“What do you mean, we’re in the past?” Xander’s brows form a deep V between his ice-blue eyes as he stares at the CELNAV crewmember. “I mean, we’ve traveled back in time.” The crewmember squints at the constellation maps on the computer in front of him. “Early fifteen hundreds, I’d say.” “You’re kidding.” Xander barks ...

Of course, it produced no change in temperature, but when the dust from the ring system pelted Ularma’s Orbital Station, it sounded like a massive thunderstorm and made Corry long to curl up in a warm blanket. The sand formed tiny rivulets on the domed window that comprised the ceiling and upper wall, working in ...

“I don’t think I’ll ever get that image out of my head.” I sit in the Hangar control room with a blanket wrapped tightly around my shoulders. The only warmth I feel comes from a steaming cup of tea cradled between my palms on the desk in front of me. Sophie cries softly beside me. ...

“I’m telling you, we’ve been up and down this section three times. There’s nothing down here but coral and fish,” a frustrated voice explains over the speaker in the Hangar’s command center. Xander huffs out a breath, throwing his hands in the air. “Well, it must be somewhere. Shipwrecks don’t just disappear.” I put a ...

“Emily!” Sophie screams in the dark. I scramble off the floor as vertigo races through me, feeling my way back onto the couch. “I’m here.” Holding her shaking form, the world stops spinning. She sniffles. “What is going on?” “I have no idea.” I gulp around a wave of nausea. The whir of an engine ...

“It can’t be,” Sophie whispers for the seventh time, eyes glued to the computer screen on the desk in front of us. “Y’all are seeing this, right?” Nathan runs a hand down his face. “It’s not just me?” Xander blows out a breath, his broad shoulders connecting with the back of his chair with an ...

Peris and Alfie sat facing each other on Nor’s ribs, their feet dangling. They continued to orbit the yellow star while Nor lapped at its energy, half-asleep. On a normal day, they’d be underway as soon as they woke up, but on this occasion, they let her doze.  “It feels wrong to exercise control over ...

“She’s gotta be at least five hundred years old.” Nathan rechecks the sample of organic material on his desk for the fifth time. Sophie digs her palms into her eye sockets. “That’s impossible.” “I know.” Nathan huffs. I stare at the three-dimensional image on our photogrammetry software. The jagged remains of an immense vessel lay ...

“Can you zoom in right here?” Nathan points to a shadow on the computer screen. Sophie clicks to make it larger, the image morphing into thick towers of coral reaching towards the sky. “Damn! Just another coral shelf.” Nathan rubs a palm down his face. He leans back in his chair and rolls his shoulders. ...

Peris couldn’t remember feeling more relieved than she did when Nor disengaged from the rusty hatch and they put the whole dirty-minded, overheated space station behind them. Let’s get away from here! She transmitted, but she barely bothered to stay engaged after they cleared the arms of the flimsy metal snowflake.   Nor glided blithely ...