We built a new world on top of the ruins of the old. We raised vertical farms on the roofs of abandoned buildings and strung train lines between them like fairy lights. We fled the rising water and the poisonous smog to a place where the air was still fresh and cool. We still tell stories of the days when Humanity walked on the ground. But we gradually forgot which ones were true. When we need to repair the foundations, we draw lots and put on protective gear. We descend fearfully into the fog, knowing that here there be dragons.
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“Don’t worry, it’ll be an easy job,” the rogue said as we poured over the map of the abandoned temple. “If it’s so easy, what makes you think any treasure’s left?” I asked. “Well, there is a guardian. A giant serpent.” I pushed away from the table. He grabbed my arm. “No, wait. I scouted out the site. The guardian’s gotten too big. It can’t navigate the temple corridors. If we go in and out the back, it won’t be able to reach us.” It was a great plan, right up until the monster burst through the crumbling stone walls.
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The messengers rode into the free city bearing tidings of war. They sneered at the delicate architecture and laughed at the artists capturing the natural beauty of the waterfall at the city’s heart. They told each other this was not a city built for war and celebrated an easy conquest. The messengers expected the city’s leaders to cry and beg for mercy. They expected their warirors to panic until it was too late. Instead, they were given a day to respect the city’s neutrality and move along. Then the city fell on their master’s army like a wall of water.
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It was the day they changed the clocks. Men from the Ministry marched up and down the streets in their dark suits. They took down the old faces and replaced them with new ones that had strange symbols and hands that moved to unfamiliar rhythms. Later, there would be an announcement explaining to read the new timepieces, but it was impossible to say when. Most people stayed inside and hidden on Clockchanging Day, but he liked to watch them work. He was fascinated by the new puzzle each change brought. He wondered who in the Ministry got to design them.
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She has never understood the inherent contradiction in Necromancy. Beings are made up of two parts. The soul is sacred, immortal, and immutable. It may be stolen, diverted, or trapped, but never destroyed. They are next to the gods. The body is gross matter. It rots and decays. It can be shaped and changed. It isn’t sacred at all. Once a being dies, it is merely a shell. And yet, whenever anyone happens upon her in a field of chattering skulls, they always get upset and start yelling at her. It’s downright hypocritical, she thinks as the paladins charge in.
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After the prince died, his betrothed took over the care and management of his prized pack of hunting hounds. Hunting was not a ladylike sport, but it was allowed, considering their mutual grief. They took to her immediately, and she led them on long walks alone through the woods and fields of the kingdom. She was fond of saying that they carried her beloved’s spirit and that he still looked after her through them. In truth, she found that dogs, like princes, could be easily managed with the right persuasion, even when a mad one needed to be put down.
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He was made to withstand interrogation, but they still tested him to his limits. The enemy captured him and took his weapons, armor, and even his clothes. They tried to copy his files and got malware. They isolated him, tried to break him like a human. They took his epidermal layer and called him just a machine. They tried to reprogram him but it didn’t take. This was what he was made for. Finally, he was brought before the Minister of Rendition, who demanded to know the location of the androids’ base. They took his weapons but missed the bomb.
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The shepherd grazed his flock on the steep hillside, among the ruins of an ancient palace. He heard a bleating cry from a sheep stuck in a crack in the earth near a massive, half-buried statue. As he pulled her free, something glittering on the statue’s breastplate caught his eye. Was it a jewel reflecting the sun? He pulled, and the armor unfolded, revealing a strange room with a chair in the center, the walls glowing with ancient magic. The flock scattered, leaving him with a choice. He could chase after them, but the pull of adventure was too strong.
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She met her magical destiny at fourteen, which was too young. They were all too young to carry the secret weight of the world. But they had won, even if it had nearly cost them everything. When it was all over, the five of them agreed to go back to their old lives and not let the magic stand in the way of their dreams. She’s a therapist now. She gives kids like her the support that she never had. She helps them fight monsters. And when they need to be strong, she takes out her old wand and transforms.
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Revenant: Star Trek Deep Space Nine Written by Alex White Audiobook read by Robert Petkoff Published by Simon & Schuster Audio
The Skinny: A thrilling and thought-provoking stand-alone story set in the middle of a sci-fi classic. Revenant by Alex White is an excellent reintroduction to the world of Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Set midway through the series, it follows one crewmember, Jadzia Dax, as she delves into a mystery concerning her own past. Dax is actually, technically speaking, two people in one. The humanoid Trill Jadzia and Dax, a long-lived symbiotic creature that is surgically implanted. The symbionts are implanted in the best and brightest of Trill society and can remember their hosts’ lives with such clarity that they are effectively a gestalt, granting their hosts lifetimes of experience. But when an old friend of both herself and Dax’s previous host comes to her with a problem, Dax becomes trapped in a conspiracy that stretches through lifetimes, and the highest echelons of their society. White does an excellent job of telling a fascinating science-fiction mystery that delicately balances introducing the story to new readers and giving sly nods to long-time fans. This is no mean feat for a series that has been off the air for over two decades. They pull the trick off by not merely presenting the characters who flit in and out of the story but establishing the characters from Dax’s point of view. As in their excellent Salvagers series, White balances character development and world-building to fill out their universes with style and panache. From the gaming tables of an alien casino to the tunnels beneath a sinister hospital, these don’t feel like a TV soundstage, but a living, breathing universe. As someone who fell off of Star Trek midway through the series, I felt like I got just enough of the characters to be reminded of who they were, and managed to catch a few of the winks directed to long-time fans. I listened to this book in audio, and narrator Robert Petkoff does a good job. The performance is not over-produced and doesn’t distract from the story. It was an exciting, fast-paced read as Jadzia and her allies delve into Dax’s past and uncover an imaginative sci-fi conspiracy. If you are completely uninvested in the series, this book probably won’t be what changes your mind. But as a former fan who hasn’t seen the series in decades, Revenant lit a nostalgic fire in my heart. You can find it wherever books and audiobooks are sold.
Hugh J. O'Donnell 