A twin, jealous of her sister’s looks, sends her into outer space.

You always liked her better, says the twin.

From Guest Contributor Cheryl Snell

Cheryl’s recent fiction has appeared in Switch, Does It Have Pockets? Gone Lawn, Necessary Fiction, Pure Slush, and elsewhere.

Astronaut Eric Shaffer sighed as he looked out the window. Venus was rapidly receding away, its surface invisible beneath the yellowish cloud layer that gave it that distinctive color. How he longed to see the blue of Earth again.

Shaffer gave a sad smile. It was time for the long journey home. A journey taken for nothing but a short glimpse. Yet, he decided, it was worth it.

From Guest Contributor Matthew Kresal

Danger…Danger…Danger!

Jones yanked down the red lever. He didn’t want to die for nothing, but they were all going to die.

The space haulers needed two years just to reach the asteroids. In the same way that planes fly over the North Pole because it’s more direct, the cargo ships slingshot around planets to save fuel and gain momentum. The biggest danger to the astronauts was monotony.

Captain Ott never complained about his meager salary, though he knew the company made huge profits on the minerals he returned with. Complainers generally never got to fly again. Instead, he took his own share of the uranium and sold it on the black market. The cancer was worth sticking it to his bosses.

Anyone who’d been to space knew the most terrifying moment came not at liftoff, but when the rockets detached near the limits of the atmosphere. This was the moment when most accidents occurred.

Though he did rather enjoy the snacks. They were a huge improvement.

The Daily Theme From Figment For March 22, 2012

In writing classes, we are often told to write what we know. But sometimes it’s more interesting to break the rules. So let’s turn this one inside out. For an interesting change, write what you DON’T know. Try to sound like a convincing expert on some topic that you know nothing about: the solar system, marriage, bread baking, the hiking trails of the Adirondacks. How convincing can you be?

The shuttle pulled away and rocketed into the distance. The orbiting station would never be visited again. It had been abandoned to the cold, unforgiving emptiness of space. It was no longer an active laboratory, but the most expensive piece of space junk ever conceived.

Nadia looked up at the station with nostalgia. She had been among the last cosmonauts to leave. She wondered why they didn’t bring it back to Earth. They could turn it into a museum piece. It certainly would be worth the cost. And it was the only way she’d ever get her house keys back.

Havlicek stared out the porthole.

Lim shook her head. She could not help feeling that with better officers, this whole situation could have been avoided.

The Universe may not be infinite, but it’s pretty darn close.

The next generation of astronauts, or the generation after that, could be the first Earthlings to encounter these beautiful alien party babes. Unfortunately, every one of our astronauts is a socially retarded science geek. The party of the eon is going to fly right past us.

Megan loved when someone asked about her job, especially a man.

“You mean a space janitor.”