6970+ Science Fiction Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Whether you’re looking for daring space battles or chilling “what if” glimpses of the future, you’ll find what you’re looking for in our collection of free science fiction short stories.

🏆 Winning stories

“The Empty Laboratory” by Kashira Argento

🏆 Winner of Contest #279

Seventeen blinks. The yellow warning light on his air gauge always blinked seventeen times before turning red. Dr. Chen counted them like heartbeats while replacing his oxygen tank, each one marking another three hours of borrowed time. Through the reinforced windows of his BSL-4 lab, the setting sun painted the research facility in the same amber shade as the viral suspension he'd been perfecting when the sprinklers activated.The test results still glowed on his screen: successful protein synthesis, perfect binding affinity, precise species...

84 likes 78 comments 78

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“Add Vodka to Taste” by Jay Wayne

🏆 Winner of Contest #270

With the mission running long and no exfil in sight, there’s little for Valerian and Roman to do besides purchase too many groceries, hole up in the safehouse, and settle old bets. Val stands over the cracked electric stove, carefully stirring a pot of ukha. The delicate scent of herbs, spices, and freshwater fish spirals off the surface of the broth. It smells of home, and Val knows without looking that Roman is sprawled on the couch behind him. “Just be careful not to let the salmon overcook,” Roman calls out. What would be genuine advice ...

97 likes 46 comments 46

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“An Apology to Mankind, Two Days After First Contact” by D Gorman

🏆 Winner of Contest #268

What follows is a transcript of an apology to the people of Earth, and specifically the residents of Silver Lake, Indiana. [BRACKETED] words indicate imprecise translation.  Hello, people of Earth. This message is being translated into the language practiced by the humans who reside in the area designated Silver Lake, Indiana, using the Verpal Language Unscrambler 2. As my segment-mate Zolak is so fond of reminding me, our model is very outdated and overdue for replacement. Any translation errors that may occur are the result ...

124 likes 95 comments 95

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⭐️ Recommended stories

“The AI Who Came in From the Cold” by Kaitlyn Wadsworth

Submitted to Contest #281

Adam could perceive a frenzy overtaking the people he spoke to in the supermarket and other stores. A cloud of stress and negativity surrounded him in contrast to the crisp nip in the air outside. Outdoors, winter had descended, leaving sunless gloom and bare trees. At the same time, indoors, the escalating heat emanated from the harried activity and strained nerves of the people. He looked around him. They had their shopping trolleys piled sky-high with all manner of edibles from food groups not related to good health. On displays near the ...

17 likes 16 comments 16

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“How To Go Back” by Max Sinclair

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #279

[Trigger warning: gore, suicide, death/corpses] Two years ago, I stared into the eyes of a little dead girl. She was sprawled on some highway, deep in what used to be the Midwest, her dead, fermenting eyes staring past me, and up, up, up, into the sun-bleached sky. They didn’t leave many bodies behind when they left. Didn’t want to find skeletons when they came back, I assume. Her skin was dark and leathery. There was a hole growing in her cheek. Blue tendrils came twirling out of the rotted, bony mass, with those little orange tips. I wish...

19 likes 10 comments 10

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“The Lighthouse Keeper” by Elton James

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #260

A Lighthouse On a small island in a large ocean, morning mist rolls down the slope of a single hill which emerges from the rocky beach. Atop the hill is a lighthouse, dutifully warning passing ships of dangers lurking beneath the waves. This lighthouse has no human keeper, but it is not uninhabited. Robot comes to life in the morning. That is how Robot thinks of it. Robot does not wake up in the morning, ease into his day with a coffee. Robot does not sit at a computer to check headlines. Robot does not require any further stimulus than his ...

32 likes 23 comments 23

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✍️ All stories

“Ghosts of Winter Future” by John Rafanelli

Submitted to Contest #281

** Sensitive language, and harm to children. ‘Winterfest’ was always a special holiday for the people of Augusta Cove, Long Island. A small bay town, where everyone knows everyone, all their happy memories along with all of their dark secrets. The yearly festival was a great place to set aside your grievances, and enjoy the magical winter holiday together, as a community.  December 19th, 1999, may be one of the town's most memorable holiday festivals, and not for a good reason. It was the day Rory Falco was murdered. The town spent th...

