Metaphorosis July 2019

By Fabio Lastrucci and Metaphorosis Magazine

Beautifully written speculative fiction from Metaphorosis magazine.

All the stories from the month, plus author biographies, interviews, and story origins.

Table of Contents

• One Day in Space Too Many — Michael Sherrin
• A Layer Thin As Breath — Thea Boodhoo

• Language: English
• Publisher: Metaphorosis Magazine
• Release date: Jul 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781640761438

Book preview

Metaphorosis

July 2019

edited by

B. Morris Allen

ISSN: 2573-136X (online)

ISBN: 978-1-64076-108-143-8 (e-book)

ISBN: 978-1-64076-109-144-5 (paperback)

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Table of Contents

Metaphorosis

July 2019

One Day in Space Too Many

A Layer Thin As Breath

Communication Breakdown

The Offshore

Copyright

Metaphorosis magazine

Metaphorosis Publishing

July 2019

One Day in Space Too Many — Michael Sherrin

A Layer Thin As Breath — Thea Boodhoo

Communication Breakdown — Andrew Knighton

The Offshore — Josh Taylor

One Day in Space Too Many

Michael Sherrin

Day 1: Gerry woke to his chiming alarm clock, unaware his spaceship, the Rotor, had just exploded. He shuffled into the kitchen and expected his usual routine: frying eggs, watering his bonsai, and being the only person for light-years.

But there he was, already holding the frying pan.

Gerry rubbed his eyes, wondering if he had actually woken up. You’re… he said.

Me? said his mirror image, staring back with the same bewilderment. They pointed at each other, silent, mouths open. The other dropped the pan and shook his fingers.

Gerry stumbled backward. He wondered just how vivid a dream could be.

Loneliness had been his way of life, but that might be reaching its limits. It had been three months since he’d been in a room with another person, though he wasn’t sure if seeing himself counted. It seemed best to identify the cause of this hallucination before taking drastic action.

Then, he noticed a plant on the counter and spun back to his cabin. His own bonsai, Rita, was still on his nightstand. Feeling his chest tighten, he sat on the bed, wondering if his copy remained outside. He touched the soil, but didn’t feel what he expected.

Rita needs some water, Gerry said, carrying the bonsai to the kitchen.

The copy took a cup from the shelf and slotted it under the sink without taking his eyes off the little tree. He passed the filled cup across the counter.

Gerry poured the water over the soil as he had the day before. You should check yours.

The other Gerry checked his bonsai’s soil, then filled another cup without speaking.

Gerry worried his hallucination theory was breaking down. Watching himself was unnerving yet familiar. He backed up to the computer terminal and tapped the screen to confirm his suspicion. Shit.

What? the other Gerry asked.

The log is exactly the same as yesterday, he said, partly to himself. Sensor, radiation levels, stellar cartography. Even the date is the same.

Today, it seemed, was yesterday.

Gerry slumped into a chair and rubbed his forehead. My memory’s fuzzy. Something triggered an alarm, I think.

Will it happen again?

These cargo ships were completely automated. The company was supposed to assign two crew for unexpected occurrences, but they got by with one and pocketed the profits. Gerry liked it that way – just him, his bonsai, and uninterrupted quiet. It would be another four months until delivery. He wasn’t sure if he could tolerate that time with another person, especially himself.

This wasn’t a hallucination. Whatever had caused it, he needed to reverse it.

He switched between consoles, examining every variable he could think of. His doppelganger sat to the side, leaping up when an alert sounded.

Gravitational waves increasing, Gerry said. This area is affecting our warp drive.

Where’s it coming from?

I’m not reading a source of mass.

Gerry tapped buttons on the console.

You’re overloading the warp drive? Other Gerry asked.

Co-pilots wanted to discuss plans of action, but Gerry preferred to act. If we survive and it happens again, then I’ll change variable by variable. The ‘we’ was hard to say.

It took an hour to reconfigure the drive. His doppelganger knew everything he knew, yet it was impossible to work together. Every time he moved to a console, the other Gerry was there in his way. Space was supposed to be empty.

Once the drive was reconfigured, Gerry buckled into his seat, with his copy next to him.

He opened his console, squeezed his eyes shut, and pressed enter.

The Rotor exploded with two crew members aboard.

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Gerry woke to his alarm chiming. He waved it off and hurried into the kitchen.

Other Gerry held the pan in his hand.

The control room doors opened and a new Gerry walked in, holding his bonsai. Any better ideas?

This time, Gerry reversed the engines.

The Rotor exploded, three crew members aboard.

Gerry woke and ran into the kitchen, his alarm still chiming.

One Gerry dropped the pan of eggs. Another entered from the control room. A third sat on the couch with his bonsai on the table.

Gerry tried turning the ship.

The Rotor exploded, four crew members aboard.

He shut down all non-essential systems.

The Rotor exploded, five crew members aboard.

He shut down all systems.

The Rotor exploded, six crew members aboard.

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Loop 65: The ship carried enough food and supplies for an entire planet, and the cargo returned each loop, so they all helped themselves to anything they liked. Space was the limited resource. Gerry 2 directed the population to the cargo bay as the living quarters was becoming overcrowded.

Loop 71: Several Gerrys formed a team to study the phenomenon trapping them. They reviewed data from the ship’s database, scanned stories of past phenomena, and examined the ship’s functions. They sent out a distress call, but doubted it would reach anyone.

Loop 73: When Gerry walked down the corridor, everyone stood aside, as they would for a captain. Some even saluted, something he hadn’t seen since his military days. It made him feel like escape was all his responsibility. He avoided the cargo bay and spent most of his time in his cabin.

Loop 92: Gerry 5 believed he’d found the reason for the loops. The ship has a failsafe in case of a catastrophic failure. It’s like a saved state made of a bend in space-time that returns to the last safe position. It’s only supposed to work on inanimate substances.

Protect the cargo at any cost, Gerry said, recalling the first rule in the company handbook. Can we revert to an earlier save? He had started coming to the science meetings at Gerry 2’s urging.

No. It can only store one save. Even if we could turn it off, which we can’t, we’d all die in the next explosion.

Escape had many meanings, Gerry thought.

This area of space is creating a feedback of negative energy, which is conflicting with the drive. The save state isn’t just resetting space and matter; we’re actually traveling back to that point in time, all of us. It’s like we’re wrapping a piece of string around our finger, and with each loop, we add another layer of string.

Loop 104: While Gerry 58 was attempting to bypass the quantum energy distributor, a valve exploded and killed him. His body was found burned, but it disappeared at the start of the next loop.

Loop 105: You need to say something, Gerry 2 said. No one thought we could die.

Gerry focused on