Three Jump Space stories recently added to my website — enjoy! They all work as stand-alones. (They follow on from The Stars Change, and are also being incorporated into the new Jump Space book…)
Communion: https://maryannemohanraj.com/communion/
Plea: https://maryannemohanraj.com/plea/0
That She Might Fly: https://maryannemohanraj.com/that-she-might-fly/
“It was smaller than he’d expected. Oh, the planet was large enough, but this so-famous university city, pride of the galaxy—it was barely bigger than the smallest of the tunnel-cities on the southern continent of the homeworld. Gaudier from space, of course, since most of the city was above-ground and brightly lit. But the city had no depth to it—it was thin, barely a few stories tall in most places.
If a human saw the deep delvings of Chaurin’s people, it might faint away in sheer terror. On awaking, it would cling to the walls, begging not to be dragged any further, shown any more. Then Chaurin would insist—no, you must come; you think us animals, barbarians; you must see what wonders we have wrought! And he might pull that human to the very edge of a twisting stone stair, and with a single, careless motion, toss it tumbling down. They were ephemeral, these humans, light and slight, of no consequence. It would be easy to dispose of one…”