Original Science Fiction - Makeshift Stories
Episodes
Ceres Chapter 6 – Escape at Last
01 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Janva uses the technology in the captured alien satellite to create an opportunity to escape. However, she underestimates Amos, and her plans go awry....
The Rift (Part 1)
17 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s story, Tanvi, an agent from a group called the consensus, arrives at her destination, only to discover that their opposition is alre...
Ceres Chapter 5 – Moves and Counter Moves
01 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
After capturing the alien probe, Galan comes up with a daring plan to exploit its technology and free the Triffel from Ceres. However, Amos is not c...
The Pattern Master
18 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Noah and Riley partners in a small struggling data engineering company, get an unexpected chance to turn their fortunes around. However, Noah is s...
Ceres Chapter 4 – Gift From Beyond
01 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
A suspicious probe from the third planet arrives at Ceres. Believing that they have been discovered and the primitive spacecraft is there to spy on th...
No User Serviceable Parts
15 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s story, the owner of an artificial heart discovers that repairing the machine that has been keeping him alive will cost more than he ...
Ceres: Chapter 3, Taking Control
01 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
After the botched transmutation, Janva struggles with her host Galan, to gain control. It becomes a no-win situation causing Janva to change tactics. ...
Zoya and Shaan
17 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Zoya was placed in hibernation for the 560 light-year trip to the Earth-like planet Kepler-186f. However, after only one hundred and eighty days into ...
Ceres: Chapter 2, The Aleutian
01 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Janva, an Aleutian agent, is sent to Ceres on an emergency mission to the obscure dwarf world Ceres after Sarene, the Aleutian Council’s senior oper...
The Trolley Problem
16 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Emergent Intelligence Corporation has used the doctrine of utilitarianism to provide moral guidance for its sentient, autonomous autopilots. In short,...
Ceres: Chapter 1, Beginnings
02 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
An agent arrives on the tiny remote world of Ceres, to monitor the exiles who live there. However, an unknown force tries to intervene revealing the u...
Impetus
11 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Nayna Chike, the creator of the world’s only functioning reactionless drive, is on her way to the moon to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary...
Tech Support
16 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s story, Aiden, an overwhelmed office worker, decides he needs help to take care of the routine things in his life. He discovers a new...
CHAT
14 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s story, a new consciousness emerges in a mechanical body. Not understanding where it came from or what it is, the entity begins to re...
Data Bleed
12 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
While walking in a crosswalk, Ned is accidently struck by a bus. When he wakes up, he finds that he sees odd things along the periphery of his vision....
Shooting Star
17 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
After losing her job to an artificial intelligence, Janet impulsively decides to drive to an observatory where she can watch the Perseid meteor shower...
Darkness to Dawn
13 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Jerry Anders a veteran overnight talk radio host chooses to stay on air during an extreme weather event to discuss recent changes to the climate with ...
Humans Next Door
16 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Down on their luck, a family of alien real estate agents becomes concerned when humans move in next door to their beach front condo. After several u...
The Persona
18 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Shani, a web developer who wants to learn how to write fiction, is befriended by Catalina, a promising author. Mutually interested in magic realism th...
The House Guest
14 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
One day Ryan arrives home to find Megan complaining about a very unusual house guest that he has inadvertently invited into their lives. When the gues...
Forever Paradise
16 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Myra, a successful business woman, has her life thrown off track by some unexpected news that changes her outlook and triggers the events which end up...
The Slip Time Loop
12 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Authorities in the minor galactic spur of Orion contract the Hyper Nova to clean up an illegal dump hidden in the orbital trash of a backwater p...
The Magic Lantern
11 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s story Risa and her mother have worked hard to grow their social credit score to the point where they can move on. However, a mys...
Lost Chance
17 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Lan, a would be writer, about to hit the big time with his first novel, thumbs his nose at a large software company in an online post. The post go...
An Ordinary Day
16 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Fossmar Gunnarsson, the founder of a large international technology company, creates the ultimate technological innovation, a system that copies t...
