By Jake Wickenhofer

In  the darkening forest we crouch behind bushes, and look around carefully. Ted fumbles his gun and catches it just before it crunches against the dried leaves on the ground. He mutters to himself as I take out our location system and scroll the screen to find the next base. The oil from my finger smears down the smooth plastic surface. My breath fogs up the display. It's way too cold for August.

After replacing the electronic map in my pocket, I lean over to Ted and whisper, "We're ten miles from home."

By David Gray

Sharp, bright waves of sunlight pierce the gaps in the curtains across from Andrew's bed like a fan of light from the first ever dawn.

It's enough to force him out of bed. He heads for kitchen and coffee.

By David Kernot

Twinned Pulsars Asterope and Taygeta were inseparable, their worlds intertwined until the day Taygeta, already known for her explosive temper, went supernova.

It had taken a millennium for the truth to come out. During this time they slowly surfaced — odd differences between the twins — until they could no longer be ignored.

Initially everyone took the news well: a mix up in the blending of the primordial soup during the creation of the galaxy.  Core sampling confirmed the pulsars were unrelated.

By Benjamin Hayes

After finding the invoice in the rubbish bin from Okinawa Robotics Pty Ltd, Cameron had no doubt of his wife's infidelity.

At first, he refused to believe it. She could not have been so thoughtless. Anna prided herself on integrity. Then it dawned on him. Oil-stained bed sheets, discarded fuses. Even the jumper leads he found under their bed. It should have wised him up, but it hadn't. Not at first.

Now, with the invoice as proof, it didn't matter. He would kill her.

By Rob Bleckly

"Are you sure this is Earth?" Captain Fredal asked.

Navigator Dissond stared at him, "You have to expect some changes. In the eight years we've been gone, a thousand years has passed."  He tapped his display, a rotating orb: half white scudded blue-brown, half dark, sprinkled with surprisingly few lights. "Geographically, it hasn't changed. There's Australia just coming into day."

Dissond spun her screen through sound & image bites. "It's quiet, no comms except the auto beacon, and only four light spots in the whole of Australia. Where's the rest? The east coast used to be crowded with cities; looks to me like population collapse."

By Shaun A. Saunders

In a white room atop a crystal spire towering over the bleached desert sands of Zan, chief computational administrator Zix paced nervously, fine robes of platinum thread swishing against his legs. He peered out through the milky crystalline walls, searching in vain for any sign of the Regent.

This was ridiculous, he realised. In the centre of the room was the mouthpiece of a modern oracle, the empire's first quantum computer, able to carry out its calculations across an infinite number of universes. All Zix need do was ask the computer when the Regent would arrive, and the multidimensional intelligence would answer instantly.

By Wayne Marshall

Suddenly I'm awake and back safe in my tent. My mouth's dry from one too many VB's earlier tonight. I sit up in the stretcher bed, listening to the gurgle of the river and the rustle of the animals in the scrub and the — bells! Christ, the bells are ringing! I'm off the bed and into my Blunstones. I'm out the tent and bolting by the campfire, headed for the river. In the moonlight, I see my rod doubled over. I peel the bell from the tip of the rod and toss it to the dirt. I'm winding, reeling in a monster by the feel of it.

"Bastard's gotta be twenty pounds plus," I say, picturing my mates back home and how jealous they'll be. I keep the rod high, steering the fish away from the snags. "Got the bastard!" I cry, hearing the splash of water, catching a glimpse of those beautiful cod lips.

By Sean Monaghan

"Guys," Bayliss said into her mic, "you're on the clock and behind schedule.  Fifteen minutes till you need to be inside."  Karl and Angela were superb zero-gee bug-handlers but they dawdled.

"Come on, Bayliss," Angela said.  "We're nearly —"

Bayliss felt the engine lurch.

"What was that?" Karl said.

The whole structure began moving.  Bayliss could feel the slight tug of coriolis force.

By Wes Parish

Hayseed stamped her forefoot indignantly, narrowly missing my shoe. 

A couple of my neighbours watched from the veranda nearby, hands over their mouths. Fiona and Salwa were nice girls, the pair of them, but I now regretted inviting them over for afternoon tea at my daughter Susie's insistence — it seemed a waste of time. 

"You have been generous," Hayseed said, dropping off her usual, 'Mr Horton'. "You've allowed me to learn so much information about humans from your daughter Susie. I should be thankful."

By PM Freestone

"Bring her up, Captain," Dr Aisling Jetta called from the ship's salvage deck.

High above her, the captain waved at the recovery crane operators. "Nice and easy boys, the Doc's been after this one for awhile now."

Aisling watched the winch cables wind upwards, creaking under the immense weight. A hollow metallic groan radiated from below the ocean's surface.