The Prospects (Short Story): Above the Stars Read Online Free PDF

could be in the city.”
    “If they were, that pelt would smell like rain and fresh coffee, the way everything in Seattle smells. But it smelled like salt and old fish with a hint of brackish marsh. It never left these docks.”
    Alex checked his phone’s screen. “Got a text from the cops. The superheroes are getting suited. Let’s get their help for the search.”
    “They don’t know what to look for.”
    “Neither do we.”
    “I gotta find ‘em before Qing Long does. He’ll tear them apart.”
    “He’ll probably find them first. Who knows how something with eyes like that sees?”
    “No. Qing Long must be going by scent too. Those idiot smugglers left the MacGuffin near a window and the wind shifted to blow into the city. That’s how I found ‘em, and he showed up minutes later. If I can’t smell ‘em, he can’t either, and I doubt the smuggler he grabbed knew any more than Phuc.”
    “What if we run into Qing Long?”
    “Hope he’s only man-sized. He can make himself as small as a silkworm or as large as the universe.”
    “What?”
    “That’s what Lam said after you left. Asian dragons aren’t fire-breathing lizards who steal princesses. They bring fortune and prosperity if treated right, but destroy everything in their path when angry.”
    “You can’t be serious. It’s a story you heard from a …” Alex considered what to say without starting another fight, “… woman you just met.”
    “Myths are more real than you know. I used to be one.”
    “You’re a metahuman. So is Qing Long. There are hundreds of them in North America, thousands throughout the world.”
    “Buddy, nothin’ about that thing is human. He smells like a used spacesuit, that gas and barbecue smell of burned stellar gasses. Could be he’s made of stars.”
    “Yeah, I don’t think he’s a galaxy.”
    Chak pointed to the ocean. “Ever think about the fish down there? They think they have it all sorted out. They stay in their schools, having babies and moving away from whatever eats ‘em. They look up and all they see is what’s reflected on waves. Some find out that the only thing above is cold endlessness where they can’t breathe. Do you think they understand there are things that live in that?”
    “They’re fish. They don’t understand anything.”
    “Which doesn’t keep us from eating ‘em. How can we know there aren’t things above us, beyond the cold endless sparkling lights where we can’t breathe? Will not understanding ‘em keep ‘em from tearing us apart?”
    “Are you talking about aliens, like the Skreaks?”
    “Forget the Skreaks. They want this world without us in it. They got technology, we got diseases. It’s like if the First Nations had smallpox instead of the white man. We can understand that. I’m talking about …” Chak sniffed.
    “Got a scent?”
    “Something distinct. The brackish stink everything that goes through Hong Kong’s harbor gets mixed with the star scent.” He ran down the docks.
    Alex ran after him. His imitation leather dress shoes squeaked with each step.
    Chak dropped to all fours and sniffed. “Thought it was here.” He took a few steps. “Got it again. Why is it moving?”
    Panting, Alex pointed between the two trawlers in front of them at an orange-hulled fishing boat. Over the deck’s railing was the top-half of a Chinese man whose long hair blew in the wind as his bald head shone in the diffused sunlight.
    “No,” said Chak, “they’re getting away!”
    “We’ll call the Pacific Patrol. They’ll …”
    “This is personal.” Chak ran down the pier. He leapt onto a moored tugboat and ran down the deck. He reached the stern as the fishing boat passed it.
    Alex barely reached the boat before Chak jumped with a knife in his teeth. He caught the top deck’s railing and threw himself over the side.
    “You little psycho.” Alex almost slipped when he ran across the tugboat. He heard screams, gunshots, and Chak’s high-pitched battle cry