Lowe Bite Me, Robot Boy

1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-1-907133-58-9
Verlag: Dog Horn Publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 280 Seiten

Bite Me, Robot Boy is a seminal new anthology of poetry and fiction that showcases what Dog Horn Publishing does best: writing that takes risks, crosses boundaries and challenges expectations. From Oz Hardwick's hard-hitting experimental poetry, to Robert Lamb's colourful pulpy science fiction, this is an anthology of incandescent writing from some of the world's best emerging talent. Featuring: S.R. Dantzler, Oz Hardwick, Maximilian T. Hawker, Emma Hopkins, A. J. Kirby, Stephanie Elizabeth Knipe, Robert Lamb, Poppy Farr, Wendy Jane Muzlanova, Cris O'Connor, Mark Wagstaff, Fiona Ritchie Walker.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lowe, Adam

Leseproben

S.R. Dantzler

“Come to Me, Lover”

Melissa sat on the park bench waiting for me. She was giggling at our puppy. Cruella tugged at the end of its leash, growling at a flock of pigeons grazing on stale bread. Melissa’s smile still warmed me. I would miss her. I leaned over to kiss her before sitting down. Cruella jumped up on my lap and licked my face.

“Good News or bad?” I put my hand on Melissa’s knee.

“Good, of course,” Melissa said.

“Good news is, I got Dr. Endridge’s spot for the Matrius Corianthalus migration research.”

Melissa stared blankly for a moment. “So the bad news is you will be gone for months documenting alien behaviour . . . How Long?” she demanded.

“Actually the bad news is, I spoke with Lisa at the adoption agency and we were denied. She said it had nothing to do with our orientation, but that’s bullshit. I could tell by her tone.” There was a long solemn pause.

“I guess it doesn’t matter now that you are going to be gone. How Long?” She turned away from me and crossed her arms. It wrenched me to see her that upset. I reached for her hand and she jerked away.

“Melissa, please . . . ”

She turned to face me. Her eyes were teary. “I’m sorry. That is just a lot to dump on me all at once. I just can’t believe that sexuality is still such . . . ” she sobbed. “And I am really proud and happy for you, but I will miss you. How long are you going to be gone?” She was bawling. Cruella whimpered, nudging Melissa, which forced a smile and a sobbing laugh. I wiped the tears from her eyes and put my forehead on hers. “A few months.”

Melissa swallowed her sorrow. “So what? You follow and document the drones migration?” It made me feel good that she supported me. She really was interested in the peculiar aliens. She hadn’t made it her life’s work as I had, but her interest was genuine. Our relationship was very strong. It could withstand this.

“Yes, all the way to the beckoning lover. How rom-antic?” I smiled at her and gently pinched her side.

“I don’t know if I would call it romance. He . . . it is going to eat her after they copulate, right?”

“That’s it, in a nutshell,but what an interesting journey it will be. It follows her trail. It’s lover . . . it’s mother, a cache of genetic potential. It, her little genetic experiment awaits those that have survived their environment to return to her. I can’t wait. How exciting to be the first human to document the entire process.”

“What happened to Dr. Endridge?”

“His last paper wasn’t very well received. His notions that the Matrius’s pheromones and chemicals had the potential to interrupt human development were pretty much ridiculed to the point he is likely hiding with his head in the sand somewhere in South America.”

“Lucky you. You don’t think their pheromones would have any type of impact on humans?”

“Humans aren’t sensitive enough to pheromones as are other species. Besides, they aren’t related to ours. Therefore we would not even really register them. Besides, he was talking about major physical mutations in adult humans and other impossibilities.”

We all met at Water Works for drinks. Part going away, part congratulations. I was happy to see Melissa smiling again. I had under-estimated the effect the adoption denial had on her. She’d been really detached the last few days.

Besides our friends, my crew had come. J.T., my friend since middle school was going to be our camera guy. He brought Renée, his fiancée. Kevin, the driver slash home base technician was a relatively new guy to the project. I had met him through the university. An interesting fellow—he was from Oklahoma, a strappingly handsome young man, he had begun his career as a storm chaser then came to Canada to document wolves with Professor Ernestine. He came highly recommended and he also came with a busty girl du jour. The only thing more fake than her tits was her personality. She and Melissa had already gotten off on the wrong foot. She had made a comment about homosexuality and immoral it was.

