An enticing snippet from Jennifer Egan's excellent short fiction work, "Black Box," in the June 4 & 11, 2012 issue of The New Yorker, The Science Fiction Issue.
(Another great short fiction work in the same issue, available to paid subscribers, is Junot Diaz's "Monstro.")
Some citizen agents have chosen not to
return.
They have left their bodies behind, and
now they shimmer sublimely in the
heavens.
....
When you succeed, a certain sharpness
will go out of his eyes.
2
Some powerful men actually call their
beauties “Beauty.”
Counter to reputation, there is a deep
camaraderie among beauties.
If your Designated Mate is widely feared,
the beauties at the house party where
you’ve gone undercover to meet him will
be especially kind.
Kindness feels good, even when it’s based
on a false notion of your identity and purpose.
3
Posing as a beauty means not reading
what you would like to read on a rocky
shore in the South of France.
.....
Read Egan's short work in 47 short numbered segments...chapters? at www.newyorker.com. (The image is from The New Yorker's website, and the file was named "AtomHydrogen-BohrsModel[1]_opt(1).")
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