The Wingspan of Severed Hands by Joanna Koch

Author:Joanna Koch [Koch, Joanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781951658076

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In chrysalis phase, the weapon wore dormancy’s mask. Nine feet long, warmed by artificial light, fattened on an omnivorous diet of synthetic and organic substances, the bulbous grub pupated in the sanctum of the underground laboratory bunker. Sensitive equipment detected aspiration from the biofabrication’s porous spiracles. It monitored neuroelectrical pulses from cortical and glial cells that networked through muscular and connective tissues. The body was wired with thinking and processing motors, like a brain. The body was designed to dream.

The weapon mimicked death. An external self-hypnotic immobility reflex concealed intense activity within the hardened coating. Enzymes self-digested and rearranged the larval body. Proteins fed on their remains. Memories embedded in the pupating tissues unraveled and recombined to form new organs with extra-sensory and trans-sensory perception. Cell formations articulated a network of duplicates: eyes that saw inside many minds and those that peered across galaxies; muscles primed to fight history’s current battle, while other arcane ligaments stretched with invincible tenacity far enough to defy time. Senses unknown to earthly bodies, impossible to enumerate, recorded in the roots of thought, the multilingual voices of a planet’s motion, the rhythm of endless expressions from which life was born.

Maturation opened a positive void.

The book of Adira opened. The aging spine split. New wings parted like the pages of an ancient map, and as a pelvis fractured in childbirth, the symmetrical infection of order strung her tendrils through the invisible universe. The universe willingly expanded to accommodate. The weapon enjoyed the elastic sensation of exploring the boundaries of being and nothingness, the pleasures of playing with dimensions, identities, and time.

All this excitement got her into the mood to hatch.

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