The Holy Land
By Vishnu Lorax
Chapter 5 The President stared at Attorney General Brasher in amazement. "You’re saying that the radicals are blaming us for the moral decay of the country? Us? The true keepers of the faith?" Brasher nodded. "Yes, they say we are flooding the country with pornographic joycubes that are destroying the minds and moral fiber of […]
The Holy Land
By Vishnu Lorax
Chapter 4 It was the night of the full Moon, and Aurora was to be promoted. Hamilton read her note inviting him to the ceremony. "Hamilton, you are to come to the Temple of Minerva tonight. Be there at 10 o’clock exactly, and enter through the service entrance at the back. But right before you […]
The Holy Land
By Vishnu Lorax
Chapter 3 The Ambassador and Commercial Consul of the Western Galactic Empire were ushered into the White House meeting room and greeted by the President and his cabinet. The President was dwarfed by the Commercial Consul, but nevertheless aggressively approached him and shook his hand. "Mr. Ambassador," the President said to the Consul warmly, "I’m […]
The Holy Land
By Vishnu Lorax
Chapter 2 Dr. Howard Berger, his wife Melissa, and their three small boys were spending a quiet evening in their comfortable Seattle home, when the FBI agents broke in. "Dr. Howard Berger?" Agent Wilkes asked. "Yes." "You and your family are under arrest. You must come with us right now." "But why? We haven’t done […]
The Holy Land
By Vishnu Lorax
Chapter 1 The President stared at his Science Advisor in disbelief. "So, what you are telling me is that Kennewick, Washington, has been taken over by a bunch of space aliens." "Minervans, sir," Dr. Beasley said, peering through his bifocals. "They call themselves Minervans." "And who are these Minervans, and what do they want?" "They […]
Pica
By John Maguire
There’s a small reddish-brown dog at my white stucco house. The dog stands patiently behind a plastic white picket fence.. The dog belongs to me now and he’s my main pal. The house, stucco and porch and backyard and all, is something I rent, here in Miami on NE 62d Street. He’s a rusty brown […]
Pentecost
By Roy Griffis
"Lunatics on parade," I hear a voice behind me utter distinctly. It’s a voice curiously flat, almost atonal. "Dr. Markham," I say, turning away from the television to face her. I’m busted, no question, with no way to brazen it out. I was younger then, and hadn’t become the skilled liar that life would later […]
Approaching Zero
By Kelly Parks
The girl at the desk was not so friendly anymore. She used to be, when my benefactor first set me up here on the 22nd floor. She used to be ditzy and friendly and childishly inquisitive about my work. But the pretense was gone now. Marta was Max’s spy, here only to make sure my […]
The Clinic
By Vishnu Lorax
Christie Summers drove herself to the clinic. It was a rainy day, but that didn’t stop the protesters. Mostly men, and older, they pressed soggy pamphlets against her windshield with the zeal of panhandling window-washers on the side of the highway. Several pamphlets stuck to the glass. "Every child is precious!" and "How could you […]
In The Ashes
By Tom Weiss
EXT. APACHE – NIGHT The helicopter pulls up a distance away from the JSS compound, it’s silhouette nearly invisible against the night sky from the ground below. NIGHT OPTICS – APACHE A mess of some 15 human forms move about, muzzle flashes popping off constantly, no rhyme or reason to any of it. GUNNER I’ve […]
