Gabriel had never imagined he’d know what it felt like to cave in another person’s head. But when he saw the attendant overpowering the woman he’d just met, he grabbed the nearest blunt object he could find – an oxygen tank – and felled the aggressor to the ground. A blow to the head was the most efficient way to …
Ilana leaned over the sink and rinsed out her mouth. The shuttle bathroom was spacious and pristine, with individual wash closets that self-cleaned after each user and sounded way fancier than a restroom had any right to be. The bathroom also happened to be the only place in the shuttle cabin without windows. Every time she looked out into space, …
Gabriel frowned at the data in his contacts. “Reroute power to the dark matter stabilizers by a factor of three and run the simulation again.” The figures adjusted under his instructions and began their new calculations. Gabriel was annoyed and that annoyed him. Annoyance was a distraction. He’d come Earthside to do some on-planet product testing. Somehow his father had …
Ilana set out early to catch her launch that day, mostly to get out of the house but also because she had no hope of sleeping. Not between her mother’s sobbing and the murmured comings and goings of neighbors offering their condolences. As if Ilana had died instead of simply accepting a job in space. Something millions of people had …
He followed me up the stairs after I excused myself from the bar. The communication between us was less unspoken signal and more trigger and effect, all of our touch-and-go glances building in anticipation of this opportunity. He must have waited all but thirty seconds before falling on my trail, weaving through the happy hour crowd as I had just …