Science fiction story about a new mother searching for the truth about her husband's disappearance. What Zipporah discovers could save life on all the worlds, but at what cost?
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I.
Each grain of azurcose was a truncated icosahedron. She remembered this from school as thousands of them avalanched into her crystal mug of dark brown coffee, “like a million tiny footballs,” she whispered. Only these had flat faces, whereas the tiles on a football were convex, giving it its smooth rounded shape. “Thirty-two faces… Twelve pentagons, twenty hexagons, sixty angles, ninety lines. Remember that the next time you slurp your darn SyraNova drinks,” she mimicked her Chem teacher’s gravelly voice.
Someone snorted a few booths away, the group of punks she’d clocked on her way inside, only other people in the diner besides the cook, the server, and herself.
She wasn’t going to make him stay in her life if he didn’t want to, baby or no. How could she? Korratrea was still a free country, unless there’d been a coup she hadn’t heard about yet, which was unlikely.
The short one slid in beside her, and two more across the table, while the cautious one sat lightly at the adjacent table to her right. Clack-clack-clack, the man’s knuckles tapped on the hard plastic surface beneath her chin. Clack-clack-clack.
“Did you order yet?” he asked.
“Nope, just trying to enjoy this coffee.”
“Nice ring. Where’s your husband?”
“He said he was on his way.”
The man smiled to his friends, who laughed. “Yeah, well, I think he’s crazy to leave you alone like this. Middle of the night, strange neighborhood… Uncivilized company.” His friends laughed again.
“Funny, I was thinking the same thing.”
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