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Ash Vector

sci-fi◐ Mature
5 contributors · 1 paragraphs deep

Dr. Mara Okafor hadn't slept in forty hours. On the quarantine moon Cessil-9, eleven mine workers had each spoken one strange word into the comms log, then gone quiet. When they woke, they answered to other names and wept for cities nobody had ever heard of. Their blood was clean. Whatever this was, it wasn't in the blood. It was in the voice. The comms log blinked on her screen, waiting to be played.

What happens next?

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A possible continuation

Mara played the log. Eleven voices said the same word: a wet, clicking sound her own throat tried to copy before she clamped her mouth shut. She slapped the speakers off, heart pounding. The word wanted to be repeated. That was how it spread. She had to know where it came from.

BD
Bram de Vries
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