Hidden in the Thorns and Other Stories

By Ish Galvan

This collection of short stories ranges from a hardboiled cyberpunk hacker that helps a rogue android, all the way to a space-age comedy about a jaded middle-aged man watching a space launch. The stories are for mature readers. There's a mix of serious stories that are balanced out by dark comedies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ish Galvan
• Release date: Sep 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215899281

Ish Galvan

Ish Galvan is a Chicano writer and comic creator from San Diego County. He graduated from a University with a degree. Galvan currently lives with his wife and cat.IG @cool_stuffman

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Copyright © 2023 by Ish Galvan

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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IG: @cool_stuffman

www.blubberisland.com

Cover by Ish Galvan

HIDDEN IN THE THORNS

AND OTHER STORIES

ISH GALVAN

TABLE OF CONTENTS

HIDDEN IN THE THORNS

IN THE BAG’S A SHADOW

THE STONE SIGHED

REP

SAY HI TO THE STARS FOR ME

THE NUCLEAR LOTTERY

GOODBYE BABY THAT’S IT

NO FREE WIND

MAN ASKS WOMAN FOR A BEER

A PLACE NOWHERE

HIDDEN IN THE THORNS

Machinery hissed behind the walls, and the steel doors slid open. The fourth Sun of the year, an incredible turquoise star, rose from the north and shined over the desolate planet known as Cerulean. Acrid dust rushed over the nearby encircling hedge wall from a massive sandstorm several miles from the base. The bitter dust burned Marcos’ nasal cavity and made him spit blue. Great sapphire tornados whirled from the billowing sands until they reached high enough to vanish into the atmosphere. Marcos became fixated on the cyclone forest, gracefully swaying without ever colliding. Following the hypnotic dance in the sky, his gaze lowered to the crooked limbs tightly jammed in a myriad of thorns. His rushing pulse moved him forward. He thought of his father, Capitan Martinez, looking down at him disapprovingly.

Marcos crossed the doorway and crept along the base, searching for his bedroom window. Blue sunrays jabbed into his eyes, chilling his sockets as if powdered in snow. He had to return to shelter soon or be permanently blinded with a set of sightless blue eyes.

He passed beneath an elongated window in a crouched dash belonging to the commons area. His slight frame glided over the ground in the low gravity, close enough to kiss blue dirt. He reached the small dorm windows and ducked under his own. Across the enclosure, the flower bloomed in the wall. His dying vision reminded him that Cerulean was gently killing him.

Marcos kicked off the wall and sprinted across the yard. The hedge wall seemed to loom over his head like a dark, cresting wave. His instincts screamed for him to turn back as he ran directly into the shadow. Deep within the hedge, inside a receding pit, he finally observed up close the flower. Cerulean’s blue soil lightly stained its incandescent petals. The core opened into a kaleidoscopic heart with emerald veins expanding to the outer regions. Marcos reached his hand into the thorny wall, broke the stem, and put the flower into his bag. He sprinted back to the entrance in low-gravity strides. At the steel doors, his jittery fingers jabbed his father’s code into the numeric pad. ACCESS GRANTED.

Before the doors finished opening, Marcos saw the Daydreamer’s insignia glint on a stone-grey uniform. His classmate Judy stared at him with her mouth hung slack and eyebrows pulled towards her pointy chin. This would get her a gold star on her evaluation report. Judy pointed into his face, What are you doing outside?

Marcos slapped her hand.

Ouch, don’t hit me! Judy withdrew her hand. Junior classmen are never allowed off base. It’s a direct protocol violation. You know that! Your father is going—

The word Father pulled a trigger. Marcos shoved his hands into her face. Judy stumbled backward to the ground and stared upwards with an astonished expression. He hadn’t meant to hit her. They stared at each other in shocked silence. Finally, Marcos ran down the industrial grey corridor. His plan tightened around his neck. Banishment to Earth was a death sentence. How could he be so stupid? And, to risk it for a flower? Madness was a symptom of breathing blue dust; everyone on base inhaled trace amounts. He burst through the central hub doors.

The television screen jungle came alive. A cacophony of jingles overlaid media personalities. Mindless voices babbled over each other. Claustrophobic closeups of muscular abs appeared next to sizzling steaks. A lipstick-painted mouth licked its mustache and blew heart emojis. Above the rioting collage on holographic billboards, celebrities modeled the new Halo with a D-TEK processor. The launch date had finally arrived. Marcos looked over the buying frenzy as he walked through the crowd.

The Daydreamers were having a tournament in a partitioned area. Marcos paused to watch a game in progress. Eight boys and girls sat at their station wearing Halos. They were having a four-on-four team match in which the objective was always the same: hack the opposing team’s psychological defense. Their faces twitched like a sleeping person's when caught inside a nightmare. Though these games were purely conceptual, they were violent, full-contact sports that resulted in psychological injuries. Marcos once crippled a Day Dreamer this exact way. The kid spends half the day drooling on his limp hands and playing with the saliva. Marcos’ instructors wanted to promote him. Instead, he quit the team.

Marcos turned away, distracted by the memory, and crashed into a brawny cadet. The sound of computer gear clattered on the floor. Everyone nearby gasped. Oh shit, someone exclaimed. The tall boy picked up his black Halo. A shattered spiderweb spread across the neural conductor. The Halo was bricked.

I just bought this! the boy yelled.

The Daydreamers began to encircle Marcos with the cadet. No more simulated kill sessions. They wanted actual violence.

Hold on, a Daydreamer set his hand on the boy’s shoulder. Remember, his dad is Capitan Martinez.

Think you’re a razor head, faggot pussy?! The cadet struggled to control himself. I don’t forget what you did. You’re on everyone’s shit list. Can’t hide behind your daddy forever.

Under their stares, Marcos pushed through the Daydreamers and continued to his dorm. A wad of hot spit hit the back of his neck, and laughter broke out. They’d only try