Analog November/December 2024

That Far, Uncharted Ocean, by Auston Habershaw

The Thraad species is back in full force in all their slimey glory! A man, specialized in sailing, is sent to a Thraad vessel in a one-way trip. He's quickly made aware the Thraad are orbiting a marine platet where a race is taking place.

However, we come to learn a few things about the rest of the universe and the Thraad, also about our main guy. First of, the prize of the race is the conquest of Earth. Secondly, many species are competing for this prize and the Thraad species might be the less worse out of them, though their social customs are wildly incompatible with humanity. Third, our guy is tasked with sabotaging the Thraad if they find out they're up to no good.

The best way I can describe the Thraad is like so: imagine if Romulans were big snails.

Our guy does end up sabotaging the Thraad sail and becomes a master spy, hired by each contestant, taking turns to earn an edge in the race. Hey, as long as the race goes on, Earth is safe!

Mirrorstar, by Sean McMullen

Mirrorstar is a complex science vessel inhabited by several senior scientists. Most of their days are spent alone and are uneventful. Until a corpse is found in a focus chamber. A furry corpse.

Dr. Connell, now a reserved scientist, is called on the scene. In a previous life, he was a detective, he could probably solve this case. However, what he finds is quite troubling (and kind of gives an unsatisfying conclusion to his investigation): the corpse is not dead, it's simply hibernating. Orpeus, inhospitable to humans, imbued the corpse with the properties necessary for survival on its surface through the focusing lens.

Of course, back on Earth, that's some highly disturbing news. What's stopping Mirrorstar from focusing that mutation device towards Earth? Can't have that. Or at least that's the paranoia it creates back home. The Mirrorstar crew knows Earth will actively try to destroy them, so they decide to use the focusing lens on a planet that was long abandoned, Melusine, to build a new life. However, the lens might change the crew in more than one way.

Intriguing story with cranky old men and women.

Emergency Calls Only, by Kelsey Hutton

Zohra is about to experience being torn apart to the molecular level by a blackhole. Time to go through the steps of grief and seek forgiveness. She sends her ex, Renwick, a mail. This story is their last transmission.

An emotional story that's enhanced by the bio page on Kelsey Hutton composed by Richard A. Lovett.

Galilean Crossing, by Pauline Barmby

A courier must deliver bone marrows on Jupiter. A 4000 kilometer sledge run. Fun story, perilous too. I noted down two words: hell yeah.

A Short Future History of Whales, by Jenny Williams

As Earth is coping with civilizational collapse due to a widely spread sound with unclear origins, Phoebe and Estuardo are trying to figure out how to save humanity. Phoebe, a pregnant widow with a close and yet unkown link to the Song, and Estuardo, a military man charged with figuring out the Song, team up as best as they can to paint a picture.

Though I didn't like how close Phoebe was to the root cause of the Song, I found it touching and it made a great revelation for the reason she was pregnant to begin with. Lots of dots connected.

In Your Dreams, by Jerry Oltion

What started as a simple car accident ends up in a crazy scientific experiment to prove the multiverse theory.

Brian and Amanda, two complete stranger, meet under unfortunate circumstances: road collision. But not the deadly kind, and they both go back their own direction unscathed. However, Brian begins having weird dreams or lack thereof. His wife too, as she dreams that she has to arrange Brian's funerals and whatnot.

Amanda tracks Brian's phone number and asks if he too has had odd nights. There's a certain Dr. Stevens that might have answers. They do find out that the multiverse theory is true, but in light of that discovery, is it worth putting his mariage and family in jeopardy? Is it worth knowing there are multiple versions of you existing alongside one another? Sometimes Pandora's box ought to be kept shut.

I was stunned at how well detailed Oltion's story was, that car accident scene was a masterclass.

The Touchstone of Ouroboros, by David Cleden

A city emerges around a terrifying and unknowable orb that absorbs anything or anyone that dares touch it. A religion is built around it, faith is strengthen, civilizations rise and fall around it too.

Cardino Vassiri, having seen a woman loose her hands to the touchstone, sees his faith in the orb crumble. He will escape the dominion of the church.

And fail miserably. He is eventually caught and coaxed into assisting Martinus, the Pontifex and ruler of the church. Martinus would like to do the unthinkable, a miracle for the ages: touch the touchstone and remove his hand unscathed. Technology has evolved so that a process would make that happen.

Vassiri is also hallucitaning conversations with the touchstone. There are deep questions surrounding the touchstone, most not worth answering, for they would terrify anyone to its core. Although the thouchstone does offer this piece of insight: it has always been present and endured the ages, the only reason the current rulers found it abandoned was because civilizations fled from its horrors.

Martinus looses his gamble. Vassiri doesn't, and elects to touch the touchstone. He survives the encounter and finally understand it all: the touchstone attracts civilizations to it, to feed from them, and the church is its own way of enforcing this system. Will Vassiri choose to play along or try to foil the orb? That's another story Cleden should definitely look into.

The Outsiders, by Share Tourtellotte.

The search for the creator of the Malady, a disease that stunned the civilizational progress of the yehdol species for a millenium, continues. The adventure leads them to a world settled by humans, far from Earth. Begins the marathon of first contact and diplomacy!

A linguist, a diplomat, a xenobiologist and several other professionnials are called, one after another, to take part in this grand plot. It truly was a marathon, where each narrator was trading the baton for their stretch of the journey.