Fiction Vortex - May 2013
Fiction Vortex
Fiction Vortex
A Speculative Fiction Typhoon
May 2013
Volume 1, Issue 1
Edited by Dan Hope
Copyright 2013 Fiction Vortex
Website: FictionVortex.com
Twitter: @FictionVortex
Facebook: FictionVortex.
Table of Contents
Letter from the Editor
Short Stories
Pollinger's Notebook: Years 4.3 - 6.4 — by Mark Burgh (1st Place)
Roots and Wings, Soil and Sky — by Nicholas Beishline
The Girl Who Did Not Know What to Be — by Jay Duret
Triple's Blog — by Todd Outcalt
Undead in the Daisies — by Holly Casey (3rd Place)
The Way Station — by Shay Hatten
Nth Chance — by Konstantine Paradias
The Dream Eater — by Priyadarshini Chatterjee (2nd Place)
The Face in the Moon — by Eric Kiefer
Abraham, the Boy Prophet — by Michael Pacheco
Transformation — by Katherine McIntyre
Book Reviews
Year Zero: A Novel — by Rob Reid
The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination — Anthology edited by John Joseph Adams
About Fiction Vortex
Letter from the Editor
We've come to the end of our first month of publication, and Fiction Vortex has had quite the auspicious start.
I think.
What is an auspicious start for a fiction publication, anyway? That could mean anything from "We already got a million readers!" to "The managing editor didn't pull his hair out or defenestrate himself."
Unfortunately, the former isn't true, but I'm happy to report that neither is the latter. Things are chugging along at a smooth pace here at Fiction Vortex, and that's more than most publications can say from month to month.
I'm even more elated to report that we've got some absolutely fantastic stories to start this journey off right. This inaugural issue of the Fiction Vortex Magazine is stuffed with incredible stories, tales that will take you through the verdant valley of coming-of-age-fantasy, over the jagged summit of hard science fiction, into the dark cavern of cerebral horror, and back out into the sunlit meadows of humorous satire. This compilation of stories is a perfect cross-section of the speculative fiction universe, and I couldn't be more proud of the stories and the authors who wrote them.
The original goal of Fiction Vortex was two-fold: provide a place for talented authors to show their work to the world, and prove that speculative fiction could be powerful, engaging, and thoughtful, not just a genre of clichés and fantastical absurdities. I think we've done just that.
So thank you to the Fiction Vortex staff. Thank you to the amazing authors who submitted to us. And most of all, thank you, dear reader, for letting us invade your mind to spread these wonderful ideas.
In a completely consensual and non-creepy way, of course.
Vortexical Wishes and Cyclonic Dreams,
Dan Hope
Managing Editor, Voice of Reason
Fiction Vortex
(Back to Table of Contents)
Short Stories
Pollinger's Notebook: Years 4.3 - 6.4 — by Mark Burgh (1st Place)
Roots and Wings, Soil and Sky — by Nicholas Beishline
The Girl Who Did Not Know What to Be — by Jay Duret
Triple's Blog — by Todd Outcalt
Undead in the Daisies — by Holly Casey (3rd Place)
The Way Station — by Shay Hatten
Nth Chance — by Konstantine Paradias
The Dream Eater — by Priyadarshini Chatterjee (2nd Place)
The Face in the Moon — by Eric Kiefer
Abraham, the Boy Prophet — by Michael Pacheco
Transformation — by Katherine McIntyre
(Back to main Table of Contents)
Pollinger's Notebook: Years 4.3 - 6.4
by Mark Burgh; published May 1, 2013
First Place Award, May 2013 Fiction Contest
Private Encoded RNA Marks AA – EG Required Year 4.3
It’s about Hermione. All of this is about Hermione. Today, after the Lab Director leaves, a smile of incomprehension painting his face, Hermione peeks her nose over the core unit. “He’s your new boss?” she says.
“What are you doing out of your environment?”
Hermione’s expressions seldom change; she’s difficult to read. “I got bored. Do you want to live in cedar shavings?”
I roll back in my chair. “I wanted on the Mars project. But here I sit.”
