In Ascension

by Martin MacInnes

If Fenna could speak the language that she thought in, the sound would be like nothing in the world.

I could carry my father because I was more like him than I realised; I had been carrying a part of him all along.

If I lived my life in error, drawing pain helplessly and unconsciously towards me, then it was still worthwhile in repelling that same pain away from my sister.

and every time I left the beach I told myself all I had to do was put those same stones in my pockets and walk out into the water and I would never have to go home again.

It was an effective fantasy; I was able to carry on because I knew I didn’t have to.

I realised, suddenly, with appreciation, that absolutely everything around me was alive.

Ascension: bodies rising and lifting off the ground, all of us airborne, all of us unlimited.

People keep disappearing in space, and they need to counteract that trend, fertilise space, bring birth into space.