Analog September/October 2024

The Compromise, by Tom R. Pike

The Compromise is a principle by which AI are given freedom by humans, but only if they pay in productivity the amount it cost humans in productivity to get to eeventually creating AI.

This principle ties the value of AI freedom, or freedom at all, to the value created through work. AIs will actually form unions depending on their professions.

But now the Compromise is at its end and the future must be negociated, so AIs and Humans convene to meet at an assembly.

Clearly the author has some experience with these sorts of assemblies, it felt very real and so long, just like any other assembly (which is a positive, by the way). Though I must admit it was weird to see the protagonist throw around the 'fascist' insult so often and so easily, sometimes for no decent reason at all.

Discorporation, by Mar Vincent

In the future, you can replace pretty much any organ you want and for any reason that concerns you. Maybe you feel like your spleen isn't doing a good job and want a replacement, and that's alright. But what happens when the company responsible for producing and maintain these organs or inplants folds?

That's the predicament Liet is in, as she chose the have a replacement spine. But a client with high connections might just have a replacement for her if she replaces his esophagus, free of charge.

Pretty interesting, seeing the life of someone who was left behind by the system and has her moral challenged. Ending is satisfactory revenge.

Carter's Refugio, by Hayden Trenholm

A murder mystery in space! Willie tries to find out who killed Carter, a solitary tradesman who apparently was on the brink of a big payout and a divorce.

While I did enjoy trying to figure 'whodunnit', I couldn't help but feel the protagonist didn't have any real incentive to do this case, but he did and he did well enough.

The Circumambulation, by James Van Pelt

Tyler and his wife Carol are enjoying vacation in their own ways at their cottage. There's a big lake and a couple of other cottages around the lake. Carol's boss also has a cottage there, how neat!

While Carol is enjoying her time as much as she can, seeing as a tracked meteorite is approching Earth at rapid pace, Tyler decides to do a full lap around the lake, a circumambulation.

The story's tempo is divided by each quarter of the lake Tyler surpasses. Swimming seems pointless, it doesn't change his predicament, it has no reward. By the time the meteorite is revealed to be an alien invasion, Tyler keeps on swimming, carelessly. Carol also joins him by the end of the story, seeing as they have no better things to do at the end of the world. Curiously, it's maybe that event that'll cement their kinship afterall.

Transitive Propery of Names, Mark W. Tiedemann

A murder mystery in space! Sorry, that was a joke. There's a death body, but it's not quite the focus here.

Tiedemann takes us behind the eyes of an alien race that's only starting to have contacts with humans. Afterall, it's not just the humans that are weirded out by alien customs, the reverse can be tru too!

The alien race is a collective, like Star Trek's Dominion. Sometimes they split to form an individual that will traverse the universe in the name of their collective. So, for them, names are nothing more than a temporary stamp on their foreheads, they don't hold onto it.

But humans? They name everything. Themselves first, but also animals and even objects. That's very weird for this alien's perspective. And, up to some point, as a reader, it felt weird to me as well! Kudos to Tiedemann, alien point of view done right.

Best Practice for Safe Asteroid Handling, by David Goodman

Xavier Ingridsson is one of the many augmented humans that have adapted to space flight and life in general. The rise of such humans has created a schism in society, with some 'pure' human factions trying to exterminate their augmented brothers.

But closer to home, Xavier's just a worker. He's seen his fair share of trainees to join the Accord, a collective hivemind shared by all space humans. One such trainee is Gabriel Halstead, a covert operative tasked with the confidential mission of murdering Xavier and sabotaging his station.

For most of the story, the author lulls you into this false confidence that Xavier's side is completely faultless, but the fact that the space humans don't accept dissenting opinions in their Accord is covered. In fact, despite Gabriel's numerous attempts at killing Xavier and his friends, Xavier lends a friendly hand and offers him entry into the Accord. Can't claim to be a whole world if you don't accept dissent from time to time.

Fast Women, Loose Lips, and Treasure Ships, by Josh Pearce

Heavy Metal magazine level plot. In the not so distand future, there's still not AI piloting ships or even gravitational pressure compensation. Something that's always assumed about space travel is that we'll figure a way to compensate for the tremendous g-force implied. But until then, what's the solution?

Meet Thing 1 and Thing 2 (yes, like in The Cat in the Hat), two women piloting the SSR Peregrine. To cope with extreme g-force, they have been biologically reengineered. Organs were taken out, some were replaced with stronger, synthetic equivalents, fluids are supplied from extrenal sources. They're bits and pieces, but adapted for space travel.

Unfortunately, funding runs short for their venture and they are given the opportunity of salvaging a treasure ship of sort. The payout could buy them proper organs and the chance at getting back to ground level - mostly - intact.

The author got the idea for this story after watching Top Gun: Maverick. Juno Tempest (Thing 1) and Jane Nightwork (Thing 2) are two incredible team members, and I hope Pearce will revisit their story soon enough.