Tales of the United States Space Force
Edited by
C. Stuart Hardwick
(Baen, June 2024, tpb, 387 pp.)
“The Eyes of Damocles” by Brian Trent
“Eye in the Sky” by Jody Lynn Nye
“The High Ground” by Henry Herz
“A Kinetic High” by Gustavo Bondoni
“Luna Lacuna” by Laura Montgomery
“It’s Classified” by Martin L. Shoemaker
“A Tight Fit” by Marie Vibbert
“Zombie” by Karl K. Gallagher
“The Kessler Gambit” by Matt Bille
“Bubbles from Beneath” by Sylvie Althoff
“Not a War” by Harry Turtledove
“Aficionado” by David Brin (reprint, not reviewed)
“Defence of Waygo Port” by M.T. Reiten
“The Pattern” by Avery Parks
“Emergency Supplies” by Liam Hogan
“The Return of William Proxmire” by Larry Niven (reprint, not reviewed)
“The Lurker” by Gregory Benford & James Benford
“Superiority” by Arthur C. Clarke (reprint, not reviewed)
“A Fair Defence” by C. Stuart Hardwick
Reviewed by Mina
This anthology is full of old-fashioned suspense tales, with technology just advanced enough to make things interesting without detracting from human courage and ingenuity. And space is described not as some galaxy far, far away but as the immediate space surrounding Earth: a new territory to be exploited, defended and peopled with satellites.
In “The Eyes of Damocles” by Brian Trent, Bruce is sent to investigate the death of two key Space Force personnel in a car crash. It becomes slowly clear that they were murdered to stop the US reaching asteroid Ebisu before China. In the Resource Rush, everyone wants to be the first to mine the asteroid for lithium and cobalt. Years earlier, Bruce wrote the Damocles Report looking at asymmetrical vulnerabilities, treating no threat as impossible. As he works out how the murder was carried out, he suddenly finds himself under attack. Gripping in a way those of us old enough to have read Desmond Bagley will remember.
“Eye in the Sky” by Jody Lynn Nye follows US Space Force Lieutenant Nela Ferrar as she races against time to solve a crisis. When the International Space Station drops a cargo lighter, Nela is in charge of monitoring its descent through the atmosphere and plotting its course, making constant corrections, and working out where it will land. It becomes imperative to retrieve the lighter before the Russians. A gripping tale although I am a bit tired of the trope where the main character is able to save the day because they are good at computer games.
In “The High Ground” by Henry Herz, China is gearing up to invade Taiwan. Julie Harris works for the US Space Force and is worried that the Chinese have developed an anti-satellite weapon. At a TV interview, Julie stresses the ethos of this anthology, that the USSF is needed because “access to space is critical not just to our national defence, but also to scientific research, communications, financial and economic information networks, public safety, and weather monitoring.” Under the guise of clearing space debris, the Chinese arm a telescope so it can shoot down satellites. Julie requests access to an unmanned X-39 spacecraft in a plan to sabotage the armed telescope. When her request is denied, she continues anyway. The story maintains the tension by changing the focus regularly, in bite-size chunks, like cascading images from a satellite. Neatly done.
“A Kinetic High” by Gustavo Bondoni combines satellites with drug running. Captain Sal Garda is sent to investigate a crater which turns out to be a drug delivery gone wrong. He must find a way to identify which satellite is being used to direct the rocket launch of the drug packages but the problem is nobody monitors rocket launches in the third world, apart from one environmental group. Predictable but pleasant reading.
“Luna Lacuna” by Laura Montgomery asks the question: what if the government built an undeclared base on the “dark side” of the moon. USSF Captain Jack Rampling is asked to spy on his longtime friend, Niall, who runs his own company on remote-sensing that is launching a satellite on a moon orbit. Not much happens but it is a well-written story about friendship and divided loyalties. A psychological treat.
