Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 201 by Neil Clarke

Author:Neil Clarke [Clarke, Neil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction - Science Fiction, magazine, Science Fiction - Anthologies, Science Fiction - Short Stories, Science Fiction & Fantasy, science fiction magazine, short fiction, short stories
Publisher: Wyrm Publishing
Published: 2023-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

About the Author

David Ebenbach is the author of nine books of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, including his novel How to Mars (Tachyon Publications). His books have won such awards as the Drue Heinz Literature Prize and the Juniper Prize, among others. A graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts, Ebenbach lives with his family in Washington, DC, where he supports graduate student and faculty teaching at Georgetown University.

. . . Your Little Light

Jana Bianchi

Blinking red in my optical dashboard, the first line of the spaceship’s automatic diagnostic report hits me as a punch in the guts: MATATLNTICA 2 POPULATION—000001 habitant.

I don’t have much time to think about it, though—when I finally gather energy to stand up, I realize two things at once: baby is fine, still kicking, and we’re not alone.

The alien critter on the other side of the smartglass bulkhead is just roaming around, apparently not interested in breaking free of the exoveterinary facility—a strange breed of stable and cutting-edge laboratory. It doesn’t approach the translucent wall but goes completely still when I gasp in surprise. It may be a coincidence, or it may be the creature reacting to my presence, how would I know? I’m just a junior mechanic whose only function is to tackle my daily share of maintenance open tickets.

I try to remember what I read in the informative bulletins from the academic team, published when scouting expeditions come back with news from the universe around us. I know the scientists named these specific beasts “seisbionts” because they have six sturdy legs barely visible under their knotty, ruddy fur. I also heard they don’t have anything similar to eyes, as they come from a planet with a perpetually dark side on Tau Ceti or Gliese 832 or whatnot system, and so they somehow navigate around by stomping their middle legs on the ground, hearing, and smelling the air. Their snout resembles the ones found on Earthen pre-Exodus little flying mammals called bats, although the seisbionts are huge—at least twice the size of the bison brought from Earth—and bred in our outer rings’ barns.

The creature snorts and resumes its idle meandering. Just then, hands clasped over my protruding thirty-eight-weeks belly, I realize how frightened I am. Baby kicks, flooded by a hormonal discharge triggered by one of our most ancestral instincts—fear of a predator.

I open my dashboard again. The map shows that containing procedures were successfully put in place, and both the critter and I ended up trapped in the only area of the whole ship where it’s possible to survive. An improbable oasis where there is pressurization, preserved radiation shield, thermal insulation, functional CO2 scrubbers, and—hopefully—resources and an exosuit. There’s also gravity, which means the rotating wheel is spinning. According to the report, the hull is intact, so I suspect the others have died due to the sudden deceleration and the series of failures that followed.

In the end, I’m just alive because of coincidences piled up: going to the emergency room in the middle of

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.