Hive Minds

By John Walters

In the near future, a couple seeks to evade societal confusion by joining a commune based upon sharing and solidarity. However, the once free-thinking members become oppressed by authoritarian leadership and investigating governmental agencies. As the escalating situation becomes increasingly restrictive and intolerable, the couple plans an escape.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Astaria Books
• Release date: Apr 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393993568

John Walters

John Walters recently returned to the United States after thirty-five years abroad. He lives in Seattle, Washington. He attended the 1973 Clarion West science fiction writing workshop and is a member of Science Fiction Writers of America. He writes mainstream fiction, science fiction and fantasy, and memoirs of his wanderings around the world.

Book preview

Hive Minds

You find the kitten in a basket in a corner of the kitchen behind the cabinet that manufactures biodegradable plates and utensils out of recycled trash. A tiny unobtrusive ball of burnt orange and white, she lies without moving on the baby blanket you had given her, motionless, oblivious to your approach.

You had all but forgotten about her. For a long time you played with her every waking hour, and she even took position at the foot of your bed while you slept. She assuaged your loneliness, but then you started school, and made friends, and...

She's limp as a rag doll when you pick her up. On a whim you feel around between her neck and shoulder for the tiny switch and press down.

Abruptly, instead of a dead doll you have a squirming, writhing pet in your hands.

Hello, Fluffy, you say, and set her back in the basket.

She stares at you for a moment with those large dark corneas surrounded by uncanny sea-green irises, and then she bolts. Giggling, you chase her through the dining area, the sitting room, and up the stairs. You know that you can utter a failsafe word that freezes her and turns her off, but you're enjoying this session of hide-and-seek. You used to do this for hours sometimes, before you got older and found other interests.

Fluffy darts into your mother's room. To respect her privacy you usually don't go in there without permission, but you have to retrieve your kitten, don't you?

She's not anywhere in sight, and the closet is shut.

You kneel and look beneath the bed.

There she is: huddled up against the wall and one of the headboard legs. You call her but she doesn't come. You lie down and squirm under. You're no more than an inch from her when she scurries away.

In frustration, you audibly