Factor Four Magazine: Issue 1 by Richard Flores IV

Author:Richard Flores IV
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy, speculative fiction, supernatural, science fiction, flash fiction, super hero, factor four magazine

From Now Until Infinity

By Karen Bovenmyer

Everything on this world reminded her of him, though they’d never been here together. The air tasted like overripe oranges. Purple boulders leaned into each other, tied together with silver webs, crouching in pairs across the horizon as though waiting for some hidden signal to jump. Fine sand scraped under her boots with a soft squeal as she shuffled between the towering stones, the higher gravity of this world pressing her down into squeaking grit. The air was heavier than home. The pressure like the crushing weight of the dissolution of marriage file waiting on her transponder, requiring her thumbprint to end seventeen years of sharing everything. The soft weight of the citrus atmosphere reminded her also of his body on top of hers, the mandarin scent of his shampoo. Like most thoughts of him, the memory brought both pain and fondness, an infinite tangled overload that had sent her jumping across a dozen worlds. This world was no good—he was in every breath of its air. She logged the basic data into her transponder, designated it FN99, and added the planet to her discovery account without opening the bright red flashing reminder demanding her attention. COMPLIANCE REQUESTED. The Authority would not wait forever. Every citizen, from people coordinating the jumper database to those cataloguing infinity like herself, were required to complete all legal paperwork in a timely manner. For jumpers in particular, it was difficult to keep track of the passage of days, so the Authority kept track. They would not, however, sign the DOM for her. She would have to do that. Eventually. She closed her eyes and sent her transponder shuffling to a new infinity, then turned, looking over her shoulder and into the next world.

This world was also too dry, but light. She weighed far less than usual here, her steps gigantic leaps carrying her across powder-white sand. Smoke trails furled from her boots as she passed, making her sneeze, even though her augmented lungs didn’t technically need to draw breath. She liked breathing. She even liked breathing atmosphere her bionics couldn’t pull anything from, such as this one, which was too heavy in nitrates to sustain her. Like her marriage to him, there simply wasn’t enough to nourish. She stopped leaping and settled into the dunes, the sand floating around her, dusting her hair and skin. Sorrow radiated from her sternum. This world was no good either. She collected the data. The flashing red message now read YOU ARE IN VIOLATION OF CODE. COMPLY OR YOUR JUMPER WILL BE DISABLED. Instead, she spun up her transponder and looked over her shoulder, turning somewhere else.

The next world was close, wet, and hot. A green riot of plant life choked the landscape in every direction. There was no horizon, only huge trees. The gravity felt like the world she’d been born on, the same planet he was from. They were so like each other, same age, same homeworld, same assignment jumping to new worlds for the Authority.

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