Hey all,
I have a new short story coming out in the MCB Quarterly next month:
Davis plays with people’s lives, changing timelines like other men change clothes. But he always keeps his own timeline out of it by remembering his mantra:
You’re not God.
Never mess with your own past.
Remember, you’re not God.
But this time things are different – his new client is a man from Davis’s own past who wants to go back into the closet. Things are bound to get messy.
Excerpt
“Sure, it’s unorthodox. Past-pathing’s always a dicey proposition.” Davis twisted the phone cord between his fingers, frowning, thinking of all the contingencies involved. The background work alone would be extensive, but the challenge might make it worthwhile. “When can you come down? That’s right, 147 Alpine, corner of Main, just behind the Quickmart. Long gray building with a flat roof, military barracks conversion. Can’t miss it.”
Harlan’s framed image stared back at him as he talked, his handsome face a mockery of the present. Davis snorted and tossed the frame in the trash. Long past due.
“Oh, nothing, sir. Just a sneeze.” He spun around in the chair, fingers rambling over the key slate. “Tomorrow, ten sharp? I’ll need to do a preliminary scan, then feed the data through our AI server to find the best places to start. It’ll take me, what, maybe two days? Then we can talk.” He scratched behind his ear unconsciously, the ideas already spinning in his brain. He’d have to write some code tonight to weed out the worst of the dross from the first run in the morning. Then he’d see about narrowing down the resulting data set and cleaning up the main lines from there.
“Gotcha. What? Nothing… just yourself. Right-o. See you then.” Coupla days with no sleep. It was doable.
He sat back, rubbing his chin, staring out the window at the reflective glass windows of the soaring forty-story tenements. He’d never had a request quite so close to home. Why would someone want to go back into the closet?