And We Will Sing into the Void — Part Four
By Samantha L. Strong
Uncanny Newborn is shivering happily in its mother’s arms. My ire dissipates. It stares deeply into space, at my favorite star. In a bout of whimsy, I named this particular point of light Efflorescent Artistry, and the idea pleased me, so I kept it.
Oh, to think only pleasant thoughts again! Oh, to no longer worry about my children! The spray of violet rays is light and airy, the newborn’s focus on it remarkable.
Since I noticed this child, eight score of newborns have separated from their mothers; five dozen scion have reached the ends of their life spans, silvery life sputtering out, and retracted into my core.
Why this one?
What makes it different?
I throw myself open to the sun, sucking in its light. That taste again! Heavenly, heady, ambrosial—
I could go on, but I have matters to attend to.
Barely comprehending what I’m doing, I waggle a wave of cords in my fifteenth segment. Each consciousness squawks in its own unique voice at the violation. I am dangerously close to disaster, overtaking their freedom to grapple with the Bloated One. But my control slips off its smooth sides as though it’s an asteroid made of black ice. It drains hope from three more of my children who were innocently basking in the sun. Their eyes roll; their cords jerk; their consciousness fades and goes dim. Before their time, I reel them in, grieving, furious, horrified.
I will destroy the Bloated One before it destroys me! Us! All of us!
Samantha L. Strong writes dark and beautiful SFF stories about complicated characters. Like many Elder Millennials, she’d like to become an herbalist and live in an abandoned, haunted nunnery somewhere far away from people.
Samantha’s short fiction has appeared in Amazing Stories, AE: The Science Fiction Review, and elsewhere, and she’s the former Executive Editor at Flash Fiction Online. She has four novels out about angels and demons: her Fallen Redemption trilogy and a companion novel. You can find her on Instagram and TikTok @SamanthaLStrong, and more of her writing is available on her website www.samanthalstrong.com.
Copyright © 2025 Samantha Sabovitch