Chapter 8
336 Words
11
OUT ON THE EDGE
apron floating in it. But that’s not what hap-pened.
I didn’t I find a spiky-faced skeleton ei-ther.
Nor did I go back and be told, to my as-tonishment, that the place blew up/burned down/depressurized years ago and I couldn’t possibly have been there.
Nope. The Old Earth Pub is still there, exactly as I described it. It is operated by an Earther named Chang. He had no idea what I was talking about when I asked about Mr. X. He said he’d been running the place for five years. I interviewed him, just to complete the assignment. See attached.
And this is my report. Use what parts of it you can. I suspect not very much, unless you want to transfer me to the Woo Woo Desk.
* * * *
So, three spacemen walk into a bar on Pluto. Nothing in particular happens. Such folk come and go all the time.
Later, there are two people left in the bar, one of them an Earther reporter, and the oth-er someone who doesn’t belong, but took a very, very long time getting there.
i
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Darrell Schweitzer is primarily known as a fantasy and horror author, but he has writ-ten a small but significant body of science fiction over the years. Recently, PS Publish-ing issued a two-volume retrospective of his career, The Mysteries of the Faceless King and The Last Heretic, which reprint his best short fiction.
His novels include The White Isle, The Shattered Goddess, The Mask of the Sorcer-er, and The Dragon House. His nonfiction and interviews have been coolected in nu-merous volumes as well. Currently, he lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with his wife, Marilyn “Mattie” Brahen, and their cat, H.P. Lovecraft.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Allen Koszowski has long been a fixture in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror art fields. He has contributed literally thousands of illustrations to ’zines over his long career. He recently relocated from Philadelphia to the warmer climate of Florida.
- Writer
