Greetings, lovely humans and robots!
First, I have a little reminder that at least for the next few months, I’m cutting back on this newsletter to once a month (the first Thursday of the month). As much as I love putting this thing out—in large part because I love the emails and comments I get from y’all as a response—my recently funded Kickstarter means I’m now on some self-imposed deadlines to get some T-Set books out as well as the Annotated Robot Galaxy Series. Writing this newsletter breaks my flow on those in a way I can’t do right now.
I will however, sometimes use that “in-between” time to send an email… like a call for beta readers for the first T-Set book, T is for Time Travel, that you should look for in your email in about two weeks.
But I have a piece of flash fiction today!
Before we get into that, here’s my usual plug for all the books and stories I have out there, with their links:
Links: Lunar Logic | Robot Galaxy Series | Final Orbit | Objective Reality
Also make sure to read to the end of this newsletter and check out other Indie writings! (And my bonus pic at the end.)
The idea for this story started maybe… a decade ago?
I’m fond of telling people that while I’m an avid reader, I read probably 75% non-fiction and only 25% fiction. That 75% non-fiction is fuel and fodder for A LOT of ideas that turn into stories, or details in my novels.
About a decade ago is when I read the book Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky.
Some of my favorite non-fiction to read are these “micro-histories.” I don’t know if that’s a formal category, but my local Barnes & Noble seems to have a continuous display table with that title.
In fact, the last time I was in B&N, I took a photo of that table display to compare which of those books I’ve read and which I haven’t. (Salt: A World History still sits on that table.)
That “micro” TBR list includes such things as The Secret History of Wonder Woman, Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of America’s Cemeteries and Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age.
But back to Salt.
I love salt. I didn’t always. I grew up in the 80s, and the only salt I knew was the very fine-grained iodized table salt. Yuck.
I still don’t like that stuff.
But around the time I read the book, I was also watching a lot of Food Network cooking competition shows and infused in that were often discussions of using salt. This is when I learned that not all salt is the same, taste-wise, and taste all the salts I did!
I’m currently in love with a particular brand of Celtic Sea Salt.
But the book went deeper into the history and well… we humans can’t live without salt. We need it.
Enter Adeena’s sci-fi brain that also thinks a lot about humans leaving Earth… we’ll need to bring salt with us. For the foreseeable future, any space exploration that involves humans will mean taking everything we need from Earth.
That includes salt.
I started to conceive some story ideas around this. I’ve written a handful of pages. It wasn’t really coming together. I wanted to write a novella about humans out in the galaxy, still dependent on Earth salt. But with the Robot Galaxy Series work and Lunar Logic and all, this is one of dozens of ideas I have on the back burner.
Until recently. I had a conversation with a friend… and I wanted to write up a little tidbit of that convo. I’m deliberately not saying what that was ‘cause I think it would be fun to ask you to guess!
The important thing to know before you go on to read The Salt Bar is that this is not what I had originally envisioned. And once again, I think I have the problem that maybe this isn’t really a flash fiction story… maybe this is a scene in a larger work.
But I must say… I really enjoyed writing this. The thing I most love about writing is sitting down and discovering it as I go. I didn’t know the main character’s name until I realized I needed a name. I had no idea what was going to happen, what each of them were going to say, or even the main character’s backstory until the words came out.
I just knew it was supposed to be about salt, with my friend’s bit thrown in.
Please read on and let me know what you think! (Either send me an email, or post a comment on Substack)
The Salt Bar
Soren Trask deactivated his NeuroLens as he reached the entryway to the bar. Its heads-up display had guided him here immediately after disembarking on Terra Dock.
As he walked through, every eye in the place—all human—was on him. The tourist guides he’d purchased—the ones his dad told him he was wasting his money on—were spot on.
First, they accurately predicted that there’d be little to no non-humans on Terra Dock, and certainly none in the Salt Bar.
Second—and this was the part he was most grateful for—they accurately predicted that as soon as he crossed the threshold, everyone would put down their drink and stare at him, waiting for him to decide if he would stay or if he would go.
Soren surveyed the room. Knowing this ritual began centuries ago with an eccentric engineer whose name was lost to history meant that Soren knew before he walked in that the last thing he would do was turn around and leave.
He’d come too far and sacrificed too much to get here.
Soren took one of the open seats at the bar. As soon as he did, everyone resumed drinking their drinks, having their conversations, and even playing a very old-fashioned game in the corner that he didn’t recognize. He briefly considered reactivating his NeuroLens for more information when he was interrupted.
“What can I get you, hon?”
Soren blinked. He understood the words, but the accent was unlike any he’d ever heard in real life.
She must be from Earth, he thought.
“I’ll have a Level 4 Salted Tonic.”
The corner of the woman’s mouth turned up.
“So did you just step off the ship that brought you here or have you even found your hotel room yet?”
“How did you…”
“That’s straight out of the tourist guidebook. Now let me guess, it said to expect the drink to have a ‘bold, full-brine flavor, like drinking seawater, only more refined.’”
Soren blushed.
