Trapped in a Star Core

“They’re still existent?”

“Yes.”

“Both of them?”

“Only one has responded, but according to their report, yes, both are existent.”

A pause, as the technicians gazed at the display of the strangely pulsing star. At last one of them spoke again, eight quiet words.

“Someone has to go in and get them.”

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Cosmic Cheesecake Dust

“Now that you mention it,” Marhtimid said, “I’ve always wondered about it, but I thought it would be rude to ask.”

He raised an upper limb above his head to reach the overhead light, adjusting it for the third time that hour.

Nadine glanced up at the overhead light and then down to her mission partner, her brows and cheeks rising. “I think I know where there is going.”

“Am I proceeding, or…?”

Nadine did a quick check of their telemetry on the tiny screen running at her left. “Go for it, Marty. Attack this delicate little human ego of mine.”

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The Vessel Vespertilian

“Raccoons or orphans, whatever is back there, chase them away. Or chase this away. It’s your choice.”

I didn’t want to look at the glinting silver coin that he held up, but I couldn’t help it. This was not the coin I needed today, or ten days from now, or even ten years from now. I was prudent with my coin. No, this was the coin I would need when I was an old woman, assuming I wanted to be the type of old woman who spent her days sitting by a sunlit window, sipping on fruit nectar, listening to a happy dog bark as I read a book of my choosing for as long as I so pleased.

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Amphora Incarnate

There are people in this world worth saving.

Zoe repeated the mantra to herself as she gingerly pulled the sheet away from the skin of her back. Her back was aching, itching, burning, roiling, and writhing.

There are people in this world worth saving, she thought to herself again. There are people in this world worth saving.

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