Light from Other Stars by Erika Swyler

Author:Erika Swyler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Aboard Chawla

They’d set up a routine where Marcanta did Nedda’s spinal taps while she was under; now headaches plagued Nedda’s artificial sleep, but the drugs kept her from waking. She dreamed of Easter, of bodies plumping in their graves. Their cells were her own, half-alive, waiting to wake up.

Marcanta said during sleep cycles she dreamed of athletic sex romps in exotic locations with the pop star Jasper Soo. They’d done it in a floating waterfall over the heads of thousands of his screaming fans. “You know, you can dream a week-long orgasm,” Marcanta said.

Nedda couldn’t.

Evgeni said he dreamed of expensive cars and being on whaling ships and that he once dreamed he was his own wife, and when he’d woken up the printer had already spit out psych meds.

The dusky seaside sparrow trilled, and Nedda’s IV self-ejected, sealing the mark it left with skin glue. Her back was sore at the puncture, but her headache had dulled. She lay strapped in, watching fuzzy-edged pixel waves. The lack of gravity was winning. She’d have to tell Marcanta.

She had to fix Amadeus before she couldn’t see it.

Marcanta didn’t take the news about Nedda’s eyes well. She swore and kicked out at the wall, only to propel herself directly into another.

“You bought us a lot of time, Louisa,” Nedda said.

“Patronizing only makes it worse, Papas. We’re fucked.”

“We’re getting close on Amadeus, I promise.”

“Has Singh come up with any options that don’t involve one of us taking a massive dose of radiation?”

Nedda said nothing.

“See? Fucked.”

“But we knew that starting out. None of us planned on dying of old age.” The first stab at colonization was a guaranteed death sentence, but a noble one.

“Agreed.” There was a flatness to Marcanta’s voice that hadn’t been there before. “Here’s hoping I dream up something better, and that Singh doesn’t fry us all.”

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