“How dare you?” the captain said. “You nearly cost me my ship, my command and my career.” She slapped the man’s face. “I’ve a mind to clap you in irons for the rest of this trip.”
The first officer stared at his feet as the captain continued to berate him. Merrick tried to pretend he wasn’t there, but they hardly seemed to notice him anyway. All at once, the captain grabbed her crewman by the front of his flight suit, yanking him to her and pressing her mouth tight to his in the most passionate kiss Merrick had ever witnessed.
With that kiss, Merrick was completely deflated. He was not only getting silver instead of gold, he also wasn’t getting the girl―plus, he hadn’t even asked what the next port of call might be. He found a comfortable chair and took a load off his feet while he waited for the kiss to end.
*
S. Patrick O’Connell is a writer who lives by a lake on the planet Lee in the fifth system. That First Kiss is an introduction to his Seven Systems series, soon to be released.
*
Divinity’s Kiss: A Day Soldiers Short Story
Brandon Hale
A Small Village in Ireland
November 1, 2017
Sister Abigail Reid quietly cleaned the chapel’s pews as she listened to the conversation between Father O’Reilly and Tim. Abbie didn’t know Tim’s last name. The chapel was currently full of volunteers, all of them helping to prepare the church for the coming food drive. Tim was one of those volunteers. To Abbie, he looked to be in his late teens.
“I’m telling you, Father,” Tim was saying, “it was a werewolf. An actual werewolf. It was all over the news.”
Father O’Reilly chuckled. “My boy, you really should stop calling tabloid programs ‘the news.’ ”
Abbie quietly shook her head as she continued to clean the pews. She didn’t like Father O’Reilly. As far as she was concerned, he represented everything that was wrong with the church. His every decision – including the coming food drive – was based on whether or not that decision would further his political career. Still, even politicians were right from time to time. “He’s right, Tim,” she said. “When you say something was on the news, it really should be an accredited news source.”
“It was the real news, Sister,” Tim said. “And not just one station. It was on all of them. Some fella in America filmed it. A man in a cage turned from a human being into a werewolf.”
“It was a hoax, Tim,” Father O’Reilly said.
“How can you be sure?” Tim argued. “You haven’t even seen the video.”
“I’m sure,” Father O’Reilly countered, “because werewolves don’t exist.”
“Well,” Tim said, slightly deflated, “it looked pretty real to me.”
“Tim,” Father O’Reilly said, “I’m willing to accept the possibility of the Loch Ness Monster or the Yeti. There are potential scientific explanations for those things. But a werewolf… that’s simply not possible. There’s absolutely no scientific explanation for a man who can turn into a wolf.”
“There’s no scientific explanation for God,” Tim said. Abbie could see he immediately regretted his words.
“Don’t test me, son,” Father O’Reilly said.
“I’m not testing you, Father,” Tim said. “I know God’s there. I just meant there are some things science hasn’t figured out yet. I would’ve thought a man who devoted his life to worshipping something he’s never seen would be more open to the mysteries of the world.”
O’Reilly pointed toward several crucifixes hanging on the church’s wall. “Are you here to help prepare for the food drive tomorrow or are you here to blather on about werewolves?”
“I’m here to help,” Tim said. “I meant no disrespect, Father.”
“Those crucifixes aren’t going to clean themselves,” O’Reilly snapped.
“Yes, Father,” Tim said. He walked to the wall and began cleaning the crosses.
O’Reilly looked at Abbie. “If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen, checking their progress.” Without another word, he spun around and exited through the door behind the podium at the front of the church.
“Not sure what got his britches in a bunch,” Tim said.
Abbie chuckled. “He’s probably just stressed. Tomorrow is a big day. It’s our first official ‘feed the poor’ event. I’m sure he just wants it to go well.” So he can brag about it to his superiors, she thought.
“I thought priests were supposed to be nice,” Tim mumbled.
“Priests are human beings,” Abbie said. “They have devoted themselves to God, but that doesn’t make their flaws disappear. Priests have bad days too, Tim.”
“I’m sure he’s right,” Tim said. “About the werewolf, I mean. I’m sure it’s a hoax.”
“I’m sure it is,” Abbie said.
“But it’s still interesting,” Tim said. “How often do you see world news organizations reporting about werewolves?”
“Not often,” Abbie admitted.
“And I didn’t even get to the best part,” Tim added.
“There’s more?” Abbie asked. “I would think a live werewolf transformation would be a hard story to top.”
“Earlier today,” Tim said, “someone released a video. It was an older man who claimed to be a werewolf. According to this fella, the werewolves are furious about the televised transformation. He said the werewolves were declaring war on all of humanity.”
“Did this big event happen in America?” Abbie asked.
Tim nodded. “They filmed the transformation at a baseball stadium in New York City.”
“I see,” Abbie said with a smile. “I think I know what’s going on.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s a marketing campaign,” Abbie said. “I suspect there’s a movie coming out about werewolves attacking humanity and this is just a way for them to promote it.”
“It was on the news,” Tim said. “The real news.”
“I’m sure it was,” Abbie said. “If the movie studio treated the entire thing like it’s real, I’m not surprised the media picked it up. Yesterday was Halloween, after all. I’m sure they thought it would be a fun Halloween story.”