A Quick Errand
Here is how Emily Pritchard came home. She went to Kepler-186f to collect soil samples. The trip took six months of her life. It took forty-two years of everyone else's.
Stories tagged “space-opera”
16 stories found
Blood Does Not Fall
The blood hung in the air like a question nobody wanted to answer. Commander Adisa Okonkwo floated in the doorway of Module Seven, gripping the frame with both hands.
Already Home
"Tell me again," the child said, "about the ship that arrived late." Ambassador Yuen Set-Amahle settled deeper into the gel-chair on the observation deck of Restful Persistence.
The Arithmetic of Breath
STATION MERIDIAN — EMERGENCY BROADCAST. To the 6,200 souls aboard Meridian Station: The numbers have been verified. We have seventy-two hours of breathable atmosphere remaining at current population levels.
The Last Frequency
The radio died on a Sunday in October, which was not really October because Mars had no October, but the colonists kept the old calendar the way you keep a photograph of someone who has moved away.
The People of the Curve
In the language of the Ahuri, there was no word for "sky." There was keliu, which meant the pale brightness above, and there was mohai, which meant the dark brightness above.