Max was nearly at the door when the Captain strode through. She froze, her eyes on the dull cube Max held.
“It’s the only way. Sorry.”
The Captain hit the panic button on the door frame with one hand while drawing her blaster with the other. “I can’t let you leave with unidentified alien tech.”
Max heard people running towards them. It sounded like the entire team had responded to the alarm. The Captain’s gaze flicked towards the newcomers, and Max bolted towards the exit.
She fired as soon as he moved. He honestly hadn’t thought she would actually shoot him. They’d worked together for years, but apparently he didn’t know her as well as he believed.
The blast somehow missed Max but hit the artifact dead center. Time seemed to stumble as the alien cube glowed before releasing a pulse of rainbow waves.
Abruptly, Max saw the room from too many perspectives for his brain to process.
Memories surged into his mind. Some he recognized. Others were foreign. A toddler sized cough. Nine different first kisses. Panic. Funerals. Love. More terrible coughing. Desperation. Hope.
A tsunami of experiences roared through him. Eventually, Max understood. These were his team’s lives. And it was so much more than passively watching memories.
At this moment, all nine were one. Nine lives worth of emotions fused together. He was nine people. They were him.
Reality snapped back with a disorienting twang.
“Why didn’t you tell us about your daughter?” asked the Captain, her blaster lowered. “We’ll help you raise the money. Without stealing anything.”
Max turned and looked at the rest of the team. Everyone nodded. There was no need for more words. They understood each other perfectly.
__________________________
Kimberly Ann Smiley
was born and raised in California, but now lives in Mississippi after
an unexpected plot twist. She has several pieces of paper that claim she
is a mechanical engineer and none that mention writing but has
decided not to let the practical decisions made in her youth define the
rest of her life. Her work has appeared both here and in Daily Science Fiction. She is becoming a regular contributor for us: if you want to read more of her stories, click here.
► “There is Only One Black Cat” • by Pauline Barmby
► “Forced Perspective” • by Kimberly Ann Smiley
► “The Moments Between” • by Elis Montgomery
► “Runt of the Litter” • by Gustavo Bondoni
If you like the stories we’re publishing, donate today. We do Stupefying Stories out of pure love for genre fiction, but in publishing as in tennis, love means nothing. To keep Stupefying Stories going at this level we need to raise at least $500 USD monthly, and rather than doing so with pledge breaks or foundation grants, we’d rather have a broad base of ongoing support. If just 100 people commit to just $5 monthly, we can keep going at this level indefinitely. If we raise more, we will pay our authors more.
Please don’t make me escalate to posting pictures of sad kittens and puppies…
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