AntipodeanSF Issue 318

By C. A. Broadribb

Three good whiffs of Tiffini and I split up, my different spirits running in parallel through a snowy forest. Large, transparent flowers flow around and gently cling to branches with their pincers. Pincers? Why would flowers have pincers? Where are we, anyway? There are pine trees everywhere, and more are growing all the time. We reassemble into one body, I grab an axe and swing at the nearest trunk. I miss, and almost hit Cameron.

“What are you doing?” he says.

“Investigating,” I say. 

I wonder why he’s wearing riding clothes even though there is nothing to ride. However, something else — or rather, someone else — has just caught my attention.

“I know that kid,” I say.

Cameron spins around and through the flakes in the air sees my acquaintance from a previous journey. The son of a young man whose grave was drowned by the sound of acid rain. A dark, fallen child. Erick.

“You’re ruining everything!” Erick says accusingly. 

“I’m not,” I say. “This is my new forest.” 

“You’re ruining everything,” he says. “I’m recording it.”

He extends his arm, and opens the folded skin to reveal a storage card. 

“Maybe. But…” I can’t seem to find my voice. 

“This is not a forest. It is a house,” Cameron says, jumping on the carpets and rugs. 

He’s right. We’re in a luxurious mansion that has paintings of large, transparent flowers on the walls. A workbench by the side of the room holds a variety of tools and partially made clocks. I’m making my own unique timepieces, and instead of cuckoos, they are full of chicks and surprises. They only show lost time: the moments we ignore or lose track of; the flies that we leave in the blink of an eye. The last one sold immediately. However, when I pick up another to complete it, it explodes in my fingers and the pieces scatter on the floor. I am shocked. Cameron calms me down.

“You’re ruining everything!” Erick says accusingly. 

Now the rugs are crawling on the floor of their own volition, piling up and assembling themselves into a high mound. Kingah appears, sitting on top, wearing his beautiful crown, confident of his powers. He has been away for a long time, but has returned to us all. He offers to show me a special collection of opal scents.

“They have a sad history,” he says.

A blue-eyed squirrel hands him a stunning bottle. It looks like it came from a museum.

“I am waiting for the moment to be stolen,” Cameron whispers.

“You’re ruining everything,” Erick says.

I notice something amazing. The king is hiding three masks behind his battle-hardened arms; one for each head. Owl masks. During all this time he must have been hiding amongst us, masquerading as someone else.

“You’re a traitor!” I cry. “You betrayed the kingdom.”

“You missed me so much,” he counters.

The room has silently filled with people: all members of his court. Once again when I see myself as part of his kingdom I think that he should become a better ruler, more courageous but also more kindly. Instead, we have become part of his will. He believes that bottles encrypted with opal are codes for a better life. 

“I warned you,” Cameron says, and for some reason he no longer wears riding clothes. He’s in animal skins, like a caveman. 

The people around us talk amongst themselves, but their voices are weak. They are fading away, becoming translucent. Green trees are once more sprouting up all around us.

“They’re magical,” I say, watching the ghosts flow through the trees. 

“You’re ruining everything,” Erick says. “Finish it, finish it, oppose it.”

“Does that not mean that he has to look and feel and think?” Cameron says.

 “That means weakness,” I say.

Now I'm heavy and tired. Everything changes smoothly. The ghosts disappear. Trees turn into control panels. Kingah on his hill becomes the possessive face of a maintenance robot on a roving trolley. Cameron is an automatic cleaner. Erick is a beeping navigation computer. I’m alone again on this long journey, this endless journey, through the stars. 

Three good whiffs of Tiffini and I'm ready for another experience…

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About the Author

Bio:  C. A. Broadribb has an MA in Professional Writing and a Graduate Diploma in Journalism. 

She writes both fiction and non-fiction.

Her website is <www.wildthoughts.com.au>

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Issue Contributors

Meet the Narrators

  • Michelle Walker

    michelle walker32My time at Nambucca Valley Community Radio began back in 2016 after moving into the area from Sydney.

