Miss Mess

By Matthew Garcia-Dunn

Jan Itor estimated the stain was deep in the fabric of spacetime. The mess, he detected, was in a shape known to humans as a “unicorn”. Its mane was a mohawk of fractal-like spikes woven of clashing spectrums. The sparkling unicorn stabbed at Jan with its quantum-dyed horn, but Jan’s trusty fabricator, Bucky, synthesized an absorbent sponge of nano faux-particles.

This was the originator of all those star-colored hoofprints across the city! But he did not expect to experience an emotion he logged as “mess at first sight”.

Whoever created this gorgeous splash of cosmic untidiness, Jan Itor determined, was a master of making messes.

After hours of dueling, scrubbing, and an unstable solvent (equal parts gravity-scour powder, wormhole declogger, and a spritz of lemon), Jan subdued the defiant smudge. He smiled at a job well done: he’d de-clogged a tangle of magic and quantum physics that threatened to cause one cosmic-heck of a temporal blockage.

“YOU!” A woman’s voice shook Jan Itor to his very coding. She stood, arms crossed, with a frown darkening her kind eyes. It was her, the master mess-maker… the woman named “Inksy.”

“No.” His voice was filled with admiration, with reverence. “It’s you!”