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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 10 of 10

The Colour Tax

Weekly Contest #352

Lumi was seven when she asked what blue cost.Solenne rinsed the breakfast bowls with cold water. Grey soap melted across her fingers in thin strips. The city climbed at the window to an uninspiring expanse of approved sky. The government grey everyone got when they couldn't afford wonder.“Too much,” Solenne said.Lumi pressed her forehead to the glass. Her breath left a small ghost.“More than rent?”Solenne set the bowl on the rack.That was answer enough.Children in the Grey District were taught about colour the same way they were taught extin...

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The Girl Who Saw Green

Weekly Contest #352

“Just one, please,” I said, fishing around in my pocket for change. Crap, forgot my wallet again. The cashier nodded and gave me a wrinkled smile as she hurried to start my coffee. Work was going to be endless today, more long hours of erasing the idea of color from history, and on top of that, a meeting discussing Dr. Lee’s new invention. “Order for Samuel Smith.” The barista called. She looked ready to quit her job if one more person had the last name of Smith. I grabbed my mug of steaming gray coffee. It swirled drearily in my hands, mak...

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The Necessity of Blood

Weekly Contest #352

You must not bleed. You learn this first of all. Before love, before knowledge, before faith. You must not bleed. To bruise is unideal but sometimes a blow must be dealt and a weed will flower in return. Though a bruise can be concealed. In fact a bruise may even, kindly, turn to black or grey. It’s the yellow tinge, the purple spots you have to watch out for. But a bruise will not stain. It will not bloom and grow and sink into all you own. It does not demand attention. Blood always calls for it. All eyes turn to the arrival. It can begin a...

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A Melting Planet

Weekly Contest #352

To Willy, Irene was like a mystical creature. He’d learned extensively about her in his research, to the point where meeting her in the flesh was surreal. Likewise, Irene had been watching Willy and his friends through Sky Eyes for quite some time, and had developed a warmth for the kids not unlike her relationship with Bertha’s son. As they trudged through the woodlands together, the magic of a hike in nature brought a trance like state of conversation and comfort. They found respite on a large rock in the shade, drinking water. “So, Willy,...

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The Forty-Fourth

Weekly Contest #352

Stars I am dying beneath a sky that does not care. The stars above Verantis are unfamiliar. Cold. Indifferent. They have seen countless deaths and will see countless more. Mine is nothing special. My father traced the constellations of Levine Prime for me when I was seven. I look up now and see nothing I recognize. I lie where my legs finally stopped working, two hundred feet past the compound wall, and stare up at them. Blood pools beneath me. Warm at first. Cooling now. The ancestral blade lies beside me, still clutched in fingers that no ...

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Color of truth

Weekly Contest #352

“Mind the shadow. What do you think that means, Anton?”“How should I know? I think this guy was paranoid. The outside team found this yesterday with the corpse. He wasn’t supposed to be outside.”“There are a few pictures on this phone.”“You figured out how to charge it?”“Yes. You hired me for that, remember. Let’s check them.”Anton opened the first picture. The photo appeared in full screen.“What is that?”“Liam, it’s not important, the file is probably damaged.”“The phone was in his pocket, along with the note: mind the shadow.”“Do you know ...

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A Gray Interlude

Weekly Contest #352

After the bombs fell, the world turned gray. Not just in the distance, although you could only see an arm’s length ahead of you. But when you looked at the ground, where there used to be green grass, brown dirt, the blue of the tropical sea, everything was gray. I think it was probably the ash. It covered everything, and stayed in the air, coloring our clothes, our hair, our faces. Long ago we fought about differences in skin color. Now we were all gray. We used to have structures and a society. Farms, factories, offices, churches, shops, ho...

