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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

150+ 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 3 of 10

Jeremy's Eyes

Submitted to Contest #314

Jeremy’s Eyes It was a very toasty and warm night in Sedona, Arizona on July 15, 2028. The rugged, jagged and towering, somewhat mountainous red rocks were a sharp contrast to the multitude and brilliant audience of stars. Laura felt these luminous eyes observing her during her late-night walk. She loved hiking through the maze of familiar trails near the infamous and otherworldly Bell Rock. Furthermore, she had always been unusually fearless, as if she felt protected by an unseen force. That was how she liked it, as thirty-five year old Lau...

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Night of the Dreamers

Submitted to Contest #314

I haven't slept since I was thirteen years old.Having a few extra hours in the day or night might sound nice. But there's a toll to your brain never having to slow down and shut up. Your eyes burn from too many hours under the city’s neon holograms. I could drown in coffee without feeling fresh.Work and music keep me sane. I still get tired, but only collapse now and then. Being too exhausted to go out with friends in the narrow windows between shifts saves money, at least. Eventually they stop asking.I've always felt my “talent” has been mo...

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The Prime Engineer

Submitted to Contest #314

Chapter #1 “A Future is a very thoroughly defused Present.” Call me Zaratustra. It was still dark when I started waking up from my sleep, and what I thought was unusual, I could not understand where I am until the sun rays broke through the gaps in the tinfoil rolls that I covered my windows with. Eventually, the sun lit up the small studio I rented on a 12-month prepaid lease agreement on the outskirts of Belgrade, Serbia. My “rational economic choices” meant that I had to hibernate in a 31-square-meter “furnished” apartment, which, given m...

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The Darkest Tourist

Submitted to Contest #314

‘Are you sure about this?’I groaned and rolled my eyes. ‘If I wasn’t, don’t you think I’d have said something one of the other million times you’d asked? Besides, it’s a bit late to be chickening out now, ain’t it?’‘Not at all, and no-one would call you chicken. Come on, Leigh, this is… this is crazy.’‘Not the word you want to use.’ I grinned, but Bobby didn’t return it. The storm clouds he’d been carrying for the past week had grown heavier. He’d hated this idea ever since I started planning it, and I felt a twinge of guilt at forcing him t...

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Flesh Vessel

Submitted to Contest #314

They called me an External Mobile Unit, Scorpion-9.I exist because the burn seasons grew long and people got lost. Search and rescue. Forage and scavenge. But, now I am something else. I am the counter of breaths.The skin over the flesh.I am what you wear when the world burns, even when the sun is down. I carried five.They stepped into me with burned boots and sweaty hands—hearts that beat so fast, so slow, and not at all. I counted them all. Some cursed. Some sang. All prayed to imaginary gods. One whispered his daughter’s name when he ...

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Eyes of the Desert

Submitted to Contest #314

It was the hottest day of the year on Solun’Dar. The heat wrapped around everything like a dry blanket. The temperature was high and the humidity low as the sun stood blinding in the sky. During the days, only the forgiving shade of a passing tree or the cooling water of an oasis could vanquish the unforgiving heat of the Solun’Dar’s sun. The students landed at the docking area of Solun’Dar. They were given a briefing on the way there. They were told that Solun’Dar was typically very warm, but due to an unusual weather pattern, the temperatu...

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The Skin of the Gorgs

Submitted to Contest #314

It was the hottest day of the year…which made today the day to take back their planet. In a time when blood dripped as much as sweat, this was their best and last chance to defeat the Gorgs. The thin skin of these half robotic, half wolfman-like creatures on a sweltering day like this made them vulnerable. This was the chance to strike. James, a tall, muscular man built like a tree stump, struggled on hot days like this, but he knew they would need his strength. Everyone on the team brought something different to the table, and raw, brute fo...

