Science Fiction Story Sneak-Peak #1: “Tracking him down had been too easy.”

Here is a snippet from a science fiction story I’ve been writing this month. Every month I’ve been endevouring to share a little bit of my writing so I keep on track with my writing goals.

Last time, I shared a teaser from a dark fantasy novel. I’m very grateful to everyone who left a like. It really means a lot to me. Thank you. 🙂

What have I been writing this month?

March was a little hectic for me. I had a job interview that I forced two weeks of time and stress into, which made it very hard to do any writing without feeling guilty. Because I’ve been unemployed for a while, only recently taking up casual work to earn a little income, it was vital for me to do my best at this interview.

Cue a lot of freaking out.

Well… I got the job! 🙂

So that happened.

Of course, this completely turned everything upsidedown. I won’t bore you with the details, but my writing was shoved to the side until the eleventh hour. With little of the month left, I had to really push myself to meet my writing goals. It was important for me to meet them because I had to prove to myself that I could continue to write even with my life taking this very sudden direction.

The good news is, by the skin of my teeth, I managed to reach my goal. Phew! I wrote 4 chapters in total, 2 of which are part of this new science fiction idea I had. That’s 16,546 words in total, excluding blogging.

Okay. I’ve rambled enough. Please enjoy this month’s little sci-fi snippet.

---

The woman with six arms was following a man through a crowded market. Vendors dipped in and out of cramped spacecraft, flaunting goods at wide-eyed tourists. They sold the typical stuff: jewellery from faraway colonies, vintage tech passed down from great grandparents, and food – copious amounts of food. The market stank with it. The smell was so powerful that the six-armed woman felt as though she were the one on the menu. When the man she was tailing stopped to watch a busker perform, she was forced to linger by a foul-smelling stall, where a chef was deep-frying what might have been meat once.

Ever since she’d lost her biological arms in war, the scent of cooking flesh made her sick. She was unlucky but unsurprised that her target decided to attend the market on the busiest day. Travelling markets lasted a week, sometimes two, before the vendors packed up what they hadn’t sold and travelled to the next colony. They migrated like birds. Some even looked like birds. Some had dyed skin. Some had more limbs than they were born with. Body modification had been all the rage since the 23^rd century, especially with travellers who aimed to bedazzle and shock people into giving them their attention and money. The woman did not stand out.

The man she was following did. His name was Reuben Chamberton and he was running for mayor. Popular candidate, from what she had gathered. He didn’t appear to have any outward augments, which got him the vote from the naturalists. He wore plain clothes, which got him the vote from the poor. Though his lack of modifications raised a few eyebrows amongst jaunty travellers, he made up for this with his genuine interest in their wayfaring lifestyle. Clearly he had loftier aspirations than being mayor; he wanted travellers to speak his name across the System. And they had. Tracking him down had been too easy.

---

For fun: The character ‘Reuben Chamberton’ is a reference to a science fiction author. Can you guess who?