Completing the Cycle

by Mike Lewis

A group of scientists and archaeologists travel to an abandoned alien world and try and work out why the aliens left and where they went. As they explore the city, the scientists feel the alien presence more and more strongly and it brings into focus their own feelings and fears.

A 4,200 word SF short story of alien contact.

Nook

First published June 5, 2011

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting story that unfolds naturally. Its use of parallel storytelling is excellent. It is exactly as long as it needs to be.

I don't know that most readers will enjoy this as much as I did. For me the overall style and some ambiguous details bump it up. There are pieces of the story I thought could be interpreted different ways, leading me uncertain as to how I feel about the events in the story. I may be reading too much into things, but everything still fit the tale so instead of being a negative it made the story more intriguing.

Whether carefully planned, a happy accident or just a sign of good writing it added considerable depth for me and I've already reread this a few times.

[Martha]

Also in Nook Archive.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story took maybe fifteen minutes maximum to read. The writing was fine but the story was just okay.