Stories tagged: space
40 stories with this tag
The Last Signal
When the universe goes silent
After fifteen years of scanning the cosmos, Dr. Elena Rodriguez watches in horror as every extraterrestrial signal goes silent simultaneously. But is it the universe that went dark, or humanity?
Checkout Line Oracle
At the grocery store, the scanner starts beeping in full sentences. "Do not buy that melon. Call your sister. Trust the dentist." Shoppers pretend not to hear, scanning quietly. One man ignores the wa...
Substitute Moon
The moon goes on strike over unpaid light. The neighborhood hangs a paper lantern as a replacement. It glows bravely, held up by fishing line from rooftop to rooftop. Tides forget what to do, puddles...
Meteorite Pen Pal
Children write letters and tie them to helium balloons. One note lands on a meteorite in a museum courtyard. Weeks later, a reply arrives, written in unfamiliar handwriting: "Space is quiet. How are y...
Moonlighting Sun
For one week, the sun covers night shifts. Midnight becomes softly golden. Owls squint; plants stay awake. People host brunch at 2 a.m., confused about sunscreen. The moon takes a vacation, sending po...
The Complaint Comet
A comet passes overhead, rumored to absorb complaints. People shout grievances into the night. Traffic disappears. Rent stabilizes. Phone batteries last longer. The comet glows brighter with each grip...
Elevator to the Basement Stars
In a city skyscraper, a hidden elevator goes down, past parking levels and pipes, to a subterranean sky. Stars shimmer on concrete ceilings. People ride down to lie on warm tile constellations. The el...
Time-Share Body
An ad offers a time-share body: mornings are yours, nights belong to someone else. The arrangement is affordable and oddly freeing. You wake to find dishes washed, laundry folded. In return, you leave...
Birdsong Translator
An inventor builds a device that translates birdsong. The first phrases are mundane: "Seed here," "Warm branch." Then sparrows begin reviewing the neighborhood. "That cat is sloppy," "The new bakery s...
Gravity's Apprentice
A teenager interns for gravity. Their job: make sure apples fall, socks land near but not in the laundry basket, and coins drop heads or tails on schedule. They sign an NDA about the constants. On bre...
The Secondhand Star
A pawnshop advertises a secondhand star, slightly dim, no box. Curious customers peer into a glass case where a faint glow hums. The price is negotiable. One buyer worries about maintenance; another a...
The Lighthouse That Moves
When the foghorn moans, the lighthouse is already on the move. It rolls on hidden rails along the cliffline, deciding where to shine like a hound catching a scent. Tourists think it is a gimmick. Fishermen know it is temperamental and must be courted...
Forest of Echoed Promises
The forest whispers everything it has heard. Anyone who makes a promise beneath its canopy hears it repeated whenever leaves stir. Lovers vow forever; the trees murmur "forever" with every breeze and storm. Children swear to never tell; cicadas chant...
The Cartographer's Daughter
Eda grows up tracing her father's maps, learning the muscle memory of borders. One morning his latest map is wrong. Lakes change shape, rivers curve unexpectedly, and margins fill with notes like "joy spike" and "anger plateau." He confesses he has b...
Gravity Black Market
In alleys behind dance studios and construction sites, dealers sell pockets of lesser gravity sealed in vacuum jars. Dancers buy them to float longer during leaps. Thieves use them to lift safes. Malik, a courier, moves jars at night. He never opens...
Memory Foreclosure
Lena works at Solvent Bank's most controversial division: Memory Recovery and Repossession. Clients who default on dream-backed loans sign away their most valuable memories. Lena's job is to retrieve them using a headset that lets her walk through so...
Reverse Archaeology
Instead of digging up the past, the Reverse Archaeology team buries it. Funded by a foundation obsessed with legacy, they create layers for future historians to discover. Maria, team lead, selects mundane artifacts: a grocery list, a child's drawing,...
The Architect of Nightmares
A boutique service offers bespoke nightmares for clients who believe fear builds character. The Architect, known only as Vale, crafts dreams with precision: a chase through an endless library for procrastinators, a test with missing questions for per...
Immigrant Stars
Astronomers notice several stars dimming in unison. Headlines scream cosmic extinction. Then the stars move. Slowly, deliberately, they drift toward a darker patch of sky. Immigration, the scientists say. Celestial bodies leave crowded neighborhoods...
The Laundry That Erases Names
In a neighborhood laundromat, a handwritten sign appears: "Warning: Washers may lighten names." People laugh until Mrs. Ortiz loses the embroidered "E" on her apron. The rest of her name remains. Others report faded letters on jackets, hats, even IDs...
The Clone Recall Notice
Citizens receive identical envelopes stamped with a seal: "Recall Notice: Report your clone for decommissioning." Panic spreads. Few admit to having clones, though everyone knows the program existed quietly for years. Mara's clone, Lia, has lived wit...
Underwater Orchestra
Composer Theo wins a grant to create an underwater orchestra. He designs instruments that resonate beneath the surface: kelp harps, coral chimes, shell trumpets. Divers train to play while submerged, breath measured like rests. The debut concert take...
