The Spark Inside

This short story is actually an expanded version of Chapter 17:  "Moon" of the Renegades.  The story appeared in the magazine Once Upon a World in October, 2001...which proved to be very discomforting timing.
The story follows three humans trapped in a subway during an attack that is the spearhead of an undeclared war.  The first drafts of the story had been written a decade before its appearance, and it had been accepted by the editor at least one year before its publication.  Feedback in the immediate post 9/11 climate ranged from discomforting to accusations of poor-taste sensationalism.

Below is an illustration that accompanied the story in Once Upon a World.