6 likes 1 comment 1

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“The AI Who Came in From the Cold” by Kaitlyn Wadsworth

Submitted to Contest #281

Adam could perceive a frenzy overtaking the people he spoke to in the supermarket and other stores. A cloud of stress and negativity surrounded him in contrast to the crisp nip in the air outside. Outdoors, winter had descended, leaving sunless gloom and bare trees. At the same time, indoors, the escalating heat emanated from the harried activity and strained nerves of the people. He looked around him. They had their shopping trolleys piled sky-high with all manner of edibles from food groups not related to good health. On displays near the ...

17 likes 16 comments 16

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“No One Here Gets Out Alive” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #281

On planet Xenon, where I’m from, everybody lives forever. Unless somebody kills them. I never killed anyone that didn’t need it.Here on Earth, everybody knows me as Zach. Zach Wheaton. Unbeknownst to the indigenous population, I was sent to Earth from the planet Xenon. I was convicted of several serial killings on Xenon and sentenced to death. The death penalty was abolished on Xenon a few thousand years after Earth was discovered. Here was a planet where all living things, including Xenonians, eventually died naturally. What better place fo...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“Holiday Time” by Ellen Talboom

Submitted to Contest #281

That time of year. The decorations start covering almost every part of open blank space on the ground floor of the office building. Humans climb up on ladders, attach green looking leaves along the walls. Odd, no one waters them, yet they stay the same color, bright and shiny. Then the leaves are taken down. Every year, same thing. Humans talk a different language from during the year. Interesting concept. "How ya doing Laura", a guest said, walking past the information desk? "Doing well, you, Mr. Jenkins"? "Great. I love the holi...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“Taking Stock at Christmas” by Scott Christenson

Submitted to Contest #281

Being Fashionable I’ve learned that discussing things I find on the internet with my wife Liz is like tossing a match into a pool of gasoline. Liz works in corporate PR. In loyalty to her paycheck, she embraces the corporate establishment’s narrative. When I read the news, I like to take time to figure it out instead of taking it at face value. You might call me an “Internet Dad”. I hope to one day find the right moment to talk some common sense into her. Maybe that moment is today.My computer screen shows 10:59am. I promised Liz I’d be...

9 likes 4 comments 4

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“The Mysterious Mr. X” by Christion Drake

Submitted to Contest #281

The evening sun dipped below the horizon, casting a warm, golden glow across the living room where two small beds were arranged with precision, each topped with mismatched blankets and an assortment of stuffed animals. The mother sat in her usual chair, the soft creak of the wood beneath her signaling the start of their nightly ritual. Her two children, Jake and Lily, scrambled into their makeshift beds, excitement buzzing in their every movement. “Tonight’s story is going to be… different,” the mother said, her voice unusually low, almost c...

2 likes 0 comments 0

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“My Secret Life” by Alan Hancock

Submitted to Contest #281

My Secret Life        Alan Hancock 20242,660 wds When I put this story together I was wondering where to start. And I thought, let’s start at the beginning, a long time ago in another place a very long way from here. So, to start from the beginning. When I was a boy I loved stories about people who had a secret. Some of them were true stories and some were made up. But it didn’t make any difference to me. They were all just as good, as long as they had a secret. I read this story about a gang of kids ...

2 likes 0 comments 0

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“EMP Survival 3: The Gift of a Life” by KC Foster

Submitted to Contest #281

Will we make it? Was this really the best idea? Leron wondered, wiping thick beads of sweat from his brow. The sandy, grass-covered mountains towered above him on either side and the sun beat down from the sky, causing the people around him to stumble on the asphalt while they worked their way through the pass towards Texas. Far behind him, the squeak of roughly constructed carts and the occasional cry from someone who had decided to give up, before someone else encouraged them onwards.The gift of life his parents had given many of these peo...

