The Worm Beneath the Skull

A story from Time's Fool, and Other Stories: At the far rim of human space, through a world of ordered wealth, to the underworld where raw, free talent reigned, struggling to choose between freedom and life, young musician Madeira finds voice through the music and lessons of those who came before, learning what the famed Garcia meant when he said, "Without the worm, there is no rose."

Travel with the Timedippers and the Immortals from the present to the far-distant future in this lyrical story arc that asks the price of life. The Worm Beneath the Skull is offered as a stand-alone story excerpted from the full novel-length saga of the Timedippers, Time's Fool, and Other Stories. With time travelers and immortals, to begin at the ending is perfectly appropriate! Enjoy this concluding tale of the Time's Fool story arc first, then return to the beginning of Time's Fool:

If his heart was pounding now, it was not in fear but in exultation. He was alive, come what may, come death and extinction, as surely it must. You can’t go back, he thought, and you can’t stand still. He had to go forward or he would surely die. That was where his strength, and his art lay, in the constant fight against Death, spitting in its very face, not in conquering it and then living in a fearful immortality. So he would die. So what? In the meantime, he would live life to its fullest, not cringing before time.

He was alive, come what may, come death and extinction, as surely it must. You can’t go back, he thought, and you can’t stand still. He had to go forward or he would surely die. That was where his strength and his art lay, in the constant fight against Death, spitting in its very face, not in conquering it and then living in a fearful immortality. So he would die. So what?