too dumb to succeed. But the moment one of them makes it, they huddle around them like the winner's generating fire and they're naked on Pluto. Not much happens when the winner's winning. The rest often set…
Plants of Desna
From a distance, the Rakaniri flower is a thing of beauty. Its orange petals with streaks of blue burst open each morning releasing nectar with the hypnotizing smell of perfume that draws you closer, "come get me," it seems to call out. It grows on the deep marshes and lakes of Planet Desna. If you…
Into the Abyss
At vault 19 it was all hands on deck as one of the containment units was opened. This was one of their most feared serial killers. They had caught him at the corpse of his 87th victim making a meal of the man. His DNA matched that found at other scenes. That was why they…
Dead or Alive
It's hard to hear orders when your heart is beating in your ears. For the moment, Thuku was glad he was the one giving the orders. "Spread out, converge, recover." Now, his orders were pursue and recover; dead or alive. Sorio prison housed the most dangerous felonies on the planet. These were not just people…
Rising
My first vehicle was won, not bought. It was earned at the tiny Megaboson arena in the Eastern District of Planet Desna. I remember the small crowd cheering my name as a new champion rose in the arena, hopefully, one who would go on to the Ethereal Colosseum. There, misfits became heroes, those with no…
Victor Writes 