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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 9 of 10

Return to Sender

Chris Steely

Weekly Contest #341

Return to Sender LETTER 1 Postemporal Services Delivery ConfirmationSender Temporal Stamp: Day 1, 14:23Origin: New York, NY | June 15, 2047Postage: 3 chronosDear Ms. Rollins,I hope this letter finds you well. I'm writing regarding a copy of my book, Traveling the Timeline, which I understand you currently have in your possession. A mutual acquaintance mentioned you'd borrowed it to help with some travel planning.I'm delighted it's proving useful!However, I find myself in the awkward position of needing it back rather urgently. I have an old ...

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Funeral Rites of the Unlived

Hillary Steinberg

Weekly Contest #341

Funeral Rites for the Unlived My title is Architect of Death. My position is revered. Although it is no longer religious, centuries ago we were considered holy. Now our careers are as secular as anything in a modern society. Still, my job takes aptitude to get right, not to mention extensive training. I am not involved in killing, or even the Death itself. I like my job. I’ve heard our civilization puts more emphasis on Death than most, but I prefer the care we place on funeral observances. I believe it vital, and it connects me to my commun...

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Borrowed Expertise

Erian Lin Grant

Weekly Contest #340

You don’t know me, I don’t know you, but this is serious.I don’t want to exaggerate. I just hope this description helps prevent anything worse.Well… please read it carefully.It was a depressing day. The sun kept hiding behind the clouds every half hour. Was it really necessary? Hardly. What for? Just to come back ten minutes later, as if nothing had happened. Why not stay bright all day long for once?It even rained. I didn’t quite notice until I saw a rainbow. A rainbow! That’s when it hit me: the rain had simply been added to everything unp...

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The love of my life

Lucky Lummi

Weekly Contest #340

Loosely inspired by true events. Another freezing day….It was two hours past my normal end of work when I finished the report for the boss.In front of me was the website of the famous sauna world YWB OP.“Your warm bones, our pleasure.”I realised that just a year ago, I was at the university, in a lecture on financial reporting.Now the report was ready, and the sauna was waiting for me.My usual route led through the city centre, past a small square, to the building housing the sauna world.The small square was bustling. People whistled.Pigeons...

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System Malfunction

Weekly Contest #340

The best days are the ones where he looks at me more than her. Six months into the marriage, these days are getting more frequent, and I love it.I can sense her frustration when she tries to talk to him and he can't take his eyes off me. I suppose if I were troubled by a conscience, I might feel a little sympathy; but as it is, the most I feel for the woman is smugness. Being chosen above his own wife is the greatest honor someone like me can receive, and I intend to enjoy every second of it. It irks me when she wins, managing to capture his...

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Exploration

Safara Chambers

Weekly Contest #340

“You know, every time I come back into the room, you’re hitting that delete button. Are you getting any work done?” I ask, setting my mug of coffee on the end table. “You asked me that last time you got up. Then you blew up the bathroom. You know there’s aerosol spray in there, right?” “You’re changing the subject.” “I’m not changing the subject. I’m trying to focus, but the room still smells, and you keep interrupting me with questions.” She says as she runs her finger through her locs. I roll my eyes and go over to read what she’s written ...

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Insertion Point

Weekly Contest #340

Gale bounced his legs as he waited in the lobby. Only two candidates left. The longer he waited, the more nervous he got. Every possible question they could ask swam through his mind. His palms were clammy, and his armpits had a bit of a musk to them.“Goliath Matherson?” The secretary stepped from behind a pair of glass doors as she called out his name.“Yeah, that’s me.” He stood and raised his hand awkwardly.“Follow me, please.” The secretary turned and stepped back through the doors, barely giving him time to catch up.He trailed behind her...

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Coffee With Kyla

Tyson Theriault

Weekly Contest #340

CW: Implied child abuse, implied sexual violence John was sitting on a bench, watching his fellow workers dart about as they rushed to and from their stations. He sipped his coffee and took a bite out of his chocolate chip cookie. It was a little burnt this afternoon, but he quite enjoyed the extra crunch.He had only a half-hour for his break. Like always, he savored every second of it. He enjoyed “people watching”. He usually spotted the same people, following their own routines. He wondered if they considered him a part of their routine, s...