“Mars, Mars, Mars,” Hermione says. “Did you get the gorgonzola?”
“Go easy, it’s strong.”
Hermione shifts, cleans her paws. She looks at me. “Watch that guy,” she says. “He won’t like me.”
~~~~~
STATUS REPORT — Project 401.1 Genetic Implications
Pollinger, A. F. — Research Leader
1. Recombination of genetic material for the purposes of enhanced performance is the purpose of this research.
2. Manipulation of specific genetic material in human subjects lacks consistent results in cases not related to physical characteristics.
3. In the past, attempts to enhance nervous system and personality functions have resulted in subjects experiencing psychosis or mental incapacity. (See the file marked USGCA.ROHRBACH.CLASSIFIED3222/31).
4. Project 401.1 has directed its research to non-human subjects, mostly smaller mammals.
5. Some success with symbolic recognition enhancement with rodent subjects has been documented. (See file marked USGCA.AFP.CLASSIFIED.401.01.15).
6. Further research is promising.
~~~~~
Private Encoded RNA Marks AA – EG Required Year 4.3
Dr. Otross, the new lab director, sets down the report and looks into my face. “Much work you’ve done here, I see.”
“More to do,” I say.
“So you want to go to Mars,” he says. “I’m impressed. But I like Earth, you know.” He whispers, giggles, xy to xy, “Have you seen the rack on Ysyto?”
I shrug, ignore him. “Zero and low-G living can be made better though fast-tracked gene replacement,” I say.
Otross nods. “I did some genetics work,” he says. “Hair color. That’s a bastard.”
Hair color is, in fact, not a bastard. In one of the grad schools I attended I paid for my classes bootlegging hair color genes I made in my rooms. “Yes,” I say. “Hair color is problematic.”
“Tell me about the mice.” Otross blinks at me behind his glasses. Pure affect? Eyeball reshaping costs nothing.
“They’re responding better than I hoped,” I say. “I’ve given you the full data.”
Otross puts his hand on his chin. “What about, um, mouse psychosis?”
“Delusions? Violent paranoia?”
“How can you tell?”
I rub my face to hide my exasperation. “Control groups?”
“Group mouse psychosis. Get it. ‘Mouse’ psychosis?” Otross laughs like a chipmunk.
~~~~~
Private Encoded RNA Marks AA – EG Required Year 4.3
I’ve been through the training, and passed all the psych programs regarding emotional intelligence, but I couldn’t help disliking Otross. Unctuous, imperious, a head shorter than me. He must have come from a poor background. Where were the gene mods, the HGH? I’m lucky, I suppose. My mother was only 1.5 meters, about the size of the director. I chose not to go over 2 meters since height is of no advantage, not in exploration, where I plan to go.
Ysyto, over in Bionome Surveillance, descended from Mesoamerican genes, now sways at 2.3 meters, with breasts larg
e enough to suggest an unstable structure. And she wonders why she’s not found a partner.
The new director stopped by to ingratiate himself with those of us with National Science Fellowships: me, Greenburg-Lu Xian, Tal, and of course, Doe X. The director is above his level of expertise, the same old story: who among research wants to go in Admin? Who in admin could do any proper research? Anyway, I’m going to keep quiet about Hermione for a while.
~~~~~
Private Encoded RNA Marks AA – EG Required Year 4.4
Hermione sits on the desk now, staring at the only capture I’ve hardcopied that I keep. “Is she pretty?” Hermione asks. I’ve implanted a nano-voice amplifier/transponder so I can hear her tiny mouse voice.
“Who?”
“This … subject in the picture.”
“She’s a person,” I say.
“And I’m a subject?”
“You’re a mouse, Hermione.”
Hermione nibbles on some cheese I’d left for her. “It’s good. Pecorino Romano, right? Did you love her?”
“I’m working here. You can stay, but be quiet.”
“If you’re going to be like that, I’m going back to my environment,” she says.
“Take the cheese.”
Hermione takes the chunk of Romano in her mouth and skitters off.
~~~~~
Daybook: 11 June
19:00 Dinner outside the compound with Ysyto. She wants to discuss research.
