HarperVoyager
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
Copyright © Little Lost Stories, LLC 2018
Cover design by Mike Topping © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
Cover images © Shutterstock.com
Marina J. Lostetter asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008223403
Ebook Edition © July 2018 ISBN: 9780008223427
Version: 2018-07-14
For all those brave enough to live as themselves, and for everyone who can’t.
Be safe, be well, one day you’ll tell the world your story.
And for Alex: my comfort, my cohort,
my constant in a world of change.
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue: What Has Come Before
1. Vanhi: There and Back Again
2. Caznal: In Search of the Lesser Redoubt
3. Stone: Whatever Souls Are Made Of
4. Jamal: The Spirits Three Shall Strive Within
5. Orlando and Ming-Na: Here There Be Dragons
6. Anatoly: The Post-Modern Narcissus
7. Justice and Carmen: Sasquatch, Cinderella, and the Enigmatic Kali
8. Michael: We’re All Mad Here
9. Steve: Into the Suffering City
10. Joanna: All That Maddens and Torments
11. Vanhi: The Universe Is No Wilderness
Epilogue: Old Age Is Always Wakeful
About the Author
Also by Marina J. Lostetter
The Planet United Consortium was formed in order to pursue Earth-wide interests in deep space. Each Planet United Mission is designed to further humanity’s joint scientific understanding, its reach beyond the home planet, and to insure the longevity of planet-wide cooperation …
“So, Doctor Straifer, what do you think it is? The reason for LQ Pyx’s strobing?” asked the interviewer. He straightened his tie and slid the microphone’s base forward across the table.
Reggie squirmed a little in his chair. He always felt awkward in front of a camera (he’d confessed that to C before sitting down), and it showed. The room they’d chosen for the interview was gray and dull, with a small flickering fluorescent light overhead. He sat behind a plain folding table in a plain folding chair. “I don’t know,” he said with a laugh and a shrug. “No, really. I know I keep saying that and people think it’s a nonanswer. Or worse, a lazy answer—”
Reggie Straifer is not lazy, C thought definitively. The PA lay screen up on the table, next to the microphone, recording everything just as the nonsentient system did.
“But,” Reggie continued, “I think it’s the most honest answer I can give. I don’t have any idea what’s causing LQ Pyx’s designation as a variable. All I’m sure of is that it’s an extrinsic variable. Other than that, I don’t think it’s my