Random Man, a Novella

Zoe has new job. Managing a superhero with random powers is hard enough. Decoding the secret structure of existence is going to be a real challenge.

Zoe Alexakis is starting a new job. Working in the movie business has always been a dream. She should feel lucky. She does feel lucky. She does. Really.

Working as an assistant to the script coordinator for a Hollywood production company may not be what she imagined (it is, in fact, a long way from what she had imagined) but she is at least in the front door, rubbing shoulders with actors and directors. Zoe’s first project is to guard against script discrepancies on a blockbuster movie production about a new superhero: Random Man. It is a difficult assignment, for Random Man is not your typical superhero: an insurance agent who, having accidentally grabbed the business end of a molecular randomizer, now finds himself with a collection of superpowers he can neither predict nor control. One minute he can fly, the next minute he cannot. Super strength, speed, vision, the works, all randomly available until, suddenly, they are not available. How then does one go about enforcing consistency in a script about a man who epitomizes inconsistency and unpredictability on a heroic scale?

And yet, the Random Man script is the least of Zoe’s problems. Far more pressing is her need to decode the secret structure of existence. Her options include luck, destiny, self-determination, divinity and, yes, randomness, all battling it out for dominance on Zoe’s bus commute to and from the studio. Who’s to say, really, although there are plenty of datapoints in Zoe’s life with some persuasive influence, including her dead twin sister; a seemingly immortal cat named Lucky; Dr. Ayaan Patel, the Indian self-help guru bubbling advice through her earbuds; Charley, the stylish force-of-nature that is her mentor-employer; the Schrödinger’s box of Zoe’s Los Angeles apartment; the potbellied, potato-faced convenience store clerk selling lottery tickets; Paul, the actor cast in the role of Random Man who seems to have lost control of his eyebrows; and Dexter, the thief holding Zoe’s stolen luggage for the ransom of information about her day.

So, yes, Zoe feels lucky. But is she? That, actually, is the problem.

While it is available for purchase separately, "Random Man" is also included in a larger work of short fiction by Owen Thomas entitled "This is the Dream."