“Oh,
look at all this junk!” said Leeta Rays as the hall closet spilled
its contents at her feet. With a groan, she turned a nasty glare on
Russel Michaels, her boyfriend, who just blushed and rubbed his head
awkwardly. Leeta knew too well how Russel would use his quietness to
avoid taking responsibility, so she glared at him, his face growing
redder and redder, until he cracked.
“O-ok,”
he said, not able to meet her eyes. “I'm sorry. I just... have a
hard time getting rid of them is a

On
the Dangers Attending Public Transportation in the Modern Age
“No
no no no! Come back!” Lisa shouted as the factory bus drove off
into the morning mist. She watched the hulking shape grow vague and
dark before vanishing entirely. It had finally happened. Lisa had
missed her bus, and why? Because her stupid boyfriend had stayed in
the shower too long again. She'd been warning him, day after day,
that his long showers kept putting her later and later getting to the
bus stop. She was always

In
the days before there were days, the world ended and darkness fell.
The great Empire drowned in a waste of slaves; the sun of the emperor
fell from the sky, and night came upon the world. Pirate kings came
out of the ice of the north and took the lands that once belonged to
civilization and order and law and progress and science and
education. In their stead, ran the cry and call and laughter of the
great sea thieves, the roving bands of the dark, the Northmen. The
last king of the once-great

All
her advisers told Cynthia that a thesis would be the best thing for
her studies. Then, when she was six months and only four pages into
the project, they decided to tell her that none of them were experts
on comparative religion and the evolution of holy texts. In a panic,
and with her future as a student on the line, Cynthia went to the
library and asked for help from Rebecca Welt, one of her friends who
also worked as a librarian assistant.
Rebecca
shook her head with a sympathetic smile.

Scottie Lees started working at the Archives after his aunt, General
Breithart, made a position solely for him. Luckily, Scottie turned
out a hard worker and a heck of a technician. He even got the
scanners working again so they could start digitizing maps. While
their first day together had left Russel Michaels, the Archives
manager, panicking quietly in his office, Scottie soon proved a great
person to have around.
Russel had to
admit (no he didn't, he never would, not to anyone) that Scottie

It
was her cute little nose. That was the very first thing that struck
Casie about the girl when she walked in. A few of them were getting
together for a movie night at Casie's place, and Samantha had texted
ahead, “Mind if I bring a friend?? Just to warn ya: she's a
weirdo!” Casie told her to go ahead; the room was crowded with
other girls she hardly knew, guests of her guests, by the time Sam
arrived. And behind Sam came Lydia and her cute nose. It was petite,
but not small. Lovingly round

The
message came in a strange format that Aquamarine's equipment would
not initially display. She spent several units adjusting for
frequency and format until she found the right settings. The single
screen console lit up with a video and the small plug ship began to
fill with the voice of the Peridot on the screen.
“This
is Peridot, transmitting on all frequencies from abandoned Crystal
System colony planet Earth. To Yellow Diamond: my mission has been
compromised. My escort and informant are