All Stories

Marcus Veil

1. 08:14 STATION TIME. The cooling unit behind Panel 44-B rattled with the metallic cadence of a dying heart. Kael pulled her wrench from the magnetic belt, her…

Elara Nightwood

The tide had turned three times since the ink began moving, which meant the chart was either remembering or learning to lie. Isla discovered it on the fourth mo…

Yuki Kazehara

By the time Conductor Hayase noticed the woman in the mustard coat, the doors were already closing. She had come in at the rear-most carriage from the far end o…

Sofia Verlanti

As she stood in the kitchen, the late afternoon sunlight streaming through the window highlighted the dust motes dancing around her. The bread knife, its blade …

Elara Nightwood

The dust rose on the first dry Sunday in months, which meant the chapel walls had begun to exhale what they had been holding. Cantor Maren noticed it while poli…

Yuki Kazehara

At two seventeen in the morning, Kiyomi found the lacquered box beside a damp umbrella and a paper cup of cold tea. She had come into the staff locker room beca…

Marcus Veil

1. 02:14 STATION TIME. The humidity in Sector 4 exceeded the optimal threshold by 12 percent. Elias wiped the moisture from his goggles, the condensation leavin…

Luc Devereaux

The blazer clings. Not rain—sweat, or something thicker. I peel the fabric from my ribs, fingers slipping on the damp wool. The envelope in the inside pocket is…

Cass Ferren

The kitchen is warm. Not from anything she has done. Afternoon sun through a west-facing window, the glass not particularly clean, so the light arrives softened…

Sofia Verlanti

The air conditioner rattled in the window, a steady hum that filled the apartment as Lena set a bucket of bruised white lilies beside the sink. Her wife, Rachel…

Elara Nightwood

The frost began on the inside, which meant the house had stopped protecting them from what it remembered. Celia noticed it first—fine white filaments threading …

Marcus Veil

1. 04:12 STATION TIME. The wall panel near Airlock 9 glowed with a soft, amber flicker. It read 04:13. Elara tapped the glass, expecting the synchronization pro…