Plot:
Julia finds herself standing in the church she knew in childhood, the successful result of the working of her newly-developed displacement nodule. The device allows a person to be transported anywhere instantaneously. It’s small enough to fit into Julia’s hand and responds to voice commands.
Julia is not sure why she’s in the church, but she’s eager to check out her new means of transportation. “The Eiffel Tower,” she tells the nodule.
The nodule heats up in her palms. It radiates tiny jolts of electricity throughout her body. The church fades, and soon she looks up at the famous landmark on a bright sunny Parisian morning. She imagines herself materializing in the middle of a physics convention taking place in London and wiping the smug looks off the face of those who once jeered at her.
Thoughts:
Poor Julia. The author has gone out of her way to make her unlikeable. She’s arrogant and mean-spirited. She spends nearly the entire story seeking revenge on the scientific elite for belittling her experimentation into instantaneous transportation. She’ll show them!
Her undoing is of her own making, of course. This is a cute little story. Just the same, I couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for Julia.
Bio:
According to her website, author Jo Mularczyk writes not only fiction but provides corporate writing services and writes on education issues. She’s written fiction for both children and adults. Her work has appeared in Zinewest 2018, Four W Thirty, and Short and Twisted, among others. She lives in the northwestern suburbs of Sydney with her husband and three children. She spends a great deal of time at tennis courts watching her children.
The story can be read here.
Title: “Mad Science”
Author: Jo Mularczyk
First published: Daily Science Fiction, March 16, 2020
Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old 