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Looking for a steady supply of science fiction short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

7440+ 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.

Science fiction Short Stories – Page 199 of 497

20 Years

Submitted to Contest #170

Clifford’s 20 Years    “Good morning everyone!” Said a man in a thick white cotton scarf with a bright smile and crooked teeth.    He smiled at a group of people that sat in a circle on the floor on soft pillows. The sun shining down on everyone from the high windows in the gym and reflecting off the shiny wooden floors highlighted everyone making them look heavenly. The man in the scarf glowed the most as the sun highlighted his soft brown skin.    “Welcome to grief counseling” said the man as he...

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The Groundskeeper

Submitted to Contest #169

Lightning flashed in the dark sky, briefly sending a bright, white, blanket of light over the graveyard below. The graveyard was expansive, over the past few hundred years it had grown with every generation. Contained within, like layers to cake, were generations of the dead. Long ago this land was used as the sacred burial grounds for an ancient people, a people with whom the land made a sacred bond with thousands of years ago. As time went on the people changed and were forgotten. War, plague, famine and genocide rocked the people of the l...

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Remembrance

Submitted to Contest #169

It isn’t raining nor is there an impending thunderstorm looming. The Talisman Grove is in the midst of a dry Indian Summer with no threat of rainfalls or thunderstorms coming any time soon. Yet at night, the asphalt, concrete, brick and stone pavements alike begin oozing microscopic bubbles of moisture, seeping through its pores with almost like an oil type substance. Fog uncharacteristically gathers on empty, abandoned streets hovering close above surface level every night since summer has started in June. What’s even more peculiar, at the ...

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You've Got Red On You

Submitted to Contest #170

“I got nothing.” “Yeah, but that’s always…” started Lando. “Not this time, buddy,” Single was shaking his head gravely, “not this time.” “OK, but there’s the…” began Lando. Single shook his head again. “Really?!” blurted Lando. “Really,” confirmed Single. “But Roy is down there on his own!” gasped Lando. Single frowned, “I know.” “But without the mysterious and unknowable force of the power, that we all know drive the contrived plot…” Lando trailed off. He didn’t need Single to butt in this time. “He will have h...

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THE GREAT SHAG

Submitted to Contest #169

   Theo strutted through the park, hands in coat pockets, slushing through the carpet of reds and yellows leftover from the trees above. Passing a giant oak, someone he recognized came ambling from the other way. It was Old Man Bob McKimson, a regular among the beaten paths sporting his fisherman’s cap and wool tweed overcoat as usual. He was carrying a walking stick found among the fallen branches and cordially waved it, hoping to stop and talk. Theo obliged, always fascinated by the old man’s tales from days ...

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Nine Lives

Submitted to Contest #169

“Aren’t you a handsome fellow” Amy cooed at the black cat nuzzling into her calf as she scratched the base of his ears. “So affectionate as well. Yes you are, yes you are. Aren’t you?? Yes you are”. She always used this stereotypical baby talk with cats, complete with rhetorical questions and answers to said questions. Anytime she saw someone else acting out this same pantomime with a cat, or a dog, or even a baby she cringed and vowed to never talk like that again. It was so unbecoming she thought. But then some friendly feline would sid...

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The Safest Place

Submitted to Contest #169

“Are you all right, Jared?” His mother’s voice was soothing, gentle, like he was a nervous colt and might bolt if handled the wrong way. “I’m okay, Mom,” he replied, forcing a smile. Her hands fussed with his blankets, smoothing them, tucking them under his chin. “I could stay with you until you fall asleep.” Weak smile still in place, he shook his head. “You shouldn’t, Mom. Dr. Dean said I have to get over this on my own.” “I know.” A deep frown furrowed her brow. “I know.” “Don’t worry, Mom.” He knew she meant well, but right now, it was r...

