In a future Earth with an mixture of space colonies and a rigid caste system on Earth, retainer Ythna witnesses a peculiarly dressed red-haired woman emerge from nowhere at the very moment of Ythna’s mistress’s sudden death.
“No, I swear I had nothing to do with her death,” the woman said sadly. “Except that it created a door for me to step through.”

Variants

(1)
  1. “The Cartography of Sudden Death” by Charlie Jane Anders, Tor.com Original Fiction, 22 January 2014 [webzine].
  2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Charlie Jane Anders