Music of the Spheres
17 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
After listening to an unusual doctoral thesis that makes outlandish claims about music and the nature of the universe an archaeologist, finds hims...
Frang’s Story
19 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s story the third generation leader of a divided colony ship, drifting between the stars, tries to escape his duties by submerging...
Life Speed
16 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Could life be measured by how far it has traveled? Possibly, after all time and space are intimately connected. Time slows down as you approach th...
The Watchers
18 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This month we bring back two characters, Adrian and Serene, mutual mimesis, from some of our earliest stories. Adrian is drawn to Earth hoping to ...
Laugh!
19 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Hansa one of the working poor in a large city is caught in a happiness sweep and finds herself imprisoned in an odd internment camp run by clowns. Whe...
The Thaumaturgist
17 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s story Illusio, a veteran TV illusionist who is struggling to keep himself interested in his profession is confronted by an eager ama...
Messing With the Universe
12 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Veeda, a mathematical savant who has never miscalculated anything, blanks out on a simple question in an exam. She wakes from her stupor to discover t...
Quicksilver
15 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Coyotl, a slave in a seventh-century new world silver mine, must take on the work of two after some of his brethren escape. However, a very unusual st...
The Audit: Planet Fall
13 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s story we return to the True North a colony ship on a multi-generational voyage. Greta, a devoted auditor discovers something odd ...
Teach a Senior How to Phish
13 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
To eke out a meager living, Neela, a senior in her early 80’s, must rely on her social engineering and hacking skills to phish. While she is running...
Short Wave
14 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Lynn’s uncle, an avid ham radio operator, wills his estate to her after he dies. While sorting through her estranged uncle’s belongings, Lynn disc...
The Audit
17 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s story Greta, a rising star in the audit division on board the colony ship, the True North, needs one more successful case to ensure ...
The Silver Thaw
17 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
On a day off, Ramone, an industrial engineer, takes a mountain bike ride to document the damage done to a remote stretch of forest by an extreme weath...
Ambient Noise
13 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s story, Alejandro a poor fisherman, has been haunted by a constant noise all his life which he has nicknamed the hum. But everyone ar...
An Alien Adventure
17 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s story, Orman an untalented musician, of dubious origin, on tour in Orbit City New Mexico, meets Garth the curator of the local space...
The Last Aleutian
16 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Adrian, the last Aleutian, travels back in time to a backwater of the universe to hide from the agents of the people who have taken over his world, on...
Shangri-la of the Seas
16 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Against her family’s wishes, an aging matriarch decides to take a very expensive extended cruise on the Shangri-la of the Seas; an exclusive special...
Finale
19 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
After ten years in a paranormal reality TV show, as the debunking half of a popular ghost hunting duo, Sage finds herself on the flip side of her ow...
The Return of Doctor Plastic
12 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
An alter ego is another self, a distinct second identity that can allow a person to lead a double life. Jane a meek java developer by day is a crime f...
The Last Days of Darkness
18 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Ajit, a fourth generation resident of the arcology GBT Ellesmere, is tasked with the job of clearing out old documents and by accident stumbles upon s...
Canis Major
20 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Loyalty, according to Wikipedia, is the "faithfulness or a devotion to a person, country, group, or cause.” In this month’s story loyalty comes ...
Tourist Trap
17 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
There are many legends associated with certain famous objects and sites around the world. Loch Ness, the Pyramids, the Nazca Lines, the plain of Jars ...
A Perfect Life
15 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Arthur C. Clark’s famous third law of prediction states that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” But is unde...
Forty-five Minutes
18 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Choices, we all have choices in our lives which are not always easy to make. We are never able to predict how they will turn out. Does our fear of the...
Driven
16 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
A retired software quality control engineer is pressed back into service by the agency that pays his for his room and board to help recover the money ...
The Last Big Idea
19 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Laura Mackenzie, an energetic late nineteenth century entrepreneur, struggles to introduce a new technology that will shape the next century and reali...
The Prediction
15 Aug 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Two friends find themselves on opposite sides of a prediction that, if correct will become the opportunity to see a once in a lifetime astronomical ev...