Neither said anything else as the woman got out a squat tumbler and filled it with a liquid before opening up a container and taking out a spoonful of salt to mix in. As she replaced the lid on the salt jar and pushed it back next to several other similar size containers, Soren’s jaw went slack as he realized he must be looking at several kilograms of different salts.
She winked as she set the drink down in front of him.
“Welcome to Terra Dock.”
Before Soren could thank her, a deep voice barked, “Give me a storm brine, Dead Sea Cut.”
The bartender grabbed a mug by its handle and put it under a tap.
“See? That’s how a local orders.” The corner of her mouth lifted, as if she’d had the same interaction with hundreds of tourists.
Soren said nothing but smiled weakly and took a sip of his drink. He felt the man’s eyes weighing on him.
“Tourist? What brings you here?” the man said as the bartender handed him his mug. He raised it, then stopped. “Don’t answer that, let me guess.”
He paused, then took a gulp of his drink.
“School trip? No. Running away from home? No. No one in their right mind would head here.”
He paused to take another gulp.
“I was hoping to head planetside. I wanted to meet Troy Talden.”
Deep-voice took another sip and without taking his eyes off Soren said, “Talla, did you hear that? He wants to head ‘planetside’ and is looking to meet with Troy.”
“I just want a job,” Soren said, trying not to sound too helpless or hopeless. “I have the proper work permits and—”
“Well, before you meet with Troy—if you even can—don’t ever say ‘planetside.’ It sounds like you’ve spent your life on space stations and ships. And what kind of job are you looking for, anyway? Only work here is in the mines.”
“I’m an engineer…”
“…and you are running away from something?”
There was a pause.
“Or someone.”
Soren stared at his drink. Before deep-voice could continue, Talla grunted from behind the bar.
“This damn computer,” she said, whacking a console from the side.
“What’s wrong with it?” Soren asked.
“It is always losing its connection to the station.”
“Mind if I take a look?” Soren offered.
Talla made a gesture that Soren took to mean ‘have at it.’ Soren came around to the side of the bar, tapped the screen a few times. He turned his NeuroLens back on, and while Talla and the deep-voiced man watched him, wondered if they even had their own NeuroLens. It might not be common here. Back home, more than half of everyone had one.
The heads-up display of the NeuroLens allowed Soren to run a diagnostic and see the readout of both the station’s network and the bar’s console.
“Your console is fine,” Soren announced. “It’s the station. Something’s choking out the connections.”
“Oh not again,” an irritated Talla spit out. “Troy, can you speak to them?”
Soren’s head whipped around to deep-voice.
“Troy? You’re Troy Talden?”
Troy winked.
Before Soren could ask all the questions like why not announce himself immediately, or whether or not he’d just passed some unspoken initiation into Terra Dock’s inner circle, Troy spoke.
“Stay here for a while. When I get back, we’ll talk about jobs. I might have something at HQ.”
“What about the mines?”
“I suspect your skills will be more valuable elsewhere,” Troy kept his gaze on Soren, lingering a little too long.
“In the meantime, Talla can tell you all about the traditions we keep that tourists would never know,” Troy said, looking at Talla who was listening, but wiping down the bar as she did.
With that, Troy left.
Soren swirled the salty tonic he’d nearly forgotten he’d ordered only a few minutes ago. Close enough, he thought. Maybe close enough to finally matter.
What did you think of the story?
Do you want to guess which was the bit that I incorporated from my friend? Simply reply and let me know what you think! (I treasure feedback!) Or do any of these things:
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Keep reading because I routinely participate in newsletter swaps with other Indie Authors. This is one of the ways we help each other get the word our about our books. So please — check these folks out and see if they’re for you!
You might enjoy this book by Dave Dobson that was a semifinalist in the first Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (the SPSFC) organized by Hugh Howey (author of Silo):
I also participate in group promos. There are a few this month! Check out all sorts of fiction here:
Over at The BIG Sci-Fi podcast, Season 9 has begun! We kicked it off with filmmaker Jeffrey Morris and a discussion of his brand new documentary film, The Eagle Obsession. Jeffrey recently finished work on his documentary film titled The Eagle Obsession and we had the privilege of screening it and then discussing, with Jeffrey, it's impact on us. This episode features a sneak peak into his amazing film, as well as one of our deeper discussions about life, fandom, and more! Remember that The BIG Sci-Fi podcast is on all the major platforms!
Are you on Facebook? Come join our private FB group where we discuss episodes, host weekly polls, and other fun! Just make sure to agree to the group rules when you send in the join request!
What’s next?
Working hard on the Annotated Robot Galaxy Series and T is for Time Travel. Look for an email from me within the month that will be a call for beta readers for the latter!
But I also started implementing a plan to use Ikea’s “Billy” bookcase units as fake “built-in” bookshelves in my house. This means… playtime with boxes for Ruby and Pearl!
All always, thanks for being here and reading all of stuff. Remember you can reply anytime with questions/comments/feedback!
Until next time… be kind, be well!
-Adeena
Yes, it is part of a much longer adventure.
Enjoyed the short story and feel it could be part of something bigger