Goldilocks

by L.R. Lam

Really, they were afraid of women. Or hated them. Wasn’t that much the same thing? The country saw those angry men as a fringe movement right up until one was elected president.

Below them lay Earth. It didn’t look like a marble; it was too clearly alive.

He had a face Naomi could only describe as mobile—always on the verge of a laugh, a smirk, a frown. She had never seen him still.

Her ears and neck were bare of jewels. She never saw the need to condense her wealth into hard rocks of carbon. She made rockets instead.

“I felt exactly how you would feel if you were getting ready to launch and knew you were sitting on top of two million parts—all built by the lowest bidder on a government contract.”