    As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, I recognised it was definitely God who opened up the pathways for my husband and I to settle in the Valley.

    Within

    ...
  • Tim Borella

    tim borellaTim Borella is an Australian author, mainly of short speculative fiction published in anthologies, online and in podcasts.

    He’s also a songwriter, and has been fortunate enough to have spent most of his working life doing something else he loves, flying.

    Tim lives with his wife Georgie in beautiful Far

    ...
  • Chuck McKenzie

    chuck mckenzie 200Chuck McKenzie was born in 1970, and still spends much of his time there.

    He also runs the YouTube channel 'A Touch of the Terrors', where — as 'Uncle Charles' — he performs readings of his favourite horror tales in a manner that makes most ham actors

    ...
  • Alistair Lloyd

    alistair lloyd 200Alistair Lloyd is a Melbourne based writer and narrator who has been consuming good quality science fiction and fantasy most of his life.

    You may find him on Twitter as <@mr_al> and online at <...

  • Mark English

    mark english 100Mark is an astrophysicist and space scientist who worked on the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn. Following this he worked in computer consultancy, engineering, and high energy research (with a stint at the JET Fusion Torus).

    All this science hasn't damped his love of fantasy and science fiction. It has, however, ruined his

    ...
  • Ed Errington

    ed erringtonEd lives with his wife plus a magical assortment of native animals in tropical North Queensland.

    His efforts at wallaby wrangling are without parallel — at least in this universe.

    He enjoys reading and writing science-fiction stories set within intriguing, yet plausible contexts, and invite readers’ “willing suspension of

    ...
  • Merri Andrew

    merri andrew 200Merri Andrew writes poetry and short fiction, some of which has appeared in Cordite, Be:longing, Baby Teeth and Islet, among other places.

    She has been a featured artist for the Noted festival, won a Red Room #30in30 daily poetry challenge and was shortlisted for the

    ...
  • Barry Yedvobnick

    barry yedvobnick 200Barry Yedvobnick is a recently retired Biology Professor. He performed molecular biology and genetic research, and taught, at Emory University in Atlanta for 34 years. He is new to fiction writing, and enjoys taking real science a step or two beyond its known boundaries in his

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  • Carolyn Eccles

    carolyn eccles 100

    Carolyn's work spans devising, performance, theatre-in-education and a collaborative visual art practice.

    She tours children's works to schools nationally with School Performance Tours, is a member of the Bathurst physical theatre ensemble Lingua Franca and one half of darkroom —

    ...
  • Laurie Bell

    lauriebell 2 200

    Laurie Bell lives in Melbourne, Australia and is the author of "The Stones of Power Series" via Wyvern's Peak Publishing: "The Butterfly Stone", "The Tiger's Eye" and "The Crow's Heart" (YA/Fantasy).

    She is also the author of "White Fire" (Sci-Fi) and "The Good, the Bad and the Undecided" (a

    ...
  • Geraldine Borella

    geraldine borella 200Geraldine Borella writes fiction for children, young adults and adults. Her work has been published by Deadset Press, IFWG Publishing, Wombat Books/Rhiza Edge, AHWA/Midnight Echo, Antipodean SF, Shacklebound Books, Black Ink Fiction, Paramour Ink Fiction, House of Loki and Raven & Drake

    ...
  • Emma Gill

    Emma Louise GillEmma Louise Gill (she/her) is a British-Australian spec fic writer and consumer of vast amounts of coffee. Brought up on a diet of English lit, she rebelled and now spends her time writing explosive space opera and other fantastical things in

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  • Marg Essex

    marg essex 200Margaret lives the good life on a small piece of rural New South Wales Australia, with an amazing man, a couple of pets, and several rambunctious wombats.

    She feels so lucky to be a part of the AntiSF team.

    ...

  • Sarah Jane Justice

    Sarah Jane Justice 200Sarah Jane Justice is an Adelaide-based fiction writer, poet, musician and spoken word artist.

    Among other achievements, she has performed in the National Finals of the Australian Poetry Slam, released two albums of her original music and seen her poetry

    ...