Table of Contents: Gateway

I've received several requests to post my multi-part stories as single posts, and I've decided to comply. For those unfamiliar, these are portions of much larger stories, but (in all likelihood) their lifecycle here at Irreverent Irrelevance is complete. Further work on them (if there is any) will be done for the purpose of appearing in other media.

Anyway, the second piece to be "completed" here is a science fiction story - with heavy nods to Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, and John W. Campbell - called Gateway.

"Gateway"
The smell of cedar is out of place. Israel is not to the south and there are no trees. He doesn't know what death smells like - perhaps it does smell like wood - but he is resolutely certain that fear should smell like something else. The nitrocellulose in the air does little to staunch the odor. Cedar among blood. It's an interesting scent and its... Read More

"Surface"
Matt feels like he's swimming, though he knows that's impossible. He's unsure why it's impossible, but he knows it is. He almost drowned once, a long time ago, but never developed the fear of water that his parents thought he would. They even went around for a time telling friends that little Matt was afraid of water because of the incident... Read More

"Equation"
Falling from an aircraft and experiencing flight the way only a liar can feels nothing like falling from a planet. Or in this case a moon, Samuel reminds himself. The landscape here doesn't vary and the dark skies make it hard to gauge how high up he actually is. His head hurts, an infection-inspired vertigo, and that his eyes constantly... Read More