Tatiana shrugged. “I guess.”
“I have a request.”
“Yeah?”
“I’d like to watch you sleep.”
She smiled. “You sound like my ex.”
“My request stands.”
“Whatever floats your boat, Mags. In three, two, one...” Tatiana triggered her voluntary sleep mode, setting her neural net to wake her in three REM cycles. She closed her eyes and floated in vague colors and sounds. Faces appeared, people she knew on Europa, mostly. Some characters from movies. For a time, she ran on a grassy path on feet of flesh under real live trees with the sun shining down on her naked skin, but the fantasy shifted to more realistic places and sensations. The ice fisheries and floating greenhouses on Europa and Ganymede, the hot and cold chambers of her father’s old sunjammer, the sounds of heavy machinery. Her mother’s voice, maybe. A dog barking, its white eyes glowing in the dark, its metal teeth shining in the light.
She woke up and eased back to full alertness. The sounds and images faded and she stretched her shoulders before pushing off to return to and reattach her legs. “How was that?”
“Sublime.” True wonder hummed in the planet’s voices. “I’d like to do that myself.”
“Sleep? Or dream?”
“Dream.”
“Can you? I mean, is that possible?”
“I’ve tried before, but with this new data I believe I will be more successful. I’m writing an algorithm now to duplicate the experience, a quasi-random assortment of short-term memories, long-term memories, narrative fragments, and invented images and sounds, supported by a simple problem-solving subroutine that will tie these visions loosely to my waking life.”
“Well, sweet dreams, talking planet.” Tatiana tapped at the console, which remained wearyingly dark. “Mags? How come I can’t talk to Radu? Is my capsule dead?”
“No. DSS Radu is unharmed. I just wanted your undivided attention. I know how you humans can be when you have a screen in front of you.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t know what else to do now besides eat and sleep. This tin can isn’t exactly a stimulating environment.” She picked at her left ear.
“Question. Can you tickle yourself?”
“Sorry. Not ticklish. Plus, I don’t think a person can tickle herself.”
“Ah. Do you have any narcotics with you?”
Tatiana smiled. “You want to watch me get high?”
“Yes.”
“Well, sorry to disappoint you, but no.”
“I could manufacture something—” the planet started to say.
“No, no thanks. I don’t want my Solapedia entry to end with a mention of how I turned an alien supercomputer into a heroin dealer.” She thought for a moment, and then smiled. “Hey Mags, survey this.” She reached down and placed the data plug of her index finger against a small port on her hip and closed her eyes.
In an instant, the heat rose in her blood and the endorphins started to flow. She pressed her finger harder against the port and her mouth half-opened and her breathing quickened. The endorphins swelled on a wave of dopamine, her skin flushed and her pulse raced. And precisely sixty seconds after it all began, every hedonic hotspot in her brain fired simultaneously for exactly fifteen seconds of indescribable biochemical ecstasy.
And then it was over.
Bit by bit, Tatiana let her body resume its standard operations. Her pulse slowed, her skin cooled, and her brain chemistry rebalanced itself, with more than a little help from the network of implants along her spine. Ghost sensations floated through her body, including warm tingles where her toes used to be, but they too faded as the seconds passed.
“How was that?” she asked contentedly.
“Fascinating.”
“I’m glad you liked it, Mister Spock.”
“I actually identify more with Doctor McCoy.” The planet paused. “I admit, I was hoping that you would do that. I thought it would take another day or two before you would be willing to let me observe you climax.”
Tatiana smiled. “I hear they’re a little weird about sex down on Earth, but out here? Or at least on Europa? It’s a pretty standard way to kill time. I can do a one-hour version, too.”
“Intriguing. Perhaps I could design a one-year variant.”
“Wow. A whole year, huh? You want to give that a try, I take it?”
“I do not have the necessary neurological components. Not yet,” the planet said. “I am manufacturing prototypes as we speak.”
“Really? Neat.” Tatiana looked around the dark cockpit. “Well, I don’t know what other organic stuff I can show you. Maybe I can pee in a tube, or—”
“Please stand by,” the voices boomed.
Radu’s consoles flared to life, flashing data logs and star charts, along with the last fourteen web tabs that she’d left open on the flight to Ganymede. Most of them were ads.
“No further surveys are required at this time,” Stellara Magna said.
“No more? But I thought we just got started. Did I do something wrong?” Tatiana frowned and the capsule spun violently, hiding the quark star, the mechanical world, and the blue-red nebula from view. “Whoa, wait, what’s going on?”
“Thank you for your assistance,” the planet said tersely. “Your services are no longer required. This encounter was most productive. You may now proceed to your point of origin.”
