She saw the facemasks before she read the news. She'd been hermiting for a season out in the woods, and hadn't expected to walk back in on a pandemic. It just didn't seem right. She stared around her, still half caught in still tree branches swaying in the wind, the rustle of the leaves and the shush of the stream. It seemed a world crowded, jammed ( Read more... )

Where were you supposed to go to find a job when you were laid off on an asteroid that only *had* one main business? He stared at the big broadcast screen in shock as it sunk in. Bankruptcy. Laid off. No severance. No insurance. No ticket home. "Hey, want to start a bar?" his friend Roger asked. That was Roger, always thinking ahead. "I've got a ( Read more... )