Extraterrestrial life is everywhere, and humanity has finally learned how to eavesdrop on the alien conversations. What begins as one overheard shout quickly expands to hundreds and thousands of distinct signals. Then, millions of them. And each one of the signals is ready to transform life on the earth.
Someone needs to be in charge of the chaos.
And this is how one mid-list science fiction author becomes one of the most powerful people in the world.
"The hotel lobby was enormous and busy, but it didn't feel crowded and it wasn't nearly as loud as it could have been. Hundreds of conventioneers stood in knots and tangles, most of them studying Jack as he strode past. Quiet voices and loud whispers blended into a respectful murmur. Some of the spectators grinned like old friends, while others laughed anxiously. Perhaps a quarter of the faces were alien. Elaborate, rigorously accurate costumes had been fashioned from pseudoflesh and hololight as well as cotton and dye. Voice boxes and embedded translators allowed the people inside to converse in the newest languages. Jack could imagine what they were saying. Looking at the human faces with their starstruck gazes and smarmy grins, it was easy to feel like some great king. Then some hard sneer or a distant curse would remind Jack that some people didn't approve of him or his work, and his writer's paranoia would kick in: Who had a gun? Who had the rope? What tree would they string him from?"
Robert Reed is a prolific mid-list author who would like to rule the world. His novella, "A Billion Eves," won the Hugo Award in 2007.
Genre: Science Fiction
Someone needs to be in charge of the chaos.
And this is how one mid-list science fiction author becomes one of the most powerful people in the world.
"The hotel lobby was enormous and busy, but it didn't feel crowded and it wasn't nearly as loud as it could have been. Hundreds of conventioneers stood in knots and tangles, most of them studying Jack as he strode past. Quiet voices and loud whispers blended into a respectful murmur. Some of the spectators grinned like old friends, while others laughed anxiously. Perhaps a quarter of the faces were alien. Elaborate, rigorously accurate costumes had been fashioned from pseudoflesh and hololight as well as cotton and dye. Voice boxes and embedded translators allowed the people inside to converse in the newest languages. Jack could imagine what they were saying. Looking at the human faces with their starstruck gazes and smarmy grins, it was easy to feel like some great king. Then some hard sneer or a distant curse would remind Jack that some people didn't approve of him or his work, and his writer's paranoia would kick in: Who had a gun? Who had the rope? What tree would they string him from?"
Robert Reed is a prolific mid-list author who would like to rule the world. His novella, "A Billion Eves," won the Hugo Award in 2007.
Genre: Science Fiction
Used availability for Robert Reed's Oracles