Space Travel Fiction

The members of the Polaris Project knew what they were giving up when they volunteered to fly to the star named Angel-21, but the allure of being the first explorers to leave the Solar System far outweighed the risks. As it turned out, the most dangerous thing they faced wasn't the mission, it was the homecoming. Eight hundred years have passed, and Earth is nothing like they thought it would be.

The sky is not the limit. From an alley in New York to an interstellar wormhole, the path to the future looks different for everyone. These cosmic short stories from some of today’s most influential Black authors reveal a universe of possibilities.

Humanity has taken to the stars, using faster-than-light travel to reach distant planets and new worlds. But in the far reaches of the galaxy, John Grant will discover a planet of humans who believe he has travelled not only through space to find them, but time. On Apis, the mysterious Fermi appear to have vanished, taking with them knowledge of the universe that humanity desires. But Marcus Owen, the robot AI now plagued with sentience, knows that the Fermi would not easily abandon the native life of Apis.

Seventeen-year-old Aimee Roh has Sensory Time Warp Syndrome, a rare condition that causes her to time travel to a moment in her life when she smells something linked to that memory. Her dad is convinced she’ll simply grow out of it if she tries hard enough, but Aimee’s fear of vanishing at random has kept her from living a normal life. When Aimee disappears for nine hours into a memory of her estranged mom—a moment Aimee has never remembered before—she becomes distraught.

For the Tenth Doctor, the festive season always brought adventure. In fact, he's saved Christmas across space and time more times than we ever knew. Join the Doctor (and Donna and Martha and Rose, and other friends old and new) for incredible tales of daring and danger. From Daleks plotting to save humanity to Sycorax working to exploit it...from star-narwhals massing on the Moon to a toy factory in space. Because even in the jolliest of seasons there's a world or two to save.

“The Theos await you. Only then will we stop the Unwinding.” The threat of invaders is gone, and Earth has been bartered away as a price for peace. Yet, the human world of New Spero is thriving and full of hope. Joining the rank of the Gatekeepers, Dean and Mary set off to explore worlds connected by the mysterious portals. When they stumble upon a strange symbol, they are led to an ancient object, one that sets them on an unstoppable path. The journey takes them through multiple worlds, before they can find what they’re searching for.

Twenty-one years have passed since the end of the wars against the Insectoids and the rogue AI Machineships. A new generation of Shilohs has joined the Space Force, much to the joy of the AIs that still revere the memory of The Cag, Victor Shiloh. And, once again, humanity is in mortal danger. The temporal backlash from multiple time jumps that the Friendlies had warned against is making itself felt with a vengeance. Can humans and their loyal AI allies find a way to undo their meddling with time? Changing the past without resorting to time travel will be but half the battle.

Life on the Ship has changed, and for Zax it means a return to the top. The Pilot Academy finally beckons and Zax battles for position against a competitor who brings a fascinating advantage. Meanwhile, his friendship with Kalare remains strained as he refuses to drop his suspicions about the Flight Boss and the officer's knowledge of the mysterious humans. As the Ship travels back towards Earth, the Crew visit a series of previously established colonies and discover startling information about their colonists.

A year-long period of civilian unrest, which started when Zax revealed his discovery of an unknown spacecraft from Earth, finally erupts into a full-blown revolution. He is thrust into the middle of the rebellion, alongside longtime friends and enemies, where his special talents make the difference between life and death. Zax eventually puts himself into a position where he can rocket back to the top of the leaderboard and restore his career - at a price.

The Ship fled a dying Earth to save the human race. Launched as the last gasp of humanity, the Ship set out to preserve the species by seeding the universe with one billion colonists. Generations of crew, trained to be either flight or marines, have spent 5,000 years protecting the Ship and its civilian cargo from the constant threat of alien violence. Fifteen-year-old Zax has always had trouble fitting in with the other cadets, but he's finally on the cusp of attaining his dream and gaining entrance to the Pilot Academy.

Sleek, swift, and deadly, they are the X-wing fighters. And as the battle against the Empire rages across the vastness of space, the pilots risk both their lives and their machines for the cause of the Rebel Alliance. Now they must embark on a dangerous espionage mission, braving betrayal and death on the Imperial homeworld to smash the power of a ruthless foe!

Agent Raibert Kaminski and the crew of the Transtemporal Vehicle Kleio have stumbled across a temporal implosion that has claimed two whole universes, and neither Raibert nor his crew can ­ figure out what caused this calamity, or how to stop its spread. Meanwhile, old colleagues of Raibert’s from the Antiquities Rescue Trust, together with a version of Samuel Pepys transplanted from the 17th century into the 30th, have proposed an expedition into the past. The goal? To branch the timeline by preventing the Plague of Justinian, one of the worst pandemics in human history.

The Palace Program is now in full effect. Sirus O'Sullivan, the Palace director, has been repurposed outside of the current reality, thus leaving a gaping opening for the next in line to see the Program through to the final phase. Meanwhile, Mary escapes the battlefield with the Eagles squad intel specialist Dale. After seeing the battle has not gone in their favor, they retreat into the depths of the Palace, leaving Mary to live with the fact she left many men and women to die by her orders.

Adan is ready to leave Earth behind. He successfully transformed his massive asteroid into an amazing spaceship, but faces an even larger challenge as he tries to negotiate the repercussions of the many deals and compromises that were required along the way. The choices he makes will not only impact those people who remain behind, but will also determine how the society onboard his vessel survives far into the future.

On the planet of Lobos, the Doctor halts a violent war between the native Loba and human colonists. The TARDIS crew departs - only for Ryan to discover he’s left his phone behind. Again. Upon returning, the Doctor finds that the TARDIS has slipped hundreds of years into the future - and something has gone badly wrong. The Loba are now slaves, serving human zealots who worship a figure known as The Good Doctor. It’s time for the Doctor to face up to the consequences of her last visit. With Lobos on the brink of catastrophe, will she be able to make things right?

At Battle School, there is only one purpose, only one curriculum: the strategy and tactics of war. The children are drawn from all nations, all races, all religions. There is no room for cultural differences, no room for religious observances, and certainly no room for Santa Claus.

Traveling faster than light, the transport ship Redundancy is cut off from communication as effectively as an ancient ocean liner. The isolation suits crew member Ace Vance just fine—she’s got nowhere else to be. But when a wealthy passenger turns up dead during a routine voyage, Ace will have to connect with the passengers and crew to uncover the truth. Tragedy will strike again—it’s only a matter of time.

Michael Hollister killed his father 88 times to avenge the dark acts visited upon him. When he was sent to Hartfield Academy, he adopted an entirely new family, including a brother, Max. Almost 40 years after he arrived at the academy, Michael and Max still live their quiet life where they shape boys into men and men into soldiers. A trip to the war memorials in Washington D.C. turns out to be too much for Max and he begins to fade. Max has always depended on Michael for everything, but in the end, who is really depending on who?

Nicholas Briggs reads the brand-new novelisation of the spectacular 50th anniversary TV episode. When the entire universe is at stake, three different Doctors will unite to save it. The Tenth Doctor is hunting shape-shifting Zygons in Elizabethan England. The Eleventh is investigating a rift in space-time in the present day. And one other - the man they used to be but never speak of - is fighting the Daleks in the darkest days of the Time War.

Luis, Casey, Tyler, and robot cat Steel discover Tesla’s Time Twister, a time machine created by the famous scientist and Luis’s uncle. Immediately, they’re off on adventures, exploring the past and the future. They face aliens in space, a haunted house, ancient Egypt, and a monster-filled undersea world as they attempt to rescue Uncle Cyrus, who has been lost in time for more than one hundred years!