Clarkesword“Hello! Hello! Hello!” by Fiona Jones
“Nine Beauties and the Entangled Threads” by D. A. Xiaolin Spires
“One Flew Over the Songhua River” by Qi Ran
“Geminoid” by Malena Salazar Maciá
“Phosphorescence” by Ben Berman Ghan
“A Brief Oral History of the El Zopilote Dock” by Alaya Dawn Johnson
“Her Body, The Ship” by Z. K. Abraham
“Swarm X1048 – Ethological Field Report: Canis Lupus Familiaris, ‘6″‘ by F. E. Choe
Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf
Seven short stories and a single novelette of modest length appear in this issue. The latter is sure to stir up controversy.
The narrator of “Hello! Hello! Hello!” by Fiona Jones is an ethereal entity living off the energy of stars and able to solidify parts of itself when necessary. It addresses a human stranded in a spaceship. Although communication is difficult at first, due to the vast difference between them, eventually the entity is able to aid the human.
The author writes from the point of view of an utterly alien being in a convincing manner. The entity is completely benign, wanting only to help, even though it finds humanity almost incomprehensible. This optimistic story makes for pleasant reading, but parts of it are repetitious.
In “Nine Beauties and the Entangled Thread” by D. A. Xiaolin Spires, a woman and her friend use devices they have invented to study a part of a forest. The woman loved the place as a child, and wants to find out why some of the trees are falling. The investigation leads to an unexpected discovery.
Much of the text consists of flashbacks to the woman’s childhood. These scenes are cleverly linked to the rest of the story. The speculative technology is imaginative, but the climax depends on the woman failing to study an aspect of the forest that should have been a part of the investigation from the start.
“One Flew Over the Songhua River” by Qi Ran, translated from Chinese by Andy Dudak, features a spaceship powered by antigravity that travels to the far reaches of the solar system. At the edge of the system, it encounters a device that pursues it, intent on destroying it. (The implication is that the edge of the solar system is full of these things, placed there in order to prevent humanity from reaching the stars.) The inventor of the antigravity device, who is aboard the vessel, saves his companions in a way that is both tragic and hopeful.
Although this synopsis provides a summary of the main science fiction plot, it fails to point out that the story deals to a great extent with the relationship between the inventor and his wife, whom he left to pursue his studies. From childhood, when he rescued her from bullies, to the high point of his career, when he divorced her and left his children behind in China to work in the United States, theirs is a bittersweet love story. This is a science fiction story with an unusually high degree of emotional depth.
In “Geminoid” by Malena Salazar Maciá, it is possible to create a robotic double of a person containing skin and internal organs grown from the person’s own stem cells. Between these biological layers is a protective layer of metal and other nonliving materials. The purpose is to provide a source of organs for transplantation.
The plot deals with a teenage boy and his robotic duplicate, who carries within itself the heart that will be transplanted into the boy’s body to replace an ailing one. The robot is intelligent enough to take the boy’s place once an identifying marker is hidden, allowing the boy to avoid school and other unpleasant duties. This subterfuge leads to a situation that is both tragic and ironic.
The story is interesting, but I find myself questioning many of its premises. Given the highly advanced technology necessary to create the duplicates, wouldn’t it be much easier just to grow the organs from stem cells and keep them in storage? Why place them in robot bodies? Why does nobody anticipate that the duplicates could easily replace the originals? These questions made it impossible for me to fully suspend my disbelief.
“Phosphorescence” by Ben Berman Ghan takes place at a time in the future when extreme climate change has made it necessary to come up with a way for humanity to survive. Conferences come up with three possible solutions; placing human brains in robot bodies, uploading human consciousness into computers, or sending colony ships to other planets. The latter might contain people or just human genetic material.
The two main characters, known only as the Machinist and the Botanist, use biotechnology to disrupt the first two solutions, both of which would sacrifice most of humanity for the sake of the elite. They are hunted down as terrorists. Their greatest creation offers escape.
The plot depends on the premise that two people can create almost unimaginably advanced biotechnology, particularly during the climax. Although this strains credibility in a story that takes place in the near future, I have to admit that it provides a true sense of wonder. The brief final scene, which takes place thousands of years beyond the rest of the narrative, is particularly effective, if one can believe in it.
“A Brief Oral History of the El Zopilote Dock” by Alaya Dawn Johnson takes place after the United States breaks up into half a dozen independent states, the result of a civil war. Texas is an openly theocratic, white supremacist nation. A huge number of prisoners, the vast majority of them non-white, are held in virtual slavery.
The text takes the form of an essay, complete with extensive footnotes, by a self-appointed historian. She bases her work on interviews with her grandmother and another woman, both of whom escaped a Texas prison via a system analogous to the Underground Railroad of the 19th century.
As may be evident, this is a highly political novelette, with many extrapolations taken from current events. In addition to those noted above, there are references to the Black Lives Matter movement and a total ban on abortion. How one feels about these matters will determine one’s reaction to the work. One cannot doubt the author’s passion and ability to tell a powerful story, but some readers will find its viewpoint too radical.
“Her Body, The Ship” by S. K. Abraham takes place aboard a gigantic generation starship. The inhabitants are divided into so-called tribes, each of which is responsible for one of the ship’s functions. The narrator is a member of the navigation tribe, but rebels against tradition and works as an engineer. When the starship nears a potentially habitable planet, she acts in a way meant to preserve her way of life.
The setting is described in vivid and convincing detail. The fact that the ship contains descendants of Africans, who escaped ecological disaster, adds interest. The narrator’s devotion to the ship and desire to maintain what she sees as the proper relationship to it is effectively conveyed, but readers are likely to find her actions irrational.
“Swarm X1048 – Ethological Field Report: Canis Lupus Familiaris, ‘6″‘ by F. E. Choe is a fairly brief tale in which a group of aliens study life on Earth at a time when the planet is undergoing a disaster. In addition to collecting highly detailed data on as many organisms as possible, they become attached to a dog, following it from birth to death. This is a sentimental story, best appreciated by dog lovers.
Victoria Silverwolf is more of a cat lover than a dog lover.