Robert Arvay's Science Fiction Blog

Portal to Never (a brief science fiction story) by Robert Arvay The strangest person I ever met was memorable, which is the most ironic of ironies, as you shall shortly see. I was a very low-level research assistant, in an obscure project, that was running out of its funding.   All the important people were spending more time and energy seeking opportunities elsewhere, than wrapping up what increasingly seemed to be a failed venture.   Even the bottle-washer had gone.   And so, most nights found me staying late, along with the project manager who, in previous months, had deemed himself too important to even ask my name.   He had recently taken note of me, however, and even authorized generous overtime pay for me, from the dwindling funds remaining on account.   Otherwise, I would already have joined the bottle-washer in his quest for greener pastures. As it was, Dr. Gershner was particularly morose this night.   At first, I attributed his dark mood to h...

  --A Science Fiction Short-short Story I had not been feeling well, not at all.  From the time that I woke up, I considered not going in to work that day.  I asked my sleeping housewife if she was feeling well, but she groggily said to me, “Don’t be late for work,” and fell back asleep.  Okay, I’ll try.  Anything for you, my sweet. Feeling as though lead were in my veins, I rolled out of bed, hoping that a shower would make me feel better.  It did not, but I decided to tough it out anyway, at least long enough to show up in the workplace, and beg off there, instead of on the phone, just to show that I had tried.  I still had time to stop at the fast-food drive-through to pick up a breakfast sandwich and coffee, as was my usual custom, although I had to drive faster than usual, to make it to work on time. Somehow, I struggled through the day, and by quitting time, I actually did feel well enough to look forward to my wife’s cooking.  She alw...