This short story was written for the 2021 Ultimate SciFi Smack Down challenge:

https://www.wattpad.com/1156686470-the-ultimate-science-fiction-smack-down-round-1

Challenge details:

Thanks to @Ooorah and @ScienceFiction for organising the challenge/contest.

Copyright © 2021 R.J. Moselen

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover by RJM. Image sources for cover and banners: Man: Image by Olya Adamovich from Pixabay. Water drops: Image by InspiredImages from Pixabay. Water: Image by Stitched Heart Designs from Pixabay. Hand: Image by StockSnap from Pixabay. Pill: Image by Septimiu Balica from Pixabay. Trees: Image by David Mark from Pixabay. Fish: Image by Juan Carlos Palau Díaz from Pixabay. Gnomes: Images by Kurt Bouda from Pixabay. Hourglass: Image by Carlos Eduardo Du from Pixabay. Pixabay license: Free for commercial use; no attribution required.