Our second piece of audio fiction for May is “The Architect of Heaven” written by Jason K. Chapman and read by Kate Baker.

 

 Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 56 - The Architech of Heaven by Jason K. Chapman [43:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (10809)

Waking up, as always, is disorienting. His mind insists that it’s only been a moment since the stinging injection and the deep breaths of cold gas that taste like metal and sugar. One of the attendants, her voice soft, tells him it’s been half a century since he last opened his eyes. [...]

The viscous stain on the floor had the rich smell of organic compounds with a tangy hint of iron. Extending a probe, Charley Eighty-Three tested it. It was human blood. Charley Eighty-Three couldn’t imagine why a pool of human blood should be spread across the sparkling white floor of section eighty-three. [...]