~~~~~
Private Encoded RNA Marks AA – EG Required Year 4.6
Ysyto sits at the table, towering over her food. She’s dark-skinned with sad, dark eyes. When she looks up, she smiles at me, touching her dark hair. “Why do you want to go to Mars?” she asks.
“Don’t you want exploration?”
She shrugs, like the movement of an unquiet lake. “I don’t know that my skills would suit off-world.”
“Oh, come on. Mars is like here, except it’s colder and all indoors. You’re brilliant.”
Ysyto smiles again, turning her head. “Oh. Why aren’t you up there?”
“Timing,” I lie. “Got the grant and that was it for a while.”
“I don’t know if I could take being screwed into a tube in zero-G for two months.”
“What’s the difference, between that and working at the lab?”
Brief smile like the last pulse on an EEG, slight shrug. “More closeness.”
“Are there any cheese shops around here,” I ask.
“Cheese?”
“We’ll take a look after dinner,” I say. Ysyto’s body moves when I say that. I can’t wait to look over the cheeses.
~~~~~
USGCA STERNBERG CENTER MEETING 400 UNIT AGENDA – 22 OCTOBER
1. Old Business – On Campus dining; Lab courtesy; Vetting of janitorial staff; Cooperation with USGINet agents.
2. Human Resource Effectiveness Review Protocols – Discuss upcoming reviews and set appointments.
3. Project Updates – Projects 401.1,401.2, & 401.3. Project leaders will give short presentations on the status of their work.
4. New Business – Preliminary budgeting for the next fiscal year – Dr. Otross will talk about funding issues and resource allocations.
5. Lunch in the Sarah Palin Dining Room. Meet & Talk with Congressperson Varda Patel, chair of the House Science Oversight Committee.
NOTE: DR. OTROSS WOULD LIKE TO STRESS THAT ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY!!!
~~~~~
Private Encoded RNA Marks AA – EG Required Year 4.11
“Emmenthaler?” Hermione sniffs the cheese.
“It’s real Swiss,” I say. I hold up the package showing the white cross in a circle of red.
“What’s Ysyto want with you?” Hermione asks. She picks up the piece of Emmenthaler I slice from the block.
“We’re scientists. Geneticists. We discuss research.”
Hermione licks her lips. “She likes you.”
“Don’t mistake desperation for love,” I say.
“Who’s the desperate one?” Hermione returns to the cheese.
I tap my pencil on my head. “Look.” My monitor lights up with a Mars Q. The red planet snaps into view. It’s Mars Supervisor Tor Gharsh.
Hermione leaves off the Emmenthaler and climbs onto the keyboard. “What’s with Mars? I like the moon. It’s made of cheese.”
Tor Gharsh smiles, behind her the luxurious urwald of the Mars base station. Plants droop, rich with fruit. You can smell the oxygen, sweet and new, even in my ozone-rich lab. “Next training group for Mars will be chosen in two solar months. Boys and girls, girls and boys, I can’t tell you what’s it like up here. We’re a tight crew. Every time I go EST I see stars that even the North Pole crew can’t see. They’re treading water, and we’re looking into the heart of creation.” If I love anybody, it’s Tor Gharsh.
“The moon is not made of cheese,” I say.
“Better if it was. Some nice Camembert, or smelly Stilton.”
Tor Gharsh shows her loving viewers around Mars base station. Halls waiting for geneticists to work in. Kilometers of emptiness. “Were,” I say. “Better if it were. Use the subjunctive mood for conditions contrary to fact, or wishes.”
Hermione chews. Mouth full. “What’s a mouse need with wishes?”
~~~~~
PROJECT 401.1
Lab Report Experiment 401.1.100
Intro: Using GENMOD 401.03.223 on subject mouse, designated HERMIONE, we will attempt to track psychological effects in a simulated space environment.
Problem: Effective psychological genetic modification in human subjects has not produced a stable result. Most often, the subject evinces psychotic tendencies and/or enters a catatonic state, resulting in death. Upon brain post-mortem, development of lesions, as well as accelerated degradation of neuron networks were revealed. Can genetic personality modification be made effective in human subjects?