“But what about—”
The windows all went white, blinding white, washing out her view of the consoles and projections, and for a long time it seemed that the entire universe had gone supernova and left her alone in a metal box to stare into the haze of oblivion. The light faded eventually, and she blinked out at the familiar view of the ice fields of Ganymede below her.
Static hissed on the radio and the voice of an unfamiliar traffic controller broke in. “...Dalca? Hailing Runner Dalca. Runner Dalca, do you copy? Tatiana, can you hear me?”
She floated from window to window, pressing her face to the glass, peering in every direction, but all traces of the living planet had vanished.
“Ganymede Control to DSS Radu, please reply,” the radio said.
Tatiana pulled herself back down into her seat and slipped her finger into the data port. “This is Runner Dalca. I read you, Ganymede.”
“Finally! What’s your status, Radu?”
She stared at her console. Every single memory sector in the capsule and in her personal drive was full, and a quick glance at the new files showed her endless zetabytes of medical and prosthetic information. Procedures. Implants. Genetic modifications. Everything that Stellara Magna had promised. Immortality for her House. And for her. “Nominal. I’m fine. Everything’s fine.”
“We lost you on our screen for a while,” the controller said. “What happened up there?”
Tatiana gazed up at the stars and for a moment she thought she saw a tiny flare of light deep in the middle of nowhere, a dazzling flicker of wavering blue and red hues in one brief flash, and then it was gone. “Oh, nothing much,” she said quietly. “Took a nap, ate a snack, got off. Just the usual. Mostly. I’ll fill you in when we have a secure channel.”
“Doesn’t sound too interesting.”
She smiled at the new data on her screens. “We have an eternity to debate that.”
A Word from Joseph Robert Lewis
How did you come up with the idea for your story?
I love all flavors of science fiction, from epic space empires to dystopian cyberpunk and beyond, but my favorite sci-fi moments tend to be small character moments that are very human, and especially, very weird. For the story Rendezvous, I wanted to explore a ‘first contact’ situation between a human and a totally bizarre alien intelligence, but in a way that flirted with some of the real strangeness that such an encounter could entail, like a first date. Obviously there are a million ways to play with that scenario, but I thought this particular story was as funny as it was profoundly human. (And by human, I mean awkward.
)
Has SF always been your favorite?
Absolutely. I’ve always been drawn to books and movies that were all about escapism, imagination, and big ideas. As a child of the 80s, my favorite shows and movies were Star Wars, Star Trek, Back to the Future, and Transformers, and since then the list has only grown in the same vein. As an adult, I still enjoy amazing visuals like BladeRunner 2049 and the new Star Wars, but I also have a much deeper appreciation for the writings of authors like Charles Stross and Nnedi Okorafor who dive into concepts of technology or culture with so much passion and attention to detail for the human elements.
What’s next for you?
I’m currently working on the next book in my Elf Saga series, which began as a classic epic fantasy with monstrous dragons and warrior princesses, and has been steadily evolving with each installment through different genres, from weird westerns to dystopian scifi, and ultimately, space opera. The Elf Saga series will absolutely end with a crew of elves traveling the stars in a gothic flying castle, with cyborg dragons and holographic faeries, because why not?
How can readers learn more about you and your books?
My website is https://josephrobertlewis.com and you can follow my posts on Facebook, which is mostly about books, but feel free to chat me up about lasagna, cats, D&D, or your favorite scifi spaceship.
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BEST OF BEYOND THE STARS
UPCOMING
BEYOND THE STARS: Unimagined Realms
Call for Submissions for
Beyond the Stars: Unimagined Realms
Accepting submissions for new, previously unpublished short stories for the August, 2018 release of the sixth volume in the acclaimed “Beyond the Stars” space opera anthology series. We define the term space opera broadly. Any story that doesn’t take place exclusively on Earth qualifies.
Title: BEYOND THE STARS: Unimagined Realms
Length: 4,000 - 8,000 words
Pay per original story: Flat fee $200, payable upon publication.
Submissions due: May 31, 2018
Notification of Acceptance: June 15, 2018
Projected publication date: August 24, 2018
Patrice Fitzgerald, Producer and Series Editor, will choose the stories in her sole discretion. Please send submissions to Patrice Fitzgerald at this dedicated address: [email protected]
Once selected, authors agree also to supply short descriptions of their story, representative photographs of their faces, and a brief “Word from the Author.”
Authors accepted will be expected to help by promoting the series to the best of their abilities on social media and via personal newsletters.
For reference, see BEYOND THE STARS: New Worlds, New Suns.
Preface your story with the title, your name, your email address, and the word length. All of this makes your story easier to read and edit, and then quickly format for publication. Points for you if you comply with this and make the story evaluators happy.