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Scabhta

Submitted to Contest #314

A single wolf pup followed his mother across the steppe. It had been just two weeks since his weaning, but he had already begun learning to hunt. He enjoyed hunting, even if all of his siblings were better at it—it wasn’t his fault they were all bigger and stronger than him. Now, though, he was on this journey with his mother, struggling to keep up with her quick trot. No siblings, no father, no aunts and uncles. Just him and his mother.A few days ago, a lone wolf had visited his pack. While the pack hadn’t allowed the other wolf to stay lon...

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The Wrong Sky

Submitted to Contest #314

Year 1It's been about three months since the end. I've been walking for probably about two months, ever since the grocery stores started to run out of edible food. I found some scraps of paper to write this on. I'm not sure why. It's not like I'll be able to keep a journal or anything; most of the paper went up in the same flames our cities did. I still haven't been able to see the sky. God I miss the stars. I brought one of my star charts with me so I could figure out where I was once the clouds ended, but somehow the clouds are still going...

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Just Another Day of an Octolynx

Submitted to Contest #314

Journal Entry #8,725 Ugh. These humans with identical long coats need to just leave me alone. I woke up, per usual, with four pairs of eyes on me through the other side of my thick glass fortress. I’m not sure if they know how rude they are. Maybe their small brains can’t comprehend how rude it is to stare, especially while one is sleeping. Being that they can not understand me, I lock all eight of my eyes at the same time, pairing two with each individual, hoping they would catch on or even care that they are being so rude, disturbing my sl...

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The Astral Projectionist

Submitted to Contest #314

CW: Contains references to severe injuries and physical trauma. It was the hottest day of the year. Johnny Bradshaw was sitting in his air-conditioned room, wistfully staring out of his window, remembering how it all was before it all came crashing down. He had everything he ever wanted; his own very successful business, his own house, a nice pickup truck, a large boat, a luxury car, a vacation home in the mountains overlooking a lake in a valley, a stock racing car, and all of it completely paid for, not a cent owed on anything.Then, he met...

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Heatwave

Submitted to Contest #314

The television forecasters had been calling it a heatwave, but that was such a drastic understatement as to be laughable, according to Alejandra Jiminez. She would have said just that if anyone had bothered asking her, but no one did. They should, she thought grimly, following the trail towards the sound of voices ahead. Alejandra often thought of her job as a Death Valley National Park Ranger in two ways: protect the park from the people and protect the people from themselves. The latter was more difficult. As her smart watch started buzzin...

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Abduction

Submitted to Contest #314

My eyes Its so Bright. My eyes Where are my eyes Its too bright , my eyes! is that mine? My voice Where's my voice What's that sound The blinding white faded, my vision burning as it focused. Heavy lids expelling the inadequate sleep sluggishly clinging to my limbs and dragging my weight with its unrest. Another night. Another night I can’t find rest. Another night I can’t sleep. The same images invade my dreams. Not at a constant, but long enough, other areas of my life have been slowly pushed off balance. My heavy, sleepless hands unable t...

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I Don’t Control the Sun, Son

Submitted to Contest #314

The end of life as New Yorkers knew it came on June 30, 2028.That was the first day of the heat wave that never ended.***By 9:30 a.m., the temperature in New York City has crept up to 96 degrees. The sun is so bright that the sky appears snow white, making it difficult to look at without sunglasses.Within an hour, the thermometer hits 106 degrees.At 11:30, the President of the United States, the Vice President, members of Congress, and members of the Senate receive the same cryptic email:Deditionem! Sexaginta dies habes!The message is passed...

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You should lighten up if you're gonna be a fungi

Submitted to Contest #314

The odour of warm damp earth, like the first rain as summer wanes, clouded Sam’s dream. Not unpleasant, almost soothing. But beneath hung subtle undertones of decay. He was running through the woods in the growing dusk of his nightmare, pursued by an invisible presence. - He rolled over in the tangled sheets, faint daylight crept around the edges of the curtains -. A branch in the undergrowth seemingly leapt up and tripped him. He clutched at the bed covers that felt like loose damp soil between his fingers and woke with a gasp as he hit the...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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