Thursday, April 14, 2016

Terminal, by Lavie Tidhar

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(Planetary SF) A vast fleet of "jalopies" carry individuals on a one-way trip from Earth to Mars. People do it for different reasons, some of which we learn about in this story. (5,941 words; Time: 19m)

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended
Recommended By: GDozois:5 RHorton:4 NClarke JStrahan

"," by (edited by Ellen Datlow), published on by .

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Pro: Mei merely wanted to see Mars before she died. She accomplished that, and shared her joy with everyone who would listen. There's a victory in that, and it's the strongest thing about this story.

Con: The what-if is too unbelievable: What if Earth decided to send anyone who wanted to go on a one-way trip to Mars in one-person vehicles. This makes no sense from so many perspectives that I couldn't suspend disbelief enough to enjoy the story.

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4 comments (may contain spoilers):

  1. I agree with the RSR rating. I like the idea of a once-in-a-lifetime one-way "stairway to heaven" journey which people take for various reasons, but the technical details of single-person ships, CB-radio communications, just caused too much disbelief for me. Instead of a space fantasy, I might have enjoyed this more as a historical fantasy featuring the great Polynesian migration across the vast Pacific due to fewer technical WTFs. :-) There was also an echo of the sky-spanning "conveyor belt" in Greg Egan's "The Four Thousand, the Eight Hundred."

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  2. This was too much of a downer for me. I could suspend disbelief for the technicalities. What I had trouble with was an endless stream of people wanting to do this. That there'd be street vendors everywhere?!

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  3. I recommend this only if you like very literary science fiction that is also rather "art house" in its approach.

    It is implied Earth is slowly dying. I gather it is global warming and/or pollution, but this isn't clear at all.

    Mei wants this trip because she is seriously ill. Terminal isn't just s physical destination on Mars.

    Haziq takes the trip, I think, due to a mid-life crisis, but this is not clear either. He cannot explain why he took such a risky one-way trip.

    There is no reason I can see or guess as to why Eliza ends up wanting to do this trip.

    I agree with Laura about this story being a "downer", and the lack of strong motivation for 2 of the characters to take such a risky trip was hard to swallow.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, this wasn't for me. Mei hoping as she's dying that Haziq will be the one to pull her dead body out and bury it on Mars -- Ugh! Why would you wish that on the poor guy who's clearly fallen in love?

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