THE ANTIMATTER OF DEATH Page 4

  I feel fresh today, rejuvenated. Alive. A newfound appreciation for what really matters. I lean over and kiss Stella; the smell of her perfume subtly infiltrates my senses.

  “So, what’s it called, after all?” I make a sniffing sound.

  “Thrive.” She touches my chest softly, eyes batting up to mine.

  We grin at each other. Hand in hand, my body held close to hers, I walk with my co-passenger of this journey toward the luminous sunrise over the city.

  EPILOGUE

  The neon-inspired LED lights of the Singularity Backpacker Hostel glare brightly in the dusk. The whole day, from sunrise to sunset, was spectacular, rounded up with dinner lit by floating bioluminescent lamps and infused with soft, electronic jazz. As we walk together toward the quiet little pond in the moonlit backyard, hands interlaced, I notice something unsettling. Her left hand is cold!

  In a flash I realize Richard’s arm, the one that tore off, was his left, not his right! And I lost my right hand.

  Shit! No, no, no!

  I also realize that I never told Stella my name when we first met. She knew me from before…The horror seeps into me as I realize the truth. From the corner of my eye, I notice Stella glancing at me.

  She must have found out about my arrival, discovered that I’d be retrieved, and tried to get to me before Richard. The kiss. Her arm grabbing not my neck, but my passport sticker! She must have wanted to be certain of who I was before…

  All the tiny particles of the multilayered mosaic assemble into their entirety. Only now do I grasp its true pattern. My heart turns into a clump and shatters into dust when I realize the last truth: she didn’t want to save me. She wanted to fix me, just like she said. Fix me like a machine composed of precious parts, a free supply store.

  Someone else found you first…Richard’s words echo in my head.

  I turn my head slowly to Stella, horror dawning across my face.

  A demonic grin plays around her lips. “You should have trusted your first instinct . . . and run,” she whispers, her voice suddenly deep. A sharp pain explodes in my head.

  The next thing I know I’m lying on a bed. The light’s flickering; everything’s blurry. A laser cutter, tools, iceboxes next to me, flasks with blood. Complicated-looking machines, even for an engineer.

  “Why?” I ask. My voice breaks.

  Stella leans over me. “I want a new heart. This one hurts.”

  I close my eyes as she plunges a knife deep into my chest.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Thanks is due to a group of fantastic human beings who have generously donated their time to (officially) beta-read this story and share their thoughts, which have greatly improved this story and sparked inspiring discussions. Thank you Peter Alexander Kopciak, Amalia Mailli, Bill Liao and Mary Ward.

  I’d like to thank my editor, Savannah Tate for patiently accompanying me on this journey from early drafts to something you’ve hopefully enjoyed reading.

  If there’s anything you don’t like, it’s entirely my fault.

  Thank you for the read! It means everything to me, being new in the game. As an indie author I need all the help I can get, so I’d love it if you leave me a review on Amazon. You can simply click here to rate this story. This helps others find this book and helps me tell stories you love.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  EA Solaris, aka the Biofuturist, is a synthetic biologist, technologist and futurist based in London. She did cancer research for her PhD and now helps accelerate breakthrough deep science startups across energy, medicine and sustainability at RebelBio, an accelerator of VC firm SOSV.

  She has published critically acclaimed poetry and tech goes under her skin - she became a cyborg live on stage. This is her penname.

  Her stories explore the intersection of humanity and emerging technologies - this one was inspired by her research in chaos theory and artificial gene circuits at Imperial College London.

  Come say hi on twitter (@thebiofuturist) and visit me in my cyberhub where you can read more. You will also find social media links, where I share exciting tech and science news.

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