Hypothesis: Using subject Hermione, a 400.10 mouse with an appropriate GENMOD 401.03.223, this experiment will test if the personality modifications as listed in attachment 401.01 will occur absent of above listed complications.
Methods: Using the nanomonitors implanted in Hermione, we will track physical data in response to stimuli as the subject interacts in the SSE, a sealed low-gravity environment. We will use both the Bflärhag LG fields and the Feinberg SGG to create the low-gravity environment. No anti-anxiety medications will be introduced. Hermione will remain in the SSE for duration of 48 hours or longer, depending on reactions.
Results: See attachment 401.01.100.01 for data graphs. Subject mouse Hermione exhibited no signs of psychosis or anxiety during the 48.5-hour duration of the experiment.
Conclusions: A promising beginning, but further experiments must follow.
~~~~~
Private Encoded RNA Marks AA – EG Required Year 4.11
Ysyto claps the loudest at the meeting. Otross smiles, clearly not comprehending this breakthrough. Other colleagues look interested, then sour, or both simultaneously. The Congressperson stares at Ysyto, stifling yawns as I speak. Is she getting any of this?
At lunch I sit next to Doe-X. She’s keen to discuss my findings. “I wonder if your work can be transferred to mine.”
“Simians?”
She points a fork loaded with chicken at me. “Next logical step.”
“Tell me, Dr. Pollinger,” the Congressperson asks. “Your work will change the game?”
“Oh, it will, Congressperson Patel,” Otross says. “We here at the institute push the edges of science every day.” As he says this he stares at Ysyto’s chest.
“There’s a long way ahead,” I say. “First result is a fluke, two results is a coincidence, three is a run of luck, four might be something. Consistent reproducibility is the aim.” My colleagues nod, except for Otross, who looks confused.
The Congressperson gives me a condescending appraisal. “I have a PhD in Biomechanical Interface Protocols,” she says.
�
Oh,â Otross says. âI love cyborgs. Did you see that new vid, Ahab, Cyborg, about the cyborg that hunts the whale in violation of all environmental laws?â
Everyone turns to stare at him. A moment of silence, then chewing commences. Congressperson Patel says to me, âIf only we could get mice and simians to speak.â
Doe-X shakes her head. âSign language in chimps is quite advanced.â
âStill,â Congressperson Patel says. âReal idiomatic speech would make this easier.â
âOr more difficult,â I say. Am I wrong, or is Ysyto eyeing me?
~~~~~
Private Encoded RNA Marks AA â EG Required Year 4.12
Hermione blinks. âI donât want any Havarti,â she says.
âHeâll be able to talk as well as you,â I say.
âIâm not your slave.â
âHow about Blue Castello?â Hermione withdraws. Is she shaking?
âWhy? Why?â she asks. âCanât you clone me?â
âWeâre talking evolution here, Hermione, not duplication.â
Hermione walks to the picture I keep on my desk. She rises, resting her paws on the frame. âWere you scared?â
I stare at the face. Sheâs long gone. âYes,â I say. âBut then I was glad.â
Hermione turns to look at me. âAnd now?â
âIâm going to Mars,â I say.
~~~~~
400.10. âHermioneâ Scientific Narrative
1. Introduction
Hermione is a BALB/c Mega-Doogie mouse, descended from the original Doogie strain developed in the 1990âs. (See Appendix 1 for history of the developments of NMDA receptors in Doogies). The next developments occurred through breeding Doogie mice together with other transgenic mice. The genetic enhancements were, as predicted, passed down and subject, like all genetics, to mutation. Hermioneâs ancestors developed neural functions akin to dogs in two generations, akin to chimpanzees in eight, and in Hermioneâs case, higher thought functions, including the ability to learn through abstract symbolics, media, and interaction with humans. Unlike chimps, however, mice cannot communicate with sign language, leaving a gap between objective data recorded from sensors, and observational behavior. Human subjects are notorious for unreliable expressions, but speech can give a researcher some direct data from the consciousness that no sensor can do. A mere graph of brainwaves can show a mental state, as can scans, but ultimately, the holistic totality of a subject is more than the sum of its correlating data, especially in research and experimentation.
