Sunset Lavaflies: 3 Tales of Speculative Fiction

By Scott Niven

Aboard a spaceship, a crew made up of children heads back to Earth to deliver a message from God. In the Sonoran Desert, a mother protects her daughter from a horrifying event. And on a drought-ravaged farm, a farmer seeks help from a supernatural source. Sunset Lavaflies collects these three tales of speculative fiction into one short story collection that will have you wondering "What If?" all night long.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scott Niven
• Release date: May 10, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458043870

Scott Niven

Scott Niven was born in 1969, but he still hasn't grown up. He loves being a parent though, so he pretends to be a grownup when he's with his son.Scott's been writing in one form or another for over 25 years. His short stories have appeared in various publications, including the literary journal Pembroke Magazine. He was also a finalist in the prestigious L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest.When Scott's not writing or spending time with his son, he enjoys snapping forgettable photos, running through his neighborhood, and hopping on airplanes. He's visited 40 states, 16 national parks, and sadly, only 3 foreign countries.When Scott grows up, he hopes to become an astronaut. If that doesn't work out, his fallback dream is to make a living writing.

Book preview

Sunset Lavaflies

3 Tales of Speculative Fiction

By Scott Niven

Copyright 2011 Scott Niven

Smashwords Edition

Cover art by Amy Jo Martin

Dedication

For my Dad

Table of Contents

Title Page

Dedication

1) Displaced Miracle

2) Every So Often in Ducere, Nevada

3) The Fish Farmers

About the Author

Displaced Miracle

General Masco didn't have an old face, Kellie Flint decided. But the man still managed to look aged beyond his years. As the conference room lights dimmed, she imagined his life had been spent not in the wars for which he had trained and lusted in the twentieth century, but as a bearer of bad news in the twenty-first.

All right, everyone, Masco said. "This meeting is being recorded for the higher-ups, so that means you guys get a refresher course in history.

Here's the situation. At 1307 Greenwich Mean Time, the radio techs received the latest audio-only transmission from the Gen IV. The Gen IV, as all of you know, was the first of our Generation line of starshuttles to be funded by a civilian, a Mr. Gregory Stead the Fifth. In return for Mr. Stead's complete financial support, however, we were forced to grant him a certain amount of authority over the flight. Unfortunately, like most billionaires, Mr. Stead exercises authority in a somewhat eccentric manner. Instead of asking us to do something harmless like rename the shuttle after him, he demanded that the infant crew of the Gen IV be isolated from all forms of religion. That meant no baptisms, no Bibles, no church vids, no crosses, nothing at all to do with God. Though Mr. Stead's a secretive man and opted not to explain his reasons for the restriction, most scholars and scientists speculate that he considers the Gen IV his personal Petri dish. He wants to see what happens to a group of children who grow up in the total absence of religion. A group of children who have nothing but cold hard science to base their lives upon.

Kellie watched Masco gulp some water. She wondered where this was going. They all knew the history, and certainly the higher-ups were familiar with it, so why go into so much detail?

Something's gone wrong, she realized. Something's gone wrong with the mission, and Masco’s covering his butt by documenting every fact he knows.

Masco put down his water and continued. "The extra prep work that Mr. Stead's request required took over three years, and involved thousands of hours of manpower. In addition to the shuttle's enormous design crew, lexicographers were hired to remove all religious terminology from the online dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other information resources the children would access during their journey. For common words that couldn't be deleted without creating unusual situations in literature, such as 'heaven' and 'hell,' new etymologies and definitions were invented. Redundant checks were conducted by a second, third, and fourth team of lexicographers to ensure all offending words were altered or omitted.

When the Gen IV finally left Earth orbit, its crew consisted of twelve newborns and one hibernating adult. That was eleven years ago to us, but due to space-time considerations that only the technogeeks understand, a mere seven years have passed aboard the shuttle. That means the AI computers have had seven years to nurse the newborns into children. And that's where we are now. Or rather, that's where we thought we were. Then we got this message. Colonel Goodson, play the audio.

Hello, a scratchy girl's voice said over the conference room speakers. "My name is Dawn, and I am the Daughter of God. My disciples and I are one-third of the way to the glorious planet Unity, and are currently undergoing our required maintenance cycle while in orbit around planet H-14R. We've decided,