The last lines that land, closing moments from thousands of vintage SF stories. Mind the spoilers, and follow any that stop you into the full read.
Hey Ma! It's Willie!
And as they watched in stunned amazement, Carter began to grow.
It was not until the dusty morning sun stirred up the breezes that they fluttered down into the shallow hole beneath, unnoticed.
Then staggering swiftly into the cave he closed the rock door firmly and finally behind him.
I stopped feeling sorry for myself. And started feeling sorry for them.
"I said you were a god. I said you were a god. _I said you were a god...!_"
"Now I can rest," said the body.
You don't suffer when you've killed a race.
She said very sweetly and sympathetically, "Poor Superman."
On one side I read the words: THE STATEMENT ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS COIN IS FALSE. The patient watched....
And the other replied, "Pleasant dreams."
From now on we're doing for ourselves." And raising the pistol in both hands, she shot him through the head.
Yes, Baker decided, dying was a good way to make a living.
"They're coming," he said.
But no one heard him.
And by morning he knew he was a Man.
"Stop," I cried, "while you're still winning!"
Three silent people stood on the raw red earth of a new world.
“I am Love,” it said.
And with my two remaining arms I strangled him!
June stepped silently out of the tank room, and then turned and went to the airlock. She opened the valves that would let in Pat Mead's sister.
"Yes, and good riddance. Human beings have always been a nuisance."
Her body would soon be turning cold.
It took him a long time to die.
"It said, 'Please take good care of my little girl.'"
"No, darling," said Rosalind gently, "it's we who had the dream. We've just awakened."
I went to find Maria, to marry her. Instead, I found and murdered her, and I will never go back again.
"Nice doggie," he said.
Does she wear a mask?
He was still smiling when the axman on the right struck and Ericson's severed head went rolling along the surface of the pyramid.