Author Archives: dan

“ Just look at the men who come back from their orbital mines, and the ones who don’t. The women who work in their factories. Look at the human children waving their arms and hooting like monsters. If we do … Continue reading →

“And through all of this, he is talking.” The Professor clarifies for his unseen listeners in his basement hideaway. “ His letters to his family he wrote last night. His prayer and meditation are over. But in the time leading … Continue reading →

“The day of the demonstration,” the Professor says, then pauses a moment to cough into his fist, “the day of the demonstration, is the first time he sees the explosives. The first time he puts them on is, at most, … Continue reading →

“And that is how we get power.” Smoke curls around the Professor’s thick fingers as he removes the cigarette from his mouth. “So. We take him away 48 hours before.” His agent, Uncle Fred, came for him at dawn. “It’s … Continue reading →

It is an hour later, and the shadow of the Boston Tripod stretches long and black over the city. Sitting in that shadow, on a chunk of rubble left over from the bombed-out State House on Capitol Hill, Christopher looks … Continue reading →

“You look lost, son.” The woman behind the piles of cookies, brownies, and cakes is in her fifties and as wrinkled as a smiling apple. She holds out a brownie wrapped in a piece of oil-paper and Christopher takes it. … Continue reading →

Martyrs   “To make a statement, we need explosives, a detonator, and someone who is willing to blow himself to smithereens.” The Professor’s smile winks in the tobacco-shrouded gloom of a cellar somewhere in Boston. “Obviously the last resource is … Continue reading →

“I hate to say it,” admitted Emanuel to me, some time later, “but I’m surprised the priest’s prayers were answered. Strong Force was in the middle of arguing the non-existence of God when he was struck down, after all.” “God … Continue reading →

“Drugs!” said Emanuel, staring out past the spinning wheel at the outback, “In this day and age. Who knows what’s the pharmacists put in those concoctions!” “You don’t have to do this.” I looked at Strong Force through the mirror. … Continue reading →

By the time Emanuel’s and my amulets had driven the swarm off, Strong Force was already pale and sweating. “Damn,” said Emanuel again, “we’ll have to have someone drive you into town to see a priest. Why the hell didn’t … Continue reading →