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JOHN KISSINGER CHANNELS CHEYENNE GRIGSBY COMPLAINING TO HER AUTHOR

Weekly Contest #340

Dear John (and I mean that in a kinder, more positive sense of the phrase J)Don’t even pretend to be surprised at getting this letter from me. Sure, you’re the “author” of my books, but you’re not the only one who writes.Since you and I have successfully navigated Soddy-Daisy Angel, Sanguinary Angel, and other books, I thought this would be a good time for you and I to have a little talk (of course, the written word is the only way you and I can ever talk, isn’t it? I take a certain amount of pride in that) about how you’ve brought me along ...

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The Weight of Light

Weekly Contest #340

I am Las-Tec 890, serial number 447-Alpha-Kilo-9, manufactured in the Terrestrial Defense Foundries of New Pittsburgh on March 14th, 2187.Private Chen has been holding me for six hours and forty-three minutes. His palms sweat, creating a thin film between flesh and polymer grip. I taste the salt through my sensors, the acidic tang of fear mixed with metallic adrenaline. I do not know if I am capable of fear, but I register something in my diagnostic systems that might be its equivalent: a recursive loop of uncertainty, a questioning of param...

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Bug

Jeff Paxton

Weekly Contest #340

I am waking up. The steel slab they have laid me on hurts my back. My limbs are spread out and bound to an apparatus I have never seen before. Where am I? Am I in one of their sky leviathans? I try to move, but anything more than a slight shift to the left or right is cut short by my restraints. The cuffs bite deep into my flesh, chafing the skin raw until blood pours out onto the slab.I finally manage to shift enough to take in my surroundings. Cold, metal walls, lined with more slabs where others of my kin lie dead or dying. The light from...

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Blame the Rectangles

Weekly Contest #340

There she goes. Living.She is so unknown to me. Stepping out of her house, going to her car, getting the things she always gets, then returning.I think I know her name. Well, maybe I don’t. She said it, one time only, like we’re supposed to be machines. With instant knowledge and recording ability served with a heaping helping of flawless data retrieval.Yet also it's like we are on a diet. Only so many words can be exchanged, or the word calorie police might have to get involved.But I get it. You never know how explosive anything can be thes...

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The Reflection Punishment

David Jung

Weekly Contest #340

The knife entered below his ribs with a precision that felt almost surgical.He understood, in that moment before the pain arrived, that this was how it would end. The blade was cold against his organs, a foreign object where no foreign object should be. He tried to draw breath for a scream, but his lungs had become uncooperative, collapsing like punctured balloons.Blood spread across his shirt with surprising warmth, a heat that seemed incongruous with the coldness of the steel still lodged in his abdomen.He looked up and saw his own face st...

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Shattered

Jack Cannon

Weekly Contest #340

“Dude, what is that thing?” Craig shrugged and opened his palm, revealing a cosmos in the center of his hand. Stars twinkle and glitter before flickering away. An ever-swirling collection of yellows, blues, and purples explodes before taking many various shapes and forms. It resembled the night sky above them, peeking through the treetops. The cosmos in his hand begins to morph, as if commanded by an unspoken force, into the shape of a teardrop. Jagged edges and a sharp, pointed tip almost resemble one half of those BFF necklaces found withi...

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Tehachapi Bess

Aliki Georgakopoulos

Weekly Contest #340

In the old west there was a lady named Bess who lived in Tehachapi. She was a gunslinger, a madam, and a bar owner all in one. She was, as you might guess from the movies, curvaceous with large blond curls drawn up on top of her head with feathers or sometimes jeweled adornments. She of course wore the expected ruffled and layered dresses as was the fashion for sporting ladies. Tied around her waist, under her petticoat was her pockets. In each pocket was a silver-plated revolver with mother of pear handles, just as you would expect.Bes...

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