By Wes Parish
“It’s the fault of all these cross-time travellers, and trans-multiverse visitors,” the old Iranian said, spitting savagely at an ant making its way towards his leg.
I looked around at the coffee-shop we were sitting in and up and down the Tehran street, stopped scribbling in my phone, put it down and asked, “Why do you say so?”
“The number of those protesters killed and yet unaccounted for would be much, much smaller,” he said. “I studied pataphysics with the very best. Even Michael Moorcock agrees with me! I know what I’m talking about. Trans-multiverse visitors never stay in the universe they have been killed in. Only cross-time travellers do so.”
“Oh?”
“Conservation of mass! It’s that simple — did you never study physics in school?”
I shrugged. I had tried, but the maths had beaten me.
“Okay, you understand this? You can’t add mass to a closed system like the universe — only present it with virtual mass. So when the virtual mass loses its contact with the power placing it in a given location in an external universe, it loses its virtual place in that location.”
I shrugged again, and picked up my coffee, and drank it off. All because I had wanted to know why there was such a discrepancy between the claimed and the actual numbers of the victims killed in the Iranian protests. I seriously doubted my ability to interview any of those alleged “trans-multiverse visitors”. Even Dr Who would not be able to assist me on this — and that reminded me — my Dalek warning app needed an update ...
About the Author
Wesley Parish is an SF fan from early childhood. Born in PNG, he enjoys reading about humans in strange cultures and circumstances.
His favourite SF authors include Ursula Le Guin, Fritz Lieber, Phillip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard and Frank Herbert.
Wes lives in Christchurch, NZ, is an unemployed Java and C programmer, and has recently decided to become a mad ukuleleist, flautist and trombonist, and would love to revert to being the mad fiddler and pedal steel guitarist.. "Where oh where has my little pedal steel got to ... ?"
Barry 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
Brian Biswas lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Alistair Lloyd is a Melbourne based writer and narrator who has been consuming good quality science fiction and fantasy most of his life.
Merri Andrew writes poetry and short fiction, some of which has appeared in Cordite, Be:longing, Baby Teeth and Islet, among other places.
My time at Nambucca Valley Community Radio began back in 2016 after moving into the area from Sydney.
Tom Wrosch is a retired policy analyst with the State of Oregon, and resides with his wife in Salem.
Tim Borella is an Australian author, mainly of short speculative fiction published in anthologies, online and in podcasts.
Geraldine 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
Tara Campbell is an award-winning writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, fiction co-editor at Barrelhouse, and graduate of American University's MFA in Creative Writing.
James Walton was a librarian, a farm labourer, and mostly a public sector union official.
Ed lives with his wife plus a magical assortment of native animals in tropical North Queensland.
Emma 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