Zofya

Zofya had long ago achieved a level of fame at which everyone knew her last name, but rarely felt a need to use it. She was a singular talent, a fact made all the more evident by the unprecedented scope of her interplanetary concert tour, and her insistence on traveling to perform in the flesh, rather than relying on the industry standard remote holographic projections. Still, by the last leg of her year-long journey around the galaxy, she was as ready as anyone would be to get home to Earth and take a break. Back on board her tour ship, decompressing after what she could have sworn was meant to be her final performance, she was surprised to hear the captain announce that the next destination would be their final stop, followed by a muffled cheer from the rest of the crew. She asked her smart watch to show her the calendar, and there it was, one more show, on an exoplanet seemingly without a proper name, designated only by its star system. She felt confused, even somewhat fearful. She was tired, to be sure, but it seemed unfathomable that she'd overworked herself to a point that would have come close to affecting her memory. She called her booking agent, submerging her worried inquiries beneath innocuous chat. From contextual clues, Zofya learned (again?) that her final show would be for a VIP audience, a special request from the same party that had sent her the black ring, which her agent had given her the day before the tour began. She'd forgotten about the ring as well, but remembered it now.

[…for more of Zofya's story, visit the official website @ https://inhumantouch.art …]