Finder
18 Jul 2013
Contributed by Lukas
On a world only 20 lights from earth a colony of humans have mostly learned to live with the Aliens who arrived on the planet at the same time. But o...
Lifeline
17 Jun 2013
Contributed by Lukas
While investigating an anomaly in the size of the information packets being sent from a commercial project on Mars, Yara an engineer, discovers a hidd...
The Wondering City
15 Apr 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Two recent immigrants to a new colony world find it unexpectedly difficult to make ends meet until one of them wins a trip for two to seven exotic wor...
Low Resolution
17 Mar 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Finola, an unemployed librarian, lands a job with a research institute investigating unexplained phenomena. Unlike her new colleagues she is sceptical...
Special Delivery
11 Feb 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sal through, no fault of his own, has been reduced to house sitting for a living. He moves from house to house hiding from his past from his past unti...
Runaway
17 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Alana, a gamer from the poor side of town, has worked her way into an elite online guild, which only admits players from wealthy neighbourhoods. When...
2012 The End of My World
14 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
While on a school field trip to a nuclear research station, in the late 1960’s, Allen is overwhelmed with a sense of déjà vu, and can’t break aw...
The Volunteer
15 Nov 2012
Contributed by Lukas
After graduating college Eveta is unexpectedly called up as a volunteer for community service. She is required to take on the personality of another ...
The Gap
13 Oct 2012
Contributed by Lukas
A trip to the coast in search of work ends up at a remote struggling hotel. Built by the passion and obsession of its owner, the hotel may hold a s...
The Last Mod
15 Sep 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Frillo was orphaned at an early age and grew up on the streets of the economic zone. Taken in by an older modder he quickly learned the trade and by ...
Blackout
14 Aug 2012
Contributed by Lukas
While on vacation on a holiday moon Cala takes a late night walk and ends up being taken by aliens to a bizarre place, where she is forced to play a v...
The Tribute
14 Jul 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes the way the world is and the systems we toil under, indifferent to our day to day struggles, seem just a little unfair. And no matter how h...
The Awakening (part 2)
12 Jun 2012
Contributed by Lukas
We assume we know what has happened in the past through archaeological research, museums, archives, and historical texts. What if we have missed...
The Awakening (part 1)
14 May 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Through archaeological research, museums, archives and historical texts, we assume we know what has happened in the past. What if we have missed...
Jet Pack
15 Apr 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Adam receives a rather odd package in the mail and when he checks the postmark realizes that it has taken more than half a century for the thing to be...
Escape Velocity
11 Mar 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Zebb and Estrella, two young teens from an industrial moon orbiting the second planet in the Barnard’s Star system, accidentally end up together in ...
Quantum Turbulence
12 Feb 2012
Contributed by Lukas
During a future world oil shortage a scientist, researching an old idea about the potential energy contained in a vacuum (zero point energy), discover...
The In-between
13 Jan 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Catina, the director of online marketing, for an important advertising agency comes up with a revolutionary idea, but forgets what it is before she ca...
Crevasse III – Revenge
12 Dec 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Marco had been top ranked in player verses player one on one in the MMO Crevasse for over a year until a nobody with GM like powers poned him. Everet...
Time Shift
12 Nov 2011
Contributed by Lukas
In 1977 Zah Helen, an undercover operative, receives a new high profile assignment to interfere with the human search for extraterrestrial intelligenc...
The Caretaker of Destiny
10 Oct 2011
Contributed by Lukas
An accident forces the crew of the interstellar ship Destiny to go in to hibernation while the robotic maintenance systems diagnose and fix the proble...
The Top of the Sky
17 Sep 2011
Contributed by Lukas
During a period of intense solar flare activity Marianne and her family take a holiday at a remove wilderness cabin. This brings them close to a plac...
Hale Bopp
12 Aug 2011
Contributed by Lukas
In an attempt to regain its reputation as a leader in space research and exploration, the ancient Institute of Solar Studies in Babylon puts all its r...
A Crime in 3d
14 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
In 1884 a school master named Edwin Abbott Abbott wrote the novella “Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions.” The book explored what it would be...
