Refracted Neurons

  Bard watched the ship dock, her whiskers twitching with curiosity.  It was a small ship, faceted like a sapphire, but a deeper blue.  It had the dust of a ship that had been in deep space, but other than that, it should have been unremarkable.   Unremarkable to anyone other than Bard.  She adjusted her hat and raised her arms, “Ladies and everybody, I will tell you a tale of tragic love.” The ladies were too busy being fashionable to heed Bard, but she did succeed in attracting the attention of some of the others.  They gathered around her, a crowd of different species.  “Tell us, Bard of felines,” called out an android. “Once upon a dying planet, a halfling adventurer set out.  He left his promised hamlet, his love in a redoubt,” Bard watched the ship, her mind far away from the words springing from her furry lips. The door to the ship opened and a set of steps was brought to the door. “He thought to find his fortune, to make a nest for th...

Image by  PublicDomainPictures  from  Pixabay “Let’s dump it all in,” Ryan held up the test tube of sodium hydroxide. The fluorescent light glinted off his safety goggles making him look like a mad scientist. His unruly curls and intense eyes completed the look.  “Ms. Crenshaw said that we should add it slowly,” Booker grabbed the other tube filled with vinegar.  Why, oh why did the teacher let them pick their lab partner today?   “But that wouldn’t be fun!” Ryan tipped the test tube into the beaker of water.  Why, oh why were they friends?  “She’ll fail us,” Booker grabbed Ryan’s gloved hand. Ryan, being the larger of the boys, resisted.   “So? Don’t you wanna know what happens? I bet it explodes!” Ryan stopped pouring, “Dude, you’re like holding my hand. I didn’t know you felt that way.”   Booker pulled his hand back and stared longingly across the lab. His assigned lab partner, the girl he usually worked wi...

Things were fine.  The air was crisp and icy.  If Russell looked down, he could see his skis, red against the treetops.  Everything was in a hush except for the grinding of the lift. It was fine.  Skiing was fun. A wind blew and his vision blurred.  The sound of the lift increased, then he was nudged off the seat and onto the snow.  Majesty screamed at him, but he didn’t hear it.  All he could think of was the empty spot he had left in the lift behind him. “Look at this guy, he’s just standing there,” the voice was teasing. “Must be his first time.” They laughed. Russell gripped his ski poles.  Through his thick gloves, he couldn’t feel the bumps of the grip.  He couldn’t feel anything.  He was rising out of his body with the steam that rose out of his mouth.  He was melting into the snow underneath his feet.  He was slowing into a glacier, dying and being born.   The ski lift dropped off another pair.  A skier in a p...

Images from Pixabay The arena was half full, the noise of the crowd deafening.  From his vantage point, Kalendio Octavius could just make out the rough shapes of people.   “You’re new,” the voice came from behind him. Kalendio turned and squinted into the darkness of the hypogeum, “A woman, here?” She laughed, deep and throaty.  “Athene, venatora ,” she unsheathed her sword, “Slayer of lions.” “I am no beast,” Kalendio waved a hand in surrender. “What class are you?”  Athene looked him up and down, “I see no weapon.” “ Magia,” he was reluctant to say it.  Most people laughed, some even flashed him the fig sign. “Oooooh,” she popped a hand onto one hip, “Well, good luck out there.” There was a roar as he emerged from the tunnel, and for a moment he thought it was for him.  Smiling, Kalendio lifted his head. The man across from him was giant.  He wore full armor and carried a net and trident.  Kalendio’s smile tightened into a grimace.  “S...

Image by Gentry from Pixabay   We thought the ends justified the means, and that was our mistake.  We never realized that the means colors the ends, that it shapes it like a surface can shape clay.   Reducing carbon emissions. What?  Oh, sorry, I thought you asked what our goal was.  All I can hear sometimes is the sound you hear out there.  It’s a rushing, hissing sound.  But you don’t care about that, you want to know about the children in that aircraft. I told them not to use children. Anyway, all of them wanted to go.  We didn’t force anyone.  All of them wanted to make the earth a better place.  They’re very environmental-minded.  And the thing with children is they’re smaller, so they can get inside the machinery to fix it. The Blackbird, the fastest aircraft can circumnavigate the planet in six hours.  That’s the time it takes to go from New York to Seattle in a commercial airplane.  But it’s not designed to tr...

  The house was large, twenty bedrooms large.  The gardens boasted shaped hedges of fantastic creatures, but that wasn’t the best part.  The best part was when one first stepped through the doors and was dazzled by the high shine of the marble floors and the glitter of the chandeliers, when one stood on the hand-loomed rug and breathed, “I get to work here.” That was what Matilda did, as did Bertrand, Unice, and Fredrick before her.  There were more staff, of course, there were.  A house that large required countless maids, menservants, and yardmen; all ruled by the butler, housekeeper, and chef. “The blood,” mumbled Matilda two weeks later, “I should have mentioned the blood.” “What?”  Unice stood next to her on a step stool, her hands full of drapes. “The first time I stood in this room,” Matilda dropped the curtain rod.  The curtain dampened the ping of its landing.  “I should have said, ‘Someone this wealthy must have built their empire on blo...