by Megan Kiekel Anderson I awaken from the darkness to an oversaturated cartoon world, everything blocky and poorly shaded, like N64 graphics. There’s no temperature or movement in the air, not even the faintest aroma. The only stimulus is the simplistic terrain and soothing ocean noises on a loop, like a sound machine. “Welcome, […]
by Vijayaraj Mahendraraj The permeating retro music was jarring in the elegant sterile room. The mechanical arms were busy, joints gyrating loudly. The robot had a clunky jaw, bulky pistons, and dated hardware. It performed a simple task for the evolved androids that now populated Earth. It sang gratingly, “Out with another plop. In […]
by James Rumpel The Creator will be so pleased. My emotion recognition software detected how happy he was when I successfully diagnosed and cured the illness of that one tiny human. I suspect that his joy will increase exponentially when I am able to do the same for hundreds more. It was easy to […]
by Liam Hogan In the storm’s dying gasps, we descended the cliffs to see the wreck, cloaked in tattered sails, masts broken, and hull holed. It was far from the worst sight; the beach was littered with crawling shapes. The wreck was barely thirteen hours old, but these pitiful bodies were similarly shattered, in […]
by Ria Hill He remembered the splintering of wood, but it had been so long since he had heard a crashing wave he barely remembered what one sounded like. The smell of the sea was a memory. The air around his ship’s hull was silent, as still as it was saltless. In the shocking […]
by Fiona M. Jones I laugh to think how hard we fought over the Titanic. How carefully I’d mustered confusions, mists and timing; how Cyrin, late on the scene, gave that iceberg one final tweak of speed and direction, and reckoned the shipwreck hers. The long hours that followed, while we ripped it apart […]
by A.J. Van Belle I can’t remember when I moved into the lighthouse. Or why the beacon’s never lit. Model ships of glass, perfect replicas, sit on every surface in my circular kitchen. The nights are deep and the surf wild on the shoreline rocks. A storm whips sea foam against the windowpanes. The […]
by K.J. Watson A wave crashed on the shore. As it withdrew, the foam-flecked water left behind a ship’s captain. Another breaker deposited her wrecked vessel’s figurehead. Just my luck, the captain thought. Instead of rum, this has to wash up alongside me. The figurehead’s demonic eyes lit up. Seconds later, its ligneous body […]
by Dr Bob Warlock The boatmen smelled of sweat and animal fear. They pulled at the oars with all their strength but could not deliver the ship from the sea monster’s greedy current. Charybdis rose from the depths to meet them, razor teeth scraping against the hull. Her mouth flooded in anticipation of flesh, […]
by Jesse Highsmith I no longer hear the ocean outside my cabin door. In its place are sounds much more sinister—scratching, clawing, pounding. I try to rest my weary head, but distant screams echo from down the hall. They are me. Or rather, they will be me. My door is already misshapen, giving way […]