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1943

Weekly Contest #352

Hunter gasped as his eyes snapped open, squinting up at the blue sky. His ears still rang.Ash drifted down like snow.The distant thunder of war rolled on.His hands shot to his abdomen.No holes. Good. But… how? The Tiger had me point-blank.He rolled onto his stomach and lifted his head.Two Tiger tanks burned in the distance—one of them half-melted.“What the…?”He turned, looking back. Three Shermans still burned, thick black smoke rolling off of them.Okay. Remember that.He grabbed his M1 and started crawling toward the Shermans.“Jones? Baker? ...

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Worry Dolls

Weekly Contest #351

“Laura come down for breakfast!” Cynthia yells this upstairs and has no idea that it shakes the walls. She is only directly below the bed that Laura was trying to stay in. If depression was a person, we could call it Laura. As a baby she was the epitome of mopey and that hadn’t changed in the slightest with age. What we could say is it aged like fine wine. There is a deepening of wrinkles on this young’s girl face that has you question is really only 12 because that face looks like it's heading towards ninety two. The Marianna trench looks f...

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The To-Do List

Weekly Contest #351

I rolled over in bed, still half-asleep, my cooling eye mask perched on my forehead, when a wash of sunlight slipped through the curtains and hit me all at once.Oh shit.I’m late for work.My chest tightened as I jolted upright.I wrestled my phone free from the folds of the white down comforter. When my face unlocked the screen, it was already open to the perfectly curated to-do list I’d made before passing out. The first item read: Wake Up Early.So much for that.I tapped Marc Thorpe, IdealU’s CEO. He answered on the last ring in a groggy voic...

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After Glow

Weekly Contest #351

What should have been a normal Thursday dinner turned into a complaint session. The air was thick with spaghetti and teenage entitlement. Between bites, my three boys were griping about how their current track shoes were trashed; not having the latest sneakers was practically a social death sentence. I looked at their plates of food and healthy, unaware faces, trying to preach the usual sermon of gratitude, but my voice felt like a ghost; they weren’t hearing me, but instead waiting on their turns to express more dismay.  After the tabl...

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Anguish Contained

Weekly Contest #351

“Well, hello Bella. It seems today’s the day! How are you feeling?” Bella shifted excitedly in her seat, pushing out words joyously through a large grin. “I’m excited, I really hope it works.” “It definitely should. Dr. Biagi has full confidence. She had mentioned to me that it may have been a more intensive year than you both had anticipated, but she says your results are perfect now. You’ll finally get to take that head band off!” Bella ran her fingers down her smooth scalp and across the glistening platinum band that had replaced her hair...

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NANA

Weekly Contest #351

Patient Journal: 0001.“The patient is a seven-year-old boy. He was brought into the ER by paramedics at 1:06 PM, but no description of the injuries or their cause was provided. Dr. Playter and I are currently evaluating the patient; however, Dr. Playter has not entered the trauma room since laying the boy down on the hospital bed. I scanned the boy’s body, and his condition, for lack of a better term, is not ideal. Two bones are poking out of the patient, several abrasions, and active bleeding within the visible wounds. I will need to thorou...

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Samantha Strolls in Silver Fields

Winner of Weekly Contest #351 🏆

A demigod of rock thrust his guitar pick down in one final stroke, and the Stratocaster screamed under the arena’s flashing strobes, a thunderous roll of drums finishing behind him. Uproarious applause exploded from the crowd. He gazed out at them, raking sweaty tendrils of hair from his face, letting the applause crash over him in staggered waves. In the light of the strobes, dozens of young women with Hollywood faces screamed at him, their eyes aglow with lust, hands groping at the stage.BEEP.He had played perfectly, and in that moment, he...

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The Tendril Said Hello

Weekly Contest #351

The first thing I knew was the nutrient-warmth. The second was Heia’s face through the glass.She was bending over the jar, both hands flat on the bench, her breath fogging the True Glass for a second before it cleared. Behind her, a stone room and a cousin leaning against the door-frame with his arms crossed.“Well?” the cousin at the door said. He had a deep voice and a graft-scar on his jaw that went pink when he talked.“Give it a moment, Tenro,” Heia said. “The substrate has to settle.”I was settling. The nutrient was warm and the glass wa...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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