Artificial Comet
Tech mogul Arman builds a comet for a marriage proposal. He hires engineers to launch a payload of ice and reflective dust, guided by thrusters, timed to streak over the city spelling "Marry Me" in radiant debris. Environmentalists protest; astronome...
The Orchard of Lost Hours
On the edge of town, an orchard grows fruit from hours people lost scrolling feeds and waiting in lines. Trees bear luminous apples, skins shimmering with paused seconds. Farmers tend carefully, pruning regret. Visitors harvest lost time for a price....
The Ink That Refuses to Dry
Writer Sam buys a rare fountain pen from an estate sale. The ink flows smooth but refuses to dry on the page. Words smear, sentences slide. Frustrated, Sam leaves a draft overnight. In the morning, the words have rearranged into a story Sam never int...
The Sea That Remembers Names
Sailors whisper names to calm storms. Most think it is superstition. But this sea listens. When Elena, a marine biologist, tags whales, she hears the ocean murmur names backâold, forgotten names. She tests the phenomenon, saying her grandmother's nam...
The Painter of Laws
In the republic of Varo, laws cannot take effect until the Painter renders them on canvas. Tradition began to ensure laws were visual and comprehensible. The current Painter, Alis, has grown weary of painting endless tax codes. When a new law arrives...
The Tide Accountant
Every evening, the tide accountant sits on the pier with a ledger, recording grains of sand taken by the sea and returned. A ritual inherited from her mother, and her mother before. People think it quaint. One night, the ledger numbers do not balance...
Orchestra of One Second
Composer Aya writes symphonies from single seconds captured throughout history: a monk's chant, a rocket launch, a child's laugh, a subway screech. She strings them into movements, time-traveling with sound. Audiences listen with headphones, experien...
The Apartment Between Floors
Between floors seven and eight of a downtown high-rise is an apartment not on any blueprint. The elevator stops there only if you press 7 and 8 simultaneously while humming. Tenants who discover it find a cozy space with mismatched furniture, a kettl...
Rental Conscience
A start-up offers consciences for rent. Need to fire someone without guilt? Rent a conscience that will nag you into kindness. Prices vary: deluxe models include moral philosophy references. Jin, a mid-level manager, rents a conscience for a week to...
The Substitute Constellation
When the North Star dimmed unexpectedly, navigators panicked. Satellite guidance faltered; old sailors shook their heads. Astronomers blamed cosmic dust. Mythmakers blamed neglect. The Global Astronomy Network convened. Dr. Sabine Ko, known for mapping minor constellations no one else cared about, p...
The Train That Runs on Stories
The 3:17 from Platform Nine didnât burn diesel or draw electric current. It ran on narrative. Its engine was a brass cylinder filled with microphones and ink. Passengers paid fare by telling stories into the conductorâs hat. Tales fueled the boiler, turning plot into steam. When the train started, t...
The Auction of Quiet
The first auction was held in a converted church. Bidders sat on pews, paddles in hand. Onstage, nothing stood but a microphone and a glass jar. The auctioneer cleared his throat. âLot one: thirty seconds of pure quiet, recorded in a cave in Norway. Bidding starts at $100.â Paddles shot up. The pric...
The Seamstress of Constellations
Mei sewed in the dark. By day, she mended clothes at a tiny shop between a pharmacy and a bar. By night, she climbed to her rooftop with needle and thread spun from meteor dust and spider silk. There she stitched the sky. It started when a meteor shower tore a small gap in Orionâs belt. Mei felt a t...
The Archivistâs Duel
Two archivists, two philosophies, one archive. The National Repository of Everything Kept Too Long was a sprawling labyrinth of shelves containing everything from obsolete tech manuals to centuries-old grocery lists. At its heart worked Imani and Lukas. Imani believed in abundance: keep all, because...
The Courier Between Heartbeats
Time enforcement was a niche job. Yara was a courier licensed to operate between heartbeats, delivering messages through slivers of paused time. It was illegal to alter events, but messages could be passedâmicrosecond memos slipped into pockets, whispers frozen in air, notes left on falling raindrop...
The Apartment Between Floors
Between the seventh and eighth floors of the Grandview Tower, an apartment existed where no blueprint showed. The elevator stopped there only if you pressed 7 and 8 simultaneously and hummed. Tenants whispered about it but few found it. Those who did entered a cozy space with mismatched furniture, a...
The City that Dreamed of Forests
Heron City woke to saplings sprouting from concrete. Blueprints on plannersâ desks were covered in leaf prints. Architects blamed vandals; poets blamed the city itself. Imani, a poet and urban gardener, proposed listening. She organized a sleep-in at the plaza. Hundreds lay on pavement, dreaming. Th...
The Statue that Listened
In the town square stood a bronze statue of a woman holding a book. Legend said if you whispered a wish into her ear, she might grant it once. Most treated it as folklore. One winter, a child named Eli whispered, âI wish my brother would talk again.â The next day, his brother spoke his first words i...