SpecFi Short Notes — Apr2021w4. Notes so I can find that story I read…
By: Eric Rose
Tags: Short Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Short Story, SciFi, Science Fiction

Notes so I can find that story I read that one time

Here are some shorts I read last week, and then some I watched.

Read

Dangerous Orbit (Analog Science Fiction & Fact, May-June 2021) by M.T. Reiten

Watched

Stowaway (Netflix, 2021) written by Joe Penna and Ryan Morrison, directed by Joe Penna

(Netflix, 2021) written by Joe Penna and Ryan Morrison, directed by Joe Penna Love, Death & Robots (Netflix, 2019) produced by Tim Miller, Joshua Donen, David Fincher and Jennifer Miller.

Read Shorts

Dangerous Orbit (Analog Science Fiction & Fact, May-June2021) by M.T. Reiten

Neela and Marko are junkers who collect space debris from a thick cloud of missile and satellite remains that orbit Earth after a great space war. Something has caused their robot to stop responding, so Neela must go fix a tear in their debris net herself. She must leave the safety of their capsule home, the Trashcan, with a debris storm (streakers) quickly approaching. When she gets to the net, she realizes they’ve captured a stealth military satellite which will bring them good money as a haul, but there are solar powered robo-crabs on the satellite that have remained dormant for years but have now reactivated in the net. One of the crabs has attached to Neela. If anything disturbs the robo-crab, it directs an explosive charge at the disturbance. Neela and Marko must find a way to disarm the robo-crab and get Neela back to the Trashcan, which they do using a little ingenuity and some help from their ground station.

I love the way the robo-crabs are described as having biomemetic baselines from organisms like crabs, spiders, and insects, training the stimulus-response behaviors of the AI. At one point Neela wishes she knew which baseline the robo-crabs had so she could glean some information about how they might react.

M.T.’s Website if you’d like, which headlines a wonderful quote: “Don’t mistake SF for prophecy; it’s possibility and consequence.”

Watched Shorts

Stowaway (Netflix, 2021) written by Joe Penna and Ryan Morrison, directed by Joe Penna

A fantastic new science fiction movie from Netflix, Stowaway is the story of a two year mission to Mars with three scientists and one clumsy launch technician. A great exploration of things that can go wrong in space, and the effects it can have on physical and mental health.

There are a few scenes that stood out to me as being particularly powerful. One was the effect of the solar storm on Zoe as she goes for one of the oxygen tanks. The glowing blobs of radioactive storm-stuff are subtle, and the effects they have on her are horrifyingly well done. Kudos to the special effects team for the shots, they were a powerful visual element in the film.

Another scene I found particularly powerful was when Michael talks about the other astronauts, characterizing them with three positive adjectives, something to the effect of “kind, intelligent, caring people”. With each word, the camera cuts to one of the other three, devastated by the choice they’ve had to make. A powerful and sobering scene.

As near-future space tragedy thrillers go, I thought this one was well done and a solid entry into the genre. I really hope we get so see more films like this, it sparks imaginations for a place we know we’re going, we’re just not there yet.

Love, Death & Robots (Netflix, 2019) produced by Tim Miller, Joshua Donen, David Fincher and Jennifer Miller.

Love, Death and Robots is a series of short science fiction films. An eighteen episode first season was released on March 15, 2019, and an eight episode second season is set for release on May 14, 2021.

Three Robots

Three robot friends visit a post-apocalyptic city as tourists. One robot is descendant from a video game system, one a baby monitor, and one is a large dry-humored triangle. The three explore the city, quibble over human life, and try different activities such as basketball, dancing, and taking pictures of cats. After exploring a school, a diner, a mall, and a few other places, the robots end up at a nuclear missile silo and wonder about the final days of the human race. One robot asks if the missiles caused the end of humanity, while another notes that our poor stewardship of the planet is what caused our ultimate demise. As they ponder this, their cat companion begins to talk, revealing his intelligence and opposable thumbs, hinting at a new possibility for an end to the human race. We leave the friends as they are surrounded by cats, desiring affection, and warning of ‘exploding kittens’ if they are denied.

Written by John Scalzi, SciFi author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Animated by Blow Studios.

John’s website and twitter if you’d like.

Blow Studios website if you’d like.

Beyond the Aquila Rift

A simulation theory mind-bender based on an Alastair Reynolds short story. Alastair released Beyond the Aquila Rift, a collection of short stories, in 2017. The crew of blue goose are thrown off course during a failed warp jump. The captain awakens in a repair facility, but learns he and his crew have warped to a system far from their intended destination. After getting reacquainted with the head of the repair facility, he learns that they’ve warped 150,000 light years back to earth. It’s been over 100 years since they’ve warped and their past lives are effectively over. One of the crew members suspects something is amiss, and doubt begins to grow in the captains mind about the situation. The captain eventually confronts the head of the repair facility, and she confirms things are not as they seems. He demands she tell him the whole truth, and she reveals that he and his crew have arrived in a nightmare universe where they are kept in a dream state by a massive organic creature. After we get a glimpse into the nightmare reality, we’re snapped back into the simulated reality and told that everything will be OK.

Fantastic and provoking. I’ve enjoyed Alastair’s work over the years in The Year’s Best Science Fiction, and I just ordered Beyond the Aquila Rift.

Unit Image, a french animation studio, animated and directed the short. I cannot speak highly enough of the quality of all three. The animation is gorgeous and the pacing and direction is top notch. Unit Image really knocked this one out of the park. I’d love to see more projects like this from them.

Alastair’s Website if you’d like.

Unit Image’s website if you’d like.

We’re Getting Deeper

It appears someone has been deep faking a digital impersonation of Leonid Volkov, a spokesman for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, to European MPs in video conferences. I’ve thought and said for a while now that deep fake technology will pose a huge challenge to reliable and trusted communication, and stories like this continue to confirm that belief. I think there are some interesting ideas for defeating it though, like proof of authenticity encoded into video at capture time, but I’ve yet to see any proofs of concept or products offering this as a service.

On another note, although I have started to appreciate dirty and imperfect things more these days, I can also appreciate the pristine, the mint. The latest issue of Analog came in a sleeve this time.