The Discovery

By Malcolm Sterling

What is the price of loyalty? Is it more than the lives of your friends? Your colleagues? Your planet? A young acolyte joins the Science Academy under the mentorship of a Master astronomer. But when an existential crisis threatens the planet, can decades of lessons prepare him for his greatest test? (This story received an honorable mention in the 2021 4th quarter Writers of the Future contest.)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Malcolm Sterling
• Release date: Nov 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005487324

Malcolm Sterling

I write concept stories about social and technological upheaval, revelation, and adventure and how people live—or simply survive—in those worlds.Often, what begins as a seed of an idea grows into wild adventures, fantastical environments, and ambivalent characters. The characters in my worlds struggle against themselves, their ideals, and their enemies, both outside and within. I write to explore those roads and see where they lead.Sometimes my stories have a destination in mind, and sometimes the journey is a wonderful surprise. I write to pull lives and experiences from our world and hold them up to a reflection of imagination. Maybe my work will help people see themselves and the world differently, or at the very least they will be entertained?My influences are primarily authors in the science fiction and fantasy genres, with a smidge of horror: Asimov, Bester, Bradbury, Clarke, Card, Bear, Le Guin, PKD, Heinlein, Chalker, Anderson, Niven/Pournelle, Piers Anthony, McCaffrey, Rawn, and Weis/Hickman to name a few. Though, let it not be said my tastes are static and without curiosity.I have many stories to write and not a lot of time to write them. As with many of us, life, family, and ‘the job’ consume my attention. When my kids are older, I hope they will read these stories and learn a bit more about me, or maybe a bit about themselves and the world they eventually live.Not everything I write will speak to them, or even you, but that’s okay. A diet only of sweets leads to rotten teeth.Be well and thank you for reading.Malcolm Sterling

Book preview

Copyright © Aug. 2021

Title: The Discovery

Words: ~6,8000

Author: Malcolm Sterling

Website: malcolmsterling.com

Cover art: Annick De Clercq

Internal art: Annick De Clercq

Artist Website: annicksart.com

The Discovery

by Malcolm Sterling

Sprinting among the stone pillars, the acolyte did the unthinkable: he moved in a straight line. Built by generations forgotten by time, the spacious halls provided ample room for social decorum and personal boundaries. But today, in his youthful haste, he bumped past the students and professors, ignoring their shrieks and flushed tentacles. He felt his skin pulse in rippled patchworks of bright blues, purples, and yellows radiating over his primary field of dull grays and browns, hopeful his transgressions would be forgiven once word had spread.

Master, we found it! The acolyte’s tentacles heaved against the massive door. Despite the frequent application of ookawee blubber, its thick wooden hinges creaked and groaned as it swung into the shadowed chamber.

A single tentacle approached him from within the dimly lit room. The tip was a dull orange, barely visible against the Master’s skin, a skin so dark it absorbed the totality of light.

The acolyte caught himself at the threshold and greeted the outstretched tentacle with a light tap from his

own—

a gesture reserved for close

acquaintances—

but moved no farther. Involuntary, youthful splotches of purple throbbed around his eyes. Peering past the tentacle his eagerness dampened and he flushed into a saturated mix of grays and yellows.

The Master sat hunched in the far corner of the grand chamber. His four walking tentacles extended into the kitchen, prepping food, and stirring a boiling pot of gengee pulp, its thick pungent aroma heavy in the air. Three grasping tentacles steadily maneuvered the knobs, buttons, and posts on the computer. It was one of eight devices allotted to the academy. Select components of the metal keyboard were replaced long ago with wooden parts. The Master’s two speaking tentacles held a book of such weight one of the tentacles working the brew in the kitchen reached over and turned the page.

In the acolyte’s fifty cycles of life, he’d seen demonstrations