This had me very anxious for Andre-1! There was something especially creepy about the android teacher in the skeleton-classmate scene repeating that there's no need to panic. Really interesting tie-in to the idea of star names and the birth and death of stars. A fun read!
i think i got the gist of what was going on but i was dying for a bit more back story and or exposition (thats my weakness when I write... too much tell when it should be more show!)
there were some interesting throw away lines in there like the dark matter diviner and the deja vu for the heretics which made me want to understand more about the universe we were in. also for me the physics of the narrator not being affected physically( not turning into a skeleton etc) by the time jumps like the rest of the class but then Their number was going up and down... were they like a previous version of themselves... i couldnt really grasp it !
Thank you, Nick, for taking the time to read and comment on the piece. You've got the gist of it, with the narrator physically unaffected by their induced, time-shuffled '1->2' rebirth, as per the title. Their classmates' names imply previous multiple similar events and there clearly has to be a greater force involved - perhaps mediated by their semi-eternal teacher.
It sounds dreadful, but I'm pretty much in the same boat as you when it comes to these 'hows' or 'whys'. With prompted short fiction pieces – and especially when the prompt, like this one, is quite detailed – I just let my imagination go to work and write down whatever my brain creates. This means providing any more back-story and details would only involve me making more stuff up!
But the points you've highlighted certainly beg to be expanded on at some point. You never know...
This had me very anxious for Andre-1! There was something especially creepy about the android teacher in the skeleton-classmate scene repeating that there's no need to panic. Really interesting tie-in to the idea of star names and the birth and death of stars. A fun read!
i think i got the gist of what was going on but i was dying for a bit more back story and or exposition (thats my weakness when I write... too much tell when it should be more show!)
there were some interesting throw away lines in there like the dark matter diviner and the deja vu for the heretics which made me want to understand more about the universe we were in. also for me the physics of the narrator not being affected physically( not turning into a skeleton etc) by the time jumps like the rest of the class but then Their number was going up and down... were they like a previous version of themselves... i couldnt really grasp it !
Thank you, Nick, for taking the time to read and comment on the piece. You've got the gist of it, with the narrator physically unaffected by their induced, time-shuffled '1->2' rebirth, as per the title. Their classmates' names imply previous multiple similar events and there clearly has to be a greater force involved - perhaps mediated by their semi-eternal teacher.
It sounds dreadful, but I'm pretty much in the same boat as you when it comes to these 'hows' or 'whys'. With prompted short fiction pieces – and especially when the prompt, like this one, is quite detailed – I just let my imagination go to work and write down whatever my brain creates. This means providing any more back-story and details would only involve me making more stuff up!
But the points you've highlighted certainly beg to be expanded on at some point. You never know...
Great story. Love your imagery.
Thank you, Virginia. So pleased you enjoyed it!
Weirdness.
Weirdness is good, though.
Weird is as weird does. Always.
There's definitely more to Prof. Stelat than meets the eye! So pleased you enjoyed the story.