Futures is delighted to welcome Karlo Yeager Rodríguez as the author of this week’s story: Choices, in sequential order. Originally from Puerto Rico, Karlo now lives in Baltimore and you can follow his activities via his website or by following him on Twitter. Here, he very kindly discusses some of the ideas behind his latest tale — as ever it pays to read the story first.

Writing Choices, in sequential order

The seed for Choices, in sequential order started with an odd phone call.

I was helping a student get herself enrolled in the online school where I worked at the time. We had been discussing her next steps in the process before admission when mid-sentence, she started sobbing. Worried I had said something upsetting, I asked if she was okay.

I’m fine, she wailed. This is when she told me she was eight months pregnant, and she was prone to crying for no reason. I finished helping her, and after I hung up I was struck by how strange it must be to be aware of what’s happening to you on an intellectual level, but still be unable to control it.

The idea rattled around in my back-brain until it collided with another idea.

When I learned about dichotomous keys, I wanted to use one as a way of creating tension in a story. I imagined a dichotomous key that included the exoplanets’ flora and fauna as we explored them. Who would be a perfect candidate for xenobiologist, given the time spent travelling? It would have to be someone who wanted to escape their life on Earth, someone who had made less-than-optimal choices in their life.

I still wonder: did the xenobiologist think it had been all worth it, or if it’s his delirium talking?