by James Pratt Centuries in the future, humanity has spread across the galaxy. As they've explored, they've found evidence of a massive, powerful civilization that died out eons before. Xeno-artifacts of this civilization are rare. Active ones even more so. One particular find baffles scientists across the galaxy, and years and untold riches are spent trying to examine it. by Bennen Neithercoat What if you looked up on a clear night and saw only darkness? What if the moon was alone in the sky, twilight after twilight? What would that do to a person? What would that do to the world? In "The Pallbearers of the Light," author Brennen Neithercoat examines such a world through the eyes of two lonely travelers, forging ahead into the darkness. by Ian Broderick The mining ship Hathor is returning to Earth after a long voyage, laden with resources and a weary crew ready for some well-earned time planet-side. But when they emerge from a dimensional rift, they discover that they might still be a very long way from home. Tensions rise as the crew faces a grim reality. by Dara Marquardt Todd and Thelma Drine want nothing more than to welcome a bouncing baby boy or girl into their government-issued, minutely monitored living space. But there's a waiting list, and poor Todd just doesn't have the proper connections to jump the line and provide the one thing that would make their lives complete, that would make them happy. Todd, ruminating on his past, is left facing one lingering question: Can the imperfect thrive in a perfect world? by Aaron Katzmarek A rich man cheats on his wife. She finds out. He winds up dead. She gets a fat check from the insurance company. You don't need to be a detective to put two and two together and figure that the answer is murder, do you? But the world is a complicated place. These things aren't always so cut and dry. And no hit man in his right mind would take on a contract unless he was certain that the risk was acceptably low. by Graeme Tennant Irwin won the biggest prize in the history of reality television: the opportunity to become Earth's first Martian colonist. But the prize came with a price tag - starring on yet another reality show showing his every action as he lives in isolation. The isolation combined with the constant scrutiny of the millions of derisive social media onlookers trapped on a dying Earth would be enough to drive anyone mad by Kaley Keane Amber was the matriarch. The center of her family. When she passed away, her two grown children, Caleb and Tara, were left without their nurturing, wonderful mother. But it was her husband, Charles, who bore the brunt of it. He lost his drive, his reason to live. Now Amber is back, but Charles is not entirely happy about it. by Thad Kanupp At the end of Chapter 1, Jack, a wasteland scavenger found himself trapped under collapsed shelving in a derelict grocery store, there after fleeing a gang of angry Bangers and about to become lunch for a pair of feral dogs who claimed the store as their own. Saved at the last moment by a mysterious stranger, Jack passed out, unsure of whether the newcomer was friend or foe. In Chapter 2, Jack's adventures continue.