*
Years ago, when the flood of the Blood Storm was reaching high tide, the possible had finally become the inevitable: the great global war had taken things past the point of no return. Mankind would not survive. Those not killed outright would eventually succumb to the aftermath of sickness clinging fang and claw to the dying envelope of atmosphere encircling the globe.
In an effort to prevent the ultimate and complete extinction of the race, a network of large, underground enclaves was constructed. By 2050, the technology had already been developed to enable sustained air, food and water supplies to be used in these; they would last for centuries, if needed, and keep those few survivors going until they could come up to the surface once again. The hope was that they would begin repopulating the world.
There had been six such underground groups in the desert area that was Liana's home. Four of them had long since succumbed to underground oxygen system malfunctions, outbreaks of contagious illnesses, and other unplanned for mishaps.
Liana's group had survived and eventually returned to the surface. Five and a half miles away, the other group was alive, but permanently entombed within their underground structure. A series of freakish sand storms whirled over fifty tons of sand on top of the two poorly situated surface hatches, making it virtually impossible to ever open them again from inside. The Symbol Stream was a repeated call for help to anyone anywhere who might ever see it. If nothing else, its presence would let people know there were others still alive somewhere.
It had taken years for an electronics genius named Miles Eldridge to figure out a way to use his own computers to override, and then have the Stream appear, on computers in other locations, and many more years to finally figure out a way to have the messages appear as something other than a stream of meaningless digits and symbols.
*
A team of 30 people from Liana's Enclave made the five-mile journey in the devastating heat to dig out and free the underground Eldridge enclave. It was a day of great rejoicing for all, as more humans now walked upon the earth. For everyone in Liana's group who had been working so diligently for years with the computer files, it was also a chance for the two groups to merge their knowledge about Earth's past technologies and to redouble their efforts to make them a reality once again.
It would be quite a while though before any of the Eldridge group would want to talk of such things. For now, all they wanted to do was look at the wide, blue sky, feel the sun, walk for miles in the sand, and breathe the endless ocean of sweet fresh air.
####
The End
Author and Staff Bios
Erin Lale, Author
Erin Lale's publishing career began in 1985. She is the acquisitions editor at Eternal Press and Damnation Books, published Berserkrgangr Magazine, owned the Science Fiction Store in Las Vegas, and her latest book is No Horns On These Helmets.
Wen Quan Li, Editor-in-Chief
When Wen Quan (or Wenquan) isn't editing zines for Blaster Books, he's working on his tabletop role-playing game, Aes: Brass Revolution (www.AesBrassRevolution.com), a sci-fi steampunk setting with strong themes of liberty, exploration, and creation. He's also the head of Exoptable Proofing (facebook.com/exoptableproof), which specializes in beta-reading novels and short stories (free for now) and editing and essay writing (not free). He can be found on Twitter @aesbrass and contacted at
[email protected] Jouth Submission Guidelines
We seek science fiction stories in all subgenres! No horror, fantasy, or paranormal romance please. Two authors to reference for the style this zine prefers are David Weber and John Ringo. Two of our favorite subgenres in particular are military sci-fi and space opera. And a good romantic sci-fi is always a treat!
Desired Lengths:
1.Short stories (1,000 to 7,499 words)
2.Novelettes (7,500 to 17,499 words)
3.Novellas (17,500 to 39,999 words)
If your story is 40,000 words or longer, consider submitting it for publication as a novel with Blaster Books.
Submitting:
1.Send stories as file attachments via email:
[email protected] 2.Files should be in either RTF or DOC format. Please no DOCX files.
3.Include a cover page with: title, your name, word count, story synopsis, and a 3 or 4 sentence bio.
4.Font should be 1.5 spaced 12-point Times New Roman. Title and chapter headings should be 14-point Times New Roman. Use tabs, not spaces, to indent.
Payment:
1.Short stories: 1 cents a word
2.Novelettes and novellas: 1 cent a word
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