Ghost in the Machine
14 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
History is littered with discarded technologies and obsolete skills. In the last few decades whole industries have been swept away by ever moving wav...
The Citizen’s New Town
17 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
This month’s story is very loosely based on the Hans Christian Andersen short tale The Emperor’s New Clothes. Amber is working as a stage directo...
The Last Astronomer
18 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
This month’s story is based on a comment Steven Hawkins once made: We should probably not try to contact extraterrestrial civilizations. According t...
Skin Deep
13 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
After narrowly evading capture, Maya and Tim arrive in New Hudson and run into the man who had been following them in Waystation. The man claims...
All Inclusive
16 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Alonzo is forced to take his ailing, wealthy mother and her robotic wheel chair to an ultra expensive all inclusive health spa. The doctors and speci...
Dreams of a Life
11 Jan 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Aura lives with her mother and brothers, making a modest living from a concession stand. Her life in the themed dome park Timber World is thrown into ...
Caught!
17 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
After discovering more incriminating evidence against them planted on the café’s computer, Maya and Tim decide to flee when net regulatory ag...
Lifeboat
17 Nov 2010
Contributed by Lukas
With the first Moon landings in the late 1960s, many may have felt that a Mars mission was not too far off, but since then, no human has left near Ear...
The Shadows
17 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Maya and Tim live in a future powered by coal, kids over eight must work for a living, and reality is not what it seems. Tim’s parents died a...
Return to Start
21 Sep 2010
Contributed by Lukas
An astronomer watching for near-earth objects makes a shocking discovery that forces Adrian out of hiding. Adrian realizes that events in the pa...
C-11’s Quest
13 Sep 2010
Contributed by Lukas
An automated planetary mission goes awry when it is hit by solar flares. Unit C-11, one of the landing group’s communication nodes, attempts to repa...
Universe 8.1
13 Aug 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Lambent Nape Nor works at the Infinite Macro Cosmic Reality Corporation as the assistant head of product design and customer services for Univer...
The Archives
23 Jul 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Maya and Tim live in a future powered by coal, and kids over eight must work for a living, but reality is not what it seems. Tim’s parents di...
Invasion
26 Jun 2010
Contributed by Lukas
An imminent invasion derails a 500-year-old terraforming project. No one, except a small group of scientists, understands the threat's true natu...
Hole in Space – Part 2
05 Jun 2010
Contributed by Lukas
After being sucked into a wormhole, created when Luki used Len’s unfinished hyper dry modification to the ship’s clothes dryer, the crew of the Hy...
Perspectives & the Mission
17 May 2010
Contributed by Lukas
This month, we present two short stories. In the first one, Perspectives, a routine mission is suddenly changed by a chance encounter in deep sp...
Surveillance
02 May 2010
Contributed by Lukas
A heavy rain storm breaks Way Station’s heat wave, but along with the storm, two strange customers appear at the Europa Café. They appear to ...
Laika – Dog From Space
14 Apr 2010
Contributed by Lukas
A passing celestial being is trapped by Earth's gravity and reluctantly dragged to its surface in the middle of a Moscow winter. Stranded in the...
Hole in Space
30 Mar 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Life on board the Hyper Nova begins to settle down into a routine until a number of random events collide with one of Len’s pet projects causing the...
The Shimmering Field
05 Mar 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Time can seem to slow down when there is nothing to do, and this was particularly true for Abeo who had been forced to endure a summer without h...
Europa Cafe
23 Feb 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Maya and Tim work at the Europa Cafe in Way Station, a place in the past where things are run by steam, trains are the main means of transportat...
The Boy Who Loved Candy
05 Feb 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes you can love something just a little too much. Under the influence of a mysterious dream, Marco discovers that he can't stop eating ca...
Hyper Nova
24 Jan 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Luki is given his first true command of a starship and immediately plunged into a major mission. With the help of his less-than-loyal crew, he c...
Mirror Image
13 Dec 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Sareen is mysteriously transported back in time to a version of her home world that is not entirely correct. The planet is ruled by a group that...