by Gail Brown Stars swirled in the distance, as they had all of Chara’s life. Beautiful stars filled the sky beyond Jupiter with light. Hundreds of generations before she had been born, this had been empty, open space. A small asteroid, about the size of Chara’s beak, moved between her and distant stars. She stretched out her eight arms, each over a hundred feet long. They gripped the small asteroid with sharp suckers. Her two-hundred-foot-long feeding tentacles grappled and propelled the small asteroid on a path away from frozen Earth. Earth. A home her distant ancestors had once dwelled on. Chara had never seen the now-frozen oceans that her ancestors,…

by D.C. Huffman Ani crawled across the ocean floor; her many arms probed under and around the coral. She pulled out a scallop and brought it to her beak. The shell fell back to the floor, empty. Her days were the same: foraging, cleaning out her den, and hoping something new would happen. She envied the fish that swam together as one, never alone. Today was a day of exploration. Something large lurked out in the deepest water. She was going to check it out. Ani had never gone that far from the reef, but her curiosity overrode her fear. She would check it out and be back before dark….

by Eric Fomley Nightfox was trending up. My apartment door chimed and Nightfox was in the station corridor, her social drone buzzed around her, she rocked the most hit worthy mutates I’d seen all week. Her head was her signature fox with black fur and sapphire stars but her body was bird with bat wings. Killer combo. “Ew Gekko, you look so skin. You can’t go to top level looking like that.” My throat dropped into my gut. I’d worked on my mutates all day yesterday, trying for retro human with fish scales, but clearly I’d clipped the vibe. “Sorry Fox, I don’t wanna kill your campaign, I can just…

by Andrea Tillmanns Miss Miller had been working at the employment office in Brunstown for more than twenty years. She had seen and experienced a lot, and she was famous among her colleagues for not letting anything or anyone upset her. Not even difficult cases like the one sitting in front of her this Friday morning. “Name?” she began, without looking up from her computer monitor. “Feraskljfkwetoigdazgdsa.” “How do you spell that?” “F-E-R … Oh, just write Ferdinand.” “Last name?” “Golddragon.” She looked up. “You’re not from around here?” “Oh yes, my family has always lived here.” “Marital status?” “Alone. The rest of my family has probably moved away. Or…

by Liam Hogan Spider spun. Summer had arrived early, everyone agreed. Spider spun, and spun. Already unseasonably warm, if this kept up it was going to be a real scorcher. Spider spun and spun and spun… Even Witch, for whom cobwebs were interior decoration, tired of getting her tall hats and equally tall hair tangled in doorways and along corridors. “Take it easy, Spider,” she suggested and then ordered her eight-legged familiar. “It’s too warm to work so hard!” Spider kept spinning. Spider might have explained why, if Spider had been sure anyone would listen. Properly listen, not just nod listlessly and flutter hands in front of flushed faces while…

by Shayne Laughter Over here, Burrum muttered in my head. What? I pulsed back. Just get over here, whelp, he returned, and don’t be seen. The only time Burrum calls me whelp anymore is when he comes across something bigger than what he can handle on his own. That’s when he has to remind me of his long years as a Rover. That particular day, we had been partners for a full Lady’s Year and I still hadn’t come up with a nickname for him. This was my first assignment as a Wicken Rover, and it just seemed pointless to unDignify an elder, even if he was doing it to…

by Andrea Giusto Stephen left the shadows of the pine forest behind. The Mediterranean sun blazed in the cloudless sky, warming his tan skin. The scent of brackish water was intoxicating, and the chirping of cicadas filled his pointed ears. He was vaguely aware of being completely naked, except for the brown fur that covered him from the waist down. His hooves left crescent-shaped footprints on the sand as he crossed the tall, thick vegetation growing on the dunes. He stopped and turned his head from side to side, shaking his curved horns. Beyond the distant crashing of waves, the breeze rustling the leaves brought a new sound: the melody…

by Michael H. Payne “Mom!” Fluor looped her hornglow out to grab her saddlebags from their spot in the front hall. “I’m heading over to Taylor’s!” Mom’s usual first question came as always from behind the partially opened door to her office. “Have you finished your homework?” Fluor didn’t even bother rolling her eyes. “Yes, Mom.” Which of course led to Mom’s usual second question. “Have you got your pack?” And as much as Fluor wanted to answer, No, Mom. I’ve suddenly gone stupider than a box of frogs, she just said, “Yes, Mom” again. She did let her eyes roll this time, though. “Fluorescence?” Mom asked, and the way…