Fiction: Acceptable Risks

I agreed to meet her in the relative quiet of station night.

A space station never sleeps; the same work goes on all the time. But in a nod to our animal selves, some of the station’s lights dim at a certain hour, and business tends to be done more quietly while not quite half the people sleep.

I knew why she wanted to see me. We had a history. It was almost businesslike; we would make an exchange, and then I wouldn’t see her again until she wanted to make another exchange.

I walked slowly down the twilit corridor toward her apartment. Station personnel like me have quarters; civilians have apartments. It’s a nice distinction. Someday I’d like to have an apartment, but what would I do on Outreach Four if I weren’t in Spacefleet?

At her door, I paused. If I got caught, I’d be cashiered and sent back to Earth. Worse, her part of the exchange…

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Fiction: Released from the Morgue

The seating hostess led Emily and her mother, Amelia, to a booth. In due course, a waiter took their luncheon order and delivered drinks and salads. When he disappeared again, Amelia opened the conversation.

“I am growing weary of that measured look you’ve been giving me since we met outside, Emily. You have something on your mind. May I know what it is?”

“Do you know what the Herald has been doing over the course of the last several years, Mother?”

“That’s a rather oblique answer to my question. No, I don’t believe I do know what the Herald has been doing. Does it have anything to do with your unusual mood?”

“Indeed it does,” Emily said. “The Herald, bless its editor, has been steadily working to put all its past issues – the newspaper’s morgue, as it’s called – online. They’ve gotten at least as far as 1957.”

Amelia swallowed a forkful of arugula dressed with raspberry vinaigrette. “Have they?” A silent moment passed, and Amelia sighed. “Dear, if there is some point to be made here, please make it. I’m too old to play guessing games.”

“Nothing about that year rings a bell?”

“That was the year the Russians launched their Sputnik, as I recall.”

“And you launched something else.”

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