Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being
Novelette 8,730 words Recommended by 4 award/anthology sources
"Doc, there’s a ... hole growing in me,” the alien said through the spherical interpreting machine hovering over them. Semau barely registered the word “hole,” so taken was she by the sight of the alien. If she were just a tad less caring about propriety, she would’ve let her eyes blow wide open."
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
Quasar links out; the story lives on Clarkesworld, where the author gets the click.