Please prepare your submitted stories in Word (.doc or .docx are both fine), Times New Roman, Font size 12. Single spacing, with only one space after a period. When you have a scene change, indicate it via a line with three asterisks, centered, with a space in between.
Please also, when submitting, supply any pertinent facts, such as: You’re a New York Times Bestselling author (which would be awesome, but don’t be discouraged if you’re not), you have a big social media presence, a large list of newsletter subscribers, or you have a ticket to go with Elon Musk to Mars in 2019.
Acknowledgments
First... I want to thank all the authors in this anthology, whose stories continue to delight and impress me even after multiple readings.
We have an amazing team here at the Beyond the Stars series, starting with Julie Dillon, whose numerous awards now include three Hugos for Best Professional Artist. Julie creates glorious original art for us. This is her fifth cover for the series, and her work never fails to knock me out.
Kendall Roderick designs the covers. She is fabulous to work with, and she has a secret superpower... she can dance!
Therin Knite formats the digital and print editions of the Beyond the Stars series. Therin’s patience and attention to detail are deeply appreciated.
Ellen Campbell is the long-term editor of this series, and we couldn’t do it without her.
As always, thanks go to Samuel Peralta, whose own numerous anthologies inspired the Beyond the Stars series.
Thanks to the readers! Especially those of you who took the time to read early copies and help us make this volume as close to perfect as possible.
Finally, all my love to Richard, my alpha beta.
Patrice Fitzgerald
Series Editor, Beyond the Stars
Ellen Campbell
Editor
Ellen Campbell is a lifelong bibliophile whose love for the written word crosses all genres. A standout editor in the independent scene since 2013, Ellen’s credits include over two hundred titles, a feat that landed her (briefly) in Amazon’s Top 10 sci-fi authors. She edited six volumes of the international best-selling Future Chronicles as well as four volumes of Beyond the Stars, and was Editor-in-Charge of the Apocalypse Weird Metaverse.
She currently resides in Rocket City, USA, with her long-suffering husband and her Basenji suzerain.
ellencampbelledits.com
Copyright
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No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the proper written permission of the appropriate copyright holder listed below, unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal and international copyright law. Permission must be obtained from the individual copyright owners as identified herein.
The contents of this book are fiction. Any resemblance to any actual person, place, or event is purely coincidental. Any opinions expressed by the authors are their own and do not reflect those of the editor or publisher.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
BEST OF BEYOND THE STARS, copyright © 2018 Patrice Fitzgerald and eFitzgerald Publishing, LLC.
“The Epsilon Directive” by David Bruns, copyright © 2016 David Bruns. First published in Beyond the Stars: At Galaxy’s Edge. Used by permission of the author.
“Hanging with Humans” by Patrice Fitzgerald, copyright © 2015 Patrice Fitzgerald. First published in The A.I. Chronicles. Used by permission of the author.
“The Good Food” by Michael Ezell, copyright © 2016 Michael Ezell. First published in Beyond the Stars: At Galaxy’s Edge. Used by permission of the author.
“Venatoris” by G. S. Jennsen, copyright © 2016 G. S. Jennsen. First published in Beyond the Stars: A Planet Too Far. Used by permission of the author.
“Hope 91” by Nick Webb, copyright © 2016 Nick Webb. First published in Beyond the Stars: A Planet Too Far. Used by permission of the author.
“Sequester” by Ann Christy, copyright © 2017 Ann Christy. First published in Beyond the Stars: New Worlds, New Suns. Used by permission of the author.
“Escape from Push Station 16” by S.M. Blooding, copyright © 2018 S.M. Blooding. Used by permission of the author.
“War Stories” by Samuel Peralta, copyright © 2016 Samuel Peralta. First publi
shed in Beyond the Stars: A Planet Too Far. Used by permission of the author.
“Just An Old-Fashioned Lust Story” by Christopher J. Valin, copyright © 2016 Christopher J. Valin. First published in Beyond the Stars: At Galaxy’s Edge. Used by permission of the author.
“A Pool of Uncountable Eddies” by Jeff Seymour, copyright © 2018 Jeff Seymour. Used by permission of the author.
“Tabitha’s Vacation” by Michael T. Anderle, copyright © 2016 Michael Anderle. First published in Beyond the Stars: At Galaxy’s Edge. Used by permission of the author.
“Carindi” by Jennifer Foehner Wells, copyright © 2015 Jennifer Foehner Wells. First published in Dark Beyond the Stars. Used by permission of the author.
“The Immortals: Anchorage” by David Adams, copyright © 2016 David Adams. First published in Beyond the Stars: A Planet Too Far. Used by permission of the author.
“Containment” by Susan Kaye Quinn, copyright © 2015 Susan Kaye Quinn. First published in Dark Beyond the Stars. Used by permission of the author.
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