Kevin had come to her aid and was now acting as a martyr to diffuse the situation.

“Bear in mind that I was born in the Bible Belt and please forgive my ignorance, but let me ask the scientist, What causes homosexuality?” His date sneered at him, not realizing that he had just prevented her from getting her hair torn out by Melissa.

“It isn’t a disease, Kevin.” Melissa started, but I gave her a look. Not scorning her, but to let her know that I had it.

“It is a genetic condition. Many studies suggest . . . ”

“OK, I don’t want to hear what, ‘Many studies suggest’ I want to hear your opinion. I can respect your opinion. You are a well known scientist and well . . . a lesbian.”

“ Honestly, I think it is a genetic switch to prevent overpopulation.” I braced myself for Melissa’s scorn. She hated my beliefs on the subject. “Historically the largest documented cases of homosexuality came in periods and locations of large population booms . . . ”

His date slammed her cosmo on the counter. “That’s it. I can’t take it any more. You are all sinners and God frowns on you.” She stormed out the door.

“Wait a minute, bitch!” Melissa stood to chase her down, but I put my hand on her shoulder.

“I am so sorry for her . . . and my . . . I at least have to take her home. I am so sorry. Dr. I will see you in the morning. Guys, it was a pleasure to meet you all.” He turned to follow his date out the door.

“Oh my god! Are you fucking kidding me?” Melissa was infuriated.

“It’s OK, Ignorance is bliss.”

“It is not OK.”

“Sweetie, this is our last night. Let’s just enjoy it as much as we can, please.” I gave her a pleading face.

J.T. slapped the table. “So let’s talk about these aliens. I want to know what you are getting us into, Dr. Izzy.” His comedic gesture changed the tone. Melissa laughed. Izzy was a name I had been called in middle school I hated it much for the same reason they found it endearing. It likely conjured up images of my nerdy glasses and braces.

Melissa grinned. “You are lucky, J.T. I wish I could go. They are really interesting. Even the ‘Mother’ is sexless in so many ways. She is a store of genetic possibilities. She creates hundreds of genetic experiments, her eggs, and lays them all over her large territory. The eggs then hatch and track her down. Those that survive the world then kill each other and mutate and . . . I dunno. It gets so confusing. Ultimately the sole survivor then eats the mother in some mating duel and becomes the next ‘Mother’ right, Elizabeth?”

“Something like that. Don’t worry J.T. you’ll figure it out. You’re gonna capture the whole event on film. You are the first in history. We are lucky. The treaty wasn’t suppose to open for another decade, but the counsel agreed to let the Matrius to be observed due to the fact that our Matrius found Earth suitable and the Orinians asked for permission to allow two more Matrius to inhabit Earth.”

J.T. Squirmed in his seat. “Well, OK. We’re going to make history. Let’s do it.” He raised his mug of ale and kissed his fiancée.

She is going to come. I stood on the steps not knowing what to do. The 4runner was loaded. J.T. and his fiancée held each other while Kevin sat in the driver’s seat staring out the windshield. I suppose he and his date never reconciled or else she was not yet attached enough to bid him farewell.

Melissa and I argued last night. She was still upset about the adoption and that I was leaving.

Kevin honked the horn. “I am not leaving in rush hour traffic,” he shouted.

I felt tears about to burst forth, when I saw her walk around the corner. I ran to her and we held each other. “I‘m sorry,” she said.

“I hate leaving you.”

“Write me every day. Promise me.”

“We will get a child when I get back, I promise.”

“Write me every day.”

“I promise.”

Dear Melissa,

Well, we found the drone. It took us the entire first day once we got to the preserve. It is so amazing. The drone looks like a beach ball with hundreds of little legs that undulate, propelling them slowly across the ground like centipedes. Its torso is transparent and you can see vague organs within. I named him, “Kirby” like on Nintendo, but don’t tell anyone that I have succumbed to anthropomorphism. I would be kicked in the academic crotch, if you know what I mean.

I did a bunch of preliminary experiments. I won’t bore you with all the details, but I started an experiment to detect the trail it follows towards its ‘lover’. I feel, I too, am on a long trail towards my lover. I miss you already. I gotta go now. It is so busy today. I hate the fact that you will not be able to get my letters until we cross a postal line in the unpredictable future. I love you.

Elizabeth

Dear Melissa,

I am getting tired of the snow already....