The Judgement Conundrum

Dylan crouched against the wall. He listened carefully for any further sound. His alertness was vindicated by the whoosh of a vehicle passing by, its air cushion blowing out an immense amount of dust and debris. Making himself as small as possible, he froze into a ball, waiting for the vehicle to pass. The sound continued and then there was an explosion, as someone fired at the wall where he had been hiding. He managed to somersault away from the wall as he smelt the ozone an instant before the blast. He crawled away slowly, moving an inch at a time. The commander of the flying vehicle scanned the area again. The psi-scan showed a human in close proximity, but it seemed to be wounded. Lacerant Plainer’s new short story is set in the near future, and with its fast-paced action, dystopian world and warring humans and aliens it ticks all the boxes for a near-perfect first contact tale. But is it? Or is there another point of view to the destruction of Earth, the concept of war and the perspective of aliens? Read this cracking account of the interaction between humans and Xylex, and the implications of greed, short-sightedness, violence and judgments.