Chapter 7

He took them upstairs and showed them the large office that overlooked the car park and the road, with toilets, a storage room and lunchroom. It was all dusty from lack of use.

“If you want to use this and we have closed the office downstairs, we can give you a key and code. The other buildings are open all the time except public holidays.”

Then, they went outside to the back building, where they were told to stand to the edge of the open area in case a forklift came in. It was a large open space with plenty of light.

Ellie's Voice

© 2025 by Grace Ann Hansen

Chapter 4: “A Closed Delivery”

Descent to the Surface

Desert moons always smelled like rust and regret. CL-9C, if the nav log was right, hadn’t seen rainfall in thirty years. Maybe longer. The air shimmered with heat rising off the cracked concrete surface, the dust swirling like a heat haze, a gritty, almost suffocating blanket that clung to everything. The rhythmic thump of the Indira’s engines, a steady pulse against the desolate silence of the moon, vibrated through the floorplates, a constant, almost physical reminder of our precarious existence.

Chapter 6

Willow was still sitting at the kitchen table when her parents arrived home. She was swept up in hugs and kisses from both of them.

“Fantastic show, darling. It was a real treat. I saw the Bishop with the Russell’s and the Head, and they all had big smiles. The comments that I heard from others was all positive. A lot were shocked but excited by the last song. Did everything go all right with you? What did Gina think of her outfit?”

Jesus Calls Us O'er The Tumult
By
Rebecca Anna Coleman
A Daisy Isabella Potter Special
Chapter One of Three

I was christened James Alexander Bell one cold, frosty morning in February in the historical Episcopal Church of St. Katherine's. Thirteen years later I was confirmed in the same church. Now, I go by the name of Daisy Isabella Potter. Sometimes after turning thirteen I started to think God might have made a mistake that I should have been born a girl instead of a boy.

Historical Changes

Later in high school, I had a chance to choose a 20th-century subject for a paper for history class, and I chose to research and write about the impact of the Change on the clothing industry. This was a way I could incorporate studying the Change in my schooling while maintaining long-term focus on making the ether device. Some of it was predictable given what changed, but it was interesting nonetheless. I’ve included a version of it here, just slightly edited for an Earth audience.

The Recoverer (5).
by
Angharad.
I had been asked to do a talk to a woman's club about my job. I hadn't agreed because I wasn't sure that I had enough anecdotes to keep them entertained. When I'd asked the organiser why she wanted me, she said," Well, we like to see women running their own businesses successfully and I'm told you are successful."

"I'm doing okay, I suppose, but much of my work is boring research or long hours of watching people we suspect. It's like watching paint dry."