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Cheep Cheep and the Soccer Socks Incident

Submitted to Contest #169

The worst part was, it was leaking. Turning the carpet under my bed into a puddle the size of a swimming pool. Which, yeah, I’d begged Dad to build one this summer, but in like, I don’t know, the backyard? At least my room was above the bathroom. Can you imagine the questions if the solid “drip, drip, drip” started pelting my parents in the face while they lay in bed?  “Don’t worry Mom, just a little monster. Looks like a baby, really. Why is it sitting in a puddle of its own excrement? Gee, I don’t know. ...

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Stolen Clouds

Submitted to Contest #169

Stolen CloudsBy Andrew EvansThe bombay black cat brushed up against her legs, mewing and pawing for attention.She did not need attention at this moment."Go on, shoo.. I can't.. go on now.." She whispered and pulled her scarf about her face.The cat flicked its tail in nonchalant defiance, hissed and sauntered off towards a food stall.Makena had hidden her sense of dread and rushing adrenaline well as she had stolen away from the citadel with the document. The streets were as cramped as ever with tradespeople and protesters in equal measure.Sh...

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Ascension from the Abyss

Submitted to Contest #168

It's incredible, really. I know everyone says that because everyone should–a train that runs from Portsmouth to La Rochelle is nothing to shake a stick at. Trains I've been on in the past showed me trees, grasslands, and mountains whizzing by. The Sub-Atlantic Railway, however, shows me fathomless dark. It provides the eerie reflection of a mirror that sees further than the skin and into your own soul's abyss. Early in the trek, while the sun was still shining, I saw marine life like one can only imagine; in the first few hours of the tr...

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Dangan Ressha

Submitted to Contest #168

(TRIGGER WARNING - VULGAR LANGUAGE, SEXUAL CONTENT)~The train lines of Rubico stretched outward in all directions from the center of the city, encapsulating the neverending stretch of boxy high-rises and one story whatever shops in a comically large spiderweb of public transportation. Even when it wasn’t night, it was raining, so the turquoise-glow of tracks buffeted everything below with its titanium shine. But if you played music in your headgear, you’d barely hear a cut of air pass above you, that is, if some homeless wasn't up in your ea...

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The Conductor Steps Out

Submitted to Contest #168

[Content warning: this story contains scenes of violence, blood, and language]           The sight of distant cosmos swirling past the window had long ceased to impress the Conductor. At two months old it was one of the senior staff on the train, and while first-time tourists and younger Conductors often gawked at the milky way beyond, to this one it felt as routine as the offboarding announcement it knew was coming as the tracks wound down to the planet below.    &nb...

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The Birthday Station

Submitted to Contest #168

A man was standing at the train station. I immediately noticed it. I was on my usual route home when I saw him out of the corner of my eye. I forced my board to a full stop and looked at him.  There was a man in a tuxedo standing on the platform of the long-abandoned train station. It struck me as fascinating, but also weird, and suddenly I felt the instinct to run. It’s the ability to defy our instincts without being trained that makes us human, that’s what I’ve always believed. It’s that ability that allowed me to walk toward the m...

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Ride or Die

Submitted to Contest #168

Trigger warning : Death, Slight blood No one knew when they arrived. No one knew how they got there. Some called them demons, others called them angels.  To Thorn, they were the doom of all humanity. His parents were taken first. Thorn was with them that night, on their walk home from the grocery store when something large suddenly landed inches from them on the sidewalk. Seemingly being thrown out of midair, Thorn’s mother had screamed and his father put on a protective stance, ready to fight whatever it was. When the object ...

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Specimen

Submitted to Contest #168

Laura looks out of the train window, not at the scenery, but at the raindrops pelting the window in rhythmic succession. The pitter-patter, like a lullaby. She begins to feel at ease for the first time that night. As she slowly closes her eyes she suddenly jolts herself back to consciousness. 'I can't afford to sleep right now.' she tells herself. She reaches into her coat pocket and retrieves a crumpled piece of paper, she studies it, focusing on it’s contents intently with her sullen eyes. The significance of its message, so dire to her no...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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