‘Tourist Trap at the End of the World’ by KT Wagner

From her perch on the wall, the old woman known as Cybil sets aside her knitting to greet the gathering of hopeful clients and study the goods they hold up as potential payment. She’s particularly looking for sturdy colourful yarn, romantic novels with happily-ever-after endings, and dark chocolate.

Cybil’s a tour guide — one of a handful of early explorers who managed to tether themselves to a rare stable spot along the black shale-and-limestone rubble wall separating the rift from the rest of the world.

The rift’s a dangerous place. With a tour guide, the fatality rate is around five percent — about the same as on an average day anywhere in the remaining habitable areas of earth — but it’s eighty percent for those broke and desperate enough to approach on their own.

The dead bodies vanish. Nothing’s ever recovered, but rumours persist that some survive, passing through the oozing, jelly-like membrane to emerge unscathed into a utopia on the other side.

The rumours are wrong but, like most good stories, contain a kernel of truth. It’s possible to accidently tether to the membrane, but it changes humans beyond recognition.

Cybil spots several hefty tomes with promising covers. As twilight falls and the lanterns above her flicker to life, she glances around at her knitting. It covers every nearby object, including the base of the lanterns, several folding chairs, an old tent frame, and various pieces of driftwood hauled in from who-knows-where.