Click on image to enlarge.

	Regular				Club
You Pay:	$0.59				$0.50
Micropay Rebate:	50%				50%
Cost After Rebate:	$0.30				$0.25
You Save:	49.15%				57.63%

eBook Category: Science Fiction Aurora Award Nominee
eBook Description: A long and lonely flight through space without a ship or even a space suit is the latest holiday rage for the wealthy. As long as all that new technology works the way it's supposed to.

eBook Publisher: Fictionwise.com, Published: On Spec, ed. Jena Snyder et al., 1993
Fictionwise Release Date: May 2002

44 Reader Ratings: Great Good OK Poor

Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [66 KB], eReader (PDB) [28 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [14 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [14 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [65 KB] - PocketPC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [85 KB], hiebook (KML) [64 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [47 KB], iSilo (PDB) [12 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [15 KB], Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [43 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [24 KB]
Words: 4475
Reading time: 12-17 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

"...a rich dilettante pays an exorbitant sum for the privilege of surfing the stars ... "Body Solar" recaptures that sense of possibility that drew so many of us into reading SF in the first place."--Miriam Jones, The Canadian Fiction Review

Breathebreathebreathebreathebreathe...

I can't remember how to breathe, he thought. Panic began to set in, but he managed to fight it back down, turning it into a cool lump in the pit of his stomach, rather than a piercing starburst.

There's a breath now. He felt himself begin to relax. Remember what the lady said...

The voice in his head seemed to become urgent. He turned his mind away from the new sensations and tried to concentrate on what was being said. Words and thoughts danced away from his grasp for a moment before he found the ability to focus.

"Simon, this is Anna." The voice sounded lovely, and familiar. He imagined himself frowning as he tried to place it. "We need to test all systems before you get too far away from us. Can you please try to take a breath?"

A breath? With a shock he realized for the first time that he hadn't been breathing. Fear started to override his somewhat dulled senses and he tried to take a great, shuddering breath, like a swimmer who had dived too deep and only just made it to the surface in time. Instead, he felt his chest lift very slightly and a small amount of air move into his lungs.

It didn't feel like enough, and he struggled for another. His body wouldn't cooperate.

"No, Simon," said the voice in his head. "Don't try to take another. Your body knows what to do now and will breathe when it needs to."

"Who is this?" He had tried to speak, but rather than hearing words from his mouth, it felt like he had spoken inside his head.

"It is Anna, Simon. Dr. Schaum. Do you remember where you are?"

His thoughts slowly stirred about for a moment, then as they neared the answer they seemed to pick up speed, making him think of the rats in Africa scurrying about when newslights were turned on them. When he managed to pin one thought down, it struck him as the right one.

"Space."