The Freedom of Second Chances: Short Story Singles

By Joe Vasicek

Clones were meant to be obedient, but to what? Or to whom?

Two sister-clones, torn apart by the rigid expectations of their interstellar society. One rebels, while the other conforms. But when they reunite on a desolate planet, their conflicting beliefs ignite a fierce debate over the nature of freedom, the value of human life, and whether duty to family endures after that family has fallen apart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joe Vasicek
• Release date: Mar 9, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224586622

Joe Vasicek

Joe Vasicek fell in love with science fiction and fantasy when he read The Neverending Story as a child. He is the author of more than twenty books, including Genesis Earth, Gunslinger to the Stars, The Sword Keeper, and the Sons of the Starfarers series. As a young man, he studied Arabic at Brigham Young University and traveled across the Middle East and the Caucasus Mountains. He lives in Utah with his wife, daughter, and two apple trees.

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The Freedom of Second Chances

Joe Vasicek

Copyright © 2024 Joseph Vasicek.

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual persons, organizations, or events is purely coincidental.

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The Freedom of Second Chances

The abandoned coastline of Sebonia IV was a perfect example of a highly manicured, thoroughly developed stretch of land that had reverted to wilderness (or something like it) due to the numerous failures of the planet’s terraforming project. For nearly half a Terran century, the rising oceans and seasonal superstorms had pounded the coast, driving the settlers inland and reducing their high-rise condominiums to piles of concrete rubble half-buried under sandy dunes. The effect was especially dramatic at Eve and Yeva’s meeting place, where the ruins of what had once been a lavish upscale resort were now perched precariously over a high, sandy cliff. Large pieces of asphalt road jutted out where the storms had eroded the land, with rusted pipes protruding from the cliff face like broken arrow shafts. Because the tide was low, a narrow stretch of beach extended at the cliff’s base where they met. There were still a few pieces of the wreckage strewn across the wavy sand, but most of it was either buried or had long-since washed out to sea. 

You can’t go through with this, Eve argued with