Bearing Witness

SCIENCE FICTION FANTASY HORROR ~ FLASH FICTION MICRO FICTION ~		June/July 2009
		Vol. VII No. 6	ISSN: 1545-3650

AlienSkin Magazine_®
Published Bi-Monthly Online

~ ~ Snowbound ~ ~ by Phil Adams, Ohio

Deep snow. Endless blizzard swirl. Safe Chalet ravaged. Yeti's fleshy snack screams in vain.

~ ~ Memento Lost ~ ~ by K. A. Patterson, Pennsylvania

Gray ore pulses. Tarnished fob, foreign chevron paste, polished hums ancient code to space.



	Bearing Witness by Alan Rice Osborn ©2009 "Look." "No. I won't. I can't." "You must." "What difference will it make?" "We have to record—" "Record? You're recording this?" "Yes." "Whatever for?" "Because—" "That's an asteroid. It's made of nickel-iron. It weighs ten trillion tons. When it hits, everything ends. It doesn't care if you watch!" "I know." "We're out of air in three days. By then, we won't even be able to see the surface. Dust will block the sun for a year. Sulfuric acid will ride the stratospheric winds for decades. Every species of animal bigger than a rat will be dead. We can't land. And you're taking pictures?" "And watching." "Why? Please, tell me why?" "It's all I can do. All anyone can do." "I can't." "Sit beside me. Look. It's called 'bearing witness.' It's what the living owe the dead." "It won't make any difference!" "No. But it's what we have to do." ~ Alan Rice Osborn, California ©2009 Alan has been teaching Geography at San Diego State University for the past 10 years. He has been published in Dead of Night Magazine, Andre Norton's Catfantastic IV anthology with collaborating writers Heather Gladney and Don Clayton.