In “It’s Classified” by Martin L. Shoemaker, a software contractor is working late on a military base, obsessed with a bug in the code. Even when he goes home, leaving all the classified equipment and data behind, he finds himself running a simulation on his computer. What he finds makes no sense. Being paid off the next day for an incomplete project makes even less sense. But he can’t stop digging. The premise promised more than the solution delivered. The best part was actually his relationship with his wife, quirky and real.
In “A Tight Fit” by Marie Vibbert, Stephanie longs to be an engineer but is insecure about not being good enough. She’s working as a tech on a lunar science project when the Mars colony attacks by launching meteorites. Stephanie makes a mistake that has them scrambling to save lives at the International Moon Base. And suddenly Stephanie’s tech and math skills are needed. It’s not a particularly original tale but there is a nice interplay between the young and insecure Stephanie and her older and more confident colleague Christa.
In “Zombie” by Karl K. Gallagher, Captain Franklin must find a way to stop the corpse of an astronaut from colliding with the space station by speeding up its fall into the Earth’s atmosphere. The story is clearly meant to be funny. For those with a scatological bend of mind.
“The Kessler Gambit” by Matt Bille starts with a series of bit-sized reports on incidents occurring in low Earth orbit. It helpfully includes this definition for the readers who may need it: “Kessler Syndrome… is a scenario in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO) is high enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade in which each collision generates space debris that increases the likelihood of further collisions.” The USSF becomes slowly convinced that someone is trying to cause a Kessler chain reaction and the fight against time begins. Disaster is averted but not without cost. A well-written yarn.
“Bubbles from Beneath” by Sylvie Althoff is set in a claustrophobic passenger transport ship where a murder is committed. As the only USSF representative on board, Lieutenant Elizabeth Webb must take charge of the investigation and not wind up dead herself. There is some class commentary, in particular how the military recruits among the poorer classes. A bleak tale.
“Not a War” by Harry Turtledove is a delight because of how well it’s written. The tone is reminiscent of Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, with sarcasm dripping even in the details “an asteroid that rejoiced in the name 130 Elektra.” The story is fun too: a duel in space. Justin must destroy a drug plant in the asteroid belt in a war that does not exist; he must also try to stay alive in space, where the smallest projectile can mean meeting your maker earlier than you planned.
“Defence of Waygo Port” by M.T. Reiten is a rocking good story. It imagines a lunar settlement that wants to become self-governing, not a colony. It must survive two days against the corporate might of the Congloms. Trix is assigned to help the former USSF operator, Cody Hiru defend a vulnerable entrance to the underground settlement, Waygo Port. Trix is horrified when she discovers that Cody Hiru has given their location to the enemy but is he really a traitor?
In “The Pattern” by Avery Parks, Alex works monitoring satellites in LEO. Bored during one shift, she starts looking at satellite movements over the previous month. And she finds a pattern. But only when she looks at how the pattern will develop in the next few days does she realise that someone is trying to cause a Kessler reaction. Even worse, they have only 40 hours to avoid it. There are hints that Alex is neurodiverse, but it is her human analytical skills and persistence that will save the day, not AI.
In “Emergency Supplies” by Liam Hogan, Ellie investigates a suspect ore carrier in the outer reaches of space past Mars. It is a simple tale but well done; the work-building is detailed enough to give the quandary Ellie faces weight: “In space, no one can hear you do the right thing.”
“The Lurker” by Gregory Benford & James Benford will be a delight for those who understand more science than I: it postulates nuclear thermal rockets amongst other things. Dilip and Sabine are investigating a quasi-satellite of Earth and identify what can only be alien technology on it. They limit themselves to observing but the Chinese are much more aggressive. What if the human race had been under observation for millennia?
In “A Fair Defence” by C. Stuart Hardwick, Claressa is hauled out of school by the police and the military. It turns out that her school science project may be the means to protect GPS satellites from being disabled by an unknown hostile. Along with her father she helps the research team to develop a defence package that can be fitted on a satellite. In return, the military gives her father a proper diagnosis for the moments of absence he has been having since a car crash that killed Claressa’s mother. Claressa finds support and a mentor, giving the title of the story a deeper meaning.