Lena gasped, her breath tangled with a cry, choked within her. Her eyes flew open, the sphere fell hard from her hands to thud against the floor and roll away from the table. Leon flicked on the lights and bent to pick it up, set it gently on the table, then sat and watched the wild motion of Lena’s thoughts as they played across her face. Confusion, fear, disbelief vying against each other for dominance. She picked up her glass of water and drank with trembling hands.
The rest of Leon’s patients that day came and went in slow procession. He listened, responded, tried to help while his thoughts stayed far away. When the last patient had thanked him and left, Leon slipped their file into his desk and swept out into the corridor...
Leon stood on uncertain feet, suddenly desperate to prove to himself that he was truly back aboard Covenant. When he pulled the window shade open he was relieved to look upon the infinity of space, stretching in all directions, glittering with innumerable stars. Below, the stern of the ship fell away...
Isaac Binder’s body, like all who died aboard Covenant, was jettisoned into space. Leon watched its silent launch through a viewport above the rear airlock, and inevitably found himself wondering about his father’s destination. Perhaps he would one day fall through an alien atmosphere to strike an unknown landscape—a Pioneer once more in death. Maybe... Continue Reading →
Dr. Leon Binder stood at the far edge of humanity, gazing out into the abyss of space. Standing at a viewport in the forward lounge, he could sense but not see the vast outer wall of Covenant’s hull rising away above him. He saw a young ship’s officer approach...
I walk always the line between here and there Two worlds spilling in and out of one another Lights sparking into darkness and waves that lull me further away...
Empty breathes the Siren’s call across the water This new evil to temp man into the depths
Campfires aren’t allowed here So I’m huddled beside a tiny stove A single blue flame for warmth, a headlamp for light, And the black wall of a wild forest Like a wave waiting to crash over me.
Treetops reach up out of scattered poisons on the forest floor Refuse and rejects left behind from a picnic in foreign sunlight Lying unclaimed on earth that cannot bear its weight
