A Mosaic of Stars: Short Stories From Other Worlds (20 page)

I welcomed it. My closest companion was dying around me. I had fulfilled my duty, and wished only for peace. What better way to find that than together?

The sun was halfway below the horizon as I unbuckled my helmet and cast it aside. My view through the portal blurred, and I tried to wipe the tears from my eyes, only to realise that I was cried dry. It was not my tears that broke the last light of day into flared fragments.

Haowey was weeping.

“It’s OK.” I patted the tender spot where the portal joined her wall. “You’ll be at rest soon. We both will.”

Her eyes still ran. With the last morsel of air in her vocal chamber, she sang the ending verse of the Song of Renewal. Though her rendition was wordless, still the lyrics echoed in my mind.

“Live on, my love. A new dawn awaits us.”

“I can’t,” I whispered. “There is too much darkness. How can I face that?”

Haowey was silent, her flesh cold and still. The final line of the Song came unbidden to me, one last message from a dying friend.

“Live on for me.”

A breeze stirred the command deck. The first of the air locks had opened. Haowey was venting.

Not Haowey. Haowey’s corpse.

With a lump in my throat, I picked up my helmet and stared at my reflection in the visor, a pale, distorted image of human being. The breeze became a gust, became a storm, became a gale that snatched at my spacesuit and hurled me from my feet.

I kissed the deck, one last tear running from dry eyes, and pulled the helmet on. The fleeing atmosphere snatched me up and hurled me into space.

In the distance, a retrieval ship appeared over the horizon, as the last crescent of sunlight disappeared.

Afterwords

About the Author

I live in northern England, where the grey skies provide an excellent incentive to stay indoors and write. When not working as a freelance writer, I play board games, build Lego and read comic books. Maybe one of these days someone will force me to grow up, but it hasn’t happened yet.

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You might also like my other books:

Short stories:

Demons and the Deep
- Romans, demons and Thracian pirates fight for freedom in this fantasy short story - *free in most ebook stores*.

By Sword, Stave or Stylus
- fantasy short stories featuring a shadow-draped ninja, a gladiator painting in manticore blood and a knight so stupid that he just might win.

Riding the Mainspring
- a collection of steampunk short stories featuring moving buildings and incredible machines.

From a Foreign Shore
- history and alternate history short stories, featuring Vikings and a statue that refuses to die.

Lies We Will Tell Ourselves
- the future is uncertain and the truth even more so in these science fiction short stories.

Silence on Second Street
- a foul mouthed detective seeks justice on a war-scarred planet in this science fiction short story - *free in most ebook stores*.

Mud and Brass
- a mudlark inventor balances love and vengeance in a steampunk short story - *free in most ebook stores*.

The Epiphany Club:

Guns and Guano
- Victorian adventurer Dirk Dynamo joins an expedition to a remote island as he begins a hunt for the lost Great Library of Alexandria - *free in most ebook stores*.

Suits and Sewers
- Dirk’s journey takes him into the sewers below London, pursuing ninjas in search of a stolen artefact.

Aristocrats and Artillery
- As war descends on Paris, Dirk seeks the third clue to the Great Library.

Sieges and Silverware
- Dirk’s adventure takes him to Germany, where strange things roam in a castle under siege.

Dead Men and Dynamite
- At last Dirk has all the clues, but can he find the Great Library before his enemies do?

Ocean Gods, Roman Blades
- Ancient history meets epic fantasy in an action packed novella of war, magic and one man’s struggle to find himself.

You can read
free stories from me
, as well as thoughts on books and writing, on my blog at
http://andrewknighton.com/
. I’m also on Twitter where I go by the name of
@gibbondemon
.

Thanks for reading!

Dedication and Thanks

This book is dedicated to fellow writer and blogger
Lisa Walker England
. In the autumn of 2014, Lisa wrote about how readers come to fiction writers for their stories, yet that’s not normally what appears on our blogs. She challenged writers to join her in posting flash fiction on their blogs each Friday. It’s a challenge that has inspired me to stretch myself creatively, and that has resulted in this collection. The stories are still coming, and I’m incredibly grateful for the inspiration.

So thank you Lisa!

Thanks go to all the people who’ve read and commented on these stories as they’ve appeared on my blog, in particular Ben, Joanna, Laura, Mantaj, Dan, Russ and Olivia, all of whom have provided inspiration for stories somewhere along the line, and several of whom are name-checked in these stories.

Double thanks to
Russell Phillips
, whose guidance and encouragement help keep me going.

Cover by
Go On Write
.