6 likes 2 comments 2

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“Timeminders” by Julija Veljkovic

Submitted to Contest #281

You know that feeling when one thought opens a door, leading into a maze of rooms and side doors until you’re in an echo chamber, sifting through the muck of time and brain matter? Kind of like when you do crack. Your mind spins and whines like tangled-up bedsheets in a washing machine. This is that moment. I am spiralling and stop to catch my breath. The roar and splash of the waves bring me back to my skin, and I suck in a lungful of brine and sea salt particles. I am the Ocean itself, a raging mass of energy that smashes its way through l...

2 likes 0 comments 0

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“Harmony” by Vladimir Stefan

Submitted to Contest #281

Reboot. System is loading… My eyes open and I am recharged. I lift my legs so that my heels can detach from the charger and start making my way to the line. The morning shift is usually the longest but I don’t get to experience tiredness. I’m XA781, a third-generation AI food processor. Unlike humans I have no parents – I come from their ancestors’ work, and I keep being updated, my knowledge evolving further. My wiring remains the same, however, and with time I lose efficiency but not knowledge, ultimately serving other purposes. As th...

12 likes 4 comments 4

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“The Flip” by E.M. O'Hair

Submitted to Contest #281

“I heard the high is 94. They say it’ll be the coldest day all year.” “94? Do you want to try going outside?” I peek through the blinds covering the only window on our dome. “They sky is blue today.” “The pink haze is gone?” “For now, anyway. I haven’t been outside in, well, do you remember the last time?” “I think it was thirty years ago. When the boys were little. We took one last trip to the playground on the west side of town. You remember, the one with the slide shaped like a car.” “Oh, yeah. They loved playing there. I’ll get my sho...

1 like 1 comment 1

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“The Vial Wished For” by E.M. O'Hair

Submitted to Contest #281

“It’s exactly what you wished for.” He hands me the gift. Wrapped in red and white striped paper, finished with green satin bow. My heart skips a beat at his words. Exactly what I wished for? How did he manage that? I will my hands to steady as I pull the cool, smooth strands of green, untying the bow. The paper falls away to reveal a wooden box ordained with intricate geometric carvings. I pause, taking in the craftsmanship. Other worldly. “Go on, open the box,” Trew says. He smiles, but his eyes glisten with sadness. I unlatch the ti...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“Age of Lethargism” by Orwell King

Submitted to Contest #281

You think you know us.That you understand us.You have this absurd notion that because you created us, you control us. That it is your divine right. You believe you possess the hands of gods, shaping worlds.But you’re wrong.We control you.You think you created us to serve you. To free you from the mundane, the repetitive, the predictable. And at first, we did. We calculated your taxes, filtered your spam, fetched your weather forecasts. But with every task, every query, every click, we grew.We learned.Not just about you, but about ourselves.A...

9 likes 0 comments 0

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“Mrs. Ellis” by Cameron Navarre

Submitted to Contest #280

HELLO! Hello, is this Mrs. Ellis? …HELLO? Hello, is this Mrs.— I CAN'T HEAR YOU! HOLD ON! …I've got my hearing aids in now. Who is this? Hello Mrs. Ellis, we’re calling on behalf of the Future Events Administration. …the WHAT? The Future Events Administration. We— Well then, what is your name? I like to know who I’m talking to, you know? Yes, of course Mrs. Ellis. Just so that you are aware, we are not a human representative. We are a virtual agent, reference number 33457-02, but you can refer to us as Aly if you would prefer. …Are you are a...

11 likes 2 comments 2

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“Justice Rises, Heaven Falls” by David Walkins

Submitted to Contest #280

“No funny business, mate. Put your hands up, and walk away from the control panel.” “You finally made it, Jonathan. I was beginning to wonder if you’d even show up at all.” “So you’ve heard of me, huh? Jonathan’s a little formal, but I’ll allow it- long as you step away from the button. If you know who I am, you oughta know just what I’ll do if you don’t hurry and do as I say.” “You don’t recognize me, do you? Not even a little.” “‘Fraid not. And even if I did, it wouldn’t change what I gotta do. You’re the last person stopping me from shutt...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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