“So, it’s true? You’re using Terrestrials to harvest minerals?” Ayn’s sense of unreality grew as she watched her dad’s face twist into a grimace. “Ayn,” he said, “that is so far beyond the point of this conversation between you and I right now. This is about survival.” “You’re scaring me,” she said. “You should be…
Category Archives: Sci fi
It was obvious as soon as the Counsel began arriving that everyone was on edge about something. They stood in the living room, not even bothering to sit, drinking cocktails and eating finger food, their conversation a buzz of topics Ayn mostly didn’t understand until Professor Chirwnoff said, “That’s right, the mine’s been closed now…
Her dad caught her arm as she passed him. “Apologize, Ayn,” he said, not letting go. His voice was quiet but firm. Ayn clenched her jaw and turned enough so she faced the iron-haired woman whose lips curled in the faintest of smiles. A burst of heat rushed through Ayn’s chest. She’d only experienced that…
“Oh, Professor Hyarzden,” Lettie began, “I was only updating your daughter about the young man—” “Nev,” her dad finished, shaking his head. “Dad, you don’t believe what she’s saying, do you?” Ayn was incredulous. “Did you see the so-called evidence she produced?” Her dad frowned. “Ayn, you will not be rude to Lettie, she—” “She’s…
Lettie turned the vid off, saying calmly. “You’re welcome to take it up with them if you feel they made a mistake. But frankly, I thought you’d be happy to know that the mystery has been solved. You can expect no more disruptions of that kind.” The iron-haired woman flashed a cold smile. “What are…
“We’ve heard back from the Security Team,” Lettie said. Ayn stared, but remained silent, thinking about what Mearzt had said about Lettie taking the images, and wondering why it felt to her like the older woman was gloating now. “It appears to be someone you know.” “Who?” Ayn snapped. “A young man named Nev Culdronei.”…
“Thank you,” her dad said to the Black Suit as the got out of the solar craft. On the front stoop of their apartment, he stretched; several bones cracking as he did. “I’ll be right there,” Ayn said. Her dad nodded as he raised a palm over the security box beside the front door, and…
At the first break between classes, Ayn found an empty corridor and called her dad. She groaned as the message played in Lettie’s all too familiar cool, professional voice, “Please leave a message for Chief Science Counsel Hyarzden.” “Why can’t you even do your own message, dad?” Ayn said into the phone. “I need to…
The Black Suit waited at the door of the solar craft as she got in, as if he were afraid she would run off. She wished she were brave enough to do that. But she was too afraid of disappointing her dad. Part of what Lettie said was true, he was working on something that…
A Black Suit—the compound’s security team—showed up forty minutes later to take Ayn to school. “I thought you said I could do whatever I wanted,” she snapped. She hadn’t intended to stay home, but she resented Lettie presuming that she would. She wasn’t stupid, she knew she could fail her dad. Lettie didn’t try to…
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