Baen’s Universe, Vol. 2, No. 5: February 2008

This issue of Baen’s universe has the usual mix of science fiction and fantasy stories, plus one story in the Introducing section: “End of the Line” by Holly Messinger.

“The Smartest Mob…(a parable about times soon to come)” by David Brin is set in the future after dirty bombs hit Washington and part of the U.S. The country has become crisscrossed with hydrogen-powered zeppelins. In an era where networks are omnipresent and information floods every user, checking the veracity of that information has become paramount. Tor Pleiades is a journalist onboard a zeppelin, for what should be a routine journey. But when a mass of rumours starts disrupting her personal network, she knows that some disaster is going to happen and has to prevent it, drawing on the combined resources of users fused into a “smart mob.”

I found the premise of this not quite plausible; in particular, in a country that seems to be in bad shape, recovering from several attacks, I thought most people would disengage from the outside world and attempt to preserve their own possessions, rather than remain online and play Good Samaritan by defusing terrorist attacks. But Brin does depict the consequences of such a premise well, with a wealth of details that makes this world come alive. I particularly enjoyed his take on the value of information being in its reliability rather than its availability. I have to admit, though, that I found it hard to care for Tor, who came across as a bit too thin to be engaging. It’s a good, fast-paced story—but not one that I personally enjoyed.

In “Premature Emergence” by Eric James Stone, Jonah is the pilot of a mining freighter whose position is largely useless, thanks to hyperspace chutes which guarantee that a ship “slides” from one place in the universe to another. Even if its captain accidentally dies or the ship explodes, it—or the pieces at least—will come out the opposite end of the chute. Except Jonah finds his ship coming out of hyperspace into the path of a strange ship, twelve days early. To make matters worse, the closest star has exploded, and it’s only a matter or time before the resulting wave of damage reaches Jonah’s ship. In the manner of classical science fiction, Stone manages to make flesh-and-blood characters out of creatures with no humanity at all. A satisfying tale.

In “Waking Ophelia” by E. Catherine Tobler, we meet Ophelia Solomon, a supply ship captain who has spent her life crossing the universe in deep stasis—a way to avoid the complexities in life. Hinting at anxiety and depression, the story begins as Ophelia is awakened by her AI partner, only to find her ship has been jacked. Her rage is matched only by her fear as her methods for avoiding the messy emotional ties being human brings about are slowly cut off, forcing her to live a normal life. Like “Premature Emergence,” this story balances well the science fiction and human elements, combining them to weave an intriguing and striking tale of a future world where people are still very much the same.

In “Spiderweb” by David Gerold, the narrator is the sole crew member aboard an automated ship on an exploration mission in the Oort Cloud. When her ship starts slowing down and she cannot find an explanation, she starts investigating—and discovers an odd phenomena of the universe.

This story mostly reads like a popular science book; the narrator explains many theories about the nature of the universe, the state of space travels in a few decades, and the unexplained phenomena. The accumulation of these scientific theories make for a story lacking in character, and, as a result, I found it hard to be engaged by the narration.

As a side note, I would like to point out that some of the pronouncements made by the narrator are clearly not true: contrary to what is stated in “Spiderweb,” heat does dissipate, even in the vacuum of space (a phenomenon known as black body radiation and controlled by the Stefan-Boltzmann Law).

“The Temple of Thorns” by John Lambshead imagines an event in the youth of Perseus, before he went back to reclaim his rightful throne. He follows a princess down into the Greek underworld to retrieve a precious object—a wand of thorns—from the goddess Hecate.

I really like the idea of Greek-inspired sword and sorcery, and the banter between Perseus and the princess was nicely done. But I found that this story was made unnecessarily confusing by the withholding of almost every single character’s name (the beginning in particular was hard to get through). The story also made a great mystery of the real name of the princess, whereas anyone remotely familiar with the myth of Perseus will guess her identity at once.

In “Hourglass” by Alma Alexander, Aris, a travelling gleeman, has gone into the frozen country of Ghulkit to seek his fortune. So far, however, all he has achieved is getting lost in a blizzard—until he is rescued by Bek, a mysterious stranger who seems to know far too much.

I loved the world-building in this, and the atmosphere of growing creepiness from the moment of Aris’s rescue. The nature of Aris’s benefactor was also an unexpected surprise. But I found it harder to accept the end, which seemed rushed and random, its half-humorous tone at odds with the atmosphere in the middle of the story.

In “Sluggo” by Mike Resnick, the titular character is a freak, so twisted out of shape that he makes everyone flee. The only people Sluggo does not frighten are the young girl Nancy, with whom he develops a strong friendship, and Marko, a leprechaun who offers Sluggo a new chance at life.

This was a well-crafted story, depicting its characters and its time period well. In less skilled hands, this might have sunk into mawkishness or melodramatics, but Resnick keeps a tight grip on his poignant narration. It may not be particularly original or unpredictable, but it’s certainly a good, engaging read.

“Unprofessional” by Rudyard Kipling is about a group of friends who decide to do their own scientific experiments when one of them comes into an inheritance. They gather samples from patients at the hospital and try to determine the existence of “tides”—phenomena that govern the behaviour of cells and of whole organisms.

I have to admit that even after two reads, this remained somewhat confusing to me. The characters were finely drawn; the idea of tides was intriguing, and the research convincingly depicted—but I remain puzzled by the ending, which seemed to me just an arbitrary cutoff point for the plot.

“End of the Line” by Holly Messinger is set in 19th century America after the end of the Civil War. Jacob Tracy and his black companion, Boz, receive a mission from their mysterious benefactor, Miss Fairweather, to investigate odd killings that have taken place in the Oregon mining camps and bring back a specimen of whatever is killing off the miners. Their journey to Oregon, though, comes to an unexpected halt when their train is halted in the middle of the railway—and something starts preying on the passengers and machinists. A very effective story with a strong sense of period and a setting well rendered, Messinger handles the slow buildup of tension masterfully, making for a creepy and suspenseful tale which neatly sets the scene for more stories in this universe.

[Reviewed by Aliette de Bodard except for “Premature Emergence” by Eric James Stone and “Waking Ophelia” by E. Catherine Tobler which were reviewed by Michele Lee.]