Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 116 by Neil Clarke

Author:Neil Clarke
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: chinese, Hugo Nominee, science fiction, science fiction magazine, short story, Science Fiction & Fantasy, fantasy, magazine, best editor short form, novelette, short stories, clarkesworld
Publisher: Wyrm Publishing
Published: 2016-05-01T04:00:00+00:00

VII. Seventh Avenue Square

The most exciting thoroughfare in all of Chang’an was Seventh Avenue, running from North to South. Along the northern stretch of the broad street one could find the very highest government offices: consulates, offices of the military, legislative buildings, and in the center of them all the most important structure in the entire Planetship Alliance: the mysterious “All Planetship High Command.” The southern stretch of Seventh Avenue, meanwhile was known as the “Golden Mile,” a place of endless activity and never-ending crowds. Located in the nexus of the two was the Seventh Avenue Square, said to be the largest in all the cities of the planetships. A massive statue of General Han Lie towered off to one side. Some said that he had been a cruel dictator, while others said he was a leader of great skill and intelligence. Even though more than a thousand years had passed since his death, even now he remained a controversial figure.

In the southern part of the great square was the Chang’an Municipal Theater. For reasons immediately obvious to anyone who saw it, locals called it the “steamed bun theater.” Today’s scheduled performance was the opera Wandering Earth, an adaption of Liu Cixin’s ancient science fiction tale. Thanks perhaps to the striking similarity of the real life experiences of the people of the planetships to the plot of this hoary old story, the thousand-year-old opera was as popular as ever.

Just past nightfall Weihan and Han Dan emerged from the theater and walked out into the square. Owing to the recent disaster on Phaeton there was less activity in the square than usual, which was filled with countless funeral wreaths commemorating the dead, along with collection stations where concerned citizens could donate to the ongoing relief efforts. The nearby shops seemed as busy as ever, however. Refugees and death had already become an unavoidable part of their long journey through the universe and the people of Europa had become accustomed to the presence.

Han Dan, however, seemed incredibly moved by the opera, and it was a long time after they left the theater before she stopped brushing the tears from her eyes.

“Alright already, here,” Weihan said, handing her an ice cream cone he’d just bought. “Don’t cry.”

Suddenly feeling self-conscious, Han Dan stopped crying and took a small bite of ice cream.

“Oh! It’s really good. When I was little, I wouldn’t have dreamed it could have tasted this good!”

“When you were little?” he asked, looking puzzled. “Did your parents not let you eat junk food or something?”

“They didn’t have this sort of thing on the spaceship . . . ” she said quietly.

“I’d heard that before we built the planetships all mankind lived on spaceships,” Weihan said, looking up at the imposing statue of General Han Lie. “I even visited some of the actual ships from the Age of Exile that were saved as historical relics. Twenty thousand people crammed onto a single busted down ship just over one kilometer long. Their rooms were

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