tamaranorbust

Every blood cell told Paul that he was a freak. Rainbow scales shivered up his torso and breathed grotesquely, sucking in atmospheric moisture in the dank underground complex. Paul felt that if he found a mirror, he would smash it and cut his own throat. Tal'Shen was deliciously rupturing the opaque turquoise fleshy bulbs on his back. Suicide? She stopped. Lysanna's twin, Linfjen, froze Maya rigid. She bombarded Lysanna with telepathic spears. She must protect Paul's Rejection of the progeny. From afar, Lysanna grew alarmed. Humans were uniquely physically vulnerable to Fonae spawn. Unfortunately, among the galaxy's sentient races, humans

Paul awoke to Maya's terrifying strangled gargle: "Scry as you like, Lysanna! They deserve mmmmm their own gods, even when prone to us. Mmmmm you hope they sanctify immaculate transmission mmhyahyahya! If your progeny survives  –" Paul yelped as Maya's jab stabbed the hard, pulsating, possessed part of his groin – "mmy Proxitol, then they mmay worship this host as the virgin bearer of your divine mmmabomination –" "Maya! Whom are you addressing?" A man looked in from the hallway. "Meade! S-sorry. J-Just. Talking to myself." Maya sounded tinny. "Exercise caution, please. You know the spore's capabilities, even at this stage." Maya bit her

Convulsion!  His brain became a backstage audience, while his head and body thrashed. The thing inside made him heave to expel the chemical. Maya propped a bowl as he vomited. "Sorry, love, that's the Proxitol again. It'll keep you human – for a bit." Terrified, he looked around blurrily. They were in a medical lab. Its walls, sink, the grate on the floor, even the table he was on, were made from polished copper. The shield above the door was worse. Turquoise wings over a diamond. A week ago, another hacker, Greenwing, had showed him this symbol. The girl insisted they meet IRL. He thought he was finally going to get some, but lost hop

Jesus. He fingered the spreading patch on his thigh. Pain and panic flashed, hot and cold. Somehow, he heard his phone vibrating from the bedroom. He could hear his keys tinkling against the buzzing cell, like icicles falling from eaves to icy pavements. He was dry. Dressed. In the bedroom. "Hello?" His brain wondered: How the fuck did I leave the shower? "Hello, Paul? It's Jacob. I'm at Leicester Square. Where are you? Did you get in OK? Did you forget our meeting?" Raspberry fork-tongued starfish danced with turquoise hexagonal doorways. "Jake? Oh God! I'm sorry. I'll be there in ten minutes." "OK. I'm outside the Empire. Hurry up. It's

He began washing his trousers in the room's tiny sink. Suddenly, the fire alarm sounded. Someone pounded on his door and shouted down the hall: "Everyone out, please! Everyone out!" The soaped-up spot, now a slick mess, caressed his crotch. His wallet, his passport, and seventy-four seconds later, he was standing jacketless on the sidewalk. Fire engines carved a path through the half-dressed backpackers. "It's not a drill.  It's really on fire.  They're not gonna fix this any time soon." A girl, early twenties, snake-eye piercings on her tongue, a stud in the centre of her forehead, pointed at his slimy bull's-eye and wi

You remember falling in love: It’s so great at the beginning. And it’s all downhill from there. What’s your rush? Love comes in fits and starts word by word by word. A twine tendon of attachment grown by nightlights The bated tension of mood unlines And regroups, building pressure under the dimmed late glow A hope that becomes too formal Then underlines the vacuum tube beneath those distant messages. Quivering like a bird checking and rechecking a favoured spot A home, once made, now sealed shut. I so fear that outcome. To open up, to know How it could all go wrong. Have a choice, yet already sense I have none?