Hey Jack, I'm seeing your business everywhere. Have you got a new marketing person or something?

You could say I've got a new secret weapon for print. Print? Oh, Vista print, right? That's not a secret.

How did you know? Come on. Custom posters, branded mugs, stylish flyers. Only one place prints all that. Vista print.

Yeah, I got business cards, stickers, t-shirts, booklets, signage, even photo books from my last holiday. Print everything for your business with VistaPrint. If you need it, we print it at vesteprint.co.. Hi everyone! Just a quick reminder that the Anathema Writing Contest is open from now until April 5, 2023. So check out the link in the description for more details and contest rules for a chance to have your short story produced as B-side 12 later this year. All are welcome, and we can't wait to read your entries. But for now, this bonus episode of the sharing tapes is made possible by our backers on Patreon. Petty-coated Swashbuckler, Emily Bledso, Ali Lambert, and Noel Kelly. If you'd like to support

the show as well, please go to patreon.com slash homestead corner. For as little as $5 a month, you get

early access to ad-free versions of episodes, a special weekly behind-the-scenes podcast, and patron-only

AMA live streams. Before we get started, this episode contains depictions of grief and loss,

existential dread,

and mentions of apocalyptic events and their aftermath. Content warnings at a full transcript

are available in the show notes.

The source, the infinite potential of all worlds. The roiling chaos that is the heart of all existences, the place where all space and time and

realities meet and coexist as one. A place that is not a place, in a time that is not a time.

On a Christmas Eve not so long ago, an astrophysics student who longed to see the stars

met an engineer who saw them as the key to humanity's salvation.

They talked of the beauty and terror of space and time and existence.

And they left as more than friends.

As the years wore on, they saw each other only occasionally, as their work

often kept them apart. But they did love one another, deeply and truly as any two people have ever

loved. The student's name was Adam, and his lover, Ren.

There are many paths his life could have taken, many branches in the road shaped by choice, and chance, and the unsteady hand of fate.

But out of all the possible futures I have seen for Adam and for Ren,

this one breaks my heart the most.

...