MetalizedCoke

A door opens. I close it, gently. The dumb animal of my heart, small rodent, dithers and squeaks. It is afraid one way or the other. Let it be. A door opens, another. Nothing but white rooms, empty mazes, corners to be backed into. A million open doors, banging incessant, the heckling gallery. The animal dreams about shattering, becoming a shard of bone, a bone knife. Another white room. Let it be. I sit at the center, or a center, the doors fluttering like an eye. White everywhere. The animal is a snake or a crow or dead. White. Nothing to be done. Nothing to bite or cut. The doors laugh and fall away; in the unbroken white, my hea

 “No nudes,” the tech said as he sidled up next to me. “What?” “Word from the top. No tits for aliens.” “You've got to be kidding me.” “Sagan's throwing a fit in his office.”  “I might throw one myself. Might as well shove an Amish guy into space and call it good. What about birth? Basic anatomy?” “Seems fine.” “Well, I guess the aliens didn't need to see the Statue of David. Not like it's a big deal.” He laughed like it was the funniest thing he'd heard all day, or like it was either laugh or he'd never stop crying. Someone picked up on