On New Year’s morning, Vincent woke up just long enough to realize he’d somehow, against the odds, made it back home, swallow more aspirin than was medically advisable, and go back to bed. When he woke up again that afternoon, he’d slept through most of his hangover, and was ready to start his and Shelby’s … Continue reading Year 351 A.E., Rotation 1: Little Birdie, Part 1 →

Sibri popped a confetti bomb toward Vincent as they danced past, and Vincent picked the streamers out of his hair, trying to keep the annoyance off his face. It was hard to shake the events of the past few days, and all the people having frivolous fun around him only reminded him how screwed he … Continue reading Year 350 A.E., Rotation 350: Mother Knows Best →

It was the day before New Year’s, the beginning of the one long weekend a year in the Perfectorate, and Vincent was parked in his mother’s garage. Normally he would have found an excuse to skirt his family’s invitation to dinner in favor of a busy club with loud music and good drink specials, but … Continue reading Year 350: Rotation 349: Puzzle Pieces →

"You've hardly said anything all night." Nim squeezed Vincent's fingers. They were on their way to their respective homes from a meeting of the downtrodden, his hand in Nim's, Nim's other hand in Sibri's. The streetlights cast a golden sheen across the ruddy bricks paving the streets of this island, making it feel like the … Continue reading Year 350 A.E., Rotation 340: A Good Run →

Vincent hadn’t gotten a contract from Rimward Inc. since the incident with the escape pods, but he found himself just a bridge away from their launch site after he delivered a load of corn to Silo Island 4H and set his course for the nearest city.. He was too far away from Nim’s stable to … Continue reading Year 350 A.E., Rotation 333: Almost Too Late →

Nim perched on an overturned barrel in the garage, watching Vincent as he fitted a new sheet of glass into Shelby's empty windscreen frame. She’d been hesitant to drop by when he explained that he was busy working on his ship in his mother’s garage, but not so hesitant that she took the hint that … Continue reading Year 350, Rotation 322: Whose Rights Are We Fighting For? →

She could have calculated how long the boulder had been falling from its velocity at impact, and the constant of gravity, but as Vincent would have said if he wasn’t knocked out against her dashboard amidst the scattered shards of her windshield, such information was largely irrelevant. The only relevant information was that it was … Continue reading Year 350, Rotation 312: Collisions →

Nim sat across from Vincent at the cafe. Over the past couple of months, ice cream dates after therapy had become a tradition of theirs. He hated paying for his bimonthly sessions, but Nim had been making it easier. They'd spent a lot of nights out in the void together. He'd drive her out to … Continue reading Year 350, Rotation 276: Letting Go →

Vincent took the essence-transport job because it paid well, not because he was trying to run into Nim, but when he pulled into the Crimson Harpoon Skyfaller Stable, the tallest building on the island’s skyline, perched just at the coast of the island, he caught sight of her tightening her jetpack on the runway at … Continue reading Year 350, Rotation 198: Happening Again →