Saving Anne and Other Stories

By Michel Clasquin-Johnson

A collection of five somewhat funny, somewhat dark, occasionally raucous and, I hope, always thought-provoking science fiction stories.

In typical SF style, there's always a "what if" lurking behind the story itself. What if you were marooned in the distant past? What if humans were not the first intelligent beings on this planet to ponder the mysteries of life and death? What if your life was a lie invented by a writer in another universe? What if your entire civilization depended on the horrible death of a teenage girl? What if there was a race of semi-immortal, sexually irresistible men living among us, and living off us?

Warning to the easily offended: The last story in this collection contains some "strong" language and oblique references to various sexual acts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michel Clasquin-Johnson
• Release date: Oct 8, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301886128

Michel Clasquin-Johnson

Michel Clasquin-Johnson is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Africa and was, until recently, the entire Buddhological establishment on the continent of Africa. He lives in Pretoria, South Africa with his wife, son and two motorcycles. Michel likes to think that he practices Buddhism (in his own way) as well as writing about it. The entire Buddhist world disagrees, but is too polite to say so. In his spare time, he writes what can loosely be called science fiction. Not a lot of science involved, and a fine disregard for the rules of fiction. He also writes application software, but only for utterly obscure and/or obsolete operating systems that are never going to lead to a payday. Let's hope he hangs on to his day job.

Book preview

Saving Anne and Other Stories

Published by Michel Clasquin-Johnson at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Michel Clasquin-Johnson

1st Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Background to cover image courtesy of NASA.

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Table of Contents

Castaway

The Dread-Eyed Immense Trilobite Yogi

Flash, in the Can

Saving Anne

Parasite

About the Author

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Castaway

Thin-leg woman:

He is a terrible hunter.

He does go out with the other men from time to time, but he can't really keep up with them and by the time he arrives at the kill puffing and panting, the animal is already dead. But the hunters are kind. They let him poke his spear into the cadaver which means that we are entitled to a share of the meat. Not a lot of it, of course. He was the last, after all.

Still, we do not go hungry. After he arrived, he started cutting a branch and tying it up with lengths of sinew and leather strips. What he made looked a little like a spring trap for small animals, except that he carried it around. He called it a bo and when we asked what it was for, he just smiled. He didn't speak well enough to explain yet. Then he took small reeds from the river. He sharpened them at one end and glued feathers on the other.

At this stage, the entire clan was starting to wonder if we had done the right thing taking in this funny-looking stranger. He solved the problem by walking into the bush. Alone.

Nobody goes into the bush alone. The men go out hunting in a group. The women fetch water and look for roots and berries together, preferably with a few of the older boys carrying spears to keep away the lions and hyenas. But Bop just walked away into the bush by himself that morning carrying his strange things, his bo and his arros. We did not expect to see him again.

But later that day, he did come back, carrying a small gazelle and three fat guinea fowl. Since he killed them all by himself, we did not have to share them with anyone. He shared them anyway. It was much appreciated and from then on he was accepted. Not as a clan member, of course, but not quite as a stranger either.

Bob:

It was supposed to be a simple inspection trip. An experimental time-dilation engine based on some untested ideas in far-left physics is a risky proposition however you look at it. Which is why you set it up as far from civilization as you can. In this case, deep in the Sahara desert. The Mauretanian government could use the money, the TempusFugit Corporation would get the data it wanted, and we would be in and out before the lunatic fringe could get a decent rent-a-crowd together to protest against the experiment.

I wasn't even on the experimental team. I was the Health & Safety Inspection Officer, which makes it doubly ironic, I suppose, that I ended up here. We were not trying to send anything back. We were not even trying to retrieve anything. It was purely a