Volume 4, Issue 8, August 2023
Ishan Dylan
Pages 27-38
Cicada
Is it possible to share a world changing discovery in an equitable way? If a new Galileo came forward today, would you be on his side? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the Krish is a newspaper reporter reporting on Dr. Zhang’s alleged new discovery; the instantons and inexpensive transportation of matter to and from anywhere in the universe. NASA declares the invention a hoax, but is proven wrong when Dr. Zhang writes out in the Martian soil, “Believe me now?” Dr. Zhang, however, destroys the research for her work and refuses to tell the world the basis for her invention, fearing it will be shared based on a purely profit-driven motive rather than for the general good. In response, Dr. Zhang is taken into custody by the US government. She is later announced dead, from an apparent suicide.