The Quarterback
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I played nose tackle, primarily on defense, but as guard for blocking on offence as well. I guess that means I am a versatile player. Anyways, I did OK and got a good run at pro-ball in my time. I had enough money to retire because my Mama put it all in the Bank. And besides, I do all right as a sales rep for a sporting goods company. I travel around and shake hands and talk about football. It is a good life, I guess.

Through the corridors, I could hear screams and panicked voices. A light went red. Thunk! Another light went yellow, while two more went red. Thunk! Thunk! I glanced at, then couldn't look away from the screens showing the bays. The first one, our home, seemed to be crumbling away as it slowly pirouetted, the distance between us growing.

I stared, and everything seemed to be happening at the end of a dark tunnel. The next thing I knew, I was waking up on the floor with Carla beside me, making sure I was alright

"Perfect," Paula told her daughter as she saw the course come alive on the screen. It took her a moment to order it, however. While it ended with them intersecting, this would be dangerous. The course was theoretically possible, but it was closer than any sane person would want to get to a star. Hell with it, she thought. "Do it."

Rhoda committed them by pressing a button, and the engines fired. The ship slowed allowing their fall around the star to become stronger. A moment later, the thrusters realigned them, and the engines fired again, making them accelerate their fall while at the same time, angling them to where they would miss the surface and just barely skim the edge of the sun's atmosphere.

Sam gets into awful trouble for